scholarly journals On the Influence of Science Funding Policies on Business Sector R&D Activity

Equilibrium ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 9-27
Author(s):  
Marta Magdalena Rószkiewicz

The analysis focuses on assessing the impact of science and innovation policy on increasing business research activity, represented by the measure of business expenditure on research (BERD). The study concentrates on the impact of direct and indirect funding instruments. The effects of public intervention were examined basing on the pursued policy and the country’s level of innovativeness in 21 countries. In order to build aggregate variables of direct and indirect financial flows, the procedure of principal components was performed. Correlations between these variables and business sector activity were examined. The procedure of hierarchical clustering allowed to determine groups of countries which used similar policy instruments and experienced the same dynamics of BERD expenditures. The aim of such clustering was to highlight basic types of relations between the policy pursued and the activity of business sector. The study allowed to determine that direct funding has a significant effect on increasing BERD expenditures and is decreasing with the growing intensity of these outlays. The relation for indirect funding was found to be more complex. The generosity of country’s tax incentives for R&D was proved to be dependent on the level of innovativeness of business sector and was represented by an inverted U-shaped curve. The level of innovativeness was also found to have a stronger impact on business sector research activity than the policy pursued by a country. Basic recommendations on research funding policies were built based on the performed analysis.

Author(s):  
Pyka Andreas ◽  
Matthias Mueller ◽  
Muhamed Kudic

Innovation policy and business strategy often expect that investing in private and public research and development will immediately produce a flow of products and processes with high commercial and social returns. Policymakers and managers implicitly follow the logic underlying most linear innovation models assuming a well-defined and uni-directional relationship between R&D spending as input and innovation rents as output of the innovation process. Modern innovation economics dismisses the simplified approximation of knowledge by R&D investment and, instead, considers complex knowledge generation and diffusion processes in innovation networks. From this angle, the disappointing performance of traditional approaches is traced back to strong limits of conventional steering, control, and policy instruments. In this paper, we show that the new view of knowledge generation and diffusion in innovation networks allows for an alternative and has led to systemic approaches in innovation analyses. Combined with computational approaches like agent-based modeling, this new view enables today innovative tools in policy consulting. Using the example of regional innovation policy, we introduce a policy laboratory in which innovation processes can be analyzed in depth to see the impact of different innovation policy instruments in-silico. This ex-ante evaluation helps considerably to improve the understanding of innovation processes and with it the performance of innovation policy.


2018 ◽  
Vol 18(33) (1) ◽  
pp. 309-318
Author(s):  
Barbara Wieliczko

The evaluation system is an important part of the analysis of the impact of public intervention on socio-economic reality. It also provides knowledge about the necessity of changes. Therefore, it should be designed and implemented as carefully as possible. The paper presents the EU RDP 2014 2020 evaluation system the Member States. A comparative approach was applied and the current system was compared with the previous one. The focus was put on the EC’s guidelines for the RDPs’ evaluation in both of the study periods and it was limited to principles of mid-term and ex-post evaluations. The aim of the paper was to answer the question "Does the RDP 2014-2020 evaluation system provide more knowledge on the effects of support compared to the 2007-2013 programming period?". The results of the analysis indicate that the current solutions do not provide complete and transparent results indicating the impact of intervention at the level of individual policy instruments.


2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 177-184
Author(s):  
Anton Kvitka ◽  
Anna Kramarenko ◽  
Denys Davydov ◽  
Maryna Pasmor ◽  
Olga Diachek

The use of available digital tools, the entrepreneur’s personal human capital, and the formation and filling of niche markets are seen as the main factors of enterprises’ prosperity. Thus, the study aims to identify the impact of business research on the dynamics of operational and commercial efficiency of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME). The online survey and regression analysis methods based on the data obtained were used. The study revealed that SMEs constantly need to perform data analysis, but despite the need for business intelligence, enterprises rarely use Big Data (cloud technologies). Most small businesses that conduct business research use digital tools, which poses acute problems of staff development and building an effective model for outsourcing research agents. Currently, the economic efficiency of business research is not clearly visible, which is due to the influence of strong external factors, as well as a low level of innovation and research activity of economic agents.


