Mapping research centers and labs in the Alpine Macroregion

Topic

Re-search Alps is a project built on the needs of the EUSALP’s Action Group 1, namely to have access to a comprehensive database of the Research and Innovation centers working within the EUSALP region in order to improve the capitalization and networking process. The project has been funded to an open call by INEA CEF-TELECOM and was granted an award due to its strategic importance in the open-data and R&I field. The idea behind Re-Search Alps capitalizes, in accordance with one of the funding principles of the EUSALP strategy, the experience and the idea behind the platform “Scan-R”, developed by the French Ministry for Higher Education, Research and Innovation (MESRI).
Re-Search Alps led to the development of an impressive database with information concerning laboratories, research centres, SMEs and start-ups operating in the R&I field and located in the 7 EUSALP Countries. The dataset is fed directly from the sources available online as open data, integrating over 20 databases in a unique one. Re-search Alps currently hosts information on 125.649 research centers and laboratories, 257.248 projects, 110.910 websites and 771.875 publications.

In the past months, Re-search Alps has achieved important recognitions at European level; since March 2019, the Re-Search Alps dataset has been implemented in the European Data Portal (www.europeandataportal.eu/data/?#/datasets/research-labs-in-the-alpine-area). Furthermore, it has been recently included within the “good practices” section of the Interreg Europe’s Policy Platform (https://www.interregeurope.eu/policylearning/good-practices/item/2197/re-search-alps-research-labs-in-the-alpine-area/).

Aim

The objective of this initiative is to create a powerful tool that can be used by policy-makers, researchers and entrepreneurs, as it offers an essential knowledge base to support the networking and technology transfer processes on EUSALP territory.

What has been achieved?

Re-search Alps platform facilitates the R&D process by forecasting:

  • What the labs do and where they are located
  • Mentioning where excellence emerge and the researchers working in a specific center
  • Representing a scheme of the existing network of relations

The project focuses on the infrastructures in support of (public, private and public-private) partnerships. The analysis highlights the characteristics of these infrastructures, referring to available resources, type of governance, involved areas of expertise, and business models. 

This project led to:

  • The definition of a set of metadata able to represent the relevant characteristics of laboratories, R&I centers
  • The creation of an open dataset describing the “labs” in the seven countries of EUSALP – focus on the 48 Regions of the Alpine area
  • The development of a semantic and multilingual web application for:
    • Querying the dataset
    • Retrieving the results in open and structured formats and
    • Visualizing geo-referenced data

Coherence with EUSALP Action Plan:

The initiative is fully in line with the EUSALP Action Plan, in particular with the objectives of the 1st thematic policy area “economic growth and innovation”. In fact, with this strategic action, which capitalizes on the existing experience brought forward within one of the Countries included in the EUSALP region (namely, the platform ScanR, developed by the French Ministry for Higher Education, Research and Innovation – MESRI), it is now possible to facilitate the knowledge process regarding the Research & Innovation Centers operating in the EUSALP region as well as improve the networking across different competence centers.

Further Information:

Re-search Alps platform is available at: app.researchalps.eu and the datased is freely downloadable and reusable through a json file.

Picture: On the left: Re-search Alps infographics. On the right: Re-search Alps recognized as Good Practice by Interreg Europe