Innovation Policy-making Research Articles

The Use of Behavioural Additionality in Innovation Policy-Making

The overarching aim of this paper is to contribute to a better understanding of how the main target variable of innovation policy – change in behaviour – can be better conceptualized and put into practice in evaluation and policy making. The paper first develops a theoretical framework of the concept of behavioural additionality. On that basis it looks in detail at the way behavioural additionality is operationalized in evaluation practice and how the concept is discussed and applied in the interaction between policy-makers and evaluators. The paper utilizes a statistical analysis of 171 innovation policy evaluations, a text analysis of selected behavioural additionality evaluation reports and finally a number of in-depth case studies of evaluations. Based on the theoretical considerations and the empirical findings, the paper identifies three different uses of behavioural additionality in innovation policy evaluations. It concludes that despite the widespread use of the behavioural additionality concept, an improved theoretical basis and serious methodological improvements are needed to realize the full potential of this concept for evaluation and policy practice.Those who are interested in this article or the underlying study are welcome to contact the authors.

Regional branching and high-tech industries

Anne Nygaard Tanner argues that innovation policy makers have some hard choices to make in ensuring their policies play to regional strengths and are not just another generic Technology valley.

Unravelling the dynamics of adopting novel technologies: an account of how the closed greenhouse opened-up

Realising broad adoption of complex novel technologies is an important innovation challenge. This paper identifies four notions on the dynamics of adoption of complex novel technologies and two main challenges that hinder adoption. These insights derive from studying literature and analysing the implementation history of the first eight growers that adopted the novel system innovation closed greenhouse. The analysis of these eight histories shows that variety exists in how users value an innovation and that adopters reconstruct the innovation, which creates high levels of uncertainty about the functioning of the system innovation. To stimulate the adoption of novel system innovations and to keep initial values in-scripted, we suggest innovation policy makers to further shelter the system innovation until the stage of take-off.

Policy learning and organizational capacities in innovation policies

Bengt-Ake Lundvall's work has underlined the importance of policy learning for inducing innovation systems' adaptability. In spite of his efforts and of the general interest in this topic, studies of policy learning in innovation policy continue to be scarce. Elaborating from recent theoretical advances, the paper identifies three levels of policy learning and argues that their effects on innovation systems are related to specific capacities of the relevant organizations implementing change. This analytical framework is used in the study of trans-national policy learning in Europe in the area of science-industry relations, showing the importance of capacities (or lack thereof). This calls for the practical need of addressing organizational capacity-building, in particular of analytical capacity, for truly strategic innovation policy-making. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.

Modeling the relative efficiency of national innovation systems

Although a large amount of past research has theorized about the character of national innovation systems (NISs), there has been limited process-oriented empirical investigation of this matter, possibly for methodological reasons. In this paper, we first propose a relational network data envelopment analysis (DEA) model for measuring the innovation efficiency of the NIS by decomposing the innovation process into a network with a two-stage innovation production framework, an upstream knowledge production process (KPP) and a downstream knowledge commercialization process (KCP). Although the concept of innovation efficiency is a simplification of the innovation process, it may be a useful tool for guiding policy decisions. We subsequently use a second-step partial least squares regression (PLSR) to examine the effects of policy-based institutional environment on innovation efficiency, considering statistical problems such as multicollinearity, small datasets and a small number of distribution assumptions. The hybrid two-step analytical procedure is used to consider 22 OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries. A significant rank difference, which indicates a non-coordinated relationship between upstream R&D (research and development) efficiency and downstream commercialization efficiency, is identified for most countries. The evidence also indicates that the overall innovation efficiency of an NIS is mainly subject to downstream commercial efficiency performance and that improving commercial efficiency should thus be a primary consideration in future innovation policy-making in most OECD countries. Finally, the results obtained using PLSR show that the various factors chosen to represent the embedded policy-based institutional environment have a significant influence on the efficiency performance of the two individual component processes, confirming the impact of public policy interventions undertaken by the government on the innovation performance of NISs. Based on these key findings, some country-specific and process-specific innovation policies have been suggested.

