During the past two decades there has been a trend away from large research facilities dedicated to a specific discipline or research area to the development of research infrastructures that are a service facility for a variety of scientific communities. This publication is the proceedings of a conference held to examine the aspects of science policy that relate to infrastructures. It was organised under six themes: the role of infrastructure in research; technological innovation - industrial and socio-eonomic aspects of research infrastructure; international dimension; evaluation and monitoring of access to research infrastructures; infrastructure networking; how to develop a European Research Infrastructure.
This thought-provoking book expands on the notion that Big Science is not the only term to describe and investigate particularly large research projects, scientific collaborations and facilities. It investigates the significant overlap between Big Science and Research Infrastructures (RIs) in a European context since the early twenty-first century. Contributions to this innovative book not only augment the study of Big Science with new perspectives, but also launch the study of RIs as a promising new line of inquiry.
The essays in this open access volume identify the key ingredients for success in capitalizing on public investments in scientific projects and the development of large-scale research infrastructures. Investment in science – whether in education and training or through public funding for developing new research tools and technologies – is a crucial priority. Authors from big research laboratories/organizations, funding agencies and academia discuss how investing in science can produce societal benefits as well as identifying future challenges for scientists and policy makers. The volume cites different ways to assess the socio-economic impact of Research Infrastructures and their role as hubs of global collaboration, creativity and innovation. It highlights the different benefits stemming from fundamental research at the local, national and global level, while also inviting us to rethink the notion of “benefit” in the 21st century. Public investment is required to maintain the pace of technological and scientific advancements over the next decades. Far from advocating a radical transformation and massive expansion in funding, the authors suggest ways for maintaining a strong foundation of science and research to ensure that we continue to benefit from the outputs. The volume draws inspiration from the first “Economics of Big Science” workshop, held in Brussels in 2019 with the aim of creating a new space for dialogue and interaction between representatives of Big Science organizations, policy makers and academia. It aspires to provide useful reading for policy makers, scientists and students of science, who are increasingly called upon to explain the value of fundamental research and adopt the language and logic of economics when engaging in policy discussions.
Within fields supported by the European Union, the social science landscape has been transformed in two ways. First, broad and deep networks have been created; researchers previously focused on national issues now see themselves primarily as part of a European research environment, traveling, collaborating, and interacting across borders in unprece
This title is about the most important concept underpinning current European Union research policy. It focuses on the notion of the European Research Area, a European 'internal market' for research, whose achievement will become the main objective of EU research policy once the Lisbon Treaty enters into force.
This book argues that a New Deal for research in Europe is needed. This New Deal would involve the mobilisation of policy actors across all levels-–regional, national and European-–and their commitment to develop a more effective research system based on actions where they have the greatest impact. The book presents, from a viewpoint inside the European Commission, the nuts and bolts of how EU research policy is actually designed. It also provides a comprehensive analysis, on the basis of factual evidence, not only of the positive impacts of European research, but of the various criticisms that have been made of the Framework Programme.
In a rapidly changing world, in which research is proving to be an increasingly vital element, Europe possesses considerable advantages. But to exploit these to the full, it needs to overcome the fragmentation of its Member States' science and technology policies. The European Research Area (ERA) is intented to co-ordinate these national research policies in the direction of shared objectives, expertise and resources. Once ERA has been achieved, the concept of European research will be as familiar as those of the single market or the single currency are today.
This collection analyses and comments on the development of the ERA, which seeks to co-ordinate national research and advance European wide projects. The contributors include leading scholars of European integration and technology policy and high-level administrators. They discuss the potential impacts, benefits and limits to research and innovation policy within Europe both in the short and long term. Moreover, the debate about ERA is placed firmly in the context of the overall changes at the European level.
