Our publications

Contents:

•   Innovation today: a protean object
•   At the heart of innovation policy: the pubic aid to R & D
•   The design of public support to R & D: a factor déterminahnt their effectiveness /
•   The need for comprehensive and integrated approach in innovation policies

In a context of crisis and rise of large emerging economies, innovation is more than ever a key element of competitiveness in advanced economies. At a more macro level, innovation is also a decisive factor to meet the social challenges posed by climate change, health, food security or the aging population.

Key actors in the innovation process, companies often struggle to find incentives to engage in creating new products, processes or methods. Therefore, many countries have established state aid for research and development (R & D) companies.

When budget constraints are stronger than ever, it is appropriate to question the effectiveness of such aid. If tangible effects of these policies are measurable (leverage private spending on R & D), their evaluation is still difficult. It is particularly difficult to assess their impact, over time, the innovative capacity of a country. This is primarily because the R & D firms are only one component of the innovation process. But it is also due to the lack of systematic approach to evaluation.

Following on a recent conference of the Centre for Strategic Analysis *, this note is to put into perspective the various practices adopted in terms of public support for R & D emphasizing the role of evaluation in developing "design" of a policy in favor of innovation.
 

•   Authors: Estelle Dhont-Peltrault and Rémi Lallement , Department of Economics-Finance.

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