The EC contract for PRIME was extended until September 2009 to enable the network to have a full 5th year for its training and dissemination activities, as well as to prepare for the future. The page highlights the main events that have taken place to materialise these objectives.

2009 PRIME STIP course (Manchester, April 20-24)
It was an ambition of PRIME to test whether a professional course addressing the on-going challenges of Science, technology and Innovation Policies and presenting to professionals the state of the art in research on this topic would raise enough interest for professionals to mobilise one week of their time. Organised in 9 half-day sessions it enabled the 16 professionals that participated to take hold and discuss on-going developments associated with multi-level policy-making (with one session on regional policies and one panel discussion on European perspectives), with on-going changes on innovation processes (globalisation and open innovation) and with the changing role of universities. It enabled them to reflect on new instruments (with one session on demand-driven policies and one session on start-up firms) and on tools for framing policies (evaluation, foresight and indicators). Finally, a conference by Nobel prize winner Prof Mohan Munasinghe introduced them to sustainable development challenges and drove them to discuss the evolving role of research and innovation policies in such a context.

2009 SUN PhD summer workshop (Paris, July 6-7)
SUN was one central research activity developed by PRIME on the governance of universities in Europe (link to the book). This project was illustrative of PRIME approach organising a strong linkage between research and doctoral training. Eight doctoral students participated to the project studying different aspects of the governance of universities and regularly met within the frame of the project. This workshop was specifically designed for the doctoral researchers to present and discuss their work.

2009 PRIME Doctoral conference (Manchester, June 29-July 2)
We had a very productive doctoral conference in Manchester end of June gathering 32 doctoral students from 13 countries and 19 different institutions. This enabled them to discuss their own work but also reflect inter alia on the role that research and innovation policies can play to address the present crisis (presentation by prof Luke Georghiou) and on the future of our community (presentation by prof Ben Martin).

2009 summer school on indicators (Amsterdam, September 1-4)
Beginning of September, the last prime supported summer school took place in Amsterdam dealing with indicators. This followed the previous one held in Rome in 2007, and we are pleased to announce that the next one will take place in 2011 being now hosted by the new international association of indicator designers (see below).

2009 FUTURIS conference, supported by PRIME and DIME (Paris, April 1st)
The conference was focused on public support to industrial innovation, discussing the relevance, effectiveness and perspectives of the different approaches and instruments. Over 130 persons (mostly from the industrial world) participated to the 4 sessions of the day. W. Polt (Joanneum Research and PRIME) introduced the session on balancing targeted and generic supports, Dominique Foray (EPFL and DIME) introduced the session of building a friendly innovation ecosystem, Jakob Edler (University of Manchester and PRIME) introduced the session on the role of procurement policies while Patrick Cohendet (ULP and DIME) focused on the role of policies in enhancing competences and capabilities. Luke Georgiou (University of Manchester and PRIME) was in charge of proposing overall conclusions. All the presentations and a synthesis of the debates can be found on the website of Futuris.

2009 Forum on indicators for programme and policy evaluation, organised at the Triple Helix Conference (Glasgow, June 18)
The forum was intended as an experiment for discussing the research agenda on a fast growing topic, indicators for programme evaluation, which has a long history and is mainly mobilised through contracts at short notice. The objective was thus to discuss the lasting issues raised by questions on outcomes, additionality and impact. Scoping papers were prepared by J. Edler and M. Nedeva (University of Manchester), B. Lepori (University of Lugano) and Emanuela Reale (CNR). Over 80 persons participated to the discussion.

EESC-PRIME forum on the future of European research networks (Brussels, 10-11 September 2009), organised by Politecnico de Milano.
The final dissemination event of PRIME was developed in partnership with the European Economic and Social Committee Lisbon Strategy Observatory, and organised by the Politecnico di Milano.
The objective was to share with policymakers some of the developments that took place within PRIME around the future of the ERA and the future of the dominant instrument used by the European Commission to foster European research, networks. Each session was organised to enable both researchers within and outside PRIME as well as policymakers to confront their views. The first day was focused on research networks per se: their design and implementation, their governance and management, and their impacts (and the difficulties associated to the measure of such impacts). It was concluded by a discussion between Prof Manfred Horvat who chaired the report of Networks of excellence and proposed a new instrument, joint research initiatives, and the coordinator of PRIME, Prof Philippe Larédo, reflecting upon the experiment undertaken. The second day was focused on key components of research and innovation policies, on which PRIME considers having produced significant results, dealing with policies supporting entrepreneurship (results introduced by Philippe Mustar and Massimo Colombo), with the role of universities (results introduced by Andrea Bonaccorsi, Paloma Sanchez and Antoine Schoen with comments by Ben Martin) and with knowledge and institutional dynamics (results introduced by Jakob Edler).

Preparing for the future (1): the official birth of the international association of indicator designers, ENID (Paris, July 2009)
During the last PRIME annual conference in Aix (December 2008), it was acted that the training, conference and workshop activities undertaken under PRIME on indicators would be maintained. And the principle of a new associated was voted. The international association of indicator designers, association ENID, has since then been registered under the French law on not-for profit organisations (associations de la loi de 1901). Its objectives are to organise a space for discussion, agenda shaping and training open to all colleagues worldwide through individual and/or institutional membership. The initial board, as voted in Aix is composed of Remi Barré (CNAM), Peter van den Besselaar (Rathenau Institute), Laurence Esterle (INSERM, treasurer), Ghislaine Filleatreau (OST), Ben Jongbloed (University of Twente), Philippe Larédo (Université Paris-Est and University of Manchester, Président), Benedetto Lepori (University of Lugano, secretary), Loet Leydesdorff (University of Amsterdam), Emanuela Reale (CNR) and Stig Slipersaeter (NIFU- STEP).
For further information on the association and for becoming member, see ENID website.
Important notice and a date on your calendar: The next international conference will be held in Paris, March 5-8, 2010.

Preparing for the future (2): Amsterdam workshop on the creation of a Eu SPRI forum
Following the discussions in Aix (December 2008) a working group was created to consider the need for a follow-up of PRIME. Numerous exchanges have taken place bilaterally beginning of 2009 which ended up in a preliminary text about the lessons learnt, the need for a partial continuation and the potential content of a new gathering. A meeting was organised in Amsterdam (September 3) which shaped the contours of what we propose to name EuSPRI forum. We agreed that we wanted to keep the emphasis on studies on policies for research and innovation. Three missions were identified to keep the dynamics of the community: next generation (focusing on training and early career activities), forward look (retaining the richness and interest of the so-called ‘initiation and review activities’ developed in PRIME) and structuring the field around a bi-annual European conference. We also agreed that such an initiative requires the direct involvement of our institutions, meaning that the forum should be a legal body and its members universities and research organisations. In order to insure its activities we are looking for an annual fee of 10 000 euros per institution and a 5-year engagement. The 2 main journals of our field (Research Policy and Science and Public Policy) support our initiative and their editors have agreed to participate in its future board.
A small working group chaired by S. Kuhlmann (University of Twente) and composed of S. Borras (CBS), C. Edquist (Lund University) and P. Laredo (Université Paris-Est and University of Manchester) is in charge of further developments.