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May 1997
Esprit Monitoring, Assessment and Evaluation Activities - Esprit Home Page
This report recommends that take up of approaches, pioneered in ESPRIT, are established across the entire Framework Programme and FWP 5
Based on the reports of the 18 specific programme annual monitoring panels, but addressing more strategic issues from a high level aggregated viewpoint, the report covers the entire Framework Programme.
| "The report highlights progress achieved in 1996 and provides recommendations for further improvements in the implementation of the Programme which, overall, in the Panel's opinion is developing in a positive way" |
The report states that:
| "It is also plain that the amount of rigidity has to be reduced. Equally clear is the need for a substantially higher degree of focusing, and also co-ordination within the various programmes, and between them." |
In this respect the report identifies and recommends the take-up of “best practices”, pioneered in Esprit under FPIV, across the entire Framework programme and furthermore in the Fifth Framework Programme.
In particular the report highlights Esprit’s approach to enhancing the flexibility, increasing the concentration and improving the efficiency of the programme:
Flexibility ...
The new Esprit under the Fourth Framework Programme responds to changes in industrial and societal priorities and the evolving technological and market context through a “rolling work-programme”, which incorporates new or revised tasks and modalities, and which is updated once a year following consultation with all stakeholders. This is combined with frequent calls for R&D proposals, approximately every six months, and continuous calls for take-up measures.
The benefits of such measures are acknowledged in the report which states that :
| "There are instances in which some success has been achieved in this regard, notably the cases of the annual revision (rolling work programme) of the ESPRIT Programme." |
| "in the ESPRIT Programme, the rolling work-Programme makes it possible to adapt dynamically to the evolving needs of the users and the changing technological and industrial context" |
Concentration ...
Considerable effort is made in Esprit to focus effectively on emerging industrial, societal and technological issues which span the domains and tasks in the current work-programme. This concentration is implemented under FPIV through targeted actions such as special “thematic calls” cutting across several domains and also through “joint calls” with other programmes. The panel states that:
| "... several joint calls were organised in 1996, among which the joint call on multimedia educational software (ESPRIT, TELEMATICS, TSER, SOCRATES and LEONARDO DA VINCI) and the joint call on research networking (ESPRIT and TELEMATICS)" |
| "In the ESPRIT Programme, thematic calls have been introduced to better address key themes that cut across the Programme's domains, such as electronic commerce or IT for mobility" |
Efficiency...
Parallel to the efforts to overcome a number of legal and institutional constraints which have remained unresolved for some time and which affect the whole Framework Programme, a portfolio of approaches improving the efficiency in the current environment have been introduced by Esprit under FPIV. As the report highlights:
| "In the ESPRIT Programme, two step procedures and delegation of signature for project renewal / (extension) has been implemented to contribute to a significant shortening of administrative procedures. ...and that time spent on well conducted contract negotiations, is saved later during the implementation phase" |
Some of the same measures also target a reduction in the overheads for proposal preparation:
| "...in Programmes such as ESPRIT and TELEMATICS a two phase application approach has been introduced, this saved unnecessary further work on behalf of applicants, evaluators and the Commission staff." |
Furthermore, with regard to the long-standing problem encountered in the most popular amongst the programmes, namely that of oversubscription, which results in low success rates and disappointment for those consortia not selected, the report notes that under FPIV the well-defined, timely set of:
| "...frequent calls elaborated and implemented in ESPRIT have also reduced oversubscription" |
In summary, the overall effect of Esprit's flexibility, concentration and efficiency can be witnessed in its results:
| "... the Panel sees that in Programmes having a more declared industrial orientation, such as ESPRIT, IMT and BIOTECHNOLOGY Programmes, substantial results have been achieved in specific and targeted fields." |
Esprit Monitoring, Assessment and Evaluation Activities - Esprit Home Page
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It was last updated on 25 June 1997 and is maintained by Esprit