BGI Consulting carried out a study on the cooperation of the Republic of Lithuania (Lithuania) and the Swiss Confederation (Switzerland) in scientific research and development field (R&D) commissioned by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Lithuania.
The study encompassed the analysis of the cooperation of Lithuania and Switzerland that took place in 2010-2016 during the implementation of Lithuanian-Swiss Cooperation Programme ‘Research and Development’ (Programme) and the cooperation of Lithuanian and Swiss public research and higher education institutions that took place during the same time period in forms not related to the Programme (e.g. by implementing bilateral/multilateral cooperation agreements, carrying out joint research projects funded by other programmes such as EUREKA, EUROSTAS, FP7, Horizon 2020, COST, taking part in the activities organized by international cooperation networks).
The main aim of the evaluation of cooperation of Lithuania and Switzerland during the implementation of the Programme was to assess the extent to which the results of the Programme have contributed to the attainment of the main goal of the Programme, the input of the Programme in establishing new cooperative relations among Lithuanian and Swiss scientists, to mark out the issues that have emerged during the implementation of Programme projects and the measures that were employed to resolve them, to evaluate the prospects of continuing the cooperation after the termination of the Programme activities and the input of the Programme in implementing horizontal priorities.
The main aim of the evaluation of cooperation of Lithuanian and Swiss research and higher education institutions in forms not related to the Programme was to assess the extent of cooperation among Lithuanian and Swiss scientists, to mark out the main spheres of interest for cooperation as well as the most popular forms of cooperation, the kind of problems and issues related to cooperation that were encountered.
Various research methods were employed to carry out the evaluation – internet and phone based surveys of Programme project beneficiaries, Programme project partners and representatives of Lithuanian research and higher education institutions, semi-structured interviews, analysis of international R&D programmes’ databases, scientific publications published as a result of Programmes’ activities, final project implementation reports, other available information.