Brussels, 18 January 2009 Pierre Valette DG Research - European Commission

1. FUNDING RESEARCH IN STATISTICS Brussels, 18 January 2009 Pierre Valette DG Research - European Commission

2. Official and non official statistics research: an essential part of Social & Economic Sciences and Humanities research EU Framework Programmes for Research EUKLEMS, an example of a success story Databases, models, surveys, statistics, indicators, methods, etc. ERA-Nets FUNDING RESEARCH IN STATISTICS

3. Statistics research needs “SSH statistics are strategic for EU policies in the global context” (Commissioner Almunia, Luxembourg 2008) WHAT RESEARCH IS NEEDED? HOW SHOULD IT BE ORGANISED? WHAT ARE THE FUNDING SOURCES? All these questions need to be addressed by NTTS-ETK 2009 FUNDING RESEARCH IN STATISTICS

4. WHAT RESEARCH IS NEEDED? The areas to be addressed need to be defined by various groups including producers, users, academics and funders Producers at all levels: international, supranational, national, regional, local and sectoral Users of various types: policymakers, academics, media, general public, … Academics of several categories: researchers in official statistics but also other researchers who use official statistics Funders, at all levels FUNDING RESEARCH IN STATISTICS

5. WHAT RESEARCH IS NEEDED? Different categories of research are needed Official statistics Non official statistics Infrastructures Socio economic research needs to support EU policy FUNDING RESEARCH IN STATISTICS

6. HOW SHOULD IT BE ORGANISED? There needs to be co-ordination between all (statistical offices, researchers, policy makes and other users) involved as to what is done, how and when Involving international, supranational, national and/or regional level organisations The role of organisations: planning, funding, research agenda, validation, dissemination, evaluation, etc. FUNDING RESEARCH IN STATISTICS

7. BY WHOM SHOULD IT BE CARRIED OUT? This should depend on the types of work involved: academic research should be undertaken primarily by academics applied research needs the introduction of producers (NSIs, ESTAT, OECD, etc.) and users as well piloting, support and follow up need statistical offices, academics and users but perhaps with less academic input ESSnet and the NSIs have a particular role to play FUNDING RESEARCH IN STATISTICS

8. WHAT FUNDING SOURCES? Statistical offices Universities International Organisations: EU, OECD, UN, … Public funded organisations: Max Planck, … The Private Sector National Research Councils FUNDING RESEARCH IN STATISTICS

9. Framework Programmes for Research The Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development (FPs) have supported official statistics research since FP2 Until FP7 via DG INFSO (formerly DG XIII) Since FP7 via DG RTD and principally via the Socio Economic Sciences and Humanities (SSH) Theme, Indicators Activity, Official Statistics Area, but also via other Themes such as Environment, Energy and Infrastructures The future: SSH and other Themes WPs 2010- 2013, … FUNDING RESEARCH IN STATISTICS

10. Framework Programmes for Research Potential support for statistical research Seventh Framework Programmes for RTD and its Specific Programmes Co-operation: Theme 8: Socio economic sciences and the humanities, Activity 6: Indicators, etc. People: Marie Curie Fellowships, etc. Capacities: Infrastructures, ERA-Nets, etc. Ideas: European Research Council All implementation through annual work programmes and calls FUNDING RESEARCH IN STATISTICS

11. Framework Programmes for Research Projects already funded or likely to be funded by FP7 Activity 8.6 (Indicators) 8.6.3 Official statistics: RISQ and SAMPLE 8.6.1 How Indicators are used in Policy: POINT and InnoS&T 8.6.2 Developing Better Indicators for Policy: AMELI, ASSPRO and JUSTIS 8.6.4 Development of methods for the evaluation of research policies and programmes DEMETER and EERQI Indicators related projects from elsewhere within the FP7-SSH 1.1.2 Intangibles: COINVEST 2.1.3 Development and applications of tools for the assessment of policies and socio-economic forecasting: WIOD a follow up to EUKLEMS FUNDING RESEARCH IN STATISTICS

12. EUKLEMS, is an example of a successful project EUKLEMS by a significant investment of funding transformed a dataset from academia into being a major tool for policymakers such as those within DG ECFIN and for researchers Parts of the EUKLEMS dataset are in the process of it being incorporated into the National Accounts part of the European Statistical System FUNDING RESEARCH IN STATISTICS

13. EUKLEMS, is an example of a successful project statisticians EUKLEMS ‘Productivity in the European Union: A Comparative Industry Approach’ was an FP6 research project which illustrates very well the sort of role research projects and European funding can play in a field of statistics and the difficulties that are often encountered The object of the EUKLEMS project was to build, on previous growth accounting work done primarily by academics, a large database of productivity measures on a detailed per industry basis and to use these data for analytical purposes. FUNDING RESEARCH IN STATISTICS

14. Databases, models, surveys, statistics, indicators, methods, etc. Many socio-economic sciences and humanities (SSH) research projects produce databases, survey results, statistics, indicators, methodologies, etc. covering official and non official statistics: 25 social data bases from the 6thFP! In some cases they are explicitly the results/deliverables of the project, But in many other cases they are just used internally by the project Our aim from now on is that as much as possible of such information be archived and made available for use by researchers and policymakers The archiving could be based on CESSDA (Council of European Social Science Data Archives) FUNDING RESEARCH IN STATISTICS

15. ERA-Net in the field of statistics In parallel with the research projects funded under FP7-SSH, DG RTD wants to stimulate Europe wide research in SSH statistics This is being done by including an ERA-Net in the field of statistics in the ERA-Net call for proposals published in September 2008 Closure date 21st April 2009 Indicative budget up to 1.5 M€ FUNDING RESEARCH IN STATISTICS

16. ERA-Net in the field of statistics The objective of the ERA-Net scheme is to develop and strengthen the coordination of national and regional research programmes through two specific actions: 'ERA-NET actions' - providing a framework for actors implementing public research programmes to coordinate their activities e.g. by developing joint activities or by mutually supporting joint calls for trans-national proposals. 'ERA-NET Plus actions'- providing, in a limited number of cases with high European added value, additional EU financial support to facilitate joint calls for proposals between national and/or regional programmes. FUNDING RESEARCH IN STATISTICS

17. ERA-Net in the field of statistics The success and even the existence of such an ERA-Net depends on you and your involvement through interest from your ministries, statistical offices, research councils, etc. Therefore if you want access to such support please get the relevant people together and get them to submit a proposal. FUNDING RESEARCH IN STATISTICS

18. Thank you for your attention!