Post-Soviet science: Difficulties in the transformation of the R&D systems in Russia and Ukraine

In the late 1980s, the Soviet Union was among the foremost leaders of world science, thanks in large part to its heavy involvement in military programmes. The USSR developed a large research infrastructure but it lacked effective mechanisms for the commercialization of research results. The main aim of the transformation of R&D systems in the post-Soviet states in the 1990s and early 2000s was the re-orientation of scientific activities away from military and towards civilian goals. Analysis of statistical data at the macro-level suggests that this attempt was not particularly successful. Indeed, most newly independent states could not even preserve a ‘critical mass’ of scientific activities in order to remain among the list of significant producers of research results. In the post-Soviet countries (and in this paper we focus on Russia and Ukraine as the largest states of the region), inputs from the R&D system have failed to generate wealth-creating outputs because of a systemic inability to use the resources for generating commercially viable results effectively. All post-Soviet countries, including Russia and Ukraine, urgently need not only a major transformation within the R&D system, but also important changes in the wider ‘environment’. It is important to stress that, in recent years, changes in R&D have been determined not only by the general economic situation itself but also by the general policy of the post-Soviet states. While Russia has expressed ambitions to regain its former influence as a great power and to use S&T to achieve this goal, Ukraine has no clearly determined objectives for the development of its national science system. However, both countries face certain common problems. The development of relevant institutes and the stimulation of demand for R&D results from the side of industry, broader involvement in the international division of scientific work, and the introduction of adequate legal protection for intellectual property rights are all of critical importance for S&T institutes and other research organizations in Russia and Ukraine. This paper shows that the reforms in the R&D sector have been relatively modest and rather unsystematic over the last one and a half decades. The key challenges, which relate to the inertia and the negative aspects of the previous period (for example, a extremely low level of replacement of aging manpower, largely outdated scientific equipment in research laboratories, and institutional mechanisms that are not relevant to the market economy), pose serious problems for the transformation of the R&D systems in both countries, despite new possibilities and a willingness to increase financial support for R&D.     

Research, development, and firm growth. Empirical evidence from European top R&D spending firms

Following recent literature, we present a model of endogenous firm growth with R&D investment as one of the main mechanisms of growth. Our study evidences a positive effect of R&D intensity on the sales growth by using OLS, quantile regressions, and GMM system estimators for a sample of 754 European firms for the 2003-2007 period. We also find this association is more intense in high-growth firms and is especially significant when referring to high-technology sectors. This paper gives empirical support to those recommendations from policy makers and business leaders for maintaining the R&D expenditures especially in high-technology sectors even when facing a recession.     

China’s reformed science and technology system: an overview and assessment1

Science and technology (S&T) systems are interconnected with economic systems. After China began to make its economic system more market‐oriented in 1979, reforms to its S&T system became urgent. China’s major breakthrough in reforming its S&T system occurred in 1985. This paper provides data on China’s changing S&T sector, outlines the processes of its reform and China’s changing sources of funding for R&D. China’s evolving technology market is given particular attention and some of its pitfalls are discussed.     

Macro-economic consequences of European research policy: Prospects of the Nemesis model in the year 2030

Acknowledging the weakness of R&D expenditure in Europe relative to that in the United States and Japan, Barcelona's European Council agreed in March 2002 to increase investment in R&D to 3% of GDP by 2010. The aim of this paper is to assess the macro-economic consequences of such a policy, using the European macro-econometric model Nemesis. Results show that macro-economic trends can be split into two distinct phases. In the first one, growth is directly driven by R&D expenditures, while in the second phase, innovation is the engine of growth through productivity and competitiveness gains.     

Technological similarity,post-acquisition R&D reorganization,and innovation performance in horizontal acquisitions

This paper aims to disentangle the mechanisms through which technological similarity between acquiring and acquired firms influences innovation in horizontal acquisitions. We develop a theoretical model that links technological similarity to: (i) two key aspects of post-acquisition reorganization of acquired R&D operations – the rationalization of the R&D operations and the replacement of the R&D top manager, and (ii) two intermediate effects that are closely associated with the post-acquisition innovation performance of the combined firm – improvements in R&D productivity and disruptions in R&D personnel. We rely on PLS techniques to test our theoretical model using detailed information on 31 horizontal acquisitions in high- and medium-tech industries. Our results indicate that in horizontal acquisitions, technological similarity negatively affects post-acquisition innovation performance and that this negative effect is not mediated by the reorganization of the acquired R&D operations. However, replacing the acquired firm's R&D top manager leads to R&D productivity improvements that positively affect innovation performance.     

Does R&D performance decline with firm size?—A re-examination in terms of elasticity

There have been many previous studies exploring the relationship between R&D performance and firm size; however, to our knowledge, this issue has never been examined in terms of R&D output elasticity. This paper therefore sets out to re-examine the relationship of the two variables using R&D output elasticity as a measure of R&D performance. A total of 126 manufacturing firms, listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange over the period from 1994 to 2000, are taken as the analytical sample. One practical consideration for choosing these particular firms is the relative abundance of data available for the variables for a longitudinal investigation. The estimates suggest that there is an approximating ‘U-type’ relationship between R&D productivity and firm size. This finding suggests that both large and small firms have higher R&D productivity, and even when the sample is divided into the high-tech and traditional sectors, such a finding still holds. Therefore, in contrast to the prior studies, this study shows that size offers advantage in R&D performance.     

技术创新发展阶段对技术发展战略选择的约束

本文针对目前理论界存在的关于科技发展道路选择中存在的争论,从技术创新发展阶段、R＆D经费结构、比较优势、竞争优势等方面,分析了在科技发展战略选择中面临的约束条件,提出了现阶段引进创新对中国整体技术提升的重要作用,并进一步指出在技术发展道路中,竞争要素与高级要素的有效结合和转换应作为政策关注的焦点。     

The maturation of global corporate R&D: Evidence from the activity of U.S. foreign subsidiaries

This study empirically investigates the impact of foreign country factors like market size, technological strength of industries, and science and engineering (S&E) capability on the conduct of U.S. overseas R&D during the 1991-2002 period. We find that overseas markets primarily predict the entry of U.S. R&D, while the S&E capability of nations is strongly correlated with the post-entry intensity of U.S. foreign subsidiaries’ innovative activity. We also find important inter-industry differences: U.S. electrical, electronics, computer, and telecommunication industries are strongly drawn towards overseas S&E capacity; industries including Machinery, Automobiles, and Transport equipment are primarily attracted by the technological strength of foreign industry; U.S. R&D in Chemicals mostly follows overseas markets. We discuss the implications of our results to the global organization of innovative activity and innovation policy.     

How large is the Swedish ‘academic’ sector really?: A critical analysis of the use of science and technology indicators

Sweden is perceived to be top ranking, and a ‘role model’, in terms of its volume of academic R&D. This perception is based on analyses using two standard indicators. We assess the validity of these and argue that institutional features skew the result in favour of a high ranking. Swedish academic R&D is more appropriately characterised as average, or below average, in terms of input and above average in terms of output. Science policy makers need to acknowledge this and devise policies that strengthen, rather than threaten the functioning of an efficient system.     

Unravelling the cognitive and interorganisational structure of public/private R&D networks: A case study of catalysis research in the Netherlands

This paper presents findings of a study that discloses key features of the Dutch R&D network in the area of catalysis, a sub-domain of industrial-relevant chemistry. The input comprises empirical data on collaborative research publications, informal network ties, and formal R&D linkages. The study aimed at identifying all public and private sector research organisations involved in the network, characterising their R&D output in terms of international scientific papers and patents, and describing and analysing relational and positional dimensions of their interorganisational network. The results provide an overview of Dutch activity within the worldwide cognitive landscape of catalysis R&D — from both a scientific and technological perspective. The interorganisational relationships reveal a strong and integrated network comprising many universities, public research labs, and private enterprises. The results of a mail survey held among academic and industrial researchers who are active within the network not only corroborate these empirical findings, but also elicited relevant criticisms concerning the efficiency and effectiveness of the network, and provided useful suggestions for its improvement. The paper concludes by looking at the benefits of this methodology, which links external quantitative information and qualitative expert opinions, as an analytical tool for government S&T policy and R&D management purposes.     

MNCs’ offshore R&D networks in host country's regional innovation system: The case of Taiwan-based firms in China

China has become a hot spot of R&D internationalization and a growing number of Taiwan-based firms have indeed set up R&D units in China. Taking into account China's substantial regional variations in economic development, innovation capacity, and knowledge productivity, such notions as regional innovation system (RIS) and local innovative milieu may become more relevant to the study on relationships between China and its inward R&D internationalization. Therefore, the key issue for this paper is what locational advantages of an RIS within a host country affect the network linkages and networking strategy of multinational corporations’ (MNCs’) offshore R&D units. The paper aims to enrich the current understanding of R&D internationalization in several ways. First, the paper attempts to examine the R&D networking underlying R&D internationalization by Taiwan-based firms in China, with particular reference to the sub-national level inside China. Second, the paper tries to establish a link between the literature of R&D internationalization and that of RIS, with a modified version of Dunning's eclectic paradigm. Efforts are made to map the relationship between foreign subsidiaries’ local R&D networks and their host RISs inside China. Third, the paper takes advantage of a government databank to adopt a quantitative approach, the Seemingly Unrelated Bivariate Probit Regression model, with foreign subsidiaries as the unit of analysis, to highlight the role played by some aspects of the RIS in determining the local R&D networking of Taiwanese subsidiaries in China. Our evident shows that MNCs’ offshore R&D units that purse home-based technology exploitation strategy, the mainstream strategy regarding the developing host country, tend to be located in a host region with a strong knowledge application and exploitation subsystem, while an RIS with a strong knowledge generation and diffusion subsystem, within such a developing country as China, may induce MNCs’ local R&D units to pursue home-base technology augmenting strategy. On balance, not only the location choice but also the local R&D linkages of MNCs’ offshore subsidiaries are related to appropriate fits between the RIS and the subsidiaries’ innovation network inside the host country.     

Liberalization, outward orientation and in-house R&D activity of multinational and local firms: A quantitative exploration for Indian manufacturing

In an increasingly globalizing and knowledge-based world economy, the declining importance of R&D activity in India is a matter of concern. This paper analyzes the determinants of R&D behaviour of Indian enterprises over the 1990s in the context of the reforms of 1991 and their impact on the R&D behaviour of MNE affiliates and local enterprises. The analysis suggests that although average levels of spending have fallen, increased competition due to liberalization seems to have pushed local firms to rationalize their R&D activity and make it more efficient. Also, R&D spending seems to rise more than proportionally with firm size after a certain threshold level has been reached. The analysis brings out differences in the nature of R&D activity of MNE affiliates and local firms. Local firms direct their R&D activity primarily towards the assimilation of imported technology, and to providing a backup to their outward expansion via exports and FDI. MNE affiliates, on the other hand, focus on exploiting the advantages of India as an R&D platform for their parents. The paper is concluded with some policy implications of the findings.     

Bottom-up estimation of industrial and public R&D investment by technology in support of policy-making: The case of selected low-carbon energy technologies

This paper discusses a bottom-up approach to estimate the level of R&D investment by technology in areas where data are scarce. It develops a four-step methodology for the estimation of corporate R&D investments at technology level. This approach can overcome gaps in existing data by combining publicly available information in a novel way, even though it introduces some uncertainty. This is illustrated for a set of low-carbon energy technologies that were identified as key for meeting Europe's long-term energy and climate objectives by the European Strategic Energy Technology Plan. The paper finds that the aggregated R&D investments dedicated to these technologies amounted to €3.3 billion in the EU in 2007, including public funding from European Union Member States and at EU-level, and industrial research activities from companies with headquarters registered in the EU. The results allow conclusions on the European energy research policy to be drawn, such as the dominance of industrial funds, and have provided significant input to the European policy making in this field. The paper ends with suggestions on how to further enhance the accuracy of the approach and how to widen its application to other sectors.     

