Compulsive policy-making—The evolution of the German feed-in tariff system for solar photovoltaic power

In recent years, policy approaches that build upon the notion of innovation systems have enjoyed increasing attention in science, technology and innovation policy. But while the usefulness of systemic thinking in policy-making has been demonstrated in a large number of empirical settings, we still lack a detailed understanding of the dynamics at play when policy makers address systemic problems. In this paper, we show how complex interdependencies and the uncertain nature of technological change shape the process of targeted policy interventions in socio-technical systems. Toward this end we analyzed the evolution of the German feed-in tariff (FIT) system for solar photovoltaic power, a highly effective and widely copied policy instrument targeted at fostering the diffusion and development of renewable energy technologies. We find that the policy has been subject to a considerable amount of changes, many of which are the result of policy makers addressing specific system issues and bottlenecks. Interestingly, however, often these issues themselves were driven by unforeseen technological developments induced by previous policy interventions. We argue that the pattern of policy serving as both a solution to and a driver of technological bottlenecks shows strong similarities with what Rosenberg (1969) called ‘compulsive sequences’ in the development of technical systems. By shedding more light on how the characteristics of socio-technical systems affect policy interventions, our framework represents a first step toward more closely integrating the literature on innovation systems with the work on policy learning.     

老马识途：“多面手”高管与企业创新

本文主要考察决策者经历多样性对企业创新的具体效应及其影响机制。基于中国上市企业董事长和总经理工作、学习及其他经历指标体系,我们采用主成分分析法构造决策者经历多样性综合指数,研究发现：决策者经历多样性对企业创新绩效存在显著的正向促进效应。决策者经历多样性通过提高失败容忍度、促进协同创新、识别并激励高水平发明家等途径促进企业创新。决策者经历多样性对企业创新的影响在高科技企业、成长性企业以及国有企业中更加明显。     

德国风电技术创新集群的空间演化机制分析

近十几年来,创新集群一直是学界和政府部门关注和讨论的热点话题,也日益成为决策者所亲睐的创新政策工具之一。世界各国政府部门纷纷将培育和发展创新集群作为增强国家创新竞争力和保障经济持续增长的重要政策选择。在德国创新集群作为创新活动的重要组织模式被着力推广。本文基于创新集群的视角,聚焦德国风力发电技术创新活动的空间演化过程,并探讨其形成的机制。     

关于技术创新政策评估的探索——鼓励企业加大技术开发投入的财税优惠政策评估

科技政策评估在我国开展得较少,政策评估的方法也不很完善。本文介绍了一项创新政策评估的实践,通过对鼓励企业增加技术开发经费投入的税收优惠政策的评估,分析了这一政策执行的基本状况、存在的问题及改进的建议,并就创新政策评估的方法进行了探讨。     

Hand in hand to Nowhereland? How the resource dependence of research institutes influences their co-evolution with industry

The linkages between science and industry have long been of interest to scholars studying technological change. Recent studies demonstrate that resource exchange between science and industry may lead to patterns of co-evolution, with major implications for the rate and direction of innovation. However, we currently know very little about how the dynamics of co-evolution between research institutes and industry are influenced by organizational characteristics. To address this shortcoming, in this paper we draw on a comparative case study of the world's two largest research institutes for solar photovoltaic power and study how differences in their financial resource dependence influence patterns of co-evolution. We demonstrate that when a research institute is heavily reliant on industry funding, it leads to close co-evolution of science and industry, thereby raising the risk of a mutual lock-in into specific technologies. A heavy reliance on public funding, on the other hand, contributes to the decoupling of science and industry evolution, which entails the risk of research having limited impact on practice. By developing a framework that shows how co-evolution between science and industry is affected by resource dependence, our study contributes to the literature on science-industry collaboration, co-evolution, and technological paradigms. Moreover, our study bears important implications for policy makers and managers of research institutes interested in spurring technological change.     

中国政府R&D资助空间自相关特征研究

本文采用中国大陆分省区面板数据,利用空间计量经济学方法,并基于区域创新环境的角度,实证考察了我国政府RD资助的空间自相关特征及其影响因素。研究发现,考察期内我国政府RD资助在空间上呈现较强的空间自相关性;区域创新环境变量中,区域基础设施环境、金融环境、人力资本环境、制度环境及对外开放水平对政府RD资助具有显著的正向拉动效应,而经济发展环境的影响并不显著。本文结论为我国政府科技资助政策的科学制定提供参考。     

中国科技政策主体合作网络演化研究

 运用社会网络分析方法,绘制不同发展阶段中国科技政策制定主体合作网络图谱,提炼网络结构演化的模式特征;通过合作“广度—强度”二维矩阵分析政策主体在网络中的角色演变,并识别网络中的核心节点;在此基础上,探讨了不同核心主体在科技政策主体合作网络生成与演化过程中的功能演变及其对网络运行的影响。结果表明,在中国科技政策主体合作网络演化过程中,整体结构优化与主体功能提升相互促进,并呈现出同步演化特征;中国科技政策主体合作网络演化具有体制改革推动和科技发展需求拉动的双重驱动特征。     

政策引导创新模式下的专利集成失败问题研究

政策是驱动技术创新的一种新动因。在促进技术创新的同时,政策也可能诱发专利竞赛,增加专利丛林密度,甚至阻碍创新成果推广与扩散。为了探索我国科技资助政策是否能够解决专利集成问题,运用案例研究的方法,对“科学仪器重点专项”专利政策进行深入分析。研究发现该专利政策虽然注意到专利集成问题并努力解决,但是忽视了背景专利的集成问题,存在着专利集成失败的风险。为了发挥政策引导创新的作用,建议我国政策制定者事前解决专利集成失败风险。     

Prospective analysis of technological innovation systems: Identifying technological and organizational development options for biogas in Switzerland

In this article, we put forward a concept for the identification and analysis of future development options of technological innovation systems. The key element of our approach, the so-called variation analysis, is a methodology to identify coherent socio-technical and organizational variants within a specific innovation field. Consistent combinations of these two dimensions may be interpreted as nuclei for alternative future developments of innovation systems. The method may be used in discursive foresight processes to inform strategy formulation of firms or policy makers who see a utility in furthering the innovation field. The paper has a focus on developing the theoretical background and the analytical structure of the methodology. Empirically, we illustrate the method for the innovation system of biomass digestion in Switzerland.     

政府研发补贴有助于企业创新效率提升吗？——基于模糊集定性比较分析（fsQCA）的研究

政府研发补贴是各国普遍采用的促进企业创新活动的政策，如何发挥其应有效能是学术界和政策制定者关注的重要问题。以高端装备制造业上市公司为研究样本，采用MinDS模型测度考虑非期望产出的创新效率，应用模糊集定性比较分析方法（fsQCA）研究了各要素联动如何作用于企业创新效率。结果表明：（1）身处欠佳市场环境中的民营企业若能取得政府补贴，无论是事前补贴还是事后补贴都将有助于创新效率的提升；相反，身处良好市场环境的民营企业对政府补贴的依赖较弱；（2）身处欠佳市场环境中且无丰富政治关联的企业，政府研发事前与事后补贴相辅相成才能促进企业创新效率的提升，其中事后补贴起关键作用；（3）身处欠佳市场环境中的企业，如果拥有较多的政治关联，则最好不要借此寻求事前补贴，否则企业会陷入“政治资源诅咒”的漩涡。     

Science, technology and innovation for economic growth: Linking policy research and practice in ‘STIG Systems’

This paper reflects on the relevance of “systems-theoretic” approaches to the interdependent policy issues relating to the dynamics of science, technology and innovation and their relationship to economic growth. Considering the approach that characterizes much of the current economics literature's treatment of technology and growth policies, we pose the critical question: what kind of systems paradigm is likely to prove particularly fruitful in that particular problem-domain? Evolutionary, neo-Schumpeterian, and complex system dynamics approaches are conceptually attractive, and we examine their respective virtues and limitations. Both qualities are readily visible when one tries to connect systems-relevant research with practical policy-making in this field.     

In search of systemic innovation for sustainable development: A design praxis emerging from a decade of social learning inquiry

Processes of designing for systemic innovation for sustainable development (SD) through the lens of three long-term case studies are reported. All case studies, which originated from the SLIM (Social Learning for the Integrated Management and Sustainable Use of Water at Catchment Scale) Project, funded within the EU Fifth Framework Program (2001–2004), constitute inquiry pathways that are explored using a critical incident approach. The initial starting conditions for each inquiry pathway are compared; significant pathway dependencies are identified which foster the development of social learning processes locally, but constrain their uptake and embedding across the wider system of interest. In the first case study, in England & Wales, promising developments in the application of social learning approaches to river basin planning over an initial 3-year period were subsequently marginalised, only to resurface towards the end of the 10-year period of study. In the second, South African case study, significant spaces for social learning and innovation in integrated water resources management were opened up over a five year period but closed down again, primarily as the result of lack of policy support by national government. The third, Italian, case study was designed to assess options for adapting to climate change by opening up new learning spaces between researchers, stakeholders and policy makers. A case for investing in local level systemic innovation through social-learning praxis design approaches and in learning processes around well contextualised case-studies is supported. However, concomitant investment by policy makers in social learning as an alternative, but complementary, governance mechanism for systemic innovation for SD is needed.     

Entrepreneurial experiments in science policy: Analyzing the Human Genome Project

We re-conceptualize the role of science policy makers, envisioning and illustrating their move from being simple investors in scientific projects to entrepreneurs who create the conditions for entrepreneurial experiments and initiate them. We argue that reframing science policy around the notion of conducting entrepreneurial experiments - experiments that increase the diversity of technical, organizational and institutional arrangements in which scientific research is conducted - can provide policy makers with a wider repertoire of effective interventions. To illustrate the power of this approach, we analyze the Human Genome Project (HGP) as a set of successful, entrepreneurial experiments in organizational and institutional innovation. While not designed as such, the HGP was an experiment in funding a science project across a variety of organizational settings, including seven public and one private (Celera) research centers. We assess the major characteristics and differences between these organizational choices, using a mix of qualitative and econometric analyses to examine their impact on scientific progress. The planning and direction of the Human Genome Project show that policy makers can use the levers of entrepreneurial experimentation to transform scientific progress, much as entrepreneurs have transformed economic progress.     

Role of visual analytics in supporting mental healthcare systems research and policy: A systematic scoping review

The availability of healthcare data has exponentially grown, both in quantity and complexity. The speed of this evolution has generated new challenges for translating complex data into effective evidence-informed policy. Visual analytics offers new capacity to analyze healthcare systems and support better decision-making. We conducted a systematic scoping review to look for evidence of visual analytics approaches being applied to mental healthcare systems and their use in driving policy. We found 79 relevant studies and categorized them in two ways: by study purpose and by type of visualization. The majority (67.1%) of the studies used geographical maps, and 11% conducted highly complex studies requiring novel visualizations. Significantly, only 15% of the studies provided information indicating high levels of usability for policy and planning. Our findings suggest that while visual analytics continues to evolve rapidly, there is a need to ensure this evolution reflects the practical needs of policy makers.     

创新链视角下高新技术企业认定效应与机制研究

    基于创新链视角,探究高新技术企业认定对企业创新的影响及其作用机制。以沪深A股上市公司为样本,研究发现：高新技术企业认定对企业创新绩效的影响存在多重路径,创新投入和成果产出在其过程中分别发挥中介作用,且创新投入与成果产出的链式中介效应显著。进一步,从信号机制、杠杆机制和触发机制三方面,揭示高新技术企业认定影响企业创新过程的内在机制。结果显示：在创新投入阶段,高新技术企业认定的信号机制激励外源融资进入创新链,提升企业研发投入;在成果产出阶段,高新技术企业认定发挥杠杆作用,撬动企业寻求产学研合作,促进企业科技成果产出;而高新技术企业认定是否能触发企业创新绩效提升,认定质量是关键情境变量。根据研究结论,提出了相应政策建议。     

产业特征对技术创新激励政策效应的交互影响

   有关技术创新激励政策效应的研究对产业特征的关注还不充分,影响了对激励政策产业层面效应的深入理解。本文认为更为系统地重审技术创新激励政策的效应,有必要将产业市场竞争度与产业技术吸收能力同步纳入研究模型,因为它们分别影响产业创新主体的技术创新动机和技术创新能力。当产业市场竞争度与产业技术吸收能力都处于高水平时,技术创新激励政策对产业技术创新的正向效应最为明显。实证数据来自和五类使能技术的应用密切相关的16个制造业的2013—2017年的数据,包括R&D资本存量、全时人员当量、发明专利申请数、新产品开发项目数、新产品销售收入数据,和以DEA视窗方法计算得到的产业技术创新绩效数据,分析结果表明：产业技术吸收能力放大了税收优惠政策对技术创新绩效的正向作用;但是R&D补贴政策对于技术吸收能力低的产业有更高的正向效应;当技术市场竞争度高时,技术吸收力对税收优惠与R&D补贴的正向促进作用最高。本研究深化了对技术创新激励政策的作用机理的理解,并提示政策制定者需要充分重视产业的市场竞争度。     

A neo-Schumpeterian model of health services innovation

The paper presents and empirically applies a neo-Schumpeterian model of innovation capable of studying interactions between service providers, patients and policy makers, and how these complex interactions determine the timing, direction, and success of innovations in the public sector. The model is tested using a case study that traces the introduction and development of ambulatory surgery in a Spanish hospital. The multi-agent model applies the ideas of Schumpeter to services, encompassing Schumpeter's five types of innovation, and re-introducing the policy-maker as a key agent in the innovation process. The model has a number of advantages over previous, reduced form models. First, it can analyse the interactions between the economic, social and political spheres that make up the complex selection environment of innovations. Second, it captures the recursive impact of radical innovations on agents’ competences and preferences, and their relative power. This brings politics, power, and rhetorical persuasion to the fore. Third, it provides an improved set of definitions for radical and incremental innovation. These are not only important for understanding the sources and drivers of innovation, but also for the accurate measurement of innovation.     

Innovation policy in an open economy: A normative framework for strategic and tactical issues

In this paper we present a normative analysis of innovation policy grounded in traditional economic principles which responds to the Schumpeterian critique of previous efforts in the neoclassical vein. Focusing directly on specific policy issues we pursue our analysis in two main directions, investigating the role of government in developing an infrastructure for innovation, and the optimal design of support schemes for R&D projects.The analysis suggests that while the structural and developmental issues stressed by the Schumpeterian school are of fundamental importance, identification of disparities between social and private gains, the “market failure” approach, provides an invaluable tool for understanding and formulating innovation policy. Focusing our attention on such factors as economics of scale, the incidence of externalities, and the Supranormal profits offered by imperfectly competitive markets, it provides a rational and realistic basis for anticipating where and how government intervention on behalf of industrial innovation is likely to be most effective. We view our contribution as a step towards bridging the gap between the neoclassical mainstream of economic analysis and the practice of innovation policy.     

The politics of research and innovation: Understanding instrument choices in complex governance environments – the case of France and Italy

What governments desire to achieve, and how they want to accomplish their goals, represent the core of any policy design process. However, it is still unclear how partisan politics, in its combined effect with path-dependency forces, influence policy makers’ choices over alternative instrument mixes. Through a comparative analysis of Research and Innovation (R&I) instrument choices in countries characterized by different paradigmatic models of policy (Italy and France), the paper investigates how the politics of different cabinets influence the formulation of national R&I strategies and the extent to which these decisions are constrained by the legacy of previous choices. By capitalizing on a new proposed treatment of policy instruments, the paper contributes to the definition of the types of tools found in policy mixes, investigating how national R&I instrument mix variations develop. The results of the analysis indicate how the selection of R&I policy instruments does not closely follow traditional left versus right-wing political cleavages, and their evolution is generally influenced by a combination of different context-dependent dynamics. However, when partisan acceptance of consolidated R&I instrument mixes across cabinets is present, this triggers a consolidating effect on path-dependency forces.