The Effects of Fiscal Incentives for R & D in Spain

This paper explores the effect of fiscal incentives for R&D on innovation. Spain is considered one of the most generous countries in the OECD in fiscal treatment of R&D, yet our data reveal that tax incentives are little known and, especially, seldom used by firms. Restricting our empirical analysis to those firms that do report knowing about such incentives, we investigate the average effect of tax incentives on innovation, using both nonparametric methods (matching estimators) and parametric methods (Heckman’s two-step selection model with instrumental variables). First, we find that large firms, especially those that implement innovations, are more likely to use the tax incentives, while small and medium enterprises (SMEs) encounter some obstacles to using them. Secondly, the average effect of the policy is positive, but significant only in large firms. Our main conclusion is that tax incentives increase innovative activities by large and high-tech sector firms, but may be used only randomly by SME

Tax incentives and direct support for R&D : what do firms use and why?

The measurement of the effects that public support to private R&D has on R&D investment and output has attracted substantial empirical research in the last decade. The focus of this research has mostly focused on testing for possible crowding out effects. There is virtually no study aiming at understanding how and why these effects may or may not be occurring. In addition, the effects of the two most common tools of public support, direct funding through grants and loans, and tax incentives, have been studied separately. We contribute to existing work by focusing on the determinants of the use by firms of these two mechanisms and their potential link to sources of market failures. We think this is an important step to assess impact estimates. Using firm-level data from the Spanish Community Innovation Survey (CIS), we find that firms that face financial constraints, as well as newly created firms, are less likely to use R&D tax credits and more likely to apply for and obtain direct public funding. We also find that large firms that care about knowledge protection are more likely to apply for and obtain direct funding, while SMEs are more likely to use tax incentives. Our results show that direct funding and tax credits, as currently designed, are not perfect substitutes because firms are heterogeneous, and suggest that from a social perspective, and provided that crowding out effects can be ruled out for both instruments, some combination of both may be preferable to relying on only oneR&D subsidies, R&D tax credits, R&D, CIS, Policy evaluation

Multi-Party Coordination in the Context of MOWS

Separation of concerns has been presented as a promising tool to tackle the design of complex systems in which cross-cutting properties that do not fit into the scope of a class must be satisfied. In this paper, we show that interactions amongst a number of objects can also be described separately from functionality, which enhances reusability of functional code and interaction patterns. We present our proposal in the context of Multi-Qrganisational Web-Based Systems (MOWS) and also present a framework that provides the infrastructure needed to implement multiparty coordination as an independent aspect

Aspect-oriented interaction in multi-organisational web-based systems

Separation of concerns has been presented as a promising tool to tackle the design of complex systems in which cross-cutting properties that do not fit into the scope of a class must be satisfied. Unfortunately, current proposals assume that objects interact by means of object-oriented method calls, which implies that they embed interactions with others into their functional code. This makes them dependent on this interaction model, and makes it difficult to reuse them in a context in which another interaction model is more suited, e.g., tuple spaces, multiparty meetings, ports, and so forth. In this paper, we show that functionality can be described separately from the interaction model used, which helps enhance reusability of functional code and coordination patterns. Our proposal is innovative in that it is the first that achieves a clear separation between functionality and interaction in an aspect-oriented manner. In order to show that it is feasible, we adapted the multiparty interaction model to the context of multiorganisational web-based systems and developed a class framework to build business objects whose performance rates comparably to handmade implementations; the development time, however, decreases significantly.Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología TIC2000-1106-C02-0

Proper teaching internship in context of social exclusion

Al tratar el tema de las buenas prácticas docentes, nos referimos a una serie de acciones a planificar, llevar a cabo y evaluar por parte del profesorado con el objetivo de introducir mejoras en su propio desempeño. Tal proceso ha demostrado ser potenciador de las estrategias didácticas y educativas, pero es que, además, cuando es bien aprovechado, puede constituir en sí mismo una herramienta efectiva para luchar contra el fracaso escolar y la exclusión social en cualquier contexto.Regarding to the issue of proper internship, we refer to a series of actions to plan, ful fill and evaluate by teachers with the aim of introduce some improvements in their own perfomance. This process has proved to be a potential factor of didactical and educational strategies, what is more, if it is well done, it can be constituted itself just like an effective tool to struggle against academic failure and social exclusion in any context

Visibilidad científica y académica en la web 2.0: análisis de grupos de investigación de la Universidad de La Sabana

The traditional model of scientific communication focuses on the dissemination of results in traditional media such as magazines, congresses, reports, conferences, etc. However, with the arrival of the Web 2.0 web, new possibilities have emerged to improve the visibility of academic contents in Internet interaction spaces and new ways to measure their impact, such as the so-called Altmetrics (Priem, 2010). Consequently, the objective of this study was to diagnose the status of the visibility of the researchers of the research groups of the university of La Sabana in web 2.0. For this, a quantitative analysis of the descriptive type was carried out once the academic and social platforms allow the circulation of scientific and / or academic contents on the Internet. In this way it is possible to identify the low participation of researchers in the platforms that enhance scientific visibility in the web 2.0

Obstáculos a la innovación y políticas públicas de apoyo a la innovación: estudio para las empresas extremeñas

