The objective of this study is to enable relevant policy makers to gain access to a richer and more complete set of information that would contribute to their policy making operations. This will be achieved through four tasks:
- Design of a methodology for tracking research results
- Setting up a repository of data sources and collection of data
- Analysis of and reporting on the collected data
- Training of Commission staff
The scope includes the projects funded under FP7 Cooperation Specific Programme, covering approximately 8000 projects, covering 5 types of instruments and 10 thematic areas. This tracking will be done through 14 indicators including output, outcome, impact and other indicators. The project is the first comprehensive effort which aims to analyse the long-term results and impacts of a research programme using big data approaches. To date, PPMI researchers together with project partners have identified and started tracking a pool of around 200,000 researchers who were involved in FP7 projects. EC's administrative and monitoring data were linked to multiple other databases, including GRID data, EMA data on human medicinal products, Crunchbase, PASTAT, Orbis (for companies); as well as OpenAIRE, CrossRef, Microsoft Academic Graph, DOIboost, Wikidata and multiple other sources for individual researchers. The project also makes use of unstructured online data obtained from company websites, scientific conferences, news/media sites, social media, policy reports and many other sources.