Innovation policy 2021 (GEO3-2225) Utrecht University
Contents
1. Introduction to innovation policy landscape................................................................................... 3
1.1. Edler & Fagerberg (2017): Innovation policy: what, why and how ......................................... 3
1.2. Lecture 1 .................................................................................................................................. 5
2. Rationales for innovation policy ...................................................................................................... 6
2.1. Stiglitz (1998) Redefining the role of the state ....................................................................... 6
2.2. Lecture 2 .................................................................................................................................. 8
3. Policy instruments for innovation processes/systems .................................................................. 10
3.1. Flanagan et al. (2011) Reconceptualising the ‘policy mix’ for innovation ............................ 10
3.2. Lecture 3 ................................................................................................................................ 12
4. Mission-oriented innovation policy............................................................................................... 14
4.1. Mazzucato (2018) Mission-oriented innovation policies: challenges and opportunities ..... 14
4.2. Lecture 4 ................................................................................................................................ 18
5. History of Science and Innovation Policy ...................................................................................... 20
5.1. Perez (2009) Technological revolutions and techno-economic paradigms .......................... 20
5.2. Schot & Steinmueller (2018) Three frames for innovation policy ......................................... 22
5.3. Lecture 5 ................................................................................................................................ 24
6. Assignment .................................................................................................................................... 24
7. Science and higher education institute (HEI) policy ...................................................................... 25
7.1. (recommended) Rathenau industry seeking university ........................................................ 25
7.2. Lecture 7 ................................................................................................................................ 26
8. Regional innovation policy ............................................................................................................ 27
8.1. Foray (2018) Smart specialisation in mission-oriented policies ............................................ 27
8.2. Lecture 8 ................................................................................................................................ 29
9. Intellectual property and technical standards .............................................................................. 31
9.1. Bekkers (2018) Technical standards, property rights, and the age of grand societal
challenges .......................................................................................................................................... 31
9.2. Lecture 9 ................................................................................................................................ 33
10. Finance and innovation policy ................................................................................................... 35
10.1. Van Tilburg (2009) Finance innovation (exec. sum.) ......................................................... 35
10.2. Lecture 10 .......................................................................................................................... 36
11. Content discussion .................................................................................................................... 37
12. Demand driven and user innovation policies ............................................................................ 37
1
,Innovation policy 2021 (GEO3-2225) Utrecht University
12.1. Boon & Edler (2018) Demand, challenges and innovation ............................................... 37
12.2. Lecture 12 .......................................................................................................................... 41
13. Innovation policy evaluation ..................................................................................................... 41
13.1. Impact evaluation expert working group (2012)............................................................... 41
13.2. Lecture 13 .......................................................................................................................... 48
14. Industrial & innovation policy in the Netherlands .................................................................... 49
14.1. Rodrik (2004) Industrial policy for the 21st century .......................................................... 49
14.2. Lecture 14 .......................................................................................................................... 54
15. Presentations............................................................................................................................. 56
16. Future of innovation policy ....................................................................................................... 56
16.1. Martin (2016) Twenty challenges for innovation studies ................................................. 56
16.2. Lecture 16 .......................................................................................................................... 59
17. Entrepreneurship policy ............................................................................................................ 59
17.1. Stam (2015) Entrepreneurial ecosystems and regional policy .......................................... 59
17.2. Lecture 17 .......................................................................................................................... 62
2
,Innovation policy 2021 (GEO3-2225) Utrecht University
1. Introduction to innovation policy landscape
1.1. Edler & Fagerberg (2017): Innovation policy: what, why and how
What – three types of innovation policy
− Mission-oriented innovation policy: providing new solutions that work in practice to specific
challenges that are on the political agenda.
o All phases of innovation process important when designing and implementing policy
→ broad approach
− Invention-oriented innovation policy: focus on the R&D/invention phase → leaves possible
exploitation and diffusion of the invention to the market
o Narrow approach
− System-oriented innovation policy: focus on system-level features, e.g. the degree of
interaction between parts of the system or if a component of the system needs to be
improved. NIS
Why – theoretical rationales
− Market failure approach to innovation policy
o Theoretical background: mainstream economics
o Reasons why firms underinvest in R&D:
▪ Uncertainty
▪ Spillovers: Most important source of innovation is new knowledge.
