Evaluating progress towards an ERA for IST - call for tenders

Brussels, 10 Sep 2004

The European Commission has published a call for tenders for the evaluation of progress towards a European Research Area (ERA) for information society technologies (IST).

The objectives of this study are:
- To assess whether and in what domains European research organisations are leading 'knowledge hubs' in the global collaboration networks for IST research, and how the Integrated projects and Networks of Excellence supported at EU level are positioned in the global networks;
- To analyse what makes these leading 'knowledge hubs' effective, what their success factors and key characteristics are; and to provide recommendations on what has to be done in order to facilitate the development of new leading 'knowledge hubs' in predetermined or emerging technical areas;
- To assess whether this 'collaboration leadership' defined in terms of networking links matches EU research leadership in terms of outputs, results and impacts (e.g. standards, patents, scientific papers etc.) and to recommend what might be done to optimise the role of 'knowledge hubs' in exploitation of research through innovation;
- To assess whether the collaboration networks for IST research supported in the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) are sufficiently inclusive of national research networks, COST and EUREKA, and of the networks of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) involved in information and communications technology (ICT) supply chains and application innovations, with appropriate ranges and mixes of disciplines;
- To investigate the networks of collaboration, dissemination and exploitation of knowledge associated with the mobility of scientists and engineers between universities and companies, and between Member States (at regional level), including through the human capital and mobility support in the FP6. The evaluation will be expected to elucidate the effectiveness of mobility for knowledge transfer and innovation in business and public administrations.

The study should be both analytical and explanatory, particularly in identifying key enablers and limiting factors in the effectiveness of the networks. It must identify and quantify the evidence base for analysis and recommendations. It is expected to draw on a range of appropriate technologies drawn from social science research methodology, including newer tools such as data mining and link analyses, and to contribute to 'capacity building' across the EU in this area of evaluative analysis.

For further information, please contact:

European Commission
Directorate-General Information Society
Attn: Frans de Bruïne
Office: BU29 07/04
B-1049 Brussels
Tel +32-2 296 8538
Fax +32-2 296 62575

To see the full details of the call, please
click here
Remarks: The deadline for requesting tender documents is 1.10.2004.
The deadline for submitting tender documents is 8.10.2004.

Before contacting the Commission, tenderers are strongly advised to consult the original call text in the Official Journal of the European Union at the reference below.

CORDIS RTD-NEWS / © European Communities
Item source: http://dbs.cordis.lu/cgi-bin/srchidadb?C ALLER=NHP_EN_NEWS&ACTION=D&SESSION=&RCN= EN_RCN_ID:22604