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Luxembourg National Research Fund

IMPACT assessment of FNR major funding schemes

The FNR commissioned ‘Interface Policy studies Research Consulting’ from Switzerland to evaluate the impact of FNR’s four major funding schemes: the project funding programmes CORE and INTER (in the fields of materials and physical sciences) and the strategic funding instruments ATTRACT and PEARL.

The main objective was to evaluate and compare the impact of the four programmes in terms of scientific impact and recognition, training impact, and socio-economic impact and dissemination.

The evaluation, which was conducted during 2016, was based on an analysis of documents and data, interviews, and online surveys. The programmes were additionally subjected to a national and international benchmark.

Key findings and conclusions:

–     The four funding schemes rely on appropriate and sensible funding concepts and should be continued.

–     The four funding schemes show high impact. They are especially important with regard to scientific output and recognition, visibility, and scientific independence.

–     Overarching objectives of the four funding programmes have been achieved, in particular in terms of building research capacity and increasing the visibility of Luxembourg as an attractive research location.

Several recommendations for further improvement of the four funding schemes and the communication of the processes have been elaborated. The FNR will discuss the findings and recommendations in the framework of the development of its new multi-annual contract with the Government 2018-2021.

The results of the evaluation are available in the reports below.

Reports