In early 2008, the European Commission assembled an Expert Group of 13 academics to rethink how the EU funds research and, in particular, "to undertake an evidence-based, ex-post evaluation of FP6." As group chairman, it appointed Ernst Th. Rietschel, President of the Leibniz Association and Professor Emeritus at the University of Lübeck. The group met six times between July 2008 and January 2009, and in February submitted its final report, Evaluation Of The Sixth Framework Programmes For Research And Technological Development 2002-2006, February 2009.
From recommendation 5.2.3 (p. 60):
...The public accountability of the FP [Framework Programme] must be increased – not through audit control, but through clear procedures and access to information at all stages and, where appropriate, through open access to the research results obtained through the FP funding....
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
