The FP7 program targets institutions everywhere. Small is beautiful…how frequently do small countries participate? Discover more about Andorra, Cyprus, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Luxemburg, Malta, Monaco and San Marino.

The EU research projects are supposed to ensure that Europe becomes the ‘most dynamic competitive knowledge-based economy in the world’. The ‘knowledge triangle’ – research, education and innovation – is key to European efforts to realize the ambitious targets set at Lisbon. Ensuring that the research is transparent and implementing the results of the research are paramount. What is the situation in small countries in this regard, even if they are not members of the EU?

Country

Projects in EU-database ‘Cordis’ (history included)

Population

Area of country in km²

Square km per project

Population per project

Andorra

Cyprus

Iceland

Liechtenstein

Luxembourg

Malta

Monaco

San Marino

2

522

515

43

834

237

0

3

72.413

792.604

304.367

34.498

486.006

403.532

32.796

29.973

468

9.251

103.000

160

2586

316

2

61

234,00

17,7

200

3,72

3,10

1,33

-

20,33

36.206,5

1518,4

591

802,23

582,74

1.702,67

-

9.991,00



An example: Germany has 30.447 projects in the Cordis database, a population of 82.369.548 and a surface area of 357.022 km. This equates to 11,72 km and 2.705 citizens per project.

This means that in some small countries the visibility of the EU is more pronounced than in a large country like Germany :-)