130,604 research outputs found
Efficiency of public spending in support of R&D activities
No full textThis study provides an empirical assessment of the level of efficiency of public R&D spending and public R&D support for private R&D. This study aims at assessing the level of efficiency of public R&D spending and public R&D support for private R&D and to compare efficiency scores among OECD countries, in particular EU Member states over the past two decades. The analysis rests on the concept of efficiency which is based on the relationship between public R&D spending and the additional R&D in the business sector induced by such measures.Public, private R&D, (determinants of) efficiency, framework conditions, SFA, DEA.
Data on Business R&D: Comparing BERD and the Scoreboard
No full textEurostat statistics on Business Expenditure on R&D (BERD) and JRC-IPTS statistics from the EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard are two widely used international data series on firms' R&D activities. The former provides aggregated data, for example, at the national level, and the latter individual data at firm level. BERD data are primarily considered to be useful for governments when comparing themselves against other countries and when examining trends over time. The Scoreboard data are intended to show links at the level of individual companies between inputs, such as R&D, and financial outputs (earnings, sales, market captal, etc). This enables benchmarking of both inputs and outputs against other named companies in a sector. The intended users are companies, investors and policy-makers. An analysis of the comparability between BERD and Scoreboard data is needed to clarify the relationship between macro and micro data and the extent to which they are complementary. The methodologies followed by Eurostat and the JRC-IPTS, respectively, to produce these data, differ mainly because BERD includes more sources of funding and types of firms. Moreover, BERD relies on survey forms whereas Scoreboard data comes from audited accounts. Although it is tempting to consider Scoreboard and BERD as comparable, taking the former as a sub-sample of the latter, they actually present complementary information and the differences between their methodologies are much deeper. In order to compare both data sources, this paper explores their similarities and differences from a number of angles. It then uses empirical evidence to illustrate the comparison between BERD and Scoreboard data from 2004. The conclusions are that (i) a direct comparison is not appropriate and (ii) BERD and Scoreboard have been designed for different uses and any comparison of them requires careful interpretation.JRC.J.3 - Knowledge for Growt
Internationalisation of business investments in R+D and analysis of their economic impact (BERD Flows)
No full textThis report presents and analyses the internationalization of business R+D investments in Europe in light of earlier work. Using established metrics, a composite approach is employed to better understand the distribution and development of this important phenomena over time. Core and secondary data-sources are used to analyse the developments in the context of 35 countries and of 7 sectors. Moreover, the report applies a set of innovative methods to analyse factors that motivate cross-country R+D investments and their effects on host countries. In light of European policy priorities, the report aims to improve the evidence base for RD+I policy making. It discusses policy conclusions, including ways to improve the quality of international R+D expenditure data.European Commissio
Estimating the impact of R&D on productivity using the BERD-ARD data
No full textThe UK has a relatively low ratio of business R&D to GDP (the BERD ratio) compared to other leading economies. There has also been a small decline in UK’s BERD ratio in the 1990s, whereas other leading economies have experienced small rises. The relatively low BERD ratio cannot be explained solely by sectoral or industry-level differences between the UK and other countries. There is, therefore, considerable interest in understanding the firm-level determinants of investment in R&D. This report was commissioned by the DTI to analyse the link between R&D and productivity for a sample of firms derived from merging the ONS’s Business Research and Development Database (BERD) and the Annual Respondents Database (ARD). The analysis estimates the private rates of returns to R&D, and not the social rates of return, since it is the private returns that should drive firms’ decisions. A key objective of this research is to analyse the productivity of R&D in small and medium sized enterprises (SME). The analysis is intended to allow comparisons to the results in Rogers (2005), which uses publicly available data on R&D in medium to large UK firms in the 1990s
R&D Price Inflation, Real BERD and Innovation: Pharmaceuticals, OECD 1980-2000
No full textResearch in pharmaceuticals suggests there is a growing imbalance in the spatial
distribution of business expenditure in R&D (BERD) and R&D productivity has
declined. This evidence derives from data using GDP price deflators to adjust for
price inflation but Dougherty et al. (2003) show them to be inappropriate.
This paper draws on economic theory and panel estimation techniques to develop
Griliches-Jaffe-type R&D price deflators for the pharmaceutical industry in the OECD.
The paper also re-examines the hypotheses that Europe is an innovation laggard and
that R&D productivity has declined. The evidence shows Europe is not a laggard in
real BERD, R&D productivity has improved throughout the OECD except Japan, and
the USA has consolidated its leadership in patents and R&D productivity
R&D in Worldscan
No full textIn March 2000, the European Union’s Lisbon Agenda identified the low level of R&D as an important reason for Europe’s lacking economic growth. Seven years later, innovation still has the full attention of policy makers around Europe. Given the prominent role of innovation in economic policy, the analysis of innovation is also important for policy-oriented economic research. A CGE model is a choice vehicle for the analysis of the long-term economic consequences of innovation policy. So far, attempts of such an analysis have however been rather scarce. In addition, in models that do incorporate innovation, R&D is frequently modelled as an exogenous rather than an endogenous event. Exceptions are the models Quest III, Mesemet and International Futures. WoldScan, the CGE model for the world economy of CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis, includes endogenous R&D, thus providing a flexible instrument for evaluating the effect of innovation policy. This memorandum analyses and checks whether the effect of R&D on total factor productivity (TFP) as modelled in WorldScan is consistent with the empirical estimates used for the calibration of the model. We find that the model deviates from these empirical estimates in two ways: i) the effect of R&D in WorldScan differs considerably over countries and sectors. Some validation for this sectoral pattern is found in the empirical literature; and ii) in WorldScan, R&D not only generates spillovers, but is also treated as a production factor. There is thus a potential for double-counting the effects of private R&D. We find that this risk is only partly realized. In addition, we have considered the effectiveness of an R&D tax credit in WorldScan and find that such a tax credit raises both R&D expenditures and welfare. The degree of effectiveness of the tax credit in raising R&D expenditures is broadly consistent with the empirical literature: 1 euro extra R&D credit raises total R&D expenditures by an equal amount.
Manufacturing the future: is the manufacturing sector a driver of R&D, exports and productivity growth?
No full textMany industrialized countries in Europe and North America have experienced a steady decline in the manufacturing sector over the last few decades. Amid growing concerns that outsourcing and offshoring have destabilized European economies, policymakers have suggested that a large manufacturing sector can: i) boost R&D, ii) encourage exporting, and iii) raise productivity. We examine these claims. Non-parametric plots and regressions show a robust positive association between the manufacturing sector and Business R&D expenditures (BERD), while the relationship between manufacturing and exports or productivity is more elusive. Finally, we explore whether a manufacturing sector target of 20% of value-added will help reach a BERD target of 3% of GDP
Is Europe Becoming the Most Dynamic Knowledge Economy in the World?, CES Working Paper, no. 119, 2004
No full textThe paper discusses the condition and perspective of the European Union in the knowledge economy and the feasibility of the goal given by the European Council at the Summits held in Lisbon (March 2000) and Barcelona (March 2002), that is, to increase European R&D expenditure up to 3 percent of GDP by 