Author(s):  
Kristina A. Bannova ◽  
Nurken E. Aktaev ◽  
Yulia G. Tyurina

Digital technologies have changed the relationship between the society and business entities, taxpayers and the state. Ceteris paribus, the ability to effectively manage financial flows and make administrative decisions depends on the correct and established interaction between the state and taxpayers. This study aims to form and develop a taxpayer’s understanding of the digital age with all its features and opportunities for information and communication technologies, including mathematical modeling methods that form the basis of the digital economy for building and sustaining business development, improving the systemic vision of business processes. The research hypothesis is that the further development of economic entities management in the digital context, as well as the coordination of these entities’ interests, is possible only in the partnership of the key economic participants, with the taxpayer at the forefront. That will allow identifying the areas for improving tax trajectories. Using polynomial approximation, the authors have obtained the models of tax trajectories of companies that allow predicting tax burden. The data for approximations are obtained using the previously constructed mathematical model of the optimal tax path. The main input data of the model are fixed assets and human resources, the totality of which form the production function. The analysis of the transformation of tax paths shows ways for achieving a balance of interests between both the state and the taxpayers. Finding this balance will help to overcome the crisis of confidence in the authorities, the development of adaptability and creativity of Russian society to new tax changes. A number of parameters determines the scale of this task. They include the complexity of the object of study, the long-term and multi-aspect nature of the impact which modeling the digital economy has on adaptation to the new digital realities of the state and taxpayers, as well as the absence of significant analogues of the solution to this problem in global and Russian economics.


2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
M Suhrcke ◽  
M Pinna Pintor ◽  
C Hamelmann

Abstract Background Economic sanctions, understood as measures taken by one state or a group of states to coerce another into a desired conduct (eg by restricting trade and financial flows) do not primarily seek to adversely affect the health or health system of the target country's population. Yet, there may be indirect or unintended health and health system consequences that ought to be borne in mind when assessing the full set of effects of sanctions. We take stock of the evidence to date in terms of whether - and if so, how - economic sanctions impact health and health systems in LMICs. Methods We undertook a structured literature review (using MEDLINE and Google Scholar), covering the peer-reviewed and grey literature published from 1970-2019, with a specific focus on quantitative assessments. Results Most studies (23/27) that met our inclusion criteria focus on the relationship between sanctions and health outcomes, ranging from infant or child mortality as the most frequent case over viral hepatitis to diabetes and HIV, among others. Fewer studies (9/27) examined health system related indicators, either as a sole focus or jointly with health outcomes. A minority of studies explicitly addressed some of the methodological challenges, incl. control for relevant confounders and the endogeneity of sanctions. Taking the results at face value, the evidence is almost unanimous in highlighting the adverse health and health system effects of economic sanctions. Conclusions Quantitatively assessing the impact of economic sanctions on health or health systems is a challenging task, not least as it is persistently difficult to disentangle the effect of sanctions from many other, potentially major factors at work that matter for health (as, for instance, war). In addition, in times of severe economic and political crisis (which often coincide with sanctions), the collection of accurate and comprehensive data that could allow appropriate measurement is typically not a priority. Key messages The existing evidence is almost unanimous in highlighting the adverse health and health system effects of economic sanctions. There is preciously little good quality evidence on the health (system) impact of economic sanctions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1356
Author(s):  
Gonzalo Wandosell ◽  
María C. Parra-Meroño ◽  
Alfredo Alcayde ◽  
Raúl Baños

Sustainable development is a global objective that aims to address the societal challenge of climate action, the environment, resource efficiency, and raw materials. In this sense, an important strategy is the promotion of green packaging, that is, the use of sustainable materials and designs for the packaging of goods. In recent years, many research works have been published in the specialised area covering the different perspectives and dimensions of green packaging. However, to our knowledge, no previous investigations have analysed the research activity on green packaging from business and consumer perspectives. The present study intends to fill this gap by analysing all of the publications found in the Scopus database with the help of visual analytic tools, including word clouds and Gephi network visualization software. More specifically, our study analyses the impact of green packaging from business and consumer viewpoints, including some specific issues such as the design and materials used in green packaging, green packaging costs, marketing strategies and corporate social responsibility related to green packaging, and the impact of green packaging in waste management, the circular economy, logistics, and supply chain management. The results obtained reveal the growing interest of scholars and researchers in all of these dimensions, as is made patently clear by the increasing number of journal publications in recent years. The practical implications of this study are significant, given the growing awareness among companies and consumers about the importance of the promotion of sustainable development through green packaging alternatives. More specifically, the results of this research could be very useful for all of those agents who are interested in learning about the main lines of research being developed in the field of green packaging.


2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marko Gregl ◽  
Klavdij Logožar

Abstract Development aid, one of the most important mechanisms for the redistribution of global wealth, represents financial flows that have economic growth and social improvement as their main objective. It has also frequently been described as an instrument which is able to diminish international migrations and is used by several developed countries. Recently, much empirical evidence and several contributors have argued that connection and set out other grounds. This paper explores the interaction between development aid and migrations from developing to developed countries. We want to determine, if the amount of development aid has any impact on migrations from African, Caribbean, and the Pacific Group of States. Our results show that development aid does not have a direct effect on migrations and therefore, in terms of international migrations, is not effective. Moreover, we will argue that the donor side should use different policies and other mechanisms to manage migrations from those countries


