Lena Tsipouri

Europe and the information society: Problems and challenges for supranational intervention

Abstract This article proposes that European intervention for the enhancement of the information society is legitimate and appropriate but, despite recent improvements, very difficult to design and implement. Intervention has taken three forms: 1. European‐wide deregulation and liberalization of public procurement, to stimulate competition and specialization; 2. R&D incentives, which have improved European capabilities and given academic research a chance to take off in poorer regions but which have also favored oligopolies and increased barriers to entry; and 3. Incentives offered to the less favored European regions to improve their infrastructure and to adopt strategies that would facilitate the stimulation of demand. Despite their ambitions to help the Union as a whole rapidly close the gap with the U.S. or level internal imbalances, these interventions appear insufficient as yet to do so. But even if policy results are not (yet?) visible, these interventions have put a process in motion that acts in parallel with the market forces of globalization. Although European ambitions are limited by jurisdiction due to the subsidiarity principle imposing action at the lowest possible level, supranational policies demonstrate interesting features of development policies and suggest some innovative schemes of intervention for less favored regions.

Can we benchmark the contribution of research and development investment to growth and competitiveness

This paper suggests that there is no universal model we can use to quantify the impact of R&D on growth and competitiveness. The design and effectiveness of policies are crucial in this relationship and their effects may be anything from a spectacular success to total misallocation of resources. Selected variables are suggested for benchmarking, such as business R&D, a good share of new-technology based (small) firms and bigger companies, the education and mobility of the labour force and the creation of effective intermediaries that facilitate interaction, as well as a process of restructuring. However, dangers are also associated with such a benchmarking approach, if recommendations neglect path dependencies and apparently best practices are transferred without adaptation. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.

Risk management in public procurement of innovation: a conceptualization

This book focuses on Public Procurement for Innovation. Public Procurement for Innovation is a specific demand-side innovation policy instrument. It occurs when a public organization places an order for a new or improved product to fulfill certain needs that cannot be met at the moment of the order. The book provides evidence of the potential benefits to public and private actors from the selective use of this policy instrument and illustrates the requirements and constraints for its operationalization. The book intends to significantly improve the understanding of key determinants of effective public procurement aiming to promote innovative capabilities in the supplying sectors and beyond. It provides both case studies and conceptual contributions that help extend the frontier of our understanding in areas where there are still significant gaps.

Innovation for European competitiveness and cohesion: Opportunities and difficulties of co-evolution

The European Union aims to become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010. Nevertheless, half the Europe-25 Member States possess limited innovation capacities. This article argues that the co-evolution patterns of physical and social technologies indicate two possible scenarios: either the forward-looking elements will start a chain reaction mobilising the rest of the national system, as in Ireland; or the dynamic elements will integrate sectorally and transnationally to the global system, leaving the rest of the economy in a permanent low-cost and low-competitiveness trap. The former is a win-win scenario for the European system of innovation, whereas the latter is second-best. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.

Innovation Policy in Southern Europe: Smart Specialization Versus Path Dependence

The aim of this chapter is to explore the extent to which the recent shift of regional development policy based on the concept of research and innovation strategies for smart specialization can be expected to make a difference in modernizing the economies of Southern Europe. Impact of EU regional development in the past varied. Research and innovation support ranged from effective to indifferent, depending on the region and period studied. The increased funding ensured sustainable improvements in scientific output, but only occasional contributions to economic growth. The imposed ex-ante conditionality for strategy adoption and entrepreneurial discovery under RIS3 may be an effective leverage to help incorporate the formal rules into behavioral changes in the future, but ultimately the regional balance of forces for and against change will determine the success (or failure) of the new approach.