The project is a research project running from January 1999 to June 2001 and supported by a grant of the 4th Framework Programme of the European Commission (Targeted Socio-Economic Research Programme). It is a multi-partner and multi-disciplinary project.

The research involves 6 partners which are amongst Europe’s leading centers for research (e.g. universities and research institutes) on the subject.

The project is co-ordinated by Professor Yannis Caloghirou of the National Technical university of Athens, Greece.

There is by now a large body of theoretical and empirical research that supports an active Science and Technology (S&T) Policy. In the case of the European Union (EU), a complex nexus of S&T policies are already in place at three levels of governance: European Union, EU member state, and local/regional. Core S&T policy concerns of the EU include raising the competitiveness of European industry, developing a European “economic space” and European “research area”, narrowing the “technology gap” among EU member states, and improving the economic and social cohesion within the region. These pan -European goals require policies to enhance linkages among knowledge -intensive activities in different EU member states and regions.
Contemporary S&T policies a re complex both in terms of program coverage and implementation. The complexity is due to the effect on policy making of intensified global competition, political and economic constraints, and significant advances over the past fifteen years in our under standing of the process of technological advance. These advances have led to a better understanding of the impact of technological innovation on competitive advantage and economic growth, and the direct and indirect effects of an accelerating pace of innovation on modern economies. One must add to these the development of a theory of National Innovation Systems (NIS), which has emphasized the institutional and spatial dimensions of the technological innovation process.

For more information: cordis.europa.eu