The competitiveness of Brussels in European Research

What is the place of Brussels in the European research geography? Brussels is commonly recognised as the EU capital, but mainly for political-administrative functions. As research is fundamental in a ‘knowledge-based economy’, this paper shows the performance of Brussels in terms of participation in EU R&D projects. Findings show a double role for Brussels: i) Belgian actors perform well in the competition for R&D calls; ii) EU-related actors contribute establishing research networks making Brussels the ‘capital of the European Research Area’. The analysis is based on an innovative database of participations in Framework Programme’s projects from 1999 to 2010