European Funding Area: Structure and interactions of actors

Abstract

The article examines the structure and the development dynamics of actors operating within the European Funding Area (EFA), with a focus on basic research funding. Though the overwhelming part of research funding in the EFA is directed to strategic and applied research and “policy-driven”, basic research funding has received more attention during the past couple of decades, which has led to a number of changes in funding instruments, subsidy source structure, and recipient institutions. These changes are of interest in the research. It describes groups of actors involved in basic research funding and analyzes their dynamics to understand the extent to which these groups can overcome the fragmentation of the European funding landscape while continuing to support national funding systems. For a detailed study of the current “actor matrix”, the authors propose to consider them within a model that focuses on the relationship between the national funding agencies, the European Commission, and the European Research Council. The funding system in the European Union is more complex than in most nation states as it entails horizontal and vertical relationships between funding agencies. The challenge is not only to find a “modus vivendi” in order to combine financial flows, but also to overcome considerable transaction costs associated with the process of harmonization and functional division of labor.

Keywords

• european research area
• european research council
• european science foundation
• european funding area
• basic research