En el contexto de la globalización, la innovación es una fuente de crecimiento de las economías y elemento clave de competitividad de las empresas, consideradas agentes fundamentales en los sistemas de innovación. La innovación establece un vínculo muy estrecho entre el contexto legal y el contexto social en que se desarrolla lo que implica hacer un esfuerzo para determinar, por un lado, su papel en el ámbito económico sin olvidar, por otro lado, el ambiente geográfico en que se desenvuelve, en nuestro caso la Comunidad Autónoma de Extremadura. Partiendo de estas consideraciones, el objetivo de este trabajo es realizar un diagnóstico de la innovación en las empresas extremeñas con el fin de extraer un perfil que sea útil para el diseño de políticas públicas, especialmente regionales, de apoyo a la misma. Para ello, se ha elaborado una encuesta ad-hoc centrada en cuestiones no contempladas en otras encuestas de innovación que considera algunos aspectos adicionales (expectativas y opiniones sobre orientación futura hacia actividades de innovación, obstáculos a la innovación, el papel que representan las ayudas públicas y aspectos de las políticas públicas se podrían modificar para atender mejor a las necesidades de las empresas facilitando, de esta forma, la decisión de innovar). Entre otros resultados, el análisis de los datos pone de manifiesto, dadas las peculiares características del tejido empresarial extremeño, una escasa disposición a innovar en las empresas no innovadoras si bien la innovación es generalmente considerada un elemento esencial de competitividad. Las empresas innovadoras detectan la presencia de obstáculos para la realización de la innovación, principalmente de costes y falta de financiación, si bien destaca también la percepción de una falta de apoyo por parte de las administraciones públicas. En contraste con ello, la mayoría de las empresas desconocen las políticas de innovación en forma de ayudas de carácter financiero (subvenciones e incentivos fiscales) siendo su conocimiento y, especialmente, su utilización, escasa en las empresas que declaran ser innovadoras. Al preguntar por acciones concretas que las empresas demandarían a la administración destaca que, además de más ayudas de carácter financiero, las empresas solicitan más asesoramiento personalizado y jornadas de información sobre innovación y ayudas a la innovación. En definitiva, sería de interés el establecimiento de una política que incremente la coordinación entre los diferentes agentes de la innovación en Extremadura, especialmente que conecte a las empresas con la administración, a fin de incentivar e incrementar la actividad innovadora teniendo en cuenta las especiales características del tejido empresarial: el tamaño, los principales sectores de innovación y los dominios tecnológicos que se pueden desarrollar. La existencia de la figura de mediadores de innovación públicos o privados que informen a las empresas del apoyo público con el que cuentan para innovar se perfila como una de las medidas que, además de simplificar y aumentar el número de ayudas de carácter financiero, es lo que están demandando a fin de lograr incrementar no solo la disposición a innovar sino también el esfuerzo innovador en la región

A comparative analysis of business R&D policy in Spain and Portugal

This paper compares the R&D policy strategy of Spain and Portugal to promote business R&D spending by focusing on the R&D objectives, incentives and outcomes. It aims to uncover new matters for policy attention and research concerning the public support for business R&D. These countries have similar R&D structural problems to address, two of the most generous fiscal systems for R&D and comparatively low S&T indicators as compared to the EU average. Both failed to reach the R&D intensity goals of the past and it is unlikely they will reach the R&D goals set for 2020. Nevertheless, the rationale for attracting international R&D investment is competitive. Three important issues call for attention: the inverse public incentive structures for business R&D, the faster growth of the BERD/GDP ratio in Portugal over recent years and the implications of the tax reform in Spain in 2008. As a conclusion, we believe that both countries are missing opportunities for mutual learning and should coordinate their R&D public policies

Business R&D Policy in Spain and Portugal: Objectives, Incentives and Outcomes

Spain and Portugal are two EU countries of different size but similar structural problems of science and technology (S&T) to address. Over recent years, the R&D policy of both countries has been designed to tackle analogous R&D structural problems and challenges aiming to increase the historical low-level expenditures on R&D (GERD), business R&D expenditures (BERD), and BERD/GERD ratio. This paper compares and discusses the R&D policy strategy of Spain and Portugal to promote R&D, with particular attention to R&D objectives and business R&D incentives. In this sense, the paper focuses on the characteristics and differences of the two main tools used by governments to stimulate business R&D: direct funding (subsidies and loans) and indirect support (fiscal incentives for R&D). The scope and design of these instruments are likely to condition the firms’ decision on how and when to invest in R&D and be able to partly reduce the problems with business underinvestment in R&D. The paper shows the differences and similarities of these tools in Portugal and Spain. Paradoxically, these countries have two of the most generous fiscal systems for R&D of the OECD but their S&T indicators of remain comparatively low. Despite the governments’ efforts, the increasing generosity of the public incentives and the general tendency to reduce the gap with the EU average, none of the main R&D policy objectives has yet been achieved. Perhaps not expected, it is a fact that the BERD to GDP ratio in Portugal has grown at higher rates than that of Spain, leading to a faster approach of Portugal to Spain and the EU average, especially after 2005. On the contrary, the R&D growth rate in Spain has slowed down and began to decrease after 2008, coinciding with the implementation of a tax reform that reduced progressively the percentage of the tax credit in the tax payable until its total elimination after 2011. There may be lessons to be learned by Spain from this rapid growth of BERD in Portugal and its connection with the financial support R&D policies