REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT Summary Report on the Monitoring and Assessment Exercise of the Research Programme of the Research Fund for Coal and Steel
Date: 2013-11-29
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: coal, competitiveness, iron and steel industry, research programme, steel, technological change













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52013DC0845

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT Summary Report on the Monitoring and Assessment Exercise of the Research Programme of the Research Fund for Coal and Steel /* COM/2013/0845 final */









REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE
COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
Summary Report on the Monitoring and
Assessment Exercise of the Research Programme of the Research Fund for Coal and
Steel
1. Introduction
The Research Fund for Coal and Steel of the European
Commission, hereinafter RFCS, was established in 2002 to support the
competitiveness of the European Coal and Steel sectors, building on the legacy
of the expired European Coal and Steel Community Treaty. In its 11 years of activity,
the RFCS has co-funded research, pilot and demonstration projects with total funding
in the order of 600M€ (typically 55 M€ per year) granted to industries, universities
and research centres.
In accordance with Article 38 of the legal
basis of the RFCS (Council Decision 2008/376/ EC)[1], the Commission has recently
completed a Monitoring exercise of the research programme and an Assessment of
the expected benefits. An Expert Committee made of independent experts was
appointed to carry out these two tasks.
The Monitoring exercise was intended to
monitor the implementation of the programme since 2002, encompassing all
operational aspects and drawing recommendations for future improvement and
possible simplification of current procedures. The relevant report was published
in electronic format on the RFCS web site[2] in 2013 in accordance
with paragraph 1 of said Article 38.
The Assessment exercise was carried out on
completion of projects co-financed by the RFCS between 2003 and 2010 in order
to assess the qualitative and quantitative benefits to the society and to the relevant
sectors. The Assessment report with its Technical Annex was published in
electronic format on the RFCS web site2 in
2013 in accordance with paragraph 2 of said Article 38.
Following consultation with the Coal and
Steel Committee (COSCO) it was agreed that a combined Monitoring and Assessment
report shall be published in paper and electronic format. Accordingly, the final
combined report was published by the Publications Office of the European Union in
September 2013 and is currently publicly available online on the EU Bookshop
platform.[3]
2. Methodology

In order to establish the administrative and
financial framework of the Monitoring and Assessment exercise, the Commission services established in
October 2010 an internal Steering Committee chaired by Alan Haigh, Head of Unit
for RFCS. In accordance with Article 38 paragraph 3 and Article 39 of the RFCS
legal basis, and after consultation with COSCO in 2010, an Expert Committee
made of independent external experts was established in 2011 to assist the
Commission in this activity. The Expert Committee was chaired by Prof. Dr.-Ing.
Carl-Dieter Wuppermann and the other members were highly qualified experts selected
from the coal and steel sectors appointed following suggestions from the Coal
and Steel Advisory Groups (CAG and SAG).
The Expert Committee drew up a set of Terms
of Reference for both the Monitoring and Assessment exercises and established a
methodology including the formulation of a long and short questionnaire and a
series of on-site visits using highly qualified rapporteurs. The COSCO meeting
of 2011 endorsed the Terms of Reference and the overall proposed methodology. 
With the help of the chairmen and the other members
of the Technical Groups, all 198 projects closed between 2003 and 2010 were
analysed with the aim to obtain an overview of the main achievements. A sub-set
of 78 projects were identified as the ones promising potential for
quantification of benefits. Of these, in-depth analysis was carried out for 46
projects including technical visits and completion of a long questionnaire (details
of these assessments are presented in the annex to the Assessment Report).
Finally, a subset of 23 projects was considered for quantification of actual
and potential benefits at the level of the beneficiary and sector,
respectively.
The preliminary results of the exercise were
presented to the COSCO meetings of 2012 and 2013. A conference was held in Luxembourg on 19 and 20 September 2012 in order to present the findings of the Monitoring
Report to a wider audience and to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the
first call for proposals of the RFCS programme.
