ESA Space Economy – Partnering with CERN to share best practices in measuring the impacts of large research infrastructures on society [Jul/2024]
ESA Space Economy team has been
cooperating with the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) since
2019.
In June 2019, a first
ever workshop on the “Economics of Big Science” was held in Brussels during
the Future Circular Collider Week (FCC Week) organised by CERN. The purpose of
the meeting was to exchange with various stakeholders on the role of public
investments made in research infrastructures and Big Science projects for
economic development, as well as reviewing the ways to assess their impact
beyond their core scientific mission. The meeting also held the objective to
create a forum for exchanging best practices on impact assessment of large
research infrastructures. The workshop led to a joint
publication: The Economics of Big Science as a Science Policy Report of
Springer in 2020. The document collected the proceedings (including from ESA)
of the workshop held in Brussels.
A second major publication Big
Science in the 21st Century was released in December 2023 by the Institute
of Physics (IOP) Publishing. Published in the format of an eBook, the document
provides a comprehensive exploration of
the impact of Big Science on our society and the new perspectives it opens on
evaluating its societal benefits.
In May 2023, a second
“Economics of Big Science” workshop was held in Paris (hosted at ESA
Headquarters) organised by CERN, ESA and the European Intergovernmental
Research Organisation forum (EIROforum). The proceedings of the workshop will
be published in 2024.
ESA Space Economy team
cooperation with CERN has been a unique partnership to discuss a multifaceted
view on the role that Big Science plays in society, allowing an
interdisciplinary dialogue between economists, scientists, policymakers,
researchers and industry to highlight the complex role that science plays today
and exploring how to measure its impacts.
To know more about the work of ESA Space Economy team partnership with CERN, please do not hesitate to contact us!