System failures in public sector innovation support measures: The case of Estonian innovation system and dairy industry

The external and internal context of the firms is influenced by governmental interventions. For a long time the discussion over government interventions to the market processes and economic environment has taken place. It is accepted by different researchers including supporters of social market economy that some interventions are necessary to create general framework for and achieve desirable outcomes of economic processes through laws, regulations etc. There are different approaches discussing whether and how strongly government should intervene. Reasons for and circumstances in what public sector should intervene and weather the intervention itself creates additional failures or not have mainly been rested on two concepts: market and system failures (Edler, Georghiou 2007: 952). --Innovation Molkereiindustrie,Estland

Doktoriõppe tulemuslikkuse analüüs

Uuringu 2.4 lõppraportUuringu eesmärgiks on analüüsida doktoriõppe tulemuslikkust Eesti avalik-õiguslikes ülikoolides ning sellest tulenevalt teha ettepanekuid tulevaste doktoriõppe toetusmeetmete arendamiseks. Uuringus antakse ülevaade Eesti ülikoolide doktoriõppe vastuvõtutingimuste eripäradest ja doktoriõppe rahastamise skeemist, otsitakse seoseid doktoriõppe meetmete ja doktoriõppe tulemuslikkuse vahel õppeprotsessi, teadustegevuse ja doktorantide materiaalse toimetuleku aspektist, analüüsitakse põhjalikumalt doktorikoolide poolt antavat lisandväärtust ja nende tegevusega seonduvaid probleeme ja pakutakse välja poliitikasoovitused doktoriõppe tulemuslikkuse tõstmiseks.http://tips.ut.ee/index.php?module=32&op=1&id=366

Innovatsiooniprotsessi tegurite ja avaliku sektori innovatsiooni toetusmeetmestiku vaheline kattuvus: Eesti piimatöötlejate ja biotehnoloogia ettevõtete analüüs

Enamik riike soovib toetada firmade innovatiivsust, kuna selles nähakse konkurentsivõime peamist tegurit. Ka firmad ise on innovatiivsusest huvitatud, sest uuendusmeelsus suurendab tulu ja/või parandab firma teisi majandusliku edukuse näitajaid. Üheks võimaluseks tõstmaks ettevõtete innovatiivsust, on efektiivne avaliku sektori innovatsiooni toetusmeetmestik. Toetusmeetmestik peab olema suunatud innovatsiooniprotsessi takistavate tegurite kõrvaldamisele või nende negatiivse mõju leevendamisele. Tihti on innovatsiooni toetusmeetmestiku rakendamine ebaefektiivne. Toetusmeetmete efektiivsuse tõstmiseks peab iga riik analüüsima, millised on need barjäärid või innovatsiooniprotsessi etapid, mis põhjustavad probleeme ettevõtetele, ning kujundama innovatsiooni toetusmeetmestikku vastavalt sellele. Käesoleva doktoritöö eesmärgiks oli ettepanekute tegemine innovatsiooni toetusmeetmestiku efektiivsuse tõstmiseks, toetudes kattuvusanalüüsi tulemustele. Kattuvusanalüüsi rakendamiseks pidi töö autor välja töötama vastavad instrumendid. Kattuvusanalüüsi käigus võrreldi innovatsiooniprotsessi tegureid teatud kindlas sektoris ja vastava riigi innovatsiooni toetusmeetmestikuga. Võrdluse tulemusena selgusid innovatsiooniprotsessi tegurid, mis põhjustasid probleeme ettevõtetele, kuid ei olnud kaetud innovatsiooni toetavate meetmetega, see tähendab, et puudus kattuvus tegurite ja meetmete vahel. Analüüsi tulemusena jõuti ettepanekuteni, mis aitavad tõsta Eesti innovatsiooni toetusmeetmestiku efektiivsust toetamaks Eesti piimatöötlejaid ja biotehnoloogia ettevõtteid. Need kaks ettevõtete gruppi valiti, et analüüsida kahte suhteliselt erinevat tegevusala. Piimatöötlejad esindavad traditsioonilist tööstusharu, biotehnoloogia ettevõtted aga kõrgtehnoloogilisi ettevõtteid. Biotehnoloogiliste lahenduste kasutamine piimatöötlejate poolt võimaldas analüüsida ka kõrgtehnoloogia kasutamist traditsioonilises sektoris ehk kahe grupi kokkupuutepunkte.The majority of countries attempt to support the innovativeness of their firms because innovativeness is seen as the most important component of competitiveness. Also, firms are interested in being innovative because successful innovative projects are usually linked to increases in profits and/or other indicators describing the economic success of the enterprise. To support innovations in enterprises the government could implement public sector innovation support measures targeting the most important problems in the innovation process. Often the implementation of public sector innovation support measures is inefficient. To increase the efficiency of innovation support measures, every country has to identify the barriers or problematic stages of the innovation process for enterprises in that specific country and design innovation support measures accordingly. The aim of the thesis was to provide suggestions on how to increase the efficiency of public sector innovation support measures based on the results of alignment analysis. To implement the alignment analysis author had to develop instruments for it. Alignment analysis was based on a comparison between the factors of the innovation process in one specific sector and specific country, and the innovation support measures implemented in that specific country. The analysis revealed the areas where factors of the innovation process causing problems for enterprises are not targeted by innovation support measures, so, misalignment exists. The findings were used to develop suggestions for dairy processors, biotechnology enterprises and Estonian policy makers on how to increase the efficiency of public sector innovation support measures. Dairy processors and biotechnology enterprises were chosen because of the differences and similarities existing between them. Dairy processors have been classified as belonging to a traditional manufacturing industry and biotech enterprises represent high-tech enabling technology. At the same time they are interlinked and some cooperation takes place between those two areas in Estonia. This enabled to study alignment based on two rather different economic activities, which at the same time are interlinked