Knowledge is public good → those who created the knowledge could not
fully appropriate it → not enough incentive to invest → underinvestment →
market failure
o Three types of policy instruments
▪ The state needs to invest in the public production of knowledge, i.e. in
universities etc. for basic research
▪ Subsidizing R&D in private firms. Also called additionality
▪ Strengthening IPR regime
o Easy to implement and simple but theoretically flawed:
▪ Even if market failure significantly depresses innovation activity, this does
not mean that governments are capable of improving it.
▪ Vague policy implications. E.g. what is the socially optimal level of R &D
investment?
▪ Information ≠ knowledge: having access to information (e.g.) and
understanding how things work can be very different. Market failure
approach does not include this. Tacit knowledge.
▪ This approach focuses on the early stages in the innovation process but later
stages are at least equally important and are often much more difficult.
− Innovation system approach to innovation policy (NIS)
o Theoretical background: innovation studies:
▪ Innovation not only depends on firms but also on the broader social and
economic environment. E.g., individual creativity, public policy, economic
institutions etc.
▪ Innovation is inherently multi-actor
3
, Innovation policy 2021 (GEO3-2225) Utrecht University
o How the environment can function as a resource or enabler for innovation → how
can policy contribute to this? → government should facilitate interactions in the
innovation system
o System failure: if the innovation system does not sufficiently provide for the
functions/processes/activities etc.
o Policy should not only focus on solving market failure (see before) but also on
systemic failure → a more holistic approach is needed
− Innovation, path dependency and policy
o Preserving the balance between variety-creation and selection
▪ Variety-creation: the source of long-run growth
▪ Selection: eliminating the least promising solutions causes efficiency
o Too much selection may cause path-dependency: difficult to change course later
o A problem with this approach is that countries may focus too much on their
dominant industries, thereby creating path-dependency and possibly restricting
upcoming industries
How – innovation policy in practice
Policy instrument: techniques developed in order to achieve goals set by policies
It is very difficult to measure the impact of individual policy instruments (context and time are
important etc.) → some call for systemic evaluations
Public innovation governance:
− Often through innovation agencies
o Across different countries these agencies have different levels of autonomy. While
strong involvement of government in the shaping of innovation policy may be a good
thing, lack of independence at the agency level may be a problem if it leads these to
be very risk averse as politicians generally are.
o Across different countries also often different focus: in Europe more on SMEs and
networking wile in US more on development of cutting-edge high-risk research
4
Contents
1. Introduction to innovation policy landscape................................................................................... 3
1.1. Edler & Fagerberg (2017): Innovation policy: what, why and how ......................................... 3
1.2. Lecture 1 .................................................................................................................................. 5
2. Rationales for innovation policy ...................................................................................................... 6
2.1. Stiglitz (1998) Redefining the role of the state ....................................................................... 6
2.2. Lecture 2 .................................................................................................................................. 8
3. Policy instruments for innovation processes/systems .................................................................. 10
3.1. Flanagan et al. (2011) Reconceptualising the ‘policy mix’ for innovation ............................ 10
3.2. Lecture 3 ................................................................................................................................ 12
4. Mission-oriented innovation policy............................................................................................... 14
4.1. Mazzucato (2018) Mission-oriented innovation policies: challenges and opportunities ..... 14
4.2. Lecture 4 ................................................................................................................................ 18
5. History of Science and Innovation Policy ...................................................................................... 20
5.1. Perez (2009) Technological revolutions and techno-economic paradigms .......................... 20
5.2. Schot & Steinmueller (2018) Three frames for innovation policy ......................................... 22
5.3. Lecture 5 ................................................................................................................................ 24
6. Assignment .................................................................................................................................... 24
7. Science and higher education institute (HEI) policy ...................................................................... 25
7.1. (recommended) Rathenau industry seeking university ........................................................ 25
7.2. Lecture 7 ................................................................................................................................ 26
8. Regional innovation policy ............................................................................................................ 27
8.1. Foray (2018) Smart specialisation in mission-oriented policies ............................................ 27
8.2. Lecture 8 ................................................................................................................................ 29
9. Intellectual property and technical standards .............................................................................. 31
9.1. Bekkers (2018) Technical standards, property rights, and the age of grand societal
challenges .......................................................................................................................................... 31
9.2. Lecture 9 ................................................................................................................................ 33
10. Finance and innovation policy ................................................................................................... 35
