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Abstract
An important element of the EU policy discourse during times of crisis has been a call to invest more in research and innovation as sources of future growth. To study the effects of crisis in this policy area, this article draws on an analysis of expert interviews, policy documents and relevant literature. It argues that the crisis has led to incremental and path-dependent changes in EU policy instruments and priorities. To respond to the crisis, EU research and innovation policy has focused on two main issues. Firstly, it has aimed to facilitate structural reforms and to increase the level, quality and efficiency of public and private investments in research and innovation at the national level. Secondly, the EU has increased its own research and innovation funding. These decisions have involved compromises between the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Council and stakeholder organisations.
Acknowledgements
Helpful comments on earlier versions of this article were received at the 2015 International Conference of Europeanists, Paris, France, the 2015 Science and Technology Studies conference in Graz, Austria, and the February 2015 talk at the Austrian Institute of Technology, Vienna, Austria. Valuable feedback from collaborators in this special issue and reviewers is gratefully acknowledged.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. Expert interviews are mainly used for validating preliminary findings.
2. While historically this policy area in the EU was known as ‘research and (technological) development’, recently emphasis has shifted to ‘research and innovation’. In 2011, Directorate-General (DG) Research officially became DG for Research and Innovation (Hartlapp, Metz, and Rauh Citation2014).
3. Of the total 960 billion Euros in the EU budget for 2014–2020, the Horizon 2020 programme receives nearly 80 billion EUR, i.e. approximately 8 per cent.
4. Additionally, the European Research Council (funded by the framework program) has its own agency to administer ERC grants.
5. The importance of the EU research and innovation funding considerably varies across the member states. In some countries, the EU Structural Funds for research and innovation are of the same magnitude as national research and innovation budgets (Veugelers Citation2014). Additionally, the 7th Framework Programme amounted to 10–20 per cent of public research funding in a number of member states (Veugelers Citation2014).
6. In 2000, the EU countries invested 1.85 per cent of GDP in R&D, while the US invested 2.61 per cent and Japan invested 3 per cent. Data source: Eurostat http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/science-technology-innovation/ Accessed 15 November 2014.
7. 2.07 per cent invested in 2012 is a slight increase from 1.87 per cent 10 years earlier (2002) when the 3 per cent target was initially set. Data source: Eurostat http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/science-technology-innovation/ Accessed 15 November 2014.
8. Data source: Eurostat http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/science-technology-innovation/ Accessed 15 November 2014.
9. The European Economic Recovery Plan, equivalent to about 1.5 per cent of the GDP of the EU (around 200 billion EUR), provided a common framework for the efforts made by member states and the EU to ensure consistency and maximise effectiveness (CEU Citation2008).
10. The Lisbon Strategy launched by the Lisbon European Council in March 2000 set out a strategic goal for 2010 for the EU ‘to become 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’.
11. In 2010, business expenditure on R&D in EU-28 was 1.24 per cent of GDP, while in the US – 1.87 per cent and in Japan – 2.49 per cent. Data source: Eurostat http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/science-technology-innovation/ Accessed 15 November 2014.
12. Data source: Eurostat http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/science-technology-innovation/ Accessed 15 November 2014.
13. With the exception of Croatia, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom and Sweden.
14. This model of monitoring is already familiar in many policy fields including research and innovation from the Lisbon strategy.
15. The coalition of catching up countries is not the same as the one that opposes radical re-allocation of funds across EU budget lines away from the CAP and Structural Funds to growth policies (mentioned above) because some old member states are in favour of the CAP, while some new member states and cohesion countries might be in favour of more radical reallocation of EU funds to growth policies.
16. 2.7 billion Euro would have been more than 10 per cent of total EU money (21 billion Euro) envisaged for the plan that has to attract the remaining investment of 315 billion Euro from public and private investments.