Reconceptualising the ‘policy mix’ for innovation

Recent years have seen the emergence, take-up and use of the term ‘policy mix’ by innovation policy makers and by policy analysts and scholars alike. Imported from economic policy debates, the term implies a focus on the interactions and interdependencies between different policies as they affect the extent to which intended policy outcomes are achieved. However the meaning of the term remains ambiguous. Nonetheless, we argue that the emergence of the ‘policy mix’ concept into common use in the field of innovation policy studies provides us with a window of opportunity to reconsider some basic and often hidden assumptions in order to better deal with a messy and complex, multi-level, multi-actor reality. We draw upon a range of literatures to re-conceptualise the basic building blocks of innovation policy studies in order to arrive at a useful definition of ‘policy mix’ tensions and interactions of different kinds across a series of dimensions. We suggest that this reconceptualisation has important implications for the future scope and focus of prescriptive and analytical innovation policy studies.

Should “open innovation” change innovation policy thinking in catching-up economies? Considerations for policy analyses

This paper provides a review of the current state of academic and policy-level debates on “open innovation” by elaborating on the relevance of the concept of open innovation for innovation policy-making in catching-up economies. The paper shows that paradoxes and contradictions exist between the “mainstream” innovation discourse and the development challenges of the catching-up countries that have lead to “de-contextualization” of the innovation policy discourse. The paper argues that applying the concept of open innovation in its ideal-type form to the catching-up context is likely to reinforce these de-contextualization tendencies. This problem can be remedied by more conscious attention to the basic contradictions and paradoxes, which requires a more comprehensive and systemic analytical focus on innovation and technological development at the levels of firm, industry and policy.

The impact of foresight on innovation policy-making: recent experiences and future perspectives

Foresight has evolved as a distinct prospective analytical tool: it considers alternative futures of various S&T fields or socio-economic systems by bringing together the perspectives of various stakeholder groups, and thus assists the decision-making processes at different levels. However, in order to avoid hypes — and subsequent disappointments — about what foresight can deliver, the potential contributions to decision-making processes by foresight should be clearly understood. The article puts foresight into this broader context of policy-making processes, with a particular emphasis on innovation policy. It describes the evolution of different policy rationales since the 1960s, develops a framework to classify the impacts of various types of prospective analyses, and reviews the evaluation results of several national foresight programmes by using this framework. On that basis, future directions of how foresight might evolve are considered to spur discussions.

A framework for developing an evidence-based, comprehensive tobacco control program

BackgroundTobacco control is an area where the translation of evidence into policy would seem to be straightforward, given the wealth of epidemiological, behavioural and other types of research available. Yet, even here challenges exist. These include information overload, concealment of key (industry-funded) evidence, contextualization, assessment of population impact, and the changing nature of the threat.MethodsIn the context of Israel's health targeting initiative, Healthy Israel 2020, we describe the steps taken to develop a comprehensive tobacco control strategy. We elaborate on the following: a) scientific issues influencing the choice of tobacco control strategies; b) organization of existing evidence of effectiveness of interventions into a manageable form, and c) consideration of relevant philosophical and political issues. We propose a framework for developing a plan and illustrate this process with a case study in Israel.ResultsBroad consensus exists regarding the effectiveness of most interventions, but current recommendations differ in the emphasis they place on different strategies. Scientific challenges include integration of complex and sometimes conflicting information from authoritative sources, and lack of estimates of population impact of interventions. Philosophical and political challenges include the use of evidence-based versus innovative policymaking, the importance of individual versus governmental responsibility, and whether and how interventions should be prioritized.The proposed framework includes: 1) compilation of a list of potential interventions 2) modification of that list based on local needs and political constraints; 3) streamlining the list by categorizing interventions into broad groupings of related interventions; together these groupings form the basis of a comprehensive plan; and 4) refinement of the plan by comparing it to existing comprehensive plans.ConclusionsDevelopment of a comprehensive tobacco control plan is a complex endeavour, involving crucial decisions regarding intervention components. "Off the shelf" plans, which need to be adapted to local settings, are available from a variety of sources, and a multitude of individual recommendations are available. The proposed framework for adapting existing approaches to the local social and political climate may assist others planning for smoke-free societies. Additionally, this experience has implications for development of evidence-based health plans addressing other risk factors.

Methods of Political Marketing in (Trans)Formation of Innovation Culture

This paper examines the possibility to use political marketing concepts and methods in the promotion of one of the main targets of a national innovation policy, that is, the development of an innovation culture among private firms. Cyprus, a small peripheral country, is used as a case study. The current methods of promotion and the communication activities of public innovation policy makers in Cyprus and their deficiencies are outlined. Then, a specific framework for developing a relevant marketing strategy is proposed. Newer trends in political marketing theory are also examined for possible application in the improvement of marketing strategy and its implementation.

Social Sciences Research and Science, Technology and Innovation Policy-Making in Latin America: A Nexus Perception Study

Social Sciences Research and Science, Technology and Innovation Policy-Making in Latin America: A Nexus Perception Study

The role of the technology barometer in assessing the performance of the national innovation system

Along with increasing significance of innovation in socio-economic development grows the need to utilize future-oriented knowledge in innovation policy-making. Foresight and road-map exercises are aimed at supporting planning and priority-setting of R&D and have become indispensable elements of policy-making. Besides technological development decision-makers need all-inclusive knowledge of future developments of society, economy and impacts of science and technology. When the worldwide competition is about the attractiveness of innovation systems, such knowledge is important for comparing the innovation performance of nations to other economies. Finland is among the countries improving her position in worldwide performance comparisons since the late 1990s and reached leading nations in early 2000s. This attainment raised national interest and critical debate of the reliability of the data basis and methodologies used in comparisons. In The Finnish Association of Graduate Engineers (TEK) this discussion led to a decision to develop an own comparative exercise together with VTT. In addition to performance analysis based on ex-post indicators the barometer includes the questionnaire of the views and visions of the future development by relevant national actors. The theoretical framework of the barometer is based on the evolution of economies from industrial development phase to sustainable knowledge society. The barometer has been undertaken in 2004, 2005 and 2007, and a wide interest and emerged discussion of barometer proves that a social interest and order exists for the barometer. The article presents the background, methodology and results of technology barometer, discusses its impacts on national discussion, and gives perspectives for the future development of barometer.

Placing the creative sector within innovation: The full gamut

This paper examines the place of the creative sector — the arts, design, media and communications — within the framework of contemporary innovation. The historical focus on science-and-technology by innovation policy makers has spurred many within the creative sector to argue how and why it also contributes to innovation. Drawing on a wide range of English-speaking research and policy documents, the full gamut of places for the creative sector in innovation is surveyed. The paper ends by scoping out the conceptual and empirical research that is required if ideas about innovation in the creative sector are to take up a mature position within innovation studies and related policy.

ON-FARM INNOVATION IN THE AUSTRALIAN WOOL INDUSTRY: A SENSEMAKING PERSPECTIVE

SUMMARYIn agricultural innovation, the success of widely used technologies is often assumed to have been inevitable. Conversely, the blame for the failure of new technologies that researchers, policy makers and extensionists consider superior to existing solutions is often placed on farmers. However, these assumptions can be challenged by taking a social-constructivist view of on-farm innovation to examine how and why farmers made sense of new technologies and how this sensemaking shaped their use of these technologies over time. The present study took such an approach in its analysis of Australian woolgrowers’ adoption, abandonment, implementation and use of new wool-testing technologies that highlighted the social and dynamic nature of innovation on-farm. On-farm innovation in this case was an evolving, dynamic process that changed over time as woolgrowers made sense of new technologies. The primary message to agricultural innovation researchers, technology developers, policy makers and extensionists is that successful on-farm innovation requires the active, ongoing engagement of industry participants. In order to engage industry participants in the innovation process, sensemakers’ personal identity frames and social context, and how these interpretation frameworks relate to the new technology need to be understood.

The Prevalence of User Innovation and Free Innovation Transfers: Implications for Statistical Indicators and Innovation Policy

Statistical indicators have not kept pace with innovation research. Today, it is well understood that many industrial and consumer products are developed by users, and that many innovations developed at private cost are freely shared. New statistical indicators will empower policymakers to take advantage of the latest research findings in their innovation policymaking, and will enable them to benefit from improved measurement of resulting policy impacts.In this paper, we report upon a pilot project in which a novel set of statistical indicators were deployed in a 2007 survey of 1,219 Canadian manufacturing plants. The plants all developed or modified advanced process technologies for in-house use. Responses to the survey showed that data on both user innovation and the transfers of these innovations could be reliably collected, and that novel findings important to policymaking would result. One such finding: About 20% of the user-innovators surveyed reported transferring their innovations to other users and/or equipment suppliers - and the majority of these at least sometimes did so at no charge to recipients. Since cost-free sharing of innovations is understood to result in greater social welfare than licensing for a fee, innovation rates being equal, this finding has important public policy implications. Current government innovation policies tend to favor and even to subsidize the obtaining of intellectual property rights as a means of encouraging innovation. If a significant fraction of user-innovators in the economy are already freely revealing their innovations - despite the availability of intellectual property grants - perhaps intellectual property rights policies should be reexamined.We propose that improved versions of the novel statistical indicators piloted here should be integrated into official statistics so that user innovation, and related matters such as voluntary spillovers of innovation-related information, can be better monitored, better understood, and better managed.

Innovation and the city

Innovation is an increasingly globalised phenomenon but the highest rates of visible innovation are found in and around cities. This paper explores the ‘urban factors’ that support innovative activity, focusing on English cities. Agglomeration economies can help explain both cities’ resilience and the characteristics of urban markets, assets, networks and institutions that help innovation to take place. A high-level explanatory framework is set out, using the concepts of ‘urban hubs’ and ‘local links’ to draw together these ideas. The framework is then explored using five case studies from the UK and abroad. The findings suggest a number of different ‘innovation trajectories’ for different city types. Innovation policymakers should pay more attention to improving urban infrastructure, skills and critical mass, and should devolve strategy-making towards pan-regional and sub-regional actors.

Private sector involvement in science and innovation policy-making in Hungary

The overall thrust of this paper is that policy learning is enhanced by the participation of private business. It is assumed that business involvement would suggest abundant opportunities for policy learning and transfer. The empirical part of this paper investigates private sector involvement in science, technology and innovation (STI) policy-making in a transition economy (Hungary). Private sector involvement in Hungarian STI policy-making is investigated in terms of the stages and types of involvement. The involvement of the private sector is essential for learning policy-making and achieving adaptability, which in turn is also crucial for the overall success of the innovation policy. This is particularly important for transition economies facing important reforms in a context of accelerated globalisation and international competition. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.

Canadian Science, Technology and Innovation Policy: The Product of Regional Networking?

Salazar M. and Holbrook A. (2007) Canadian science, technology and innovation policy: the product of regional networking?, Regional Studies 41, 1129–1141. The structure of federal countries poses challenges to science, technology and innovation (STI) policy-making and regional development not found in centrally governed nations. This paper tests the thesis that Canadian STI policy is highly regionalized in practice because of its networked structure, despite most of the funding coming from the federal government, which formulates most STI policies and programmes. Many of Canada's STI programmes promote the creation of networks. These networks are part of the federal emphasis given to provincial/regional economic development and more recently to industrial cluster promotion. Salazar M. et Holbrook A. (2007) La politique de STI au Canada: est-ce un produit de la constitution de réseaux régionaux?, Regional Studies 41, 1129–1141. La structure des pays fédéraux présente un challenge à la politique de science, de technologie et d'innovation (STI) et à l'aménagement du territoire, ce qui n'est pas le cas dans les pays centralisés. On cherche à évaluer la thèse sur la forte régionalisation de la politique de STI au Canada en pratique à cause de sa structure en réseau, malgré que la plupart du financement provienne du gouvernement fédéral, qui élabore également des politiques et des programmes. Au Canada, beaucoup des programmes de STI favorisent la création de réseaux. Ces réseaux constituent en partie le point de mire fédéral quant au développement provincial et régional et, plus récemment, pour ce qui est de la promotion des grappes industrielles. Canada Politique de science de technologic et d'innovotion Réseaux Salazar M. und Holbrook A. (2007) Politik für Wissenschaft, Technologie und Innovation in Kanada: das Produkt regionaler Netzwerke?, Regional Studies 41, 1129–1141. Die Struktur der Bundesländer stellt die Politik für Wissenschaft, Technologie und Innovation und die Regionalentwicklung vor Herausforderungen, die sich in zentral regierten Nationen nicht ergeben. Wir schlagen eine Überprüfung der These vor, dass die Politik für Wissenschaft, Technologie und Innovation in Kanada in der Praxis aufgrund seiner Netzwerkstruktur hochgradig regionalisiert ist, obwohl der Großteil der Finanzierung durch die Bundesregierung erfolgt, welche auch die Politiken und Programmeme formuliert. Viele der kanadischen Programmeme für Wissenschaft, Technologie und Innovation fördern die Entwicklung von Netzwerken. Diese Netzwerke sind Bestandteil des föderalen Schwerpunkts, den die Wirtschaftsentwicklung in den Provinzen und Regionen und seit einiger Zeit auch die Förderung industrieller Ballungsräume aufweist. Kanada Politik für Wissenschaft, Technologie und Innovation Netzwerke Salazar M. y Holbrook A. (2007) La política de ciencia, tecnología e innovación de Canadá: ¿es producto de redes regionales?, Regional Studies 41, 1129–1141. La estructura de los países federales presenta retos para la formulación de política en ciencia, tecnología e innovación (CTI), y para el desarrollo regional, no encontrados en naciones con gobiernos centralizados. En este artículo ponemos a preuba la tesis de que la política canadiense en CTI es altamente regionalizada en la práctica, por su estructura en red, a pesar de que la mayor parte del financimiento proviene del gobierno federal, quien también formula las políticas y programas. Muchos de los programas canadienses en CTI promueven la creación de redes. Estas redes son parte del énfasis federal asignado al desarrollo económico provincial/regional y, más recientemente, a la promoción de clusters industriales. Canadá Política de ciencia, tecnología e innovación Redes

Challenges in transdisciplinary technology foresight: cognition and robotics

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to report on experiences and reflect on challenges in transdisciplinary technology foresight as exemplified by cognition and robotics research.Design/methodology/approachThe study was conducted as a broad transdisciplinary process involving users and producers of robot technology solutions as well as scientists and other experts in cognition and robotics. Transdisciplinarity is understood as the transcendence of disciplinary modes together with the involvement and participation of non‐scientists in problem formulation and knowledge provision. The study focuses on the possibilities for innovation at the crossroads where robotics and cognition meet.FindingsThe paper reflects on the following methodological issues: medium‐ and long‐term research and innovation possibilities and barriers in a transdisciplinary context; the classification and framing of transdisciplinary fields; the facilitation of technology foresight processes; and the trustworthiness of the foresight process and its recommendations.Practical implicationsThe results have been disseminated among relevant advisory and grant‐awarding bodies within research and innovation, relevant knowledge institutions and universities, and companies on both the development and user sides of the technologies.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to European experiences on national‐level foresight exercises. The conceptual findings of the case study are of value to science and innovation policy makers, foresight practitioners and scholars within the field.

The Ontology of Innovation: Human Agency in the Pursuit of Novelty

This paper develops an analysis of innovation based on Allen Oakley’s (2002) primary themes of ontological priority, agency-structure and critical realism. I develop a history of thought and contemporaneous endogenous view of innovation in an environment of uncertainty, potential novelty and policy priority. Drawing on the literature of Austrian, institutional, Schumpeterian, Penrosean and other schools, I explore a continuum of agency-structure relationships that enhance innovation. These relationships cover environments that are based on agency and contingency, through to those that balance contingency with containment (structure), and situations that are heavily contained. The literature on innovation is investigated vis-à-vis the degree to which different environments encourage creative, original marketable opportunities for the common good. Innovation policy-making is then investigated through the traverse process of irreversibility, and within a retroductionist planning process. Overall, I seek to advance the cause of realism through innovations generated in different environments.