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It is often argued that the unintended consequences of science policy transformation over the last 50 years--increased role of fixed-term project funding, evaluation and temporary contracts--are short-termism, fragmentation and limited freedom to choose research topics and collaborators. This paper focuses on a phenomenon that should be highly unlikely in this context: long-term international research collaborations lasting over 10 and 20 years which remain creative and productive. To shed light on the little studied topic of why and how long-term international research collaborations evolve, the paper develops a mid-range theory from multiple longitudinal case studies. It suggests that long-term collaborations combining formal and informal interactions operate as virtuous circles whereas earlier results ensure feedback loops and thematic and organisational continuity, but renewal is crucial. The emergent theory is built from multiple data sources and methods analysing international collaborations in the emerging field of nanosciences in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the existence and importance of financing constraints for R&D investments in large EU and US manufacturing companies over the period 2000-2007. The main results obtained by estimating error-correction equations suggest that the sensitivity of R&D investments to cash flow variations are important for European firms while US firms do not appear to be financially constrained. In terms of policy implications, these results suggest improving the conditions for access to external capital to finance R&D activities in the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transformation of public research funding systems in central and eastern Europe (CEE) represent a natural experiment whereby different funding systems have developed from relatively common heritage of the socialist system. In this introduction that builds on the three papers of this thematic issue we argue that in medium and long-term the key challenge of CEE countries' research funding systems is to achieve balance between scientific excellence (static allocative efficiency) and socioeconomic relevance (dynamic efficiency). The achievement of this trade-off is an institutional issue par excellence; it does not represent optimum but contextual fit, and is determined through interaction of macro funding rules and market structure of the research system. In order to evaluate this fit we should approach research funding as a multifaceted process composed of functional, path-dependent and political as well as learning dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The vision of a European Research Area (ERA) has encouraged proponents of basic research to propose the setting up of a European Research Council (ERC) as a correction to the national limitations of existing funding agencies and the applied nature of the European Union (EU) framework programmes. This paper examines the recent rise of the idea of an ERC, including the historical-institutional background, the positions of the most important players and the factors working for and against it becoming a reality. A distinction is drawn between radical and incremental variants of the idea, implying either a large, independent funding agency, or a lighter, co-ordinating 'agency of agencies'. Even if the radical idea of an ERC has been revitalised in the context of ERA, it still faces a difficult environment dominated by basic research organisations attached to the national level and EU institutions and interest groups wedded to applied research, as well as a divergence at European level between focused and general research organisations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]