MOMO (abgeschlossen 2006)

• Commission of the European Communities
  Joint Research Centre
  Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS)

• Harald Schomburg
• Kerstin Janson
• Prof. Dr. Ulrich Teichler

• 2004 - 2006

The objective of the MOMO-project was to collect and to analyse data sources and data banks on migration flows and career paths of academics and private sector personnel in selected countries of the European Union. This implies international mobility as well as mobility within and across sectors and regions. Primarily, the project's intention was to contribute to the identification of the requirements and framework conditions for the setting-up of a permanent monitoring function of researchers' career paths and mobility flows in Europe. Therefore, priority was laid on the collection and mapping of official data sources, academic surveys, studies etc. to define methodological and methodical approaches and to identify gaps in the existing data. In a second step a SPECIFIC ANALISYS analysed mobility flows (sectoral and geographical) and trends based on the existing data. Country studies were carried out in France, Germany, UK, Italy, Spain, Norway, Sweden, Poland and Czech Republic.

Background:

It is widely known, and not just since the Lisbon Summit, that economic development in Europe is increasingly knowledge based and requires highly qualified academics and R&D personnel. Inside Europe, the different political financing on R&D and innovation as well as different working conditions and access to academic career, lead to an increasing migration of academics and R&D personnel to countries outside and inside of the European countries with more attractive conditions. This migration is meant when the political-academic debate revolves around terms such as Brain Drain, Brain Gain or Brain Circulation. Deeper understanding of the career paths and mobility of researchers and R&D personnel will be necessary to better understand the migration and mobility flows in Europe.

Research Questions were

• What are the Centres of Expertise dealing with these topics in the examined European countries?
• What kind of data, surveys and study results about these topics is available about and in the examined European countries?
• What are the relevant science policy issues for these topics in the examined countries? What are methodological and methodical approaches of these data material and what is the degree of harmonisation?
•  What are the gaps in the existing data and what are the open research questions regarding these topics?
• What are the necessary conditions for ensuring harmonization of future data registration and for the establishment of a permanent European Monitoring system?

• Czech Republic: VBS Jaromir Gottvald Technical University of Ostrava, Faculty of Economics
• France - LEST Isabelle Recotillet Laboratoire d'Economie et de Sociologie du Travail
• Germany - Harald Schomburg, International Centre for Higher Education Research Kassel (INCHER-Kassel), University of Kassel
• Ireland - CIRCA Thomas Casey CIRCA Group Europe
• Italy - IRPPS Sveva Avveduto Institute of Research on Population and Social Policies
• Netherlands - CHEPS Jürgen Enders University of Twente (CHEPS)
• Netherlands - MERIT Wendy Hansen University of Maastricht
• Norway - NIFU STEP Lars Nerdrum Norwegian Institute for Studies in Research and Higher Education - Centre for Innovation Research
• Poland - OBM Ewa Giermanowska Centre of Research for Youth - Warsaw University
• Spain - URJC: Carolina Cañibano Universidad Rey Juan Carlos
• Sweden - SISTER: Enrico Deiaco Institute for Studies in Education and Research
• United Kingdom - IES Richard Pearson Institute for Employment Studies