知识产权保护宽度、企业研发投资与社会福利

知识产权保护宽度是激励创新企业开展研发投资的主要政策工具,它通过影响知识产权的盈利能力与获取成本,作用于研发企业和受让企业之间的知识产权交易。构建一个两企业、能力非对称的多阶段博弈模型,进行一般均衡分析,结果表明:只有在研发企业的投资支出达到一定规模后,增加保护宽度,才能提高企业收益,激励企业增加研发投资。在既定研发投资下,保护宽度的边际增加将提高技术转让成本,降低受让企业收益和社会福利水平;这一负面效果只有在实现研发投资扩张效应后,才能减缓。因此在增加保护宽度的同时,需要引入辅助措施,如对企业的研发投资采取税收优惠政策、促进企业间知识产权交易等加以协调。     

Institutionalizing end-user demand steering in agricultural R&D: Farmer levy funding of R&D in The Netherlands

The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the institutionalization of demand-driven modes of working in the R&D planning process and reveal possible weaknesses, through an analysis of a system of collective R&D funding by farmers. The findings indicate that, although end-users have the opportunity to raise issues that lead to R&D, queries are influenced by several actors in the R&D planning process in such a way that they do not adequately reflect farmers’ innovation needs. Conclusions are that more emphasis is required on joint demand articulation and involvement of end-users and other stakeholders in the innovation process, and on the institutional development of R&D funding organizations in order to adopt a more inclusive view on innovation.     

Creating advantage in peripheral regions: The role of publicly funded R&D centres

Regional investment in R&D, technological development and innovation is perceived as being strongly associated with productivity, growth and sustained international competitiveness. One policy instrument by which policy makers have attempted to create regional advantage has been the establishment of publicly funded research centres (PRCs). In this paper we develop a logic model for this type of regional intervention and examine the outputs and longer-term outcomes from a group of (18) publicly funded R&D centres. Our results suggest some positive regional impacts but also identify significant differences in terms of innovation, additionality and sustainability between university-based and company-based PRCs. University-based PRCs have higher levels of short-term additionality, demonstrate higher levels of organisational innovation but prove less sustainable. Company-based PRCs demonstrate more partial additionality in the short-term but ultimately prove more sustainable.     

Dependency, resource depth, and supplier performance during industry downturn

This paper examines the effects of supplier dependency and resource depth on the performance of telecommunications suppliers during an industry downturn. It is shown that the R&D carried out independently by a supplier relates positively to the technological depth of the supplier's offering, which is further positively linked to performance. In contrast, the dependency of a supplier shows a negative curvilinear relationship (inverted U) to performance. The research policy implication of our finding is that, in addition to collaborative R&D, a supplier should also be encouraged to initiate its own independent R&D in order to reduce the potential distress on the business during an industry downturn.     

OECD研究与开发资助模式演化及其启示

OECD的大多数国家的研究与开发资助经历了"科学政策时代"、"科学和技术政策时代"、"科学、技术和创新政策时代",知识生产(knowledge production)的指导思想也从"国际领先知识"转向"知识创造财富","新的知识生产方式" 是OECD资助的一个必然趋势。它意味着,如果政府仍然用老的政策工具和行政结构来规划和安排科技政策,那么老式的技术政策将会提高政府失灵的风险,政府在制定科技政策时应该通过激励企业对R&D的投入,调整R&D的资助结构和方式。     

RESEARCH FUNDING IN AUSTRALIA: A VIEW FROM THE NORTH

This paper seeks to contribute to the continuing controversy in Australia on the best way to deploy that country's scientific and technological research and development (R & D) resources. It puts forward and discusses some policy options relating to the ‘restructuring’ of the Australian R&D system currently underway, for the consideration of the research community and those responsible for the research policies. In particular, the paper comments on how overall objectives and priorities for R&D can be set, the need for evaluations of the research and development that is conducted, the need to develop a dialogue between the public and the scientific community over the setting of research and development directions.     

Is there complementarity or substitutability between internal and external R&D strategies?

The various strands of extant empirical research are inconclusive about the complementarity or substitutability between different innovation mechanisms, such as internal and external R&D. Using a panel sample of 83 incumbent pharmaceutical firms covering the period 1986-2000, our empirical analysis suggests that, instead of a clear-cut answer to the question of whether internal and external R&D are complementary or substitutive innovation activities, there appears to be a contingent relationship between internal and external R&D strategies in shaping a firm's innovative output. The results from our study indicate that the level of in-house R&D investments, which is characterized by decreasing marginal returns, is a contingency variable that critically influences the association between internal and external R&D strategies. In particular, internal R&D and external R&D, through either R&D alliances or R&D acquisitions, are complementary innovation activities at higher levels of in-house R&D investments, whereas at lower levels of in-house R&D efforts, internal and external R&D turn out to be substitutive strategic options.