European Research Council - JRC
advertisement
The European Research Council Patent Analysis in the evaluation of research funding activities: promises, limitations and questions European Research Council Outline of the presentation Established by the European Commission Evolving Concept of accountability in research funding agencies ─ Research funding agencies as ‘Agents’ ─ Changing expectations by ‘Principals’ The European Research Council ─ ERC: Organization and activities ─ Monitoring and Evaluation of ERC funding activities Patent Data as element of ERC M&E: Promises and Limitations Questions: ─ Patenting activities of ERC Grantees (and non-selected applicants) ─ Beyond Patent counts │2 European Research Council Established by the European Commission Evolving Concept of accountability in research funding agencies │3 European Research Council Evolving Concept of accountability in research funding agencies (I) Established by the European Commission (Simplified) Principal/Agent Model ─ ─ ─ ─ Long term economic health of nations rests on their contribution to global scientific and technological advances Principal : Public Authorities which provide public funds to support research Agents : Research funding agencies which are mandated by public authorities to allocate autonomously those funds to most promising research undertakings. Peer Review as main allocation mechanism Reality more complicated: ─ ─ ─ Often ‘strings attached’ in terms of pre-defined priority areas, modus operandi etc … Expectations of the principle implicitly clear but not spelled out Optimal pathway to ultimate goal unknown (as well as time horizons involved) │4 European Research Council Evolving Concept of accountability in research funding agencies (II) Established by the European Commission Accountability in Principal/Agent Model ─ ─ Principle : right to monitor Agent : obligation to account for resources Evolving “accountability” ─ ─ ─ ─ Core question : “what have you done with the money” Traditionally : ─ “Which projects do you fund?” Currently : heightened expectations ─ “which results have you achieved?” ─ “what are their significance- for the science, the economy, the society” ? Changing question ─ not if R&D investments produce benefits ─ but how are your investments produce benefits (or contribute to producing benefits) │5 European Research Council Established by the European Commission The European Research Council │6 European Research Council What is ERC? Established by the European Commission The ERC supports excellence in frontier research through a bottom-up, individual-based, pan-European competition Legislation ¾Scientific governance: independent Scientific Council with 22 members; full authority over funding strategy ¾Support by the ERC Executive Agency (autonomous) ¾Excellence as the only criterion Strategy Budget: € 7.5billion (2007-2013: 15 % FP/) – 1 billion €/year ¾Support for the individual scientist – no networks! ¾Global peer-review ¾No predetermined subjects (bottom-up) ¾Support of frontier research in all fields of science and humanities │2 European Research Council ERC Structure Established by the European Commission The European Commission • • • • Provides financing through the EU framework programmes Guarantees autonomy of the ERC Assures the integrity and accountability of the ERC Adopts annual work programmes as established by the Scientific Council The Scientific Council • 22 prominent researchers proposed by an independent • • Appointed by the Commission (4 years, renewable once) Establishes overall scientific strategy; annual work programmes identification committee (incl. calls for proposals, evaluation criteria); peer review methodology; selection and accreditation of experts (25 panels for all areas of science) • • Controls quality of operations and management Ensures communication with the scientific community The ERC Executive Agency • • • • • • Executes annual work programme as established by the Scientific Council Implements calls for proposals and provides information and support to applicants Organises peer review evaluation Establishes and manages grant agreements Administers scientific and financial aspects and follow-up of grant agreements Carries out communications activities and ensures information dissemination to ERC stakeholders European Research Council ERC Funding Schemes Established by the European Commission Starting Grants starters (2-7 years after PhD) consolidators (7-12 years after Phd) up to € 2.0 Mio for 5 years Advanced Grants track-record of significant research achievements in the last 10 years up to € 3.5 Mio for 5 years Synergy Grants 2 – 4 Principal Investigators up to € 15.0 Mio for 6 years Proof‐of‐Concept bridging gap between research - earliest stage of marketable innovation up to €150,000 for ERC grant holders European Research Council ERC Funding activities 2007-2012 Established by the European Commission European Research Council Grants per Research Domains Advanced Grants (AdG) Starting Grants (StG) Established by the European Commission StG 2007 105 StG 2009 82 StG 2010 154 201 81 StG 2011 172 223 92 Total StG 513 671 283 AdG 2008 98 128 56 137 110 53 AdG 2009 93 108 AdG 2010 101 125 AdG 2011 Total AdG 0% 57 44 45 108 138 55 400 499 200 20% Life Sciences 40% Physical Sciences & Engineering 60% 80% Social Sciences & Humanities 100% European Research Council Grants per Country Established by the European Commission 600 Advanced Grant Staring Grant 500 400 300 200 100 0 UK DE FR NL CH IT ES IL SE BE AT DK FI HU NO EL IE PT PL CZ CY BG EE IS SI TR European Research Council Established by the European Commission Monitoring and Evaluation of ERC funding activities │ 13 European Research Council An ambitious Monitoring and evaluation strategy Established by the European Commission Dimensions Performance Direct impacts Accountability & Information Science Management Advancing knowledge & dissemination Emerging research areas Impact on researchers Impact on research organisations Structural impacts Derived impacts Objectives Components Economic benefits Societal benefits Management Efficiency Stable, effective administration Training Reinforce excellence, dynamism and creativity Impact on research policies and funding structures Attract best researchers and industrial research investment Better exploit research assets and foster innovation towards a dynamic knowledge based society │ 14 European Research Council ERC Research Information System to support M & Evaluation Established