Research Fund for Coal and Steel monitoring and assessment report

The second report on the seven-year monitoring and assessment of the Research Fund for Coal and Steel (RFCS) programme analyses the benefits delivered by the RFCS projects between 2011 and 2017. It is the outcome of the work of the High-Level Expert Group according to the RFCS legal basis (Council Decision 2008/376/EC, Art. 38).

This report encompasses a qualitative evaluation and quantification of the benefits triggered by the RFCS programme as well as its development over the period analysed. It sheds light on the progress achieved by the RFCS programme as well as on the next challenges and research trends upon which the programme may focus in the coming years.

This publication also demonstrates that fundamental research leading towards breakthrough technological innovations is pivotal to face challenges as decarbonisation and the shift towards a circular climate neutral economy, globalisation and digitization.

The RFCS goal is to continue protecting our natural environment, improving people’s health and well-being while strengthening European industrial competitiveness, for the benefit of all people in Europe.