UNESCO SCIENCE REPORT

European Union
Table 9.7: Progress by EU member states on Innovation Union commitments as of 2015
Commitment Deliverables Examples of implementation/remaining gaps
1 Put in place national
strategies to train
a critical mass of
researchers
3 n Most countries have put strategies in place
n The European Commission has put tools in
place to favour this process
n New innovative doctoral training opportunities
available in some member states
n Launch of EURAXESS, an information tool
fostering mobility and collaboration among
researchers across 40 pan-European countries,
such as by publishing job ofers online
2a
Test the feasibility
of an independent
university ranking
3 n Feasibility of the ranking tested n U-Multirank launched in 2014 to compare
universities in new ways;
n The irst U-Multirank results were published in
May 2014 for 500 institutions ofering higher
education and 1 272 disciplines;
n The tool is available for students and
researchers wishing to use it
2b
Create knowledge
alliances between
business and
academia
3 n Knowledge Alliances piloted and scaled
up within the Erasmus+ programme for
international university student exchanges
Follow-up:
n 150+ new knowledge alliances foreseen in the
programming period 2014–2020
n Universities and businesses took part in the
irst knowledge alliances and new ones were
launched in 2014;
n The results of the irst knowledge alliance
pilots are available
3 Propose an integrated
framework for e-skills
4 Propose a European
Framework for
Research Careers and
supporting measures
3 n Grand coalition for digital jobs
n E-competence framework 3.0 released
n Roadmap for the promotion of ICT
n professionalism and e-leadership 2014–2020
released
3 n European Framework for Research Careers
proposed in 2012, measures to be in place by
2014;
n European Framework for Research Careers
created;
n Principles for innovative doctoral training
deined, disseminated, veriied and supported;
n The Pan-European Pension fund established
as a consortium, with funding foreseen in
Horizon 2020
n E-competence framework adopted as a
standard by some member states
n European Framework for Research Careers
widely used for recruitment by universities,
companies, etc.;
n Joint programming initiatives
Remaining gaps:
Some member states still have to align their
systems on the principles of the European
Framework for Research Careers;
n Pan-European Pension fund expected to be
operational by late 2015
5 Construct priority
European research
infrastructure
6 Simplify EU research
and innovation
programmes and
focus future ones on
the Innovation Union
3 n So far, 56% of the infrastructure has been
implemented, the target is for 60% by 2015
3 n Horizon 2020 launched in 2014 with a focus on
the Innovation Union
n 14 types of infrastructure are providing
services to their user
n First calls for research project proposals
launched within Horizon 2020
7 Ensure stronger
involvement of SMEs
in future EU research
and innovation
programmes
3 n SMEs instrument integrated in Horizon 2020 n SMEs instrument ready to be used in Horizon
2020
8 Strengthen the science
base for policy-making
through the Joint
Research Centre and
create European
Forum for Forward
Looking Activities
3 n Better connections with the Joint Research
Centre developed; the latter has scientiic
institutes in Belgium (2), Germany, Italy, the
Netherlands and Spain;
n European Forum for Forward Looking
Activities established
n Work of the Joint Research Centre and
the European Forum for Forward Looking
Activities inluencing Commission policymaking
and strategic programming
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