This report summarises the work and lessons learnt by the Mutual Learning Exercise (MLE) on Evaluation of Complex Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Programmes in STI. MLE is a project-based learning process whereby participating countries, assisted by a small group of experts, jointly examine a challenge-driven question in more detail. Belgium/Flanders, Bulgaria, Norway, and Sweden were the participant countries in this exercise.
The aim of this PSF activity is to support the Bulgarian authorities in the development of (1) a research performance-based funding system, inspired by Member States best practices, and (2) a model for the evaluation and assessment of the public research institutions' performances.
Reflecting the priority subjects mentioned by the Member States at the call for interest of July 2016, this first MLE on Open Science will address the national policies and practices relating to the following two issues: (1) Altmetrics, understood as alternative (i.e. non-traditional) metrics that cover not just citation of articles but also various forms of social media shares, web-downloads or any other measure of the qualities and impact of research outcomes; and (2) Incentives and rewards for researchers to engage in Open Science activities.
This Peer Review, launched in March 2015, was the first one conducted under the Horizon 2020 Policy Support Facility and aimed to provide external advice and operational recommendations to the Bulgarian authorities on possible reforms of the R&I system. At the request of the Bulgarian authorities, it has set a focus on three main areas: (1) Assessment of R&I funding and performing bodies and instruments; (2) R&I Human resources capacity development ;(3) Tackling the gap between research and business.
This MLE addressed the issue of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) which are strategic (often virtual) centres for promoting sector- or challenge-based research involving multiple partners and promoting public-private collaboration in STI. The project allowed for the exchange on the ways in which participating (and outside) countries have addressed the evaluation of such PPPs. Evaluation data that exists on the various types of PPPs provided vitally important piece of information for the exercise.
Research performance based funding is used by most EU Member States to increase the performance of their public research system. This report analyses the different nature of systems in EU Member States, selected associated and third countries. It aims to inform Member States which are in a process of mutual learning to improve the design of their research funding allocation mechanisms.
The European Semester starts with the Commission's Annual Growth Survey (AGS), which outlines general economic priorities for the EU. In 2015, the focus of the AGS was on boosting investment, accelerating structural reforms and pursuing responsible growth-friendly fiscal consolidation. In line with those priorities, in February the Commission publishes a series of Country Reports presenting an assessment of economic and social developments and challenges in different areas, including research and innovation.
The country profiles aim to provide an operational tool for stakeholders and policy-makers to support the framing of research and innovation (R&I) policies and to facilitate the monitoring of performance, on the basis of a holistic economic and indicator‑based analysis.