10.1. Van Tilburg (2009) Finance innovation (exec. sum.) ......................................................... 35
10.2. Lecture 10 .......................................................................................................................... 36
11. Content discussion .................................................................................................................... 37
12. Demand driven and user innovation policies ............................................................................ 37
1
,Innovation policy 2021 (GEO3-2225) Utrecht University
12.1. Boon & Edler (2018) Demand, challenges and innovation ............................................... 37
12.2. Lecture 12 .......................................................................................................................... 41
13. Innovation policy evaluation ..................................................................................................... 41
13.1. Impact evaluation expert working group (2012)............................................................... 41
13.2. Lecture 13 .......................................................................................................................... 48
14. Industrial & innovation policy in the Netherlands .................................................................... 49
14.1. Rodrik (2004) Industrial policy for the 21st century .......................................................... 49
14.2. Lecture 14 .......................................................................................................................... 54
15. Presentations............................................................................................................................. 56
16. Future of innovation policy ....................................................................................................... 56
16.1. Martin (2016) Twenty challenges for innovation studies ................................................. 56
16.2. Lecture 16 .......................................................................................................................... 59
17. Entrepreneurship policy ............................................................................................................ 59
17.1. Stam (2015) Entrepreneurial ecosystems and regional policy .......................................... 59
17.2. Lecture 17 .......................................................................................................................... 62
2
,Innovation policy 2021 (GEO3-2225) Utrecht University
1. Introduction to innovation policy landscape
1.1. Edler & Fagerberg (2017): Innovation policy: what, why and how
What – three types of innovation policy
− Mission-oriented innovation policy: providing new solutions that work in practice to specific
challenges that are on the political agenda.
o All phases of innovation process important when designing and implementing policy
→ broad approach
− Invention-oriented innovation policy: focus on the R&D/invention phase → leaves possible
exploitation and diffusion of the invention to the market
o Narrow approach
− System-oriented innovation policy: focus on system-level features, e.g. the degree of
interaction between parts of the system or if a component of the system needs to be
improved. NIS
Why – theoretical rationales
− Market failure approach to innovation policy
o Theoretical background: mainstream economics
o Reasons why firms underinvest in R&D:
▪ Uncertainty
▪ Spillovers: Most important source of innovation is new knowledge.
Knowledge is public good → those who created the knowledge could not
fully appropriate it → not enough incentive to invest → underinvestment →
market failure
o Three types of policy instruments
▪ The state needs to invest in the public production of knowledge, i.e. in
universities etc. for basic research
▪ Subsidizing R&D in private firms. Also called additionality
▪ Strengthening IPR regime
o Easy to implement and simple but theoretically flawed:
▪ Even if market failure significantly depresses innovation activity, this does
not mean that governments are capable of improving it.
▪ Vague policy implications. E.g. what is the socially optimal level of R &D
investment?
▪ Information ≠ knowledge: having access to information (e.g.) and
understanding how things work can be very different. Market failure
approach does not include this. Tacit knowledge.
▪ This approach focuses on the early stages in the innovation process but later
stages are at least equally important and are often much more difficult.
− Innovation system approach to innovation policy (NIS)
o Theoretical background: innovation studies:
▪ Innovation not only depends on firms but also on the broader social and
economic environment. E.g., individual creativity, public policy, economic
institutions etc.
▪ Innovation is inherently multi-actor
3
, Innovation policy 2021 (GEO3-2225) Utrecht University
o How the environment can function as a resource or enabler for innovation → how
can policy contribute to this? → government should facilitate interactions in the
innovation system
o System failure: if the innovation system does not sufficiently provide for the
functions/processes/activities etc.
o Policy should not only focus on solving market failure (see before) but also on
systemic failure → a more holistic approach is needed
− Innovation, path dependency and policy
o Preserving the balance between variety-creation and selection
▪ Variety-creation: the source of long-run growth
▪ Selection: eliminating the least promising solutions causes efficiency
o Too much selection may cause path-dependency: difficult to change course later
o A problem with this approach is that countries may focus too much on their
dominant industries, thereby creating path-dependency and possibly restricting
upcoming industries
How – innovation policy in practice
Policy instrument: techniques developed in order to achieve goals set by policies
It is very difficult to measure the impact of individual policy instruments (context and time are
important etc.) → some call for systemic evaluations
Public innovation governance:
− Often through innovation agencies
o Across different countries these agencies have different levels of autonomy. While
strong involvement of government in the shaping of innovation policy may be a good
thing, lack of independence at the agency level may be a problem if it leads these to
be very risk averse as politicians generally are.
o Across different countries also often different focus: in Europe more on SMEs and
networking wile in US more on development of cutting-edge high-risk research
4
