Preface

Focusing on economics, the first section of this publication addresses the impact assessment of the research and innovation on competitiveness, economic growth and employment creation. This assessment has been established thanks to the data coming from the socio-economic research funded from FP7.

The second section presents the socio-economic datasets relating to the internationalisation of European firms, global innovation networks, RTD indicators, fiscal and monetary policies, Input-Output tables, the performance of universities, entrepreneurship, job flows, and on measures of economic growth, productivity and employment. Composite indicators are often derived from these datasets.

The ongoing elaboration of macroeconomic and econometric tools is used to assess European policies including research and innovation policy, better governance at Member States and EU level, regional dynamics and the post-carbon society issues. Along with more traditional data, techniques and indicators, these new developments will improve forward looking activities, in particular foresight, forecasting, impact assessment and modelling related to the knowledge economy, social trends, globalisation and sustainability.

The third section of this publication is a detailed presentation on the databases which includes the websites where their research and their availability are shown. The presentation is aligned with the  strategic orientations of the European policy. It shows that for each dimension of Europe 2020 Strategy and Innovation Union flagship partnership research has been carried out aimed at supporting decision making.