ERINA+ · Socio-Economic Impact Assessment for e-Infrastructures Research Projects

E-Infrastructures initiatives have a great innovation potential toward the ERA and the society at large. This is one the main results of the ERINA study, also cited in the official communication to the European Parliament ICT Infrastructures for e-Science", issued by the EC in April 2009. However, many projects are still not aware of the opportunity of self-assessing the potential impact of their actions, and, more important, have no instruments to do this. In the present times, when the economic crisis and the pressure from developing countries are pushing for critical budgetary decisions, policy-makers need to have concrete instruments to concentrate economic efforts and maximise their investments.With this respect, the EC and the e-Infrastructures and Geant Unit, in particular, have issued and awarded several tenders on Impact analysis. However, the ERINA+ Consortium believes that there is urgency to target also all the e-Infrastructures initiatives through a support service complementing the scientific quality of the activities. The proposed service will provide a quantitative method for assessing projects' impact, addressing 20 projects, throughout their duration. This will be achieved through a wide outreach strategy including focus groups, workshops and a final conference, leading to the production of a final recommendations White Paper.The ERINA+ initiative is proposed by a well balanced consortium bringing together the expertise of a leading research and industrial organisation, the know-how of an internationally renowned research institute, and two innovative SMEs providing in-depth analysis and studies related to the socio-economic impact of ICT research and investments."