About

Supporting innovation policy makers

"INNO-Grips" (short for "Global Review of Innovation Policy Studies") is supporting policy makers in adopting appropriate policy responses to emerging innovation needs, trends and phenomena. It analyses framework conditions, barriers and drivers to innovation and innovation policy and offers intelligence on international developments in these fields.

Over a period of three years (2010-2012), the two pillars of INNO-Grips will conduct 12 studies and organise 12 workshops to exchange views, ideas and best practices with innovation stakeholders in order to optimise innovation policy Europe-wide. These key activities will be complemented by a news service about international innovation policy developments, covering about 40 countries worldwide, and further dissemination activities such as newsletters. Besides holding workshops, INNO-Grips invites its target audiences to discuss the results of studies and related issues in an interactive online environment (the INNO-Grips blog). INNO-Grips is thus a platform for all stakeholders involved in the practice of innovation and in innovation policy, in particular innovation policy makers at the EU, national and regional levels; innovation intermediaries such as innovation agencies and knowledge transfer centres; innovation practitioners and academia conducting research on innovation dynamics.

Technically, INNO-Grips consists of two pillars. The first one –"Innovation policy research and intelligence"– gathers evidence on innovation policy developments worldwide and analyses specific aspects and trends in more detail. The second pillar –"Economic and market intelligence on innovation"– analyses framework conditions (e.g. implications of socio-economic trends), barriers and drivers to innovation at firm level.

Innovation intelligence studies

Past studies have shown that successful entrepreneurship and innovation activities especially in the knowledge intensive industries have depended heavily upon a combination of the business allocation of resources to innovative investment strategies, and government investment in the knowledge base, state sponsored adaptations or abatements of market regulations, the protection of intellectual property rights, and state subsidies to support these business strategies. Therefore in order to understand the drivers and barriers to innovation one has to establish the link between the innovative enterprise and the social and economic framework conditions in which it operates. Without this it is not possible to begin to analyse in a systematic way how innovative and entrepreneurial activity inserts itself into the economic system to contribute to the process of economic development.

On the other hand, as new communication technologies diffuse and as intangible investments become more and more important, also the nature of the innovation process changes. This means that it is now much easier to source knowledge globally. As a consequence the organisation of R&D and innovation activities changes. Firms offshore R&D activities or they engage into cross-licensing deals with other firms. Other firms again close down their R&D labs and prefer to manage a network of researchers and scientists that provide the crucial knowledge they need. Firms are also increasingly concerned with the productivity of their research activities and as a consequence they tend to relocate them, if more productive locations are available. On the user side, globalisation is also having an impact on how firms innovate: the use of the internet to allow for mass-customisation. That firms act increasingly on a global scale means also that they set up research labs in important markets with the aim to adapt their products to these markets. Innovation is therefore becoming a truly open and global activity.

For policy formulation these changes in how firms innovate are an ongoing challenge, as the economic environment changes very rapidly. For this purpose, this part of the INNO-GRIPS Project will provide analyses of innovation drivers and barriers to innovation at firm level with the purpose to support the process of evidence-based policy development. They will address on the one hand links between innovation and internationalisation behaviour of firms and the social and economic framework conditions, and on the other hand they will study changes in the nature of the innovation process. These studies will be delivered over a period of 36 months in close coordination with the representatives of the European Commission and in close interaction with the service providers of the other PRO INNO Europe activities.

Innovation policy analysis

In addition to the innovation intelligence studies, INNO-Grips conducts a series of innovation policy briefs. These "mini studies" address specific issues relevant to the formulation of innovation policy at European and Member State level. The following topics are foreseen for the period 2010-2012:

  • Innovation policy in an anti-cyclical conjuncture (2010): the cyclical properties of R&D have been subject to both empirical and theoretical scrutiny for a long time. This brief will explore whether there are opportunities to strengthen innovation activity as a means to counteract economic crisis, i.e. as a short/medium term policy instrument, and which public-private partnerships are best suited to enable economic recovery.
  • Innovation policy in support of high-growth innovative SMEs (2010): there is a limited understanding of high-growth innovative SMEs in theory and practice. This brief will provide evidence and discuss how innovation policy can contribute to foster the sustainable growth of SMEs in Europe, and if / how such policies should be distinct from general SME policy.
  • Policies in support of service innovation (2011): this brief explores which role the EU can play in supporting innovation activities in the service sector? What is the appropriate place of service innovation support in national and EU-level innovation systems and policies, what are best practices in this domain?
  • Regulation as a potential barrier to disruptive innovation (2011): this brief will discuss how Europe can ensure that markets for emerging products and services are not blocked by inadequate regulation. Case studies where regulation has inflicted innovation activity will be explored with the goal to extract some general lessons for an ex ante assessment of regulation in this respect.
  • Policies supporting innovation in public service provision (2012): The pressure on the provision of better and more efficient public services is a key challenge in all countries of Europe. This policy brief will discuss different concepts and trends in public service innovation, look at activities in different EU Member States and develop recommendations on this basis.
  • New themes in innovation policies (2012): this policy brief will systematically screen new trends in innovation policies and analyse how national policies pursue the overarching target of coordinated policies supporting innovation. It will be discussed to what extent current trends in national policies consider both the core innovation policies (such as supporting R&D, patenting and protecting intellectual property rights) and supplementary ones.

 

Consortium Lot 1 – Innovation policy research

The innovation policy monitoring will be carried out by a consortium consisting of:

 

Consortium Lot 2 – Innovation intelligence studies

The innovation intelligence studies and workshops will be carried out by a consortium led by the Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO) and consisting of the following members:

  • WIFO
  • Fraunhofer
  • Nifu
  • UNU-Merit
  • MCI