Impact assessment of public research, development and innovation programs

Abstract

There is little debate nowadays regarding the necessity of assessment of the use of research and development (R&D) funds. Research evaluation becomes increasingly important as the competitive stakes for national economies and industries increase, as the sizes of R&D budgets increase, and as demands for transparency, accountability and performance across public and private entities increase. Similar arguments apply to programs targeting innovation.There are three interconnected facets of evaluation:*Priority setting and prospective impact appraisal (ex ante evaluation)*Monitoring of progress of ongoing programs (interim evaluation)*Evaluation of program outputs, outcomes, and longer-term impacts (ex post evaluation)Cumulatively, these facets of evaluation aim at:*Measuring performance*Supporting performance-based management and performance-based budgeting*Enhancing accountability and transparency*Improving the communication of program activities and outcomes to decision makers and sponsorsEvaluation, thus, provides a powerful tool with many potential uses. Brazil is raising R&D expenditures to maintain and increase competitiveness in the face of intense international competition. Higher expenditures necessarily draw attention to performance and accountability.This research trajectory will focus on two themes:*Ex ante evaluation of R&D&I programs in contexts of high uncertainty*Ex post evaluation of the impact of public R&D&I programsSpecifically this work plan will develop aspects related to Ex post evaluation of the impact of public R&D&I programs.Ex Post Evaluation of Public R&D&I ProgramsWe will develop a long-term research program (5-years) on the use of complex methodologies combining econometric analysis, multiple level surveying, and group interviewing on the appraisal of public R&D&I programs addressing industrial innovation.Innovation is a complex and multifaced phenomenon that, to be properly understood, requires in depth examination of a large variety of phenomena spanning from the inception of the original innovative idea, to the research activities to turn this idea into new knowledge that can be potentially applied, to the process of embodiment of this knowledge into a product (good, service) or process to be commercialized.These phenomena operate at the micro-organizational level (group), micro level (firm), meso level (industry), and macro level (economy), and should be addressed at these levels of analysis. A partial list of the phenomena to be analyzed would include the dynamics of groups working on innovative projects, the characterization of the process through which innovation is generated and implemented, the organizational factors that induce/inhibit the innovative performance of firms, R&D collaboration and networks, the dynamics of innovation dissemination within and across industries, the workings of the national/regional innovation systems and the institutional environment.DPCT has extensive experience in ex-post evaluation of policies and programs. The Department has been particularly keen to expand the frontiers of methodological development of multidimensional approaches to measure outcomes of economic, social, environmental, competence-creating, and institutional impacts of R&D&I programs.