Workshop on Data4Impact Methodology and Indicators

Recent economic and societal developments created a strong demand for additional evidence for the performance of the research and innovation (R&I) systems, and the societal impact they bring. However, this increased demand is not being met by current R&I indicators, as data collection typically stops at the end of research funding, while most results and impacts materialise in the medium- and long-term of the R&I lifecycle.

Data4Impact addresses this problem by capitalising on the latest technological developments in big data technologies and analytics (Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning) in order to provide better R&I monitoring and impact assessment. Combining data from different sources and applying our methodology on publicly-funded health research in EU member states, we have developed a set of indicators aimed at examining the academic, economic and overall societal impact of such activities.

To the best of our knowledge, Data4Impact is the first research project to track the results and impacts of R&I activities after the end of research funding. It is also the first project which attempts to establish links between EU research activities and health innovations and products which are currently on the market.

Our end-product will be an open, data and visualisation tool that can be used to:

1. identify and monitor the direct links between research activities and the resulting technological innovations and impact, and

2. examine the evolution of different health-related topics over time as outcomes of research and technology, and with regard to the public interest.

The project team organised a workshop on Data4Impact methodology and indicators on 24 June 2019 at the premises of the Research Executive Agency in Brussels. The goal of this hands-on, interactive workshop was to gather feedback on the chosen methodology, coverage and latency/timeliness of the developed indicators, to maximise the relevance for all stakeholders involved (particularly for funding agencies and policymakers).

We are happy to share the workshop report as well as the Data4Impact booklet which demonstrates the key project results and indicators.

CONTACT:
For further information and questions, please contact Sonata Brokeviciute at .