Impact & Evaluation

Introduction

Assessing the socio-economic impact (SEI) of ERICs is becoming a vital theme, especially interesting for the funders and other stakeholders, but also for the general public who benefit from the work ERICs and other types of RIs do. Assessing SEI, however, is not as straightforward. Learn more on the page Measuring socio-economic impact.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are widely used by private and public organisations to monitor progress towards set goals and the efficient use of resources. In recent years, there has been a growing interest among policymakers, funders, and managers of research infrastructures (RIs) to adopt them for their own use. Learn more on the page on Key Performance Indicators.

In recent years, there have been discussions within ERICs, at European and national levels, regarding the evaluation of the ERICs and in particular performance and impact. ERICs currently use a wide variety of scientific evaluation practices and processes. Learn more on the page Scientific Evaluation Practices.

Q&A

ERIC’s SEI differs between the different scientific domains and can also differ from the preparatory phase to the operational phase, depending on the purpose of the infrastructure. The ERIC’s performance can generally be defined as the result of its activities (such as collecting data) and the subsequent output (such as scientific publications). The SEI, then, would be the direct outcome and the longer-term effects of the activities and the output.

Measuring socio-economic impact

Because performance and impact are often linked, the same or similar indicators – namely KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and SEII (Socio-Economic Impact Indicators) – are often used to monitor both. Using these two indicators together might be helpful in the attempts to track the SEI from performance to impact.

Measuring socio-economic impact

Key Performance Indicators are used by ERICs for several reasons. ERICs reported using KPIs to have an internal management tool, to document improvements and developments, to have an instrument for communicating the success of the ERIC, to improve the long-term impact of the ERIC and to mitigate risks.

Key Performance Indicators

Contacts

Jimmy Andersen
Head of Innovation and Industry, European Spallation Source ERIC
jimmy.andersen (at) ess.eu