Participation connections between programmes supporting business research and follow-up additionality of participation in the programmes IMPULS, TANDEM and TIP

Abstract

Abstract In the first part of the article, connections between the most substantial non-investment public programmes supporting business research are analysed, namely by the share of participants following with participation in subsequently launched programmes and their share on the total allocated support. The second part of the text deals with participation connections between earlier started programmes – IMPULS, TANDEM and TIP – and afterwards started programmes ALFA and CENTRA KOMPETENCE. Groups of beneficiaries divided according to their participation or non-participation in following programmes are compared on the basis of several structural features. According to data analysis, repeated participation in the programmes supporting business research is positively influenced by the size of supported companies. Publicly owned companies have higher tendencies to repeated participation in these programmes considering the fact that their main economic activity is more often research and development than in the case of private companies. In sectorial structure of beneficiaries with repeated participation in public programmes, especially R&D with related knowledge intensive services and certain high-tech & medium high-tech industries were more represented compared to the group of beneficiaries not participating in later started programmes. The third part of the article deals with the issue of follow-up additionality, here reduced to examining differences in behaviour of companies participating and non-participating in following programmes supporting business R&D. These differences viewed through two indicators – R&D expenditure from various resources and number of employees in R&D – were monitored in the years following the allocation of public support. Repeated participation in public programmes has an evident connection with the inflow of business R&D funding from other businesses. This source of funding enabled beneficiaries participating in a follow-up support programme – despite the constant reduction of public funding – to increase or at least slow down the decrease of total R&D funding. Trend of decreasing R&D expenditure and R&D employment, obvious mainly in the group of beneficiaries with no follow-up participation, apparently relates to the reduction of public expenditures on business research and thus indicates reliance of beneficiaries on the public support of R&D.