The economics of creative research Research can drive economic development, but only if it is shielded from political whims and capitalist ideas - Ivan Couée, 17 juillet 2014

In these times of economic crisis and austerity, the public funding of scientific research has come under the spotlight. Whilst there is acceptance of the general value of scientific research itself, govern- ments and funding agencies are increas- ingly interested in the performance and cost efficiency of specific research institutes, projects, teams and individuals. To make these ‘value-for-money’ assessments, many countries rely on agencies and define cri- teria to evaluate research and carry out academic benchmarking—for example, the Research Assessment Exercise and the future Excellence Research Framework in the UK, the Wissenschaftsrat and Akkreditierungsrat in Germany, the National Institution for Academic Degrees and University Education in Japan and the Agence d’Evaluation de la Recherche et de l’Enseignement Supérieur in France, which are organized in international networks, such as the European Network for Quality Assurance in Higher Education. These organizations often have common procedures and standards, such as applying economic principles of quality assurance to research and its institutions. Their wide- ranging evaluation of scientific research by panels of experts aims to create qualita- tive and quantitative measures for research output, influence, organization, education and strategy.

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I. Couée