The objectives of BEEP are to:

• design and create a methodology and mechanisms that will collect, analyse and present socio-economic best practice
• provide a European-wide linked knowledge base of employment and skills, governance, social inclusion and regional cohesion
• initially include over 300 case studies and a large number of indicators for coding and analysis
• support Key Action and external target groups with best practice and benchmarking tools and take in their results
• prepare analytical best practice studies, and widely disseminate project results through online and traditional methods
• develop services covering socio-economic best practice, benchmarking and knowledge bases for exploitation amongst relevant target groups, including SMEs and micro enterprises
• create an on-going BEEP network of socio-economic best practice within the domains covered

BEEP will:

• confirm and adjust the methodology and mechanisms to be used
• identify and access case study material covering the four socio-economic domains from Commission-supported and other sources
  
• analyse and specify a large number of indicators and designate some as key
  
• update and standardise case study material as necessary and code them against the indicators
  
• develop a linked and open source knowledge base with WWW access for user-driven updating and interrogation
  
• develop tools for data analysis (best practice socio-economic studies and analyses and benchmarking)
  
• populate the database (including from on-going RTD projects), test the tools and interrogate and analyse the data
  
• reveal critical relationships between the methods employed in these case studies and the results achieved by them
  
• isolate successful methods employed in case studies which can be successfully transferred (either directly or after adaptation) to other "similar" cases
  
• precisely define and measure what "similar" means, i.e. which other cases can successfully use the methods isolated above. This includes both the characteristics of these other similar cases and the assumptions which must be fulfilled to successfully use the methods
  
• give clear and practical guidance as to how the methods isolated can be used in other similar case types
  
• develop three interlinked services (socio-economic best practice, benchmarking and knowledge bases) directed at specific target groups
  
• disseminate results within the IST Programme and exploit services longer term on a commercially sustainable basis