It has been said that “good in science, just as in medicine, is integral to and finds its proper place in that overarching common good about which both scientists and citizens deliberate” (Mitcham & Frodeman, 2000). This is an important statement, which goes to show the essential relationship between science and social good. More often than not, scientific developments and technological innovations have social impacts. To a great extent, science aids the development of humanity.

Therefore, science diplomacy has important implications in how science and technology can be used to provide solutions to common human or social problems, and allow states to build constructive partnerships that are based on collaborative efforts in the area of science and technology. The most fundamental premise of science diplomacy is that there should be a link between science and the wider common good for science diplomacy to be useful or utilitarian (Colglazier, 2018). In context of science diplomacy between EU and Jordan, technology transfer and research and development programmes undertaken between the two partners should demonstrate a link to the wider common good of the populations in Jordan.

In the recent period of time, there has been an increase in collaborations between different countries in the area of science and technology. Examples of such collaborations can be seen in the European collaborations with Middle eastern nations, under which scientific and technology based programmes have been implemented in the Middle East. Jordan is selected as a case study in this article amongst the Middle eastern nations, because this allows the article to carry out an in-depth study of a single social phenomenon, that is, the impact of science diplomacy on the wider social good seen in the context of public health in Jordan (Schwandt & Gates, 2011).

This article focusses on programmes under science diplomacy implemented as per collaborations between Europe and the Kingdom of Jordan, and the impact assessment of such programmes. Impact assessments are useful because they assess the usefulness of the programmes in the contexts of their cycle, design, implementation and assessment, wherein the impact of the programmes is assessed as against the background of the benefits that these programmes provide to the population as a whole and in specific health sectors.

Impact assessment of programmes undertaken is done in social contexts to understand how these programmes aid in the achievement of development objectives of the countries and also how they are able to contribute to improved stability in the diplomatic relationships between the parties concerned. Such programmes also have potential spill-over of benefits into other sectors, such as, trade, communications, health. These benefits also form part of the social contexts against which the science diplomacy efforts can be assessed. Impact assessment of the programmes and all public policy is a common phenomenon in Europe (Von Schomberg, 2012). Impact assessment frameworks generally contain social, environmental and economic impacts of the policy or programmes (Von Schomberg, 2012).

In order to assess the impact of technology in Jordan in social contexts, this article uses the conceptual framework of Third-Stream Activities (Molas-Gallart, Salter, Patel, Scott, & Duran, 2002). This is based on the quantification of the common good, that is, actual social benefits. In this article, common goods are marketable and consumable products in public health contexts, including diagnostic tools, machines, devices and medicaments and services (Bornmann, 2013). This is the approach undertaken in this article so that clear quantifiable goods can be the basis for assessing the impact of the science diplomacy between EU and Jordan.

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Science diplomacy in EU-Jordan context

Science diplomacy includes the research and development programmes undertaken in collaborations between different states. Collaborative programmes between EU and Jordan include such research and development programmes in the area of institutional capacity building, training, and support to education. Under these areas, European programmes such as, FP6, FP7 and Horizon 2020 have b