3. Main
findings of the Monitoring Exercise
The main recommendation of the Monitoring
exercise was to maintain the general approach adopted since the creation of the
Research Fund for Coal and Steel in 2002 and revised in 2008. More specifically,
the programme should:
·                        
Keep the research programme as an industry-oriented
sectorial programme and keep the research objectives unchanged, as they are
considered of high relevance for the European coal and steel industry and
suitable for the future trends in both sectors.
·                        
Maintain the current main processes for implementation,
such as the rules for allocation of budget to the sectors, the share of allowable
actions (research projects, pilot and demonstration projects, accompanying
measures) and the participation rules. The practice that non-EU partners can
take part in projects but cannot receive funding should be maintained.
At the same time, enhancement of specific
aspects was also suggested with the aim of improving the current RFCS practice.
Amongst the recommendations were: a possible better harmonization of the technical
sub-fields of the programme (Technical Groups), the improvement of the criteria
used for the evaluation of submitted proposals, a more extensive use of
electronic tools (e.g., for submission and remote evaluation of proposals), the
strengthening of dissemination actions both during the lifetime of projects and
after the production of the final report, the encouraging of pilot and
demonstration projects. Overall, these recommendations do not anticipate any fundamental
modification in the nature, scope and general approach of this research
programme. 
In response to these recommendations,
specific actions were undertaken including:
·                        
The full introduction in 2013 of an electronic submission
system of proposals allowing remote reading and first assesment by independent external
experts. The system used is compatible with the Horizon 2020 electronic submission
tools, hence increasing the synergies between RFCS and Framework Programme
implimentation.
·                        
A review of the evaluation criteria carried out
with the assistance of the Coal and Steel Advisory Groups (CAG and SAG). This led
to an improved set of evaluation criteria for Research, Pilot and Demonstration
projects which is already in use for the 2013 evaluation exercise.
·                        
A review of the scope and of the evaluation
criteria for the Accompanying Measures action of the programme, with a view to
enhancing the dissemination and impact of project results. A draft proposal is
in the agenda of the forthcoming meetings of the advisory groups.
·                        
A draft proposal to harmonize scope and size of
some critical technical groups is currently being discussed among advisory
group members, TG members, The European Steel Technology Platform (ESTEP) and the
Commission services.
4. Main
findings of the Assessment Exercise
The
Assessment exercise identified both qualitative and quantitative benefits
arising from completed projects co-funded by the RFCS.
4.1 Qualitative benefits
The
results of more than 500 questionnaires, which were answered by a very high
percentage of correspondents, indicated the main qualitative benefits perceived
by stakeholders. In addition, all 198 projects completed between 2003 and 2010
were analysed by technical experts with the aim to obtain an overview of the
main achievements.
First, the nature of the main outcomes of the
projects was determined (Figure 1). It was found that projects generate
achievements in terms of increased knowledge and, to a smaller extent, they
generate recommendations, new processes and practices, numerical models, new
solutions and products and measuring devices.
Figure 1.
Nature of project outcomes versus percentage of projects analysed.
Then, the qualitative benefits generated by these outcomes were
identified as follows.
Benefits for the beneficiaries
and the sectors:
·                        
New knowledge gained and opportunities for networking
of experts covering both industry and academia, training and education. 
·                        
Financial returns and other economic benefits, which
effectively contribute to the economic sustainability and competitiveness of
the related industry. 
·                        
Development of new processes, new solutions and
new products, indicating the impact of the RFCS on the development of
innovation and its deployment in industrial practice. Follow-up investment are
recommended in order to further improve the exploitation of results through the
sectors.
Benefits for the society:
·                        
Beside the increase of knowledge, the RFCS
projects are considered as strongly enhancing the competitiveness of Europe through new and sustainable technologies, products and solutions. 
·                        
Other benefits for the society come from improvements
in health, safety and working conditions and from the reduction of the
environmental footprint of the coal and steel industry. 
In all cases, an efficient dissemination of
results is a key factor for harvesting the potential benefits and to boost the
development of knowledge beyond just the Coal and Steel sectors (other industrial
sectors, customers, SMEs, academia and research centres, citizens, etc.).
