Knowledge flows between science and industry and how to measure them

The exchange of knowledge between science and industry has been a focus of innovation research and policy for many decades. New developments in the way technologies are generated, shared, and transferred into new products, services, and business models are currently re-emphasising science-industry interactions. Main drivers are the emergence of open innovation models, the increased internationalisation of innovation processes, the rise of digital platforms, new modes of governance in public research, and the enlarged role of disruptive innovations. At the same time, the measurement of knowledge flows is still limited, and indicators on recent trends in science-industry interaction are lacking. This limits innovation policy in monitoring changes and addressing challenges. A conference in October 2019 in Berlin brought together industry representatives, researchers, and policy makers to discuss these developments and how the measurement of science-industry links could be improved. This policy brief summarises key trends in science-industry collaborations, presents existing indicators and discusses ways to improve our indicator system on knowledge flows between science and industry in order to better inform policy

The impact of the Covid-19 crisis on innovation : first in-sights from the German business sector

In 2020, firms expected their innovation expenditures to decrease by about 2% in 2020 compared to 2019. This decline is much smaller than that in 2009 following the financial crisis, when innovation expenditures fell by 11%. However, smaller firms with 5 to 99 employees planned to cut their innovation expenditures by 7% to 17 % in 2020. For 2021, firms planned a slight increase in innovation expenditure by 1%. The number of employees in short-time work in Germany peaked at 2.9 million in April 2020, corresponding to a share of 8.7% of all employees. The situation relaxed by October 2020, when the share of short-time workers fell to 2.3%. The most R&D-insensitive industries showed the highest share of short-time work in April 2020 (16.6%), but the lowest in October 2020 (2.0%), indicating that the impact of the crisis on R&D intensive industries weakened in the second half of 2020. This development was strongly driven by the drop of short-time workers in the automobile industry. The recovery of some export-intensive industries, such as the automobile industry, also reflects that firms are starting to adopt and overcome the initially severe disturbances and challenges Covid-19 imposed on international value chains. The global R&D expenditures of large R&D performing German firms declined on average by 1% between 2019 and 2020. However, there are major differences between individual industries. The pharmaceutical and ICT service industries significantly increased their global R&D expenditures, whereas mechanical engineering experienced the sharpest decline in 2020. Firms’ average R&D intensity increased in most industries, except for the electronics/instruments industry and ICT services. Firms with R&D or other innovation activities prior to the crisis more often reported negative impacts of the Covid-19 crisis on their general business activities than firms that do not conduct any R&D or innovation activities. This result may be linked to the fact that the crisis had a more severe impact on firms with a more complex internal organisation and more international activities, both of which are typical for R&D and innovation performing firms. The most common strategic responses of firms to the Covid-19 crisis were i) to enhance the digitalisation of their internal processes and ii) to extend their digital offers and sales channels. Both responses were mostly of permanent nature. Reorganising sales towards domestic customers and removing products or services from their portfolio were less common responses. The most frequent crisis-related changes in firms’ innovation activities include i) the extension of innovation projects and ii) a reduction in the number of innovation projects due to a lack of impulses for innovation. Reducing collaborations and withdrawing from all innovation activities were less frequent changes

Wie krisenfest ist Forschung und Entwicklung Auswirkungen der Wirtschafts- und Finanzkrise 2009 auf die FuE-Aktivitäten der deutschen Wirtschaft

Der Beitrag geht der Frage nach, welche Auswirkungen die Wirtschafts- und Finanzkrise auf die Forschungs- und Entwicklungsaktivitäten des Wirtschaftssektors in Deutschland und in ausgewählten Vergleichsländern hatte. Dabei wird der Blick auf die finanziellen FuE-Aufwendungen, das FuE-Personal sowie auf strukturelle Veränderungen gelegt. Zudem wird ein Vergleich mit früheren Krisenzeiten angestellt und die Entwicklung von FuE nach der Krise eingeschätzt. Es zeigt sich, dass die deutsche Wirtschaft ihre FuE-Aktivitäten während der Krise überraschend wenig eingeschränkt hat. Dies ist jedoch kein Deutschlandspezifisches Phänomen. Für die Zeit nach der Krise deuten die bislang zur Verfügung stehenden Indikatoren auf eine rasche Ausweitung von FuE-Aufwendungen und FuE-Personal hin. Summary In this paper we analyse the impact of the financial crisis 2008/2009 on RnD-activities in the economy in Germany and in selected developed countries. We focus on RnD-expenditures, RnD-personal and on changes in the structure of RnD-resources and -activities. Additionally we compare the situation during the latest crisis with developments during previous crisis. Finally we assess the changes in RnD-activities in the post-crisis-period. Surprisingly the crisis had only small impact on RnD both in the German and in many other countries economies. The period after the crisis seems again to be characterized by an intensification of RnD-activities. JEL Classification: O31, O3

Auswirkungen der Wirtschafts- und Finanzkrise auf die Hochschulen – Die Situation in Deutschland und ein internationaler Vergleich

Dieser Beitrag untersucht die Effekte der Wirtschafts- und Finanzkrise 2008/2009 auf die Hochschulen in Deutschland und zieht einen internationalen Vergleich. Wir analysieren dabei mögliche Auswirkungen auf die öffentliche Hochschulfinanzierung und gehen anschließend auf Kooperationen zwischen Wissenschaft und Wirtschaft ein. Trotz einzelner merkbarer Auswirkungen – zum Beispiel durch verschärfte Sparmaßnahmen in den Wissenschaftsetats einzelner Bundesländer, einen Rückgang an Weiterbildungs- und MBA-Programmen an privaten Hochschulen oder durch rückgängige Zuwachsraten bei Drittmittelflüssen aus der gewerblichen Wirtschaft – scheint die Hochschullandschaft in Deutschland nur begrenzt von der Krise betroffen zu sein. Dies gilt insbesondere im Vergleich zu anderen Ländern wie zum Beispiel England, in denen teilweise starke Auswirkungen zu beobachten sind. Summary We analyze the effects of the financial crisis 2008/2009 on higher education institutions (HEI) in Germany and draw international comparisons. We primarily focus on impacts of the crisis on public financing of HEI as well as co-operations between science and industry. For Germany, we find a number of effects such as increased austerity measures concerning the science budgets of some German federal states, falling student numbers in specialized courses such as MBA programs and decreasing growth rates in the HEIs' income generated from private companies. However, the higher education system in Germany seems to have overcome the crisis without major negative effects, especially in comparison with the situation other countries like England. JEL Classification: I20, I22, I2

Knowledge flows between science and industry and how to measure them

The exchange of knowledge between science and industry has been a focus of innovation research and policy for many decades. New developments in the way technologies are generated, shared, and transferred into new products, services, and business models are currently re-emphasising science-industry interactions. Main drivers are the emergence of open innovation models, the increased internationalisation of innovation processes, the rise of digital platforms, new modes of governance in public research, and the enlarged role of disruptive innovations. At the same time, the measurement of knowledge flows is still limited, and indicators on recent trends in science-industry interaction are lacking. This limits innovation policy in monitoring changes and addressing challenges. A conference in October 2019 in Berlin brought together industry representatives, researchers, and policy makers to discuss these developments and how the measurement of science-industry links could be improved. This policy brief summarises key trends in science-industry collaborations, presents existing indicators and discusses ways to improve our indicator system on knowledge flows between science and industry in order to better inform policy