Monitoring and Evaluation of European R&I Partnerships: The R²IPE toolkit

Evaluation and impact assessment has become an imperative need for all P2Ps. Following a process of consultation with the P2P community, ERA-LEARN 2020 has published a Guide for P2P impact assessment (Deliverable 3.4a) drawing on relevant evaluation theories and good practices. As impact evaluation is a complex and constantly evolving topic, it is strongly advised that this Guide be read in conjunction with Deliverable D3.4b “Background document on P2P evaluation / impact assessment”, which provides additional information on the concepts used in the Guide as well as examples from P2P-relevant work. Naturally, the Background Document is a living document that can and should be updated in the course of ERA-LEARN 2020 reflecting on the evolving needs for evaluation / impact assessment of P2Ps.

This document is the Background Document that accompanies the ‘Short Guide on P2P evaluation / impact assessment’ (Deliverable D3.4a). As such it provides additional information on a number of the concepts used in the Guide as well as examples from P2Ps relevant work. Naturally, the Background Document is a living document that can and should be updated in the course of ERA-LEARN 2020 reflecting on the rising needs for evaluation / impact assessment of P2Ps. It is also important to note that the term ‘impact assessment’ in the Guide and this Background Document is seen in the wider sense addressing also evaluation of an intervention’s effectiveness, efficiency, etc. as well as its outputs and outcomes. Thus, the terms ‘evaluation’ and ‘impact assessment’ are used interchangeably.

ERA-LEARN 2020 conducted two large scale surveys in 2016 in order to capture the overall experience of participating in ERA-NETs (covering all the different versions of the scheme over the years). The results are presented in the "Updated Report on the Impacts of Networks 2016" which can be downloaded here. Overall, the ERA-NET scheme has managed to gather a critical mass of resources and establish durable cooperation among countries around certain societal challenges and research topics. However, more efforts are need at the national level for the scheme to realise its full potential. To achieve their ultimate goal, ERA-NETs need to focus on excellence, but at the same time, they need to pursue objectives beyond that, by increasing efforts to attract policy attention and support primarily at the national level so that they become influential actors at the European / international arena.

The Brief draws on the results of two strands of research:

• Strand 1: advanced statistical analysis of existing evidence and data collected through the 2013 IPTS NETWATCH impact survey (Doussineau, et al. 2013), the Commission’s surveys carried out annually (Niehoff 2014; Bertrand and Niehoff 2013; Jekova and Niehoff 2012); and
• Strand 2: a small scale survey based on interviews of JPI members (26 in total).

The present document focuses on the results of a pilot exercise that was addressed to three bio-economy networks (SUSFOOD, ERA-IB-2 and CORE ORGANIC II) and their supported projects. The brief draws on the results of an on-line survey addressed to project beneficiaries of the three networks and on the findings of the interviews with network members and project beneficiaries The discussion of the results is complemented where relevant with some of the findings of the survey conducted for the ERAC Ad-hoc Working Group on Partnerships in 2018 in order to identify challenges to implementation of P2P-supported projects.