Introduction

The present volume collects the proceedings of the workshop “The Economics of Science” that was held in June 2019 in Brussels in the framework of the FCC Week with the support of the H2020 EuroCirCol and EASITrain projects and the Belgium Charter of the LSE Alumni Association. The goal of the meeting was threefold: First to explore the role of public investments in research infrastructures and Big Science projects for economic development, review ways to access their financial impact beyond their core scientific mission and thirdly create a forum for exchanging best practices that can maximize the impact of such projects. The collected essays focus on Big Science Organizations that participated in the workshop while we should clarify to readers that by “Science” we mainly refer to curiosity-driven research. However, we hope that some of the ideas and tools discussed by the participants of the workshop can find applications in many ways.