The results of the bibliometric analysis, the survey and the case studies show that the FET programme has specific impacts on knowledge creation, people and skills, the economy as well as the society. In our final report we summarize the most important results of the impact assessment.
The results emphasize the uniqueness of the FET programme as it allows researchers to develop original and use-inspired ideas. Also, the FET programme encourages researchers from different disciplines and backgrounds to work together and contributes to building new scientific communities.
Although the term “use-inspired basic research” suggests certain tensions (curiosity-driven and at the same time application oriented), the impact assessment revealed that combining both aspects can generate productive environments for manifold innovations. FET projects with remarkable outcomes were able to use the potential tension between excellence science and application orientation as a driver to push their research forward.
In the workshop with national funders of high-risk research, it became clear that FET research is of increasing relevance in several national contexts, too. Many research funding agencies have intensified their respective programmes in recent years. The participants stated that FET as the corresponding programme at European level functions as a multiplier with its focus on international collaboration. The need for FET funding will increase in the future due to the growing importance of a collaborative and interdisciplinary culture of science in Europe.
Another conclusion from our analysis is that we need to consider new methods to trace a project’s impacts. We found a great variety of impact pathways and recommend tracing “project journeys”, taking into account a longer time horizon and including additional qualitative methods. Whereas some want to strengthen impact planning and even want to include detailed innovation roadmaps as a requirement for funding, we instead recommend introducing follow-up documentation regarding the specific impact pathways.
FET is a unique funding instrument for new scientific and technological insights, which has relevant and substantial impacts. Looking ahead, the results of this study suggest that FET should not only complement the European research funding landscape, but that it should be increased in size and budget to become a major pillar of European research funding.
