Cost-Benefit Analysis in the Research Development and Innovation Sector

The research project aimed at developing and testing a model for evaluating Big Science. The developed model will enable funding agencies to assess the potential future net social benefits generated by a research infrastructure and the uncertainty and risks associated to it.

The project built on the international practice and produced a cost/benefit analysis (CBA) model for decision making able to assess the potential future net social benefits generated by a research infrastructure and the uncertainty and risks associated to them.

The analytical framework will adapt the standard CBA model to the specificities of research infrastructures, which pose a number of methodological challenges, namely:

• Intangible nature of benefits
• Long time span of benefits to occur
• Uncertainty and risk
• Spillovers and externalities

The project has been financed by the European Investment Bank Institute (EIB Institute) in the frame of its EIB University Research Sponsorship Programme (EIBURS), which provides grants to EU University Research Centres working on research topics and themes of major interest to the Bank.