by the European Commission Manage data on projects and related results ─ Project outputs : publications, patents, other outputs ─ Important discoveries / breakthroughs ─ identify and describe notable research advances (experts highlights, citations metrics …) ─ Project News such as Prize and Awards, other information ─ Manage further information (such as Portfolio classification (project and outputs level; Open access, journals etc … ) Make use of “big data” Take advantage of the increasing amount of data available online Modular architecture ─ Easy to adapt if data sources changes (add new data sources, changes in existing ones) ─ Can be expanded to suits other needs │ 15 European Research Council Schematic Representation the Data Model Established by the European Commission │ 16 European Research Council Established by the European Commission PATENTS as one element in the ERC Monitoring and Evaluation activities │ 17 European Research Council Promises of patents Established by the European Commission Patent as a research output ─ Documenting an invention & Indicator of research productivity ─ increased attention in “European Innovation Union” vision Better understand funding portfolio ─ Like publications, patents can give insights in “areas” in which Grantees are working ─ Location on the “Pasteur-Quadrant” Insights on which results are likely to translate into marketable applications (with appropriate caveats) Collaborative Networks of funded PI ─ In terms of “collaboration with applicants” and Co-inventors │ 18 European Research Council (well known ) Limitations of patents Established by the European Commission Not everything is patentable and ‘patentable inventions’ are not always patented ─ Well documented variety in institutional, national and disciplinary specific factors influencing propensity to patent Relying on patents alone risk oversimplifying the “exploitation channels” ─ Patents not the only mechanisms to protect intellectual property ─ Exploitation may also occur without patent Going beyond “application” counts is not trivial ─ Pendency period long Value of patents ─ Often (an academic) patent is a cost unless exploited ─ Value of patents not easily determined up-front │ 19 European Research Council ERC Research Information System where do we stand ? Established by the European Commission “Publications” Module successfully tested ─ Web services functionalities to ─ Scopus, ─ TR Web of Science and ─ Pubmed ─ Second Phase : ArXiv and books (German National Library and Library of Congress) “Patents” module ─ PATSTAT as data source in initial phase ─ Successfully tested Some challenges (see next section) ─ ─ Exploring Open Patent Services (OPS) for second phase │ 20 European Research Council Established by the European Commission Questions, challenges │ 21 European Research Council Do “our stars” patent ? conflicting findings in literature Established by the European Commission Are leading researchers engaging in patent activities ? Calderini et al. (2007) [cost and opportunities in patenting] For individual that published in very basic or very high-impact research, every increase in productivity resulted in reduced probability to patent Academic activity stands in rival relationship with patenting Patents are more likely to come from medium-to-high impact research. Researchers engaged in very high impact research seem to be less likely to patent, especially if they were also very productive Van Looy et al. (2006) [mutual reinforcing publications / patents ] Inventors publish significantly more than their colleagues who work in similar fields and have similar career characteristics Inventors publish more in scientifically oriented journals than their colleagues who are not involved in patenting │ 22 European Research Council Do ‘Our Stars’ patents ? Established by the European Commission ERC Advanced Grants Calls 2008 and 2009 Self-reported patenting activities in application (n) = 1,646 (PE) and 1,207 (LS) Estimates for all Advanced Grants LS PE Not funded :39-45 % Funded : 46-61% Not funded : 27-31% Funded: 34-47% │ 23 European Research Council Are Patents a valid indicator of “innovation” ? Established by the European Commission Recall: Actually patent applications (not “Patents”) What can patents really tell us about “performance” of research funding schemes ? Can we go beyond “Counts” ? Traditional proxy indicators ─ Geographical scope of patent protection ─ Patterns of citations ─ Renewal (fees) CAN WE PREDICT, from application data, the “quality” of patents │ 24 European Research Council Are Research funding agencies part of the problem ? Established by the European Commission Are we moving into the „Least Patentable Entity“ ? Do funding agencies contributing to the currently unsustainable situation ? ¾ Unsustainable for patents office (RFA subvention the “procedural fees” which are low and on which patent office lose money ? ¾ Unsustainable For universities / research Organisations : have to pay “renewal fees” (heavier) │ 25 European Research Council Pilot Task 1 : IDENTIFICATION OF ERC GRANTEES IN PATSTAT Established by the European Commission Pilot analysis Advanced Grants Holders resident in Sweden (47 Grantees) Search in “raw data” ─ Residence : Sweden ─ String similarity Metrics (Jaro-Winkler > 0.90) Relatively good results (checked against self-reported patenting activities) We are looking forward to test various plug-ins APE-INV EEE_PAT (I understand it does not include inventors) │ 26 European Research Council Pilot Task 2 : Linking Patents to Grants Established by the European Commission Generally patents do not have funding acknowledgments Problem with attribution (multiple funding, “project fallacy”) Can we match patents and Grants without asking Grantees (always an option) Can “lexical similarity” help ? Pilot analysis (ERC data and NIH Data) similarity of patent abstracts and project abstracts Fingerprint similarity winnowing fingerprint algorithm Bi-gram, window size = 4 INCONCLUSIVE Worth further exploring ? better approaches (e.g KEA) ? Are publication abstracts better ? │ 27 European Research Council Looking forward to cooperate with others with similar interests Established by the European Commission Dr. Alexis Michel MUGABUSHAKA Policy Analyst European Research Council Executive Agency ERC.A.1 - Support to the Scientific Council Office: COV 24/161 B-1049 Brussels T +32 (0)2 29 88296 F +32 (0)2 29 79624 E Alexis-Michel.MUGABUSHAKA@ec.europa.eu W http://erc.europa.eu │ 28