4.2 Quantitative benefits
The assessment of the main quantitative
benefits was carried out for 23 completed projects or clusters of projects,
co-funded by the RFCS with 31 M€ and selected as the ones delivering the most
direct and non-ambiguous financial benefits for the beneficiaries (other
projects also showed benefits but these were more difficult to quantify). The
financial benefits considered in the analysis consisted in increased
productivity, new or improved marked shares and cost reduction and did not take
into account the additional cost that had to be incurred by the companies to
capture those benefits (a full cost/benefit analysis was out of the scope of the
Assessment exercise).
The actual benefits at the level of the
beneficiaries involved was estimated to be nearly 103 M€ per year. This figure has
been fully endorsed by the industrial partners of the projects and shows that, on
average for those 23 projects, 1 € of RFCS co-funding resulted in financial benefits
of 3.3 € per year.
The report also describes a simplified model
by which accumulated benefits could be assessed over a reasonable time span.
According to this model, and still taking the 23 selected projects as
reference, the total accumulated benefits for the project partners have been
estimated in the order of 400 M€. Although this figure is a projection and does
not consider investments, it is indicative of the potentiality of projects to
generate large benefits over time.
Finally, based on conservative assumptions
made by the Expert Committee, an estimation was made of the potential total benefits
that could be generated if the results of the selected 23 projects would be
extended to all relevant industrial contexts in the European coal and steel sectors.
In this case it was estimated that the overall annual potential benefits would
amount to 684 M€/y in the different production areas, as shown in Figure 2.
Compared to the RFCS typical annual budget of 55 M€/y, this corresponds to a
potential multiplying effect of 12.4 euros of benefits for each euro spent by
RFCS, reflecting well on this research programme as an instrument able to deliver
innovation and competitiveness to the European coal and steel sectors as a
whole rather than just to individual beneficiaries.
Figure 2.
Potential benefit of 684 M€/y from an annual RFCS funding of 55 M€/y for different
production areas for the coal and steel sectors 
The reports of the Monitoring and Assessment
exercise of the RFCS programme indicate that this programme is a unique and
effective instrument in supporting the competitiveness of the European Coal and
Steel industry. 
5. Conclusions
Main outcomes can be summarized as follows.
·                        
The programme does not require fundamental
changes; its industry-oriented nature and main operating rules should be
maintained.
·                        
Qualitative benefits have been identified for
the beneficiaries, for the coal and steel sectors and for the society and
mainly consist in new knowledge, new processes and products, financial returns
and improved working conditions.
·                        
Quantitative benefits have been estimated in detail
for 23 selected projects, showing that every euro used as RFCS co-funding has
resulted in 3.3 €/y of financial benefits for the beneficiaries.
·                        
Projections across the coal and steel sectors
showed the huge potential for exploitation of the technical and scientific
achievements of RFCS projects. They indicated that, if widely applied at
European scale, these achievements could lead to financial benefits of 684
M€/y. Considering a typical annual RFCS budget of approximately 55 M€/y, this
corresponds to a potential multiplying factor of 12.4.
From this analysis, the Research Fund for
Coal and Steel appears fully in line with its mandate defined by Article 2 of
the RFCS legal basis on the adoption of the Research Programme for the RFCS (Council
Decision 2008/376/ EC), which shall be an instrument to “support the
competitiveness of the Community sectors related to the coal and steel industry”,
delivering innovation and therefore “complementing the activities carried
out in the Member States and within the existing Community research programmes”
such as FP7 and the forthcoming Horizon 2020.
[1]               Official Journal of the European Union, 20 May 2008,
ref. OJ L130.
[2]               http://cordis.europa.eu/coal-steel-rtd/home_en.html
[3]               Monitoring&Assessment Report of the Research
Programme for the Research Fund for Coal and Steel. European Commission, DG
Research and Innovation. © European Union 2013. ISBN 978-92-79-29742-7, URL http://dx.doi.org/10.2777/11062.