Study to evaluate the ERA policy framework and ERA monitoring mechanism (2022)

The European Research Area (ERA) aims to harmonise the framework conditions for R&I in Europe, and builds on both national and EU level measures on a voluntary basis. To achieve these goals, the ERA Roadmap 2015-2020 set out a framework for implementing the ERA in a more structured way that aimed to strengthen the contribution of national measures to ERA implementation (recognising the crucial role already played by EU measures). Within the ERA Roadmap, the National Action Plans (NAPs) played an important role in setting out the contribution of the Member States and other ERA-participant countries to the ERA. Additionally, the European Research Area and Innovation Committee (ERAC) provided technical inputs to facilitate ERA implementation across the 6 thematic ERA priorities defined in 2012 and incorporated into the ERA Roadmap. The study reviewed ERA governance arrangements in 2015-2020 as well as the monitoring and indicator system. In the context of the revitalised ERA Communication of September 2020, and subsequent Council Conclusions to further elaborate the approach to the new ERA, an assessment was carried out of the new proposed approach to governance arrangements and a new proposed monitoring and indicator system in the form of an ERA Scoreboard and broader performance monitoring framework was developed. This aimed to incorporate the lessons learned to date and reflect the additional EU level priorities to ensure a renewed joint undertaking based on a multi-level governance and partnership-based model. The study presents a set of recommendations for the future. (from the executive summary of the study)