Monitoring strategic priorities in Research and Innovation: the Sea as a case study

The National Strategy for Research and Innovation for Smart Specialization (ENEI) is one of the pillars of Portugal 2020—the Partnership Agreement between Portugal and the European Commission for the use of Structural Funds in the 2014–2020 Programming Framework. In effect, it is the 15 priority areas defined in the ENEI that will underpin R&I and funding policy decisions over the next five years.

The FCT coordinates the working group created to identify scientific production indicators that will enable the monitoring of the evolution of strategic priorities throughout the lifetime of ENEI. The aim of this project is to create a robust policy and management tool that can be used to inform R&I policy decisions in both the short and medium term.

The working group aims to coordinate and maximize efforts and knowledge by bringing together technicians, managers, and researchers from the FCT's Office of Studies and Strategy, the Directorate-General for Education and Science Statistics (DGEEC), the Directorate-General for Maritime Policy (DGPM), the Higher Institute of Sciences (ISCSP) of the University of Lisbon, and the Institut Francilien Recherche Innovation Societé (IFRIS) in France.

Due to the complexity of the subject matter—which encompasses several dimensions (knowledge, innovation, economy)—the team decided to begin by analyzing a single dimension, from which to extract indicators. The dimension of knowledge production was chosen. Next, in order to develop and refine the methodological approach, they selected the area of the marine economy for a pilot case study, from which they will be able to extrapolate the methodology to other priority areas of ENEI. Some of the questions the group is seeking answers to are: What are the main national knowledge clusters in Marine Sciences? Who are the main actors? How do they collaborate with each other and internationally?

The team compiled preliminary maps of Marine Science clusters in Portugal, based on co-occurrences of keywords collected from experts in the field of marine/ocean sciences(e.g., coastal areas, deep sea, offshore, seabed), as well as co-occurrences of topics, cities, and institutions. These initial results were presented to researchers from the main national marine science research centers for comment and validation at a workshop held in July. The researchers welcomed the work being done, recognizing its value in creating a solid scientific basis for future decisions in terms of science policy. The various proposals for new keywords to be included in the database search were welcomed by the project team for their potential to refine the search and thus better describe the landscape of marine science clusters in the country.