Some issues in innovation policy evaluation
Some issues in innovation policy evaluation

Summary/Abstract: Nowadays, innovations facilitate both economic development and growth in national welfare. In most countries politicians are determined to improve the effectiveness of national innovation policies and to help entrepreneurs to be innovative and competitive, both in the national and the international market. The accountability culture, budget limitations and dedication to spending money as efficiently as possible are among reasons for developing an evaluation of innovation policy. Moreover, evaluations can assist decision-makers with identifying sources of competitive advantage and areas where public expenditure can reduce market fluctuations. The article explores the diversity of methods and approaches to the evaluation of innovation policy and traces their gradual transformation and historical development. Particular attention is paid to the hierarchical structure and temporal perspectives of evaluation as well as to the comparative analysis of different types of evaluation. Various sets of optional evaluation indicators are also examined. It has been concluded that a demand-driven innovation policy and diffusion-oriented measures lead to the use of more advanced and experimental evaluation methods going beyond previous practice. The design of an integral evaluation system is a challenging task due to the increasing complexity of evaluation objects and the impact of numerous factors outside of the evaluation model. Because of the politicians’ particular interest in simple economic indicators and the accepted measures of the short-term impact of innovation policy, a conflict with evaluation experts arises. A systemic analysis and a benchmark approach could be used to mitigate this conflict. Recently, an adaptive learning approach has been considered to be the state-of-the-art method for evaluating innovation policy. In addition to exact measures, it could provide information for the recurrent implementation of successful innovation policy instruments and the cancellation of ineffective ones.

• Details
• Contents