ESPRIT programme - Monitoring, assessment and evaluation
The European Commission, DG III, has published an overview of recent monitoring, assessment and evaluation reports on the ESPRIT programme. The overview gives an outline of the different exercises conducted by independent experts on behalf of the Commission to review the activities of the programme, and gives highlights of these reports. An annual monitoring exercise is conducted on each specific programme, to determine whether the objectives, priorities and resources available are still appropriate given the changing situation. On the basis of these reports on the specific programmes, an overall monitoring report for the Framework Programme is compiled. An assessment of Community research in the past five years is conducted for each programme every five years. This exercise is of a more strategic nature than the annual monitoring report, and addresses the relevance of the objectives, and the efficiency and effectiveness of the programme. An overall five-year assessment of the Framework Programme is then compiled on the basis of the programme assessments. In addition, a final evaluation is compiled at the end of each specific programme, to compare the results achieved with the objectives. Recent reports on ESPRIT show clearly that the programme has changed in implementation, orientation and content under the Fourth Framework Programme. In particular, it now integrates R&D and take-up measures. From concentrating initially on supporting the supply industry's development of technology, the programme is now also concerned with the timely take-up of new technologies across European industry in general. ESPRIT has become more responsive, with a rolling work programme updated annually on the basis of consultation with industry. This is implemented through frequent calls for proposals and continuous calls for take-up measures. In addition, "thematic" calls are launched to focus on key issues as they emerge, such as electronic commerce. Furthermore, the time taken to respond to proposals submitted has been reduced through the implementation of new procedures, in particular the two-step evaluation scheme which now applies to a number of areas in the work programme. Indeed, the reports on the Framework Programme suggest that the procedures introduced in ESPRIT could be extended to other specific programmes, and should be taken up in the Fifth Framework Programme. The programme has been particularly successful in involving users in projects, with many now involving innovation-rich collaborations between users and suppliers, rather than just suppliers as in the past. This illustrates ESPRIT's shift to a demand-led, user-centred approach, away from a supply-side programme.