EEA and Norway Grants 2004-2009: Evaluation of funding to the academic research sector

Evaluation of the EEA and Norway Grants funding to academic research in the 2004-2009 funding period. The evaluation was conducted by COWI and published in November 2011. 

Main findings: 

• All funded projects met their immediate objectives and outputs.
• The Grants provided a relevant and significant source of funding - complementing wider EU funding schemes, and regarded as more flexible when compared to national funding opportunities.
• The evaluation pointed to the benefits yielded from enhanced cooperation, underlining that ‘the need to strengthen bilateral relations is particularly relevant to research communities.” However, ensuring the sustainability of partnerships proved challenging.
• The administrative procedures were seen by most stakeholders as being too long.
• Donor country partners had specific challenges (unfamiliar setup, often relatively small stake and the scope of the research project is sometimes ill-suited to strategic objectives of the donor partner itself.)
• The sustainability of the EEA and Norway Grants supported activities are satisfactorily addressed through the institutionalisation of results, dissemination through publications and to some extent, as impact on policy.