2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (6) ◽  
pp. 426-433 ◽  
Author(s):  
Devidas Menon ◽  
Alexa A. Nardelli ◽  
Tarek Motan ◽  
Kristin Klein ◽  
Tania Stafinski

Objectives: This review aims to assess the state of the science around the potential impact of certain patient characteristics on the safety and effectiveness of in vitro fertilization (IVF).Methods: Following Cochrane Collaboration guidelines and the PRISMA statement, a comprehensive systematic review of reviews and recent primary studies examining the impact of paternal age and maternal age, smoking, and body mass index (BMI) on the safety and effectiveness of IVF was performed. Papers, published between January 2007 and June 2014, were independently reviewed and critically appraised by two researchers using published quality assessment tools for reviews and primary studies. Due to heterogeneity across papers (different study designs and patient selection criteria), a qualitative analysis of extracted information was performed.Results: Seventeen papers (ten systematic reviews and seven primary studies) were included. They comprised evidence from retrospective observational studies in which maternal age, BMI, and smoking status were explored as part of secondary analyses of larger studies. The majority of papers found that the likelihood of achieving a pregnancy was lower among women who were >40 years, had a BMI ≥ 25 and smoked. Advanced maternal age and BMI were also associated with higher rates of preterm birth and low birth weight.Conclusions: Based on available evidence, it may be appropriate to consider “maternal age” and “morbid obesity” in public funding policies that aim to maximize the effectiveness of IVF. However, given inconsistencies in the effect of smoking across different pregnancy-related outcomes, support for incorporating it into funding conditions appears weak.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Marshall ◽  
Kate Lanyi ◽  
Rhiannon Green ◽  
Georgie Wilkins ◽  
Fiona Pearson ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND There is increasing need to explore the value of soft-intelligence, leveraged using the latest artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP) techniques, as a source of analysed evidence to support public health research activity and decision-making. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to further explore the value of soft-intelligence analysed using AI through a case study, which examined a large collection of UK tweets relating to mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS A search strategy comprising a list of terms related to mental health, COVID-19, and lockdown restrictions was developed to prospectively collate relevant tweets via Twitter’s advanced search application programming interface over a 24-week period. We deployed a specialist NLP platform to explore tweet frequency and sentiment across the UK and identify key topics of discussion. A series of keyword filters were used to clean the initial data retrieved and also set up to track specific mental health problems. Qualitative document analysis was carried out to further explore and expand upon the results generated by the NLP platform. All collated tweets were anonymised RESULTS We identified and analysed 286,902 tweets posted from UK user accounts from 23 July 2020 to 6 January 2021. The average sentiment score was 50%, suggesting overall neutral sentiment across all tweets over the study period. Major fluctuations in volume and sentiment appeared to coincide with key changes to any local and/or national social-distancing measures. Tweets around mental health were polarising, discussed with both positive and negative sentiment. Key topics of consistent discussion over the study period included the impact of the pandemic on people’s mental health (both positively and negatively), fear and anxiety over lockdowns, and anger and mistrust toward the government. CONCLUSIONS Through the primary use of an AI-based NLP platform, we were able to rapidly mine and analyse emerging health-related insights from UK tweets into how the pandemic may be impacting people’s mental health and well-being. This type of real-time analysed evidence could act as a useful intelligence source that agencies, local leaders, and health care decision makers can potentially draw from, particularly during a health crisis.


Author(s):  
Oleg S. Sukharev ◽  
◽  
Ekaterina N. Voronchikhina ◽  

An issue of the economic growth launching in Russia and carrying out technological renewal of the economy seems to be the central task at the current stage of the country’s economic development. However, the overwhelming majority of theories of economic growth, as well as the classical theory of economic policy, do not give an exact answer as to the technological renewal in the economy and its role when changing the structure of technologies and investments in them. The present study fills that apparent gap, and on the basis of the theory of technological paradigms created by the Russian school of economic thought. The purpose of the study is to structurally analyze the dynamics of investments in fixed assets in the technological structures of the Russian economy with an assessment of the impact on it of certain instruments of macroeconomic policy. On the basis of taxonomic methods of identifying paradigms by types of economic activity, the authors propose a solution to the problem of measuring structures and the investments made in them. The stages in the methodology for the struc- tural analysis and assessment of the economic policy instruments impact- ing through the regression econometric analysis on the target investment function of each of the identified paradigms are formed. The study resulted in obtaining a picture of the distribution of the impact of macroeconomic policy instruments separately for each technological paradigm, according to the selection made. That allows, firstly, to understand the dispersed power of the influence of the economic policy being implemented, and secondly, to see the possibilities of correcting the ongoing structural and investment policy and the use of macroeconomic instruments, as well as institutional changes – individual for each element of the structure – technological paradigm. The prospect of the study is the development of various models based on the selected structure of technological paradigms and investments in them, linking the development of structures and detailing the impact of each of the economic policy instruments.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document