Evaluating the performance of innovation intermediaries: insights from the experience of Tuscany’s innovation poles

Abstract

With the growing importance of innovation intermediaries, particularly in the policy context, a need has emerged for appropriate instruments to evaluate their performance. The identification of appropriate performance indicators, however, has proved to be problematic. First, indicators are likely to influence the behavior of innovation intermediaries, not always in a desirable manner. Second, commonly used indicators focus on the immediate results achieved by the intermediaries, often disregarding the permanent behavioral changes that they can stimulate in their innovation system. Instead, we argue that the latter are particularly important for the evaluation of innovation intermediaries, whose success should be measured in terms of their ability to enable other organizations to improve their innovation capabilities. By focusing on an innovation policy intervention implemented by the Italian region of Tuscany in the period 2007-2013, we discuss the advantages and limitations of the indicators that have been set up by the regional government in order to evaluate the performance of innovation poles, a particular type of innovation intermediary, and discuss some feasible avenues for their improvement.