Identifying European Poles of Excellence: The Methodology

The EIPE project aims to identify ICT R&D&I-related activities which are geographically concentrated and which demonstrate high performance in ICT innovative activities: the European ICT Poles of Excellence. It also aims to help map the dynamics of ICT-related innovation and economic geography in Europe, pointing to the presence and possibly the emergence of agglomerated and globally performing ICT activities. An additional challenge of the EIPE project is that this identification process had to be based only on the analysis of quantitative data, and built on a set of relevant criteria leading to measurable indicators. The present report documents the methodologies and data sources used for this purpose.