Sharing lessons learned on aligning national research programmes
date: 20/09/2017
Aligning and coordinating national research programmes has great potential to boost the payoff from EU Member States’ R&D investments, by pooling resources, avoiding wasted efforts and achieving critical mass. And there are now a range of possibilities to do this – whether through Joint Programming Initiatives (JPIs), ERANets or Article 185 actions. But for many countries, there are still challenges to be faced and obstacles to be cleared in order to make the most of this.
MLEs involve a structured exchange of knowledge and best practice by national research and innovation (R&I) stakeholders from a range of European countries, supported by a team of policy experts. This MLE, aiming at a stronger alignment of national research programmes, sought to identify transferable lessons that could improve all stages of the programming cycle – from strategy and planning, through funding and implementation, to evaluation and dissemination. Examples include:
· From Estonia, scientific counsellors who engage with other ministries on behalf of the Ministry of Education and research
· The Swedish funding approach, which uses a central research budget to leverage funding from other ministries
· Selection criteria, to help decide which joint research programmes to join, used by Austria, Slovenia and Portugal
· The German research ministry’s success in working with parliament to secure political commitment for joint programming
· And examples of networking and involving stakeholders from Austria, Denmark, France and Portugal.
“I think the wealth in Europe is in the variety of approaches that we have, and MLEs finally give us the opportunity to learn from that,” said the MLE Chair, Dr Jana Kolar, executive director of the CERIC-ERIC research infrastructure and former Director General of Science in Technology at the Slovenian Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology. She emphasises that the value of the approach is the combination of external experts, with detailed policy knowledge, and the participants, who come with national perspectives and practical experience of the challenges.
“Realising that other countries are facing similar problems but apply different solutions is a big added value,” agreed Thomas Zergoi, who participated in the MLE on behalf of the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG).
Bringing countries together
Twelve countries participated in the MLE: France, Lithuania, Denmark, Norway, Austria, Estonia, , Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and Sweden, as well as Turkey and Germany as observer countries. The MLE involved three fact-finding visits to participating countries to meet local stakeholders and learn from hands-on experience. Discussions tackled the issues in three stages: first looking at preconditions needed for participation in aligned programmes, then comparing national governance structures, and finally considering the role of communication and visibility.
The final presentation event included addresses by the Deputy Director General of DG Research and Innovation (DG RTD), Wolfgang Burtscher, and the Slovenian State Secretary for the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport, Tomaž Boh. In addition, there were presentations from three national policy experts, on the main experiences and lessons of the MLE and future policy reforms, as well as a panel discussion.
Participants found the process itself, and the contacts made, almost as valuable as the policy lessons it identified.
“Getting a larger and closer network of colleagues in Europe is in itself alignment,” said Karin Schmekel, who participated on behalf of the Swedish Ministry of Education and Research. “The exchange of knowledge, problem solving and reflection on our own system and processes has been useful and encouraging.”
When it comes to the design, implementation and evaluation of research and innovation policies, the PSF provides expertise and practical support to Member States in a number of ways: Peer Reviews of national R&I systems, Specific Support to policy reforms, and project-based Mutual Learning Exercises to improve policy-making and implementation. It is funded under Horizon 2020, the EU’s research and innovation programme, with up to €20 million.
Launched by the ERAC Joint Programming Group (GPC) to boost national coordination, improve efficiency of public research funding and address major societal challenges, the PSF MLE on Alignment and Interoperability of Research Programmes ran from July 2016 to June 2017. The implementation of the results was discussed at the GPC meeting in September 2017.
For further information on the MLE on Alignment and Interoperability of Research Programmes:
The Final Report (PDF, 1.6MB) of the MLE on Alignment and Interoperability of Research Programmes is available at: