This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Public RDI systems – Rationale, indicators and impact assement*
Christopher Palmberg Chief advisor, Ph.D
Tekes Strategic Intelligence
*This presentation draws on ’Finnish Finnish Impact Framework and Indicators for Science, Technology, and Innovation’ held by Tarmo Lemola in Budapest on April 27th, 2009 and Luoma et al. 2011. ’Better results, more value’. Tekes Review 288/2011
What is an Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) indicator? “Indicators are quantitative representations that might reasonably be thought to provide summary information bearing on the scope, quality, and vitality of the science and engineering enterprise. They are intended to contribute to an understanding of the current environment and to inform the development of future policies”
Modified from NSB/NSF Science and Engineering Indicators
1. Clear connection to research and innovation 2. Clear connection to the phenomenon and impact area it
represents 3. Clear policy connection 4. Transparency 5. Intuitive and easily understandable 6. Internationally comparable 7. Easy and regular updating, basis for regular statistics gathering 8. Statistically reliable 9. Good temporal, sectoral and geographical coverage 10. Clear message on the direction and distance to the target state 11. Based on solid theories or coherent frameworks
§ Traditional and well-studied role of RDI in creating preconditions for economic growth and renewal - other objectives and impacts known in less detail…
§ Input-activity-output model most common framework § The chain from research and innovation to socioeconomic
benefits is not linear but involves several feedback loops that provide new inputs to the process at various stages
§ Causality: the relationships between research and innovation inputs, activities, outputs, and impacts are often unclear or nonlinear.
§ Attribution: it is difficult or even impossible to separate the impact of research and innovation from other inputs and activities – the additionality problem
§ Internationality: the impacts of research and innovation are international by nature – activities and value chains are global, and both positive and negative spillovers exist.
§ Time scale: the impacts are realized both in the short and long-term.
§ Breakdown of impacts to particular socio-economic target: how to define e.g. impact on environment, public welfare or culture.
1. R&D expenditure as a percentage of GDP 2. Publications 3. Citations 4. Patents 5. New products and processes 6. International trade and trade balance in high-tech products 7. Young innovative companies 8. Mobility of researchers 9. Science and technology labor force 10. Growth in productivity But we also need ’blue-sky indicators, e.g. based on www
§ Observes the effects that research and innovation activities have, or should have, on the development and renewal of the economy and the opportunities and challenges arising from this
§ Perhaps the most common and the furthest elaborated impact area of research and innovation activities, which also provides a good basis for international comparison
§ Many of the causality chains from the inputs of research and innovation to the impacts on the environment are at least partly known based on the knowledge on natural sciences and technologies
§ Environmental issues often have a global character – impacts are transnational
§ Environmental issues are integrated to most of the activities in business and public sectors
§ Energy is a remarkable part of this impact area as it drives economic activities and well-being in addition to its impact on the state of environment, climate change, and use of natural resources
§ The operational environment is often playing a significant role in increasing the interest to innovate and use innovations
Phenomenom Indicators State of the Finnish environment Water systems ecological state
Climate change Green house gas emissions in Finland
Biodiversity Endangeredness of Finnish species Sustainable consump#on of natural resources
Share of renewable energy in energy produc2on
New informa#on and knowledge related to environment
Scien2fic environmental publica2ons among the top 10% most cited publica2ons worldwide as % of total scien2fic publica2ons of the country Use of environmental information in political decision making
Environmentally bening innova#ons Interna2onal patents/forwarded references of patents in the environmental sector Green business Revenue of companies in energy and environment sector
Private sector energy efficiency Consumers' aKtudes and behavior Household energy efficiency
R&D&I ac#vi#es directed towards environment (quality, challenges, extent)
Companies with innova2on opera2ons in the energy and environmental sectors Amount of environmental R&D&I activities in research institutions
Coopera#on within environment related value networks and strengthening of skill flows
Coopera2on between private sector, universi2es and research centers in environment sector
R&D&I investments on environment Private R&D&I expenditure on environment Public R&D expenditure on environment Venture capital directed towards environment
Skills and human resources No relevant indicator so far
§ The focus of public RDI systems is broadeding, Finland being a good example of this
§ RDI indicators remain important but RDI impact assessment is increasingly challenging
§ There is also a need for new types on real-time ’blue-sky’ indicators
§ Emerging and developing countries also need public RDI systems • What kind of systems? • Where should they focus? • How could their impacts be assessed?