Innovation persistence: Survey and case-study evidence

Evidence on the persistence of innovation sheds light on the nature of the innovation process and can guide appropriate policy development. This paper examines innovation persistence in Ireland and Northern Ireland using complementary quantitative and case-study approaches. Panel data derived from innovation surveys is used, and suggests very different results to previous analyses of innovation persistence primarily based on patents data. Product and process innovation are found to exhibit strong general persistence but we find no evidence that persistence is stronger among highly active innovators. Our quantitative evidence is most strongly consistent with a process of cumulative accumulation at plant level. Our case-studies highlight a number of factors which can either interrupt or stimulate this process including market volatility, plants’ organisational context and regulatory changes. Notably, however, the balance of influences on product and process innovation persistence differs, with product innovation persistence linked more strongly to strategic factors and process changes more often driven by market pressures.     

What level of education matters most for growth?: Evidence from Portugal

We decompose annual average years of schooling series for Portugal into different schooling levels series. By estimating a number of vector autoregressions, we provide measures of aggregate and disaggregate economic growth impacts of different education levels. Increasing education at all levels except tertiary have a positive and significant effect on growth. Investment in education does not significantly crowd out physical investment and average years of schooling semi-elasticities have comparable magnitude across primary and secondary levels.     

Towards a holistic innovation policy: Can the Swedish National Innovation Council (NIC) be a role model?

A holistic innovation policy is defined in this article as a policy that integrates all public actions that influence or may influence innovation processes. The Swedish National Innovation Council (NIC) was created by the Swedish Prime Minister, Stefan Löfven, in February 2015. It is personally chaired by the prime minister. Another atypical characteristic of the Swedish NIC is that it has a dominant and wide focus on innovation policy. In other countries, such councils focus predominantly on science and/or research policy and treat innovation policy, if at all, as an “appendix” to research policy. The purpose of this article is to answer the following four questions:1. Has Swedish innovation policy recently become more holistic?2. Has the Swedish National Innovation Council (NIC) had a role in the transition towards a holistic innovation policy?3. Have conceptual specifications and advancements played a role in the changes in Swedish innovation policy?4. Can the Swedish NIC serve as a role model for other countries and regions in their attempts to initiate and govern a holistic innovation policy?