Evvy Award for an excellent evaluation on socio-economic effects Terttu Luukkonen VTT Group for Technology Studies P.O.Box 1002 FIN VTT

Elements of evaluation Methods, data collection conclusions Understanding context, agenda Communication of results

Assessment of the additional appropriation for research Evaluation carried out by Aaatto Prihti, Luke Georghiou, Elisabeth Helander, Jyrki Juusela, Frieder Meyer-Krahmer, Bertil Roslin, Tuire Santamäki-Vuori, Mirja Gröhn

Background for the evaluation Deep recession in the early 90s Still growth of R&D expenditures in both private and public sector, though more in the private sector A big additional appropriation for R&D to further the economy and employment Political question of the level of R&D funding by the public sector

R&D expenditure in the private and public sector 1991–1998, estimate for 1999

Focus of evaluation It was impossible to evaluate the impacts of the ongoing approriation programme on the economy A solution: to evaluate the general rationale of public R&D funding and the impact of past funding on the whole system Attention also to bottlenecks in the R&D system

Focus: topics Productivity and employment Modernisation and regional employment Basic research Networking National Technology Agency

Evidence Eight background studies Interviews with key persons (68) –administration –universities –research institutes and other research organisations –industry Relevant studies carried out elsewehere

Studies Innovation policy and public R&D funding - impact on company success and job creation in Finland Impact of public R&D funding on the profitability and growth performance of firms Public R&D funding, technological competitiveness, productivity, and job creation

Studies, continued : Regional impacts of R&D and public R&D funding Public R&D funding and international technology commercialisation Economic evaluation of Finnish cluster programmes Research evaluation in Finland A bibliometric study of Finnish science

Impacts The evaluation supported the decision to continue public R&D funding at a high level It supported a governmental proposal to increase basic funding of universities It is leading to an evaluation of the National Technology Agency and the whole technology support system Further measures are under consideration at the Cabinet-level Science and Technology Policy Council