Outline Paper for Connecting Research and Policy in the Digital Economy Invitational Post-Conference Workshop 29 January 2003 at the National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C.

R&D IMPACT ON POLICY MAKING. THE EXAMPLE OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION’S IST PROGRAMME Rosalie Zobel, PhD, Director Information Society Technologies Programme, European Commission, Brussels

1. INTRODUCTION The Information Society Technologies (IST) programme within the European Commission’s 5th Framework Programme for Research is concerned with funding pan-European research collaborations aimed at developing new information and communication technologies (ICTs) and applications1. However, these R&D activities are understood in the context of the wider EU policy environment, since the ultimate rationale for EU research support activities of this kind lies in the contribution of Information Society technologies to achieving key social, economic and political goals.

Within the programme area “New Methods of Work and Electronic Commerce”2 a number of activities and projects were specifically devoted to demonstrating and strengthening the link between R&D and policy. For example, a range of projects aims at producing a better understanding of the social and economic impact of new technologies, working methods and business models associated with the Information Society at large, as well as identifying future challenges and risks. Such information is vital for effective policy-making. In addition, various activities addressed ways of measuring and monitoring the contribution of the IST research programme against key policy objectives. Finally, IST staff involved in monitoring these activities contributed their expertise in various working groups and consultative bodies within the European Commission charged with developing new policy initiatives, many of which are currently being implemented.

2. IST RESEARCH ACTIVITIES IN SUPPORT OF POLICY DEVELOPMENT Research projects in the IST programme have made contributions to policy in three principal respects:

i) By developing a knowledge base for effectively implementing and monitoring existing policies;

ii) By giving guidance to R&D strategy within the IST programme;

1 See http://www.cordis.lu/ist 2 See http://www.cordis.lu/ist/ka2/welcome.html

14 January 2003 Page 1 iii)By providing direct input to the development of future EU policies, and of more targeted policies on specific issues within the EU policy framework.

These contributions can be illustrated by a representative sample of recent projects addressing different policy areas. The ‘Lisbon strategy’ Perhaps the largest share of policy research is devoted to aspects of the EU’s ‘Lisbon Strategy’ for becoming “…the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion”3. This goal connects policies on employment, social inclusion, and economic development with the growth of the Information Society. Accordingly, policy-related research projects exist in each of these areas. The FAMILIES project, for example, contributes to policy on employment and social inclusion by examining the potential of new teleworking technologies for creating more family-friendly working practices; while the EMERGENCE project studies the impact of new ICTs on the global relocation of employment. In the field of economic development, the SEAMATE and STAR projects examine the overall impact of ICTs on European business and economic performance; the DEEDS project has established an international policy forum on SME policy; and the ECLIP project has developed proposals to eradicate legal and regulatory barriers to e-commerce. On a more fundamental level, the DDSI project is developing policy recommendations for enhancing the security and dependability of crucial information networks and infrastructures, which is a precondition for the growth of the Information Society in general.

Sustainable and regional development In addition to the Lisbon goals, significant research effort has been devoted to policy on sustainable development and regional development. For example, the DEESD project studies the potential impact of e-business practices on environmental sustainability, while the TERRA 2000 project is developing future scenarios and policy options relating to the consequences of the growth of a global knowledge society for sustainable development. Examples from regional policy include the PRELUDE project, which promotes the growth of the Information Society through the establishment of ‘Regional Clusters of Innovation’ ; and the G-NIKE project, which analyses regional drivers for the growth of the knowledge economy.

Generic policy support A number of projects also support policy development in a more generic way. The BEEP project addresses the Commission’s recent ‘eEurope Action Plan’4, seeking to identify best practice for the promotion of the European Information Society and developing a benchmarking methodology to assess progress towards the eEurope goals. The JANUS project is designed to synthesise the results of a range of current socio-economic research projects, distilling the key policy messages and disseminating them to a wide audience.

Enlargement and governance Finally, in a less direct way, the IST programme contributes to policies on enlargement and EU governance. Projects such as PRELUDE and EMERGENCE for example have extended

3 Presidency conclusions of the Lisbon European Council, 23-24 March 2000, available under, http://europa.eu.int/council/off/conclu/ 4 See http://europa.eu.int/information_society/eeurope/index_en.htm

14 January 2003 Page 2 their research activities to include EU enlargement countries, while other projects contribute to governance issues by promoting greater policy coherence (the JANUS project) or initiating social dialogue (the TERRA 2000 project).

3. SUMMARY OF POLICY CONTRIBUTIONS Overall, these policy-related research projects are notable both for the range of policies addressed, and the diversity of approaches and of the policy contributions made :

. While the methodological approaches taken by the projects outlined are very diverse, a feature common to all of them is a concern with the links between different policy areas. Thus, while these projects have been classified according to their principal thematic focus, almost all of them deal with several interconnected policy issues. For example, the EMERGENCE project, while focusing on employment issues, relates these issues to regional development and problems of social inclusion, while the DEESD project examines the connections between the growth of e-business, environmental sustainability, and regional development. This reflects the belief that the growth of the Information Society will only realise wider social and economic benefits if policies take account of the complex interdependence of economic, social, technological, and environmental factors. This holistic approach must be regarded as a major strength of IST policy-related projects.