Catching up, forging ahead or falling behind? Central & Eastern European development in 1990-2005

This paper aims to assess the economic development and development policies in the Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries in 1990-2005, from the collapse of the USSR to the enlargement of the European Union. A great number of authors have generally seen the transition as a very positive process. They have concluded that the reform policies focusing on macroeconomic and price stability have been the key to success for CEE economies. A reliable economic environment is, of course, instrumental for longer-term economic success, as exemplified by the prolonged crisis in most of the former Soviet Union. Our analysis of the economic development and competitive advantages in the region, however, leads to the conclusion that the specific approach to transition that the Central and Eastern European countries followed came at a rather high cost. Comparative neglect and weakness of a set of policies crucial for longer-term development, such as science, technology and innovation policies, has led to deterioration in the last decade rather than the strengthening of the competitive advantages of Central and Eastern European economies. Furthermore, we argue that, in most cases, CEE countries have unfortunately overlooked or misjudged a number of development challenges, and have thus implemented policies that have generated growth at the cost of rapidly increasing risks. This is how the financial fragility of several Central and Eastern European countries has recently increased drastically, and the region seems to have virtually arrived at the brink of economic collapse. Since the CEE countries joined the European Union, the CEE governments have gradually moved towards acquiring a more active role in economic development. These policies need, however, to be strengthened considerably and reinforced by macroeconomic policies that curb current excessive dependence on foreign-financed growth.Central and Eastern Europe; industrial dynamics; innovation policy; financial fragility

Can the National Innovation Systems of the New EU Member States Be Improved?The authors acknowledge financial support from the EU 6th Framework Programme (project CIT5- CT-028519, U-Know), the Estonian Ministry of Education (target funding T0107) and the Estonian Science Foundation (grant 5840).

This article outlines the main directions of the development of national innovation systems in the new EU member states as catch-up economies emerging from a period of systemic change. Attempts simply to copy the experience of the high-income economies in building national innovation systems are misconceived. That experience needs to be adapted to the specific conditions of catch-up countries with a unique systemic heritage. The dominant linear innovation model should be replaced as a basis for thinking and policy making by an interactive, learning-based approach. Catch-up economies such as these need to improve significantly their levels of innovation diffusion management and networking. A symbiotic approach to the balance of high- and low-tech industries is needed. Managerial and organisational competence is at least as important as technological competence.