priority setting for public research: challenges and opportunities
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Priority Setting for Public Research: Challenges and Opportunities. Fagerberg Committee- Norwary Friday 5 November 2010. Outline. Recent trends Definitions and Rationales Mechanisms and instruments Challenges and opportunities. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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Priority Setting for Public Research: Challenges and Opportunities
Fagerberg Committee- Norwary Friday 5 November 2010
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Outline
• Recent trends• Definitions and Rationales • Mechanisms and instruments• Challenges and opportunities
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Recent trends: Most countries have increased public R&D budgets between
2004-2009(avg. annual growth)
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Recent trends (2) : Stimulus package measures relating to innovation and long-term growth
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Recent trends in STI priorities: Environment, energy, health
Strategic STI policy priority areas
National security
Environment, climate
change and oceans
Natural resources
and energy
Food security
Health & related life sciences
(incl. biotech.)
Social challenges
(incl. pension, transport,
urbanisation, housing)
Engineering and advanced manufacturin
g
New materials/
technologies (incl.
nanotech.)
ICTChildren, education
and creativity
Regional influence,
tourism and culture
Others1
AustriaBelgium (Flanders) n n n n n nBelgium (Wallonia) n n n n nCanada n n n n nCzech Republic n n n n n nDenmark n n n n n n n nFinland n n n nFrance n n n n n nGermany n n n n n n n n nHungary n n n n nIsrael n n n n n nItaly n n n n n n n n nJapan n n n n n n n nKorea n n n n n n n n n n n nNetherlands n n n n n n n n nNew Zealand n n n n nNorway n n n n n n n nSlovenia n n n n n n nSpain n n n n nSouth Africa n n n n nSweden n n n n n n n nTurkey n n n n n n n nUnited Kingdom n n n nUnited States n n n n
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Definitions and Rationalities
• Priority setting = selection of certain activities at the expense of others with an impact on the allocation of public resources
• Rationales: – Primacy of Economic Efficiency Arguments
• Instrumental rationality • Long term view • Stronger basis for accountability • Thematic areas where excellence can be built
• Political Rationality or Narratives• Public research contribute to economic and social goals
• Governance of STI • Whole of government approach • Stakeholder involvement
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Types of Priorities
• Several classifications of types of priorities, among them the following two types:– Thematic Priorities: scientific fields; technoscience / technologies;
sectors; issues; etc.– Structural Priorities: broadly, various innovation-related measures;
more specifically, these might be concerned with research, teaching, firms, regulation, financing, networking and community-building, etc.
• Priorities are set at different levels: – policy (government), – strategic (research funding agencies), – operational (research-performing institutes), i.e. the function
of formulating and implementing S&T priorities (highly decentralised).
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Priority setting in an age of globalisation
• Drivers for priority setting:– Open innovation, internationalisation of S&T, and increased
international competition – Emergence of societal issues– ‘Global’ challenges (including sustainable development,
climate change, alternative sources of energy, water supply, etc.) – requiring international collective action (and related governance frameworks)
• Thematic priorities are increasingly shaped by– international agendas– economic rationales concerning international competitiveness
(which tended to lead to much emulation / convergence in priorities rather than niche strategies)
– Scientific excellence and critical mass
• Issues: around governance; interface / interactions between foreign / supranational and national priorities
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Mechanisms of priority setting
• Over time, a number of mechanisms have been applied in priority setting:– Technology planning and forecasting (1960/70s)– Technology foresight and roadmapping (1980/90s)– Priority setting and strategic policy intelligence (foresight,
monitoring, evaluation, assessment, etc.)
• Trend toward:– expertise-based consultation mechanisms– programmes (as distinguished from institutions) as vehicle of
priority setting– increased decentralisation – as innovation systems have
become more complex, a larger number of actors have built related capacities and been given responsibilities. However, the degree of (de)centralisation varies widely across countries
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Interest in priority setting tools• Priority setting and related instruments, inducing
strong demand for improved methodologies and international learning on best practices.
• Some examples– Austria – National dialogue combined with international peer
review and assessment that identified gaps. Creation of working groups and identification of goals. Political will to develop a vision for 2020.
– Chile – developed more “selective” policies through its clusters initiative.
– Denmark – RESEARCH2015 aims to improve the basis for prioritisation of public funds for strategic research.
– Germany – priority setting is highly decentralized but also involves strong dialogue between the government and the scientific community represented in research funding bodies and the publicly funded research performing institutions……..
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Balancing “top-down” and “bottom-up” approaches
• Top-down and bottom-up are not mutually exclusive, but an appropriate balance between them is required
• Government / the top-down approach plays a role in– identifying ‘public interest’ areas as well as related
potentials– formulating appropriate policy responses – promoting emerging areas (lacking vested interests),
long-term ventures, multidisciplinarity, societal goals– forming and stabilising expectations
• Bottom-up approaches– Elicit / gather / aggregate information– Express needs of stakeholders / “society”
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Some governance / stakeholder issues
• Multiplicity of actors in priority setting – Central ministries to funding agencies/PROs– Public / private / non-profit funders – Central versus regional governments– Research Councils / Funding Agencies– Research performers
• Communication among stakeholders • Balancing functional / thematic priorities• Accountability and co-ordination • Direct vs. indirect channels of influence • Limits to democratisation vs risk of
technocratization – priority setting that escapes democratic processes
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Challenges in priority setting (1)
• Underlying rationales for priority setting of public research – Beyond economic efficiency – Need for understanding role of public research and
relation to growth
• Balancing curiosity-driven vs. goal oriented research
• Governance and involvement of stakeholders – Need for coherence in priority setting – but also need for
taking into account the views and interests of different stakeholder groups
• Linking priorities to outcomes and impacts– Links between funding and outcomes / impacts – Which criteria for priority setting and which tools?
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Challenges in Priority Setting (2)
• National versus sectoral priorities
• Strategic intelligence – Tension between need to know more for sensible PS <->
inherent limits to what one can know about future technological development
• Priorities in an international context
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Opportunities for Priority Setting
• Agenda setting for the future– Process for bring codified and distributed knowledge– Balance short-term and long-term concerns
• Fostering synergies and economies of scope– Not only scale but scope
• Fighting against institutional inertia – Improving adaptability
• Building a broad-based and popular support for S&T
• Policy learning– Identifying key drivers of change and opportunities
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Thank you for your attention
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