The aim of this study was to examine how institutional barriers arising from policy decisions influence the level of participation of third-party countries in European Framework Programs (EU-FPs). To achieve this, we contrasted the effect of EU funding restrictions following Switzerland’s 2014 reclassification as a “third country” in Horizon 2020, and the political uncertainties resulting from the 2016 Brexit vote in the United Kingdom (UK). We compared the participation patterns of Swiss and UK higher education institutions (HEIs) with control groups of similar European HEIs over time and, complementarily, analyzed changes in the participation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Our results showed that the Brexit-induced uncertainty had stronger negative effects than the Swiss reclassification, which was, however, characterized by effective EU funding restrictions. In both cases, the negative impact of institutional barriers was stronger for the more central HEIs in EU-FP networks. These results suggest that the effect of institutional barriers is closely linked to consortium building mechanisms, where research collaboration requires stability and projection over the long term. Regarding individual grants, the impact was stronger for Marie Sklodowska-Curie actions than for European Research Council grants, suggesting that a researcher’s mobility is affected by political uncertainties. Finally, in the UK case, we observed a steep decrease in the participation of SMEs. Based on these results, we suggest that a stable framework of participation and a clear ruling on relationships with the EU for what concerns people’s mobility and economic relationships are key to fostering the participation of third-party countries.

中文翻译：

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参与欧盟框架计划的制度障碍：对比瑞士和英国的案例

本研究的目的是研究政策决定产生的制度障碍如何影响第三方国家参与欧洲框架计划 (EU-FPs) 的水平。为实现这一目标，我们对比了 2014 年瑞士在地平线 2020 中重新归类为“第三国”后欧盟资金限制的影响，以及 2016 年英国脱欧公投导致的政治不确定性。我们将瑞士和英国高等教育机构 (HEI) 的参与模式与欧洲类似高等教育机构的对照组进行了比较，并补充分析了中小企业 (SME) 参与的变化。我们的结果表明，英国退欧引发的不确定性比瑞士重新分类具有更大的负面影响，然而，以有效的欧盟资金限制为特征。在这两种情况下，制度障碍的负面影响对 EU-FP 网络中更集中的高等教育机构的影响更大。这些结果表明，制度障碍的影响与联盟建设机制密切相关，研究合作需要长期的稳定性和预测。关于个人资助，Marie Sklodowska-Curie 行动的影响比欧洲研究委员会资助的影响更大，这表明研究人员的流动性受到政治不确定性的影响。最后，在英国的案例中，我们观察到中小企业的参与急剧下降。基于这些结果，