In 2009, the European Commission, DG INFSO (Directorate General Information Society and Media, currently: DG Connect) commissioned a multidimensional analysis of Polish Research & Development achievements in the field of ICT (Information and Communication Technologies). The project was coordinated by the consulting company IPM Sp. z o.o. and linked to the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (7FP), the main R&D funding program in the European Union, 2007-2013. One of project components was the empirical analysis, carried out by Krzysztof Klincewicz, which was intended to identify “places of excellence” – the R&D-intensive organizations in Poland, focusing on topics relevant for the European Commission’s 7FP ICT Work Programme 2009-2010. The research was based on bibliometric techniques, i.e. quantitative analyses of published scientific articles and conference papers. It matched the ICT Work Programme’s objectives to a taxonomy of scientific publications, by assigning classes from taxonomies and thesaurus terms, used by scientific abstract database INSPEC to each objective of the ICT Work Programme 2009-2010. It subsequently identified the most active research teams in areas related to each of the Programme’s objectives. The leading teams were mainly working at academic institutions, but the project offered also overviews of companies, publishing R&D results relevant for each of the objectives. The covered research topics included among others such specialist areas as: future networks, robotics, artificial intelligence, photonics, digital libraries, ICT for personal healthcare, smart electricity distribution networks, ICT for climate change, security, embedded systems, molecular-scale devices, nanoelectronics and Internet of things. The research results were used for international comparisons of R&D potential of various EU countries, and acted as a guidance for organizations, looking for research partners – potential members of international consortia, applying for project funding within the 7FP.
The European Commission published in 2011 a summary report of the Polish ICT RTD technological audit, compiling results of eight detailed deliverables, including the bibliometric analysis.