The added value of the European Map of Excellence and Specialization (EMES) for R&I policy making

This study examines the feasibility of constructing a European Map of Excellence and Specialization (EMES). The term 'Map of Excellence and Specialization' refers to a geographical information system that combines and georeferences information from various sources at different geographic scales and provides indicators intended for policy use. The study explores also the policy implications of using such a Map of Excellence and Specialization. However, drawing an EMES entails many challenges: Actors in the European S&T field are heterogeneous, their output is composite, the location of their activities is not fully disclosed, and so on. The main criteria to assess the successful implementation of the EMES have been identified in: Availability of data on publications; Standardization, openness and interoperability with other sources of data available; Compliance with state of the art data quality techniques; Continuity; Extensions and scalability; Expertise in the access and analysis of publicly available data; Interactivity and usability; Existence of concordance tables among different subject classifications.