"The Framework Programme has been the subject of various kinds of evaluation since it began in 1984. These have consistently focused on the programme cycle in hand. As a result its longer-term – in an important sense most policy-relevant – impacts have barely been explored. This path-breaking study is intended as an initial exploration of these longer-term impacts and of the usefulness of coupling scientometric techniques with a case-based approach to impact. This volume summarises the project as a whole. A companion volume sets out the cases in more detail. A third volume more fully documents the scientometric work and provides various intermediate outputs of potential interest to others who might wish to explore similar methods. The innovative combination of methods in this project has involved literature and document reviews, co-word analysis of project titles and abstracts in FP4-6, bibliometric analysis, interviews with Commission officials and Framework Programme project participants and six case studies of Framework Programme impacts."

Source: Report Summary