EU
sponsored research activities are oriented, from the outset, towards promoting
common policy strategies in the participating countries. There are however
various kinds of links with national policies, as the country reports
suggest (see Overview, especially aspect 2)
. The evidence compiled in these reports has been analysed in order to
identify the degree of linkage between EU sponsored research and national
policies. This degree varies according to both the objectives of the EU
programmes concerned and the spectrum of EU related activities carried
out in the individual countries. The comparative analysis is based on a
typology which distinguishes between three kinds of EU sponsored research
activity:
-
Specific
research contributions to EU programmes or initiatives;
-
Involvement
of research in EU programmes or initiatives;
-
Participation
in research related EU projects.
The levels
of EU sponsored research activities presented in the map below are based
on this typology (see legend on the right).
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DK
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FI
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NO
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SE
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AT
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BE
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BG
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CZ
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EE
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DE
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FR
|
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HU
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LT
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LV
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|
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IE
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UK
|
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PL
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RO
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SI
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SK
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CY
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ES
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IT
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MT
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PT
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Levels
of EU sponsored research activities |
|
I
|
(1)
Research participation in EU projects |
|
I
|
(2)
Research involvement in EU programmes or initiatives; other activities
(see 1) |
|
I
|
(3)
Specific research contributions to EU programmes or initiatives; other
activities (see 2) |
|
The
outcomes presented in the map suggest, first of all, that the levels of
EU sponsored research activities are fairly evenly distributed across the
four European regions: in each of these there are both high and low levels
of activity. The high level, characterised by specific research contributions
to EU programmes or initiatives (AT, CY, FI, HU, LT, SE), may be of a temporary
nature, related to a particular time period (e.g. EU presidency) or action
(e.g. assessment of an EU programme). The distribution of the low level,
defined as research participation in EU projects (BE, BG, DK, ES, NO),
may be due to several factors: the relationship of the country with the
EU (non-member or new member) or the status of VET/HRD research in the
country. Both the high level and the low level are closely linked with
the medium level of EU sponsored research activities, featuring 'research
involvement in EU programmes or initiatives', since this involvement may
range from major to minor activities of various kinds (CZ, DE, EE, FR,
IE, IT, LV, MT, PL, PT; RO, SI, SK, UK). Altogether, the levels of
EU sponsored research activities in individual countries are subject to
constant changes of external and internal factors.
NOTE:
The Profile of national research is based on a comparative analysis of
selected activities in 25 European countries (see Overview).
This data has been compiled from the national reports prepared by the Cedefop
ReferNet in 2006 and subsequently published by Cedefop (see Introduction
and Reference). |