UNESCO SCIENCE REPORT
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European Union<br />
n The Specific Programme for People funded the training,<br />
career development and mobility of researchers between<br />
sectors and countries worldwide. It was implemented<br />
through the Marie-Skłodowska-Curie Actions 12 and Specific<br />
Actions to Support European Research Area policies.<br />
n The Specific Programme for Capacities funded research<br />
infrastructure for SMEs. It also hosted the following smaller<br />
programmes: Science in Society, Regions of Knowledge,<br />
Research Potential, International Co-operation and the<br />
Coherent Development of Research Policies.<br />
By December 2014, almost half of all research projects within<br />
the Seventh Framework Programme had been completed.<br />
More than 43 000 scientific publications has been reported<br />
from 7 288 projects, almost half of which had appeared in<br />
high-impact journals. Germany and the UK had the largest<br />
number of applicants for project funding, about 17 000 over<br />
12. The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions provide researchers with grants at all<br />
stages of their career and encourage transnational, intersectorial and interdisciplinary<br />
mobility. Between 2007 and 2014, more than 32 500 EU researchers<br />
received this type of funding.<br />
2007–2013, whereas the much smaller Luxembourg and<br />
Malta each had less than 200 (Table 9.11).<br />
When it comes to measuring the success rate, defined<br />
as the number of proposals retained, a different ranking<br />
emerges. Belgium, the Netherlands and France stand<br />
out here, with a success rate of at least 25%. If we take<br />
population size into account, it is the smaller countries that<br />
have been the most successful, with Cyprus and Belgium<br />
both having more than 500 retained proposals per million<br />
inhabitants.<br />
In financial terms, the largest countries received the bulk<br />
of funding in absolute terms and France, Belgium and the<br />
Netherlands the greatest shares. However, if we compare<br />
Seventh Framework Programme funding with national<br />
levels of research funding, it transpires that framework<br />
funding is relatively higher for those countries with modest<br />
levels of national funding. This is the case for Cyprus, for<br />
instance, where framework funding amounted to almost<br />
14% of GERD, as well as for Greece (just over 9%) and<br />
Bulgaria (more than 6%).<br />
A successful model<br />
The ERC has been widely acknowledged as<br />
a highly successful model for competitive<br />
research funding. Its existence has had a<br />
strong impact at the national level. Since<br />
the ERC was created in 2007, 11 member<br />
states have set up national research<br />
councils, bringing the total to 23. Funding<br />
schemes inspired by the ERC structure<br />
have been launched by 12 member<br />
states: Denmark, France, Germany, Greece,<br />
Hungary, Italy, Ireland, Luxembourg,<br />
Poland, Romania, Spain and Sweden.<br />
The ERC calls for proposals are very<br />
competitive: in 2013, the success rate<br />
was just 9% for Starting and Consolidator<br />
Grants and 12% for Advanced Grants.<br />
Consequently, 17 European countries *<br />
have developed national funding schemes<br />
to support their ‘finalists’ in the ERC<br />
competitions who were not awarded a<br />
grant (ERC, 2015).<br />
* Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Finland, France,<br />
Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway,<br />
Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and<br />
Switzerland<br />
A scheme open to researchers everywhere<br />
The ERC is open to top researchers from<br />
anywhere in the world. To raise awareness<br />
and forge closer ties with counterparts<br />
abroad, the ERC has toured all continents<br />
since 2007. The ERC also offers young<br />
researchers the opportunity to come to<br />
Europe to join the research teams of ERC<br />
grantees, an initiative supported by<br />
non-European funding agencies.<br />
Agreements have been signed with the<br />
National Science Foundation in the USA<br />
(2012), the Government of the Republic<br />
of Korea (2013), the National Scientific and<br />
Technical Research Council (CONICET)<br />
in Argentina (2015) and with the Japan<br />
Society for the Promotion of Science (2015).<br />
Source: compiled by authors<br />
Figure 9.7: Grants by the European Research Council, 2013<br />
Top 23 grantees by country of host institution and origin of grantee<br />
1 000<br />
800<br />
600<br />
400<br />
200<br />
0<br />
-200<br />
UK<br />
Germany<br />
France<br />
Netherlands<br />
Switzerland<br />
Italy<br />
Israel<br />
Spain<br />
Sweden<br />
Belgium<br />
Austria<br />
Denmark<br />
Finland<br />
Norway<br />
Greece<br />
Hungary<br />
Grants in country<br />
Non-nationals in host country<br />
Nationals in host country<br />
Nationals away from country<br />
Portugal<br />
Ireland<br />
Poland<br />
Czech Rep.<br />
Cyprus<br />
Turkey<br />
Estonia<br />
Source: ERC (2014)<br />
Chapter 9<br />
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