1. The RCN’s advisory role
Stig Slipersæter and Randi Søgnen

2. The Research Council of Norway – central tasks
Research funding
Support basic and applied research
Implement and support research on national thematic priorities
support all science & technology fields
Support private R&D
Adviser to the government
Arenas for dialogue, networking and dissemination
Internationalisation

3. The research and innovation system

4. The RCNs advisory role To whom? How?
Governmental authorities
Research actors
Business sectors
How?
Through various products of advice, often based on broad prosesses of consensus-building, networking and negotiations
What?
Examples of pieces of advice:
The RCN budget proposals
Input to White papers
RCN’s policies and strategies
Input to the Long-term plan for research and higher education (2015 – 2019)

5. Long-term plan for research and higher education (2015-2024)
Oceans
Environment and energy
Public services
Enabling technologies
A competitive industry
Excellence in research
Marint
Miljøvennlig energi
Fornyelse i offentlig sektor
IKT
Næringsliv i bredden
Fagmiljøer og talenter
Maritimt
Klimasystem og tilpasning
Velferd-, helse- og omsorgstjenester
Bio- og Nanoteknologi
Kommersialisering
Forskningsinfrastruktur
Petroleum
Miljø og samfunn
Utdanning og læring
Avanserte prod. prosesser
Nærings- og samfunnsutfordringer
Internasjonalisering

6. Science advice and credibility
The advisory role must be exercised with the trust – of
Government authorities
HEIs/institute sector
The business sector
… our main target groups
And the trust is fundamental for the legitimacy and credibility of our advice function
And the credibility is mainly (but not only) based on a well developed knowledge base/strategic intelligence

7. Elements in the knowledge base
… building strategic intelligence through three main elements:
analyzing past behaviour (evaluations)
reviewing research/technological options for
the future (foresight)
assessing the result and effects of the investments (effect studies)

8. Sources for improving the knowledge base
statistics and indicators
evaluations, monitoring, foresight studies
other kinds of analyses, ad-hoc studies, etc.
through research programmes (FORINNPOL)
through (learning)arenas for dialogue, co-operation, discussions/debate

9. Focus on two sources of strategic intelligence in the RCN
Evaluations
Statistics and indicators

10. Research Evaluation in RCN
RCN’s evaluations shall enhance the quality, efficiency and relevance of the research sector
The evaluations activities shall:
facilitate RCNs funding allocation
support the RCNs advisory role towards the Norwegian government, ministries and the research community/research institutions
inform STI policy debate

11. RCN’s evaluation activities
Subject-specific evaluations/discipline evaluations
Evaluations of the reserach institutes
Evaluations of funding instruments, programmes or other council activities
Research based evaluation of policy reforms
Foresight exercises

12. A shift in RCNs evaluation orientation/activities
More weight on prioritizing evaluations with regard to the need and expected usefulness
Emphasis on following up main findings in evaluations
Emphasis on RCN’s own activities to develop further our funding instruments
More weigth on impact assessments

13. Statistics and indicators for advice
Stig Slipersæter

14. RCN involvement in statistics and indicators
National responsibility for statistics on R&D and innovation delegated from government
Commission external projects and studies
In-house statistics and analyses
Participation in international activities, e.g.
OECD EU
Science Europe,
TAFTIE – The European Network of Innovation Agencies
Other bi- and multilateral collaborations

15. RCN national responsibilities
Commission national R&D and innovation statistics
National statistics based on OECD framework
Covers HEI, research institutes, hospitals and business sector
Annual or bi-annual data collection
Carried out by independent agencies NIFU and Statistics Norway
RCN responsibility
Provide funding
Quality assessment and reporting to government
Further development of statistics and indicators according to need

16. Report on Science & Technology Indicators for Norway
Annual edition, published by RCN
As a book (240 pages)
Part of RCN website
Editorial board
Contents:
Presentation of national R&D and innovation statistics
International comparisons (data from OECD and Eurostat)
Indicators on higher education, patents, bibliometrics, collaboration, EU FP participation etc
Short commentaries

17. From Norway in the world …
… to the regions of Norway

18. Commissioned reports, example bibliometrics
Strengths and weaknesses of the national R&D system
Publication patterns
Citations
International comparisons
Background information for evaluations
Strategic advise and new instruments
Emerging fields
Collaboration patterns
Bibliometrics used in evaluations

19. In-house data and analysis
RCN funding by industrial sector
Data collected through electronic handling of proposals, proposal evaluations, contracts, and reports
All funded projects tagged according to a set of dimensions, e.g.
RCN instruments
Disciplines, technologies and thematic focus
Government policy priorities
Types of research (basic, applied etc)
Data on the project (who, cooperates with whom, where, amounts of funding etc)
E.g. institutions, business sectors, regions, countries of international cooperation

20. Monitoring Norway’s participation in H2020
Mill NOK

21. Wrapping up Statistics and indicators are fundamental for assessing:
How Norway’s research develops compared to other countries
Strengths and weaknesses overall, and in fields and thematic areas
Identifying emerging and declining fields
Development of various business sectors and regions
International funding and collaboration
RCN portfolio
Thus a central part of the knowledge base for advice
Which fields to prioritize
How to improve structure of national research and innovation system
How to increase international engagement