Special Issue: Institutional Innovation
and Europeanization of Research
Guest Editor: Barend van der Meulen
Hans-Luidger
Dienel, K. G. Hammerlund and
Martin Peterson
The Historical Context of the Evolution of National
Research Systems and International RTD Collaboration
Abstract
A historical
overview of European science and technology suggests the
existence of two parallel trends: those of nationalization and
de-nationalization. Since the Enlightenment, besides the
modernist universalist perspective on science we find
nationalist pressures pushing the idea of socially constructed
technology, thus generating scientific results determined by
national (cultural) factors. Nationalization and
de-nationalization thrive together in certain
circumstances--for instance, in disciplines such as geology,
meteorology, botany or even physics and chemistry. The entry
into the scene of commercial interests gives rise to national
interests, in turn hampering efficiency and progress from the
scientific perspective. Through national research policies
these differential development patterns have tended to create
an often unnecessary conflict between basic and applied
research. The EU RTD framework has still to resolve these
contradictions.
Elise Féron and John Crowley
Internationalization and the Governance of Research
Abstract
This paper addresses
two main questions. First, is it appropriate to talk of the
internationalization of EU research policies, and if so in
which sense? Secondly, in so far as elements of
internationalization are observable, how can this be explained?
After summarizing the objectives, conceptual framework and
hypotheses of the research conducted in the INNOCULT project,
from which this paper is drawn, we consider the various
dimensions of internationalization as an issue for policy
analysis: the language of internationalization, as it emerges
from documentary sources and expert interviews; the broader
context of trends in European research policies, with
particular emphasis on the emergence of what we call for these
puporses a 'governance' model of state intervention; and the
prospective dynamics of internationalization in its relation
to research policy, in light of recent trends and emerging
issues. Our conclusions qualify the nature of 'innovation' in
contemporary European research policies, in light of the
structural pressures that shape them, by pointing to its
largely unplanned and adaptive character.
Jürgen Roth and Günter Küppers
Democratizing European Science and Technology Policies? On
Users, Problems and the Quest for Legitimacy
Abstract
The claim, that
Science and Technology Policies (S&TP) are entering a new
phase (or mode) is not restricted to the field of Science
Studies, it can also be found in political discourses. A prime
example is the EU Framework Programme 5 and the comments
around it. Similar shifts can be found in many European states,
under headings like 'user orientation', 'problem orientation'
or 'sustainability'. These new concepts are often linked to
problems of priority setting, to problems of how to increase
the effectiveness of research funding, and to questions of
acceptability and acceptance of developments in science and
technology. The open question is whether this development can
be understood as the emergence of a new phase in S&TP that
can be characterized as a democratization of science and
technology. Framework Programme 5 is used to answer this
question.
Ronald J. Pohoryles
The Making of the European Research Area - a View from
Research Networks
Abstract
The aim of this
contribution is to look at the impact of European research
policies on the European Research Area. In 2000, during the
preparation of the Sixth Framework Programme for RTD, the
Commission published a communication calling for the creation
of this area. There are, however, good reasons to think that
the European Research Area existed already prior to this
communication and, not least, as a result of the five
Framework Programmes that preceded the one being launched in
the near future. The main hypothesis of this contribution is
that these programmes have already had an effect on creating
sustainable research networks which are the building blocks of
a European Research Area. If the new programme and the related
instruments were not to take the experiences and needs of
these networks into account, the new Framework Programme could
represent a step backwards and might duplicate the mistakes of
national research policies during the 1980s and 1990s.
Barend van der Meulen
Europeanization of Research and the Role of Universities:
EU Research Collaboration and Finnish Universities
Abstract
Europeanization of
research is a process in which the dynamics of the European
Framework Programme, of national research systems and local
research organizations interfere. Unlike most studies on
Europeanization that focus on Europe in relation to national
research systems, this article explores the relationship
between Europe and universities. The main question addressed
by this article is why some universities have more researchers
who are active and successful at the European level than
others. Our hypothesis is that participation at EU level
depends on the organizational cultural bias of university
researchers. Following on studies of changes in the research
system, the EU framework and institutional innovations of
universities, we argue that researchers within universities
who develop strong affinity with their own organization will
be more successful at the European level. The organizational
culture of a university is conceptualized as the aggregate of
cultural repertoires and biases that university researchers
have at hand to legitimate themselves. To map these biases, we
analysed the perception of different processes of
accountability. The hypothesis was tested by calculation of
the correlation between these cultural biases and different
indicators of 'European behaviour'. Data were from an
international questionnaire on institutional innovation and
Europeanization at universities, which was circulated in eight
European countries.
