A new study by the National Documentation Center highlights the successful participation of Greek research teams. A new study by the National Documentation Center presents Greece’s participation in the European program “Information & Communication Technologies/ICT” of the 7th Framework Program for EU Research for the period 2007-2013. According to the results of the study, Greek research teams participated in 591 projects (with EU funding of 330.42 million euros), i.e. 25.7% of the total projects funded. The average success rate for proposals with Greek participation was 13.2%, placing Greece in 12th place among the 28 EU member states.
The publication, which is available online at https://metrics.ekt.gr/el/node/171, presents, among other things, analytical data on the absorption of European funds, the geographical distribution of resources, the country's position compared to other European countries, the networking of Greek institutions, the participation of Greek regions, as well as the projects in which there is Greek participation, and in particular those coordinated by Greek research groups.
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are a tool that now plays a key role in every research and technological development activity and support all sciences horizontally. Excellence in research and technological development, promoted as a key component in European funding programs, sets the foundations and conditions for innovation, competitiveness and prosperity and are inextricably linked to further cultural development and the provision of social services. Investments in research and technological development significantly multiply the power of the economy.
The “ICT – Information and Communication Technologies” program, one of the most competitive and at the same time the largest funding program in terms of budget in the 7th EU Framework Programme for research, allocated a total of 7.7 billion euros to co-finance 2,298 projects in 6,551 organizations from 120 countries during the period 2007 – 2013.
Greece has consistently maintained a high level of interest and participation in this specific program, participating with entities that are part of all stages of the ICT value chain in the private and broader public sectors: Academic Institutions, Research Institutes, Industry, Businesses, Collective Bodies.
Funding for ICT research supported innovation and competitiveness across a wide range of scientific disciplines. Greek participation in 591 projects, i.e. 25.7% of the total projects funded, was particularly significant and contributed to this direction. The average success rate for proposals with Greek participation was 13.2%, placing Greece in 12th place among the 28 EU Member States.
The total budget of the Greek organizations participating in these projects is 446.78 million euros and the Community funding is 330.42 million euros, an amount corresponding to 4.3% of the total EU funding. It is noted that the Greek participation has been at the level of 4.2% over time, since the 6th Framework Programme.
The three main thematic axes that attracted the interest of Greeks were: a) Open and secure network and service infrastructures (100.2 million euros), b) ICT for Health, Aging, Integration and Governance (54.8 million euros), c) ICT for Alternative Pathways for Components and Systems (41.3 million euros).
Community funding was mainly directed to research centers and universities, which in total absorbed 75.6% of the funding, in contrast to the European average (56.8%). Nevertheless, the participation of Greek private entities in the approved projects reaches 32.6% of the number of Greek participations. It is worth noting that despite the proportionally lower absorption of funds by the private sector (23.9%), the participation of small and medium-sized enterprises increased significantly and absorbed 15.4% of the total budget of the approved projects, fluctuating within the European average.
Regarding the geographical dimension, the largest percentage of funding (57.12%) was absorbed by the Region of Attica, 18.52% by the Region of Central Macedonia, 12.96% by the Region of Crete and 6.68% by the Region of Western Greece.
The participation of Greek organizations in the above framework of the ICT program has contributed significantly to:
Networking of Greek institutions with pioneering organizations inside and outside Europe,
Access to new tools, methods and models related to new technologies,
Funding of Greek research, upgrading of research infrastructures, training of the country's research potential,
Creation of new jobs,
Exploitation of research results with the aim of development.
The success of the ICT program in FP7 was the main reason for the expanded funding of Information & Communication Technologies with an integrated and complementary approach, through all the funding pillars of Horizon 2020, which is the new EU funding program for research and innovation for the period 2014-2020.
The study “Greece's participation in the FP7-ICT Programme, Information & Communication Technologies, 7th Framework Programme 2007-2013” is part of the series of publications (Intelligence Reports) of the National Documentation Centre with reliable data and indicators resulting from its actions as the National Contact Point for the 7th FP. It responds, moreover, to its institutional role for the collection, organization and distribution of scientific information and content and the visualization with indicators of Greek scientific and research activity (https://metrics.ekt.gr).
The study is based on data collected by the National Documentation Centre in the context of its operation as National Contact Point for the ICT programme in the 7th Framework Programme for EU research, as well as on European Commission documents and data from the Community service CORDIS and the e-CORDA database. The contribution of Greek organisations participating in projects was particularly important.
It is noted that the National Documentation Centre operates as the National Contact Point for the new ICT programme in Horizon 2020, which is the new funding framework for research and innovation in the EU for the period 2014-2020. EKT supports the Greek academic, research and business community in its participation in Horizon 2020 (https://www.ekt.gr/horizon2020). Covering all stages of research projects, from proposal preparation to implementation and exploitation of research results, EKT's services include: Information and Advisory Services, Operation of a Support Office, Development and Distribution of information material, Organization of events and seminars, Finding partners for the formation of consortia and joint submission of proposals, Recording of national participation and publication of statistics and performance indicators.
Internet addresses
Publication “Greece's participation in the FP7-ICT Program, Information & Communication Technologies, 7th Framework Program 2007-2013”
https://metrics.ekt.gr/el/node/171
Research-Development-Innovation Indicators
https://metrics.ekt.gr
Horizon 2020 (ESF)
https://www.ekt.gr/horizon2020