. As well as covering a broad thematic range, the projects mentioned also exhibit a wide variety in the kinds of policy contribution made. For example, project outputs range from long-term scenarios and forecasting exercises (the TERRA 2000 and STAR projects) to concrete policy recommendations responding to immediate priorities (the DDSI project). Likewise, while some projects focus on expanding the general socio-economic knowledge base which informs policy-making, or seek to develop general methods of measuring and benchmarking the development of the Information Society (the BEEP project), others offer practical tools for policy development such as high-level policy forums (the DEEDS project) and toolkits for policy-making in specific areas (the EMERGENCE project). Finally, the project outputs address a wide range of different audiences, including policy- makers at regional, national, European, and international levels; various groups of external stakeholders (e.g. business representatives); and the European Commission’s R&D programme IST itself.

The various contributions of the sample projects outlined, together with their main thematic areas, are summarised in Appendix 1.

4. LINKING RESEARCH AND POLICY: LESSONS LEARNED A wide range of high-quality policy-related research is being produced within the framework of the IST research programme. The major challenge arising in connection with research is to ensure that it is effectively fed into the Commission’s policy-making processes, so that research findings can inform policy development at all levels inside the European Commission. In this context, the IST programme staff play a crucial role in bridging between the research community and the EU policy-making machinery. Accordingly, staff involved in IST projects have contributed actively to recent policy initiatives, for example in preparing the ‘eEurope 2005’ Action Plan. Research from IST projects such as STAR, EMERGENCE, and BEEP was crucial for developing a benchmarking methodology for the eEurope initiative as a whole. Co-operation between different departments, responsible for policy domains inside the European Commission is also crucial for effective policy-making: for example,

14 January 2003 Page 3 research from the FAMILIES project was recently presented in a joint workshop with the Employment & Social Affairs directorate-general, with whom there is ongoing collaboration on policy development through the high-level group on ‘Employment and the Social Dimension of the Information Society’ (ESDIS)5.

Increasing the impact of research on policy-making continues to be a challenge, and a number of measures can make the use of research results even more effective: . Within the European Commission, relevant research is not always adequately communicated to departments working in related areas. While formal co-operation and exchange mechanisms exist between the Information Society directorate-general and certain other departments (notably the directorates-general for Regional Policy and for Employment & Social Affairs, e.g. through the ESDIS group), contacts with other departments are more ad hoc, leading to information gaps and the loss of co-operation potential. This situation could be remedied by the creation of regular contact groups with the aim of pooling research and exchanging ideas.

. The Information Society directorate-general organises high-level policy forums bringing together European Commission and national policy-makers on specific issues, drawing on the results of a range of related projects. Policy forums of this kind are also organised by collaborative projects.

. On project level, an important challenge is to integrate the findings of different projects working on related or complementary issues in order to create a ‘big picture’ view of a given policy area. Hence, in addition to creating clusters of projects, further scope for targeted actions to synthesise project results and highlight key messages, such as that pioneered by the JANUS project, are planned under the 6th Framework Programme for research that started 1 January 2003.6

5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This report has been compiled by Tarek Hayfa and Erastos Filos. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official European Commission’s view on the subject.

5 See http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/knowledge_society/esdis_en.htm 6 See http://www.cordis.lu/fp6

14 January 2003 Page 4 Appendix 1: Summary of projects and types of policy contribution

Project Main thematic areas Outputs Socio-economic Policy Mapping and Future Best Future Indicators and Policy Tools for research and recommendations comparing scenarios/ practice R&D/research benchmarking forums policy- analysis current policies forecasting roadmaps tools makers FAMILIES Working methods, social X X X X inclusion EMERGENCE Employment, regional X X X policy, social inclusion DEESD Sustainable development, X X regional policy, economic development TERRA 2000 Sustainable development, X X X X X economic development, social inclusion SEAMATE Economic development, X X X X social inclusion, employment DEEDS Economic development, X X X X X regional policy, SMEs ECLIP Legal issues, e-commerce X X X PRELUDE Regional policy, R&D X X X X G-NIKE Economic development, X X X regional policy DDSI Trust and security X X X X X BEEP eEurope, employment, X X X X regional policy, SMEs STAR Economic development, X X X X social inclusion, sustainable development JANUS Socio-economic research X X X

14 January 2003 Page 5 Appendix 2: Further information a) Project websites

These web pages contain general information about the projects as well as links to published research.

FAMILIES www.families-project.com PRELUDE www.prelude.elanet.org EMERGENCE www.emergence.nu G-NIKE www.uoc.edu/in3/gnike DEESD www.digital-eu.org DDSI www.ddsi.org TERRA 2000 www.terra-2000.org BEEP www.beep-eu.org SEAMATE www.seamate.net STAR www.databank.it/star DEEDS www.deeds-ist.org JANUS www.janus-eu.org ECLIP www.eclip.org b) Information on policies

The eEurope Action Plan: http://europa.eu.int/information_society/eeurope/index_en.htm

Employment: http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/knowledge_society/index_en.htm (DG Employment’s pages on the “Knowledge Society”)

Sustainable Development: http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/environment/eussd/index.htm (DG Environment’s web pages on Sustainable Development)

Regional Policy: http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/regional_policy/themes/infotech_en.htm (DG Regional development’s web pages on the Information Society) c) General information

European Commission homepage: http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/index_en.htm

DG Information Society homepage: http://www.europa.eu.int/information_society/index_en.htm

Information Society Technologies “New Methods of Work & Electronic Commerce” homepage: http://www.cordis.lu/ist/ka2/welcome.html

The European Union’s Fifth and Sixth Framework Programmes for Research: http://www.cordis.lu/fp5 http://www.cordis.lu/fp6

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