Abstract
ABSTRACT In the past decade many papers have discussed innovation policies in terms of their design, assessment and impact. Drawing on those contributions, the EC OECD STIP Compass suggests a detailed taxonomy of innovation policies with regard to their themes, target groups of beneficiaries and instruments. Implemented with a web platform, that taxonomy has promoted an extensive collection of information on innovation policy initiatives across OECD member countries. Using the STIP dataset, in this paper we employ that taxonomy to identify the innovation policy mixes by referring to all the dimensions encompassed in each policy initiative, i.e., themes, targets, instruments. The evidence-based multidimensional analyses yield a typology and set of topics of innovation policy mixes that we use to conduct a cross-country analysis of innovation policy portfolios. Although the results of the cross-country analysis are statistically significant, caution is necessary when using them because of three main fragilities of the current version of STIP Compass: the absence of information on innovation policies at subnational level; the classification of the largest group of target beneficiaries, i.e. innovation intermediaries; the quality of some information essential for enhancing the analysis. The proposed navigation of the STIP Compass data is freely accessible online.
Highlights
Having been addressed in the past decade by the literature on innovation policies, the role of innovation policy mix is increasingly debated with regard to its multilevel implementation (Lanahan & Feldman, 2015; Magro & Wilson, 2013), the dimensions along which interactions occur (Flanagan et al, 2011) and the complex interactions with other policies (Magro et al, 2016; Magro & Wilson, 2019), such as regional, industrial or educational ones
Edler and Fagerberg review the empirical analyses that focus on the various instruments and conclude that evidence on policy impacts at national level shows the adoption of a variety of policy instruments across countries and "that a holistic - or systemic - perspective in policy is important (Fagerberg 2016), that sensitivity to context is essential (Flanagan and Uyarra, 2016), and that mechanical transfer of policy practice from one national system to another is highly problematic" (p.14)
Besides a combination of policy instruments, Edler and Fagerberg highlight that governance is another dimension that characterizes innovation policies and that varies across countries, with different levels of co-ordination of specialized agencies, multiple governmental bodies, subnational administrative bodies, and an array of stakeholders (Lanahan & Feldman, 2015)
Summary
Having been addressed in the past decade by the literature on innovation policies, the role of innovation policy mix is increasingly debated with regard to its multilevel implementation (Lanahan & Feldman, 2015; Magro & Wilson, 2013), the dimensions along which interactions occur (Flanagan et al, 2011) and the complex interactions with other policies (Magro et al, 2016; Magro & Wilson, 2019), such as regional, industrial or educational ones. Building on that survey, Edler & Fagerberg (2017) outline a taxonomy based on 15 policy instruments adopted to support innovation Their relevance is related to the overall orientation (supply, demand) and goals of the policy (increase R&D; enhance skills; give access to expertise; improve systemic capabilities; enhance innovation; improve the framework; improve discourse). Since the influential paper in which OECD used the term “innovation policy mix” (OECD, 2010), it has been increasingly adopted in the literature to refer to a mix of different policy instruments, implemented in various contexts that might refer to the same or to different themes or target groups of beneficiaries We propose overcoming these blurred and overlapping definitions by using data from the STIP Compass platform, a new data source provided by the EC and OECD. The ambition is to become a reference platform for any discussion on innovation policy, and it is expected that both the OECD and the European Commission will refer to the STIP Compass for information on policies in support of innovation
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