FOREMAP

Foundations Research and Mapping

Coordinatore	EUROPEAN FOUNDATION CENTRE AISBL    more  Organization address address: rue Royale 94 city: BRUXELLES postcode: 1000 contact info Titolo: Mr. Nome: Mathieu Cognome: Cantegreil Email: send email Telefono: -9420 Fax: -3747
Nazionalità Coordinatore	Belgium [BE]
Totale costo	226˙910 €
EC contributo	186˙619 €
Programma	FP7-COH Specific Programme "Capacities": Support to the coherent development of research policies
Code Call	FP7-Adhoc-2007-13
Funding Scheme	CSA-SA
Anno di inizio	2008
Periodo (anno-mese-giorno)	2008-01-01   -   2009-09-30

 Partecipanti

#	participant	country	role	EC contrib. [€]
1	EUROPEAN FOUNDATION CENTRE AISBL  Organization address address: rue Royale 94 city: BRUXELLES postcode: 1000 contact info Titolo: Mr. Nome: Mathieu Cognome: Cantegreil Email: send email Telefono: -9420 Fax: -3747	BE (BRUXELLES)	coordinator	0.00

Mappa

 Word cloud

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'The number of research foundations involved in supporting research activities in the EU is unknown, as are their policies and impact on the overall European research effort. Yet these foundations have a unique role to play in supporting European R&D. They are able to act and react flexibly and quickly, free of political or market pressure. They can afford to take risks in the projects they support and the perpetuity of their funds allows them to be reliable long term partners. Centralised data on research foundations and their activities is unavailable in many Member States (MS), even in the published accounts of many foundations. This project will seek to promote the collection of data on research foundations, by developing common tools and a methodology to map their activities across MS. They will be validated by a quantitative and qualitative pilot study targeting representative European countries. The study will collect and compile data to quantify foundation support for research, provide an analysis of trends and policies in the target countries, in order to better understand the role of foundations in financing research. The experience of the pilot study will then be used to make recommendations to encourage further mapping of research foundations in the remaining EU countries. The recommendations will be aimed at foundations, associations of foundations, MS and European Institutions. By combining the publication of the results of the pilot study, of the recommendations, with making the methodology and tools developed freely available, the project will encourage stakeholders to undertake their own national mapping exercise. This will lead to the collection of comparable data across Europe, ultimately facilitating comparative studies between EU states and the development of Europe wide research policy.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

Vast research in Europe is funded by foundations. But what do we actually know about these organisations? Why do they support research? A project mapped their activities and analysed trends across Europe.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

While most of us know that foundations support research through funding, we do not know why they do it. Why do they support some projects and not others? The 'Foundations research and mapping' (Foremap) project delved into the workings of these venerable organisations.

The project was initiated by the European Foundation Centre (EFC) which developed the methodology for the study. The EFC was assisted by a scientific advisory committee (SAC) made up of university experts, a representative from Eurostat, the EU's statistics body, and representatives from European foundations.

By getting a wider picture of the foundations' activities, the project was able for the first time to map trends with comparable data. Foremap tested the methodology on foundations in different countries - Germany, Portugal, Slovakia, and Sweden - and sectors with differing research capacities.

Once the results came back from the four pilot studies, the methodology was revised accordingly. Around 25 stakeholders from across Europe then met in Brussels in September 2009 to discuss the methodology in a dedicated workshop.

They reviewed the methodology and found areas that could be improved and discussed how foundations' contributions to science could be useful to various actors in the sector. They also examined ways of expanding the methodology to cover all of Europe.

On the basis of this workshop a book was published, called 'Understanding European research foundations', which outlined the outcomes of the four pilot studies and underlines the importance of widening the experience of the project to other countries in Europe.