Evaluation of science, technology and innovation: policy and organizational implications

Abstract

The main objective of this project is to identify the key trends in conceptual and methodological approaches of science, technology and innovation evaluation exercises and analyze how their results have been used in the formulation of policies and strategies. The research is going to be carried out at the Manchester Institute of Innovation Research (MIoIR) of University of Manchester Business School, where it can be found unique competencies in the area of policy and management of science, technology and innovation. The project is based on the growing importance of evaluation in science, technology and innovation, as well as on the numerous conceptual and methodological challenges that are still necessary to face, so that such practices could serve as effective instruments for policies and strategies formulation in micro and macro economic levels. Besides the conceptual discussion and the analysis of science, technology and evaluation exercises with an emphasis on European cases, the project also aims to detail the data analysis that resulted from a recently completed survey on evaluation of FAPESP (São Paulo Research Foundation) programs. This survey was completed in July 2012, resulting in major advances both from the methodological point of view (especially with regard to the use of a quasi-experiments), and also in terms of relevant information about FAPESP programs, especially fellowships in undergraduate, master and phD degrees, due to the large volume of responses (about 12,000 questionnaires). Finally, the proposal includes the identification and development of appropriate indicators for systematic evaluation of research grants. (AU)