Many research funding agencies have recently adopted what I define here as the new impact agenda. Naturally, funding agencies want to know what is the impact of the research they have funded. The new impact agenda is ambitious and demanding, but it has some important challenges too. To be sure, assessing the impact of research … Continue reading
In a recent comparative study of the innovation policies of four regions we have analyzed the extent to which they have changed trajectories. Surprisingly, only one out of the four has changed. The extent to which regional innovation policies have changed recently is a relevant question to put due to three important new trends. Firstly, during the … Continue reading
The traditional view is that universities must transfer their knowledge in order to foster innovation. This is a one-way direction. My argument is that a two-dimensional view is needed, acknowledging that economic and societal actors engagement with universities’ knowledge production is equally crucial. “How can we encourage the commitment of universities to knowledge transfer?” This was the main … Continue reading
Is transnational learning across regions possible, and how to best foster that? This was the leading question of a seminar organized in Brussels in April by Smartspec, a research project with a consortium of academics, experts and regional policy-makers. Regions in Europe are putting up Smart Specialisation Strategies (S3) following the new EU agenda for … Continue reading
Many European countries have introduced important reforms in their innovation policies since the year 2000. Countries with traditionally “mission-oriented” policies have introduced many new “diffusion-oriented” instruments, and vice-versa. Are we witnessing a trend towards convergence of innovation policies, and ultimately of innovation systems? The answer is very simple, and yet quite complex. Simply put the … Continue reading
Susana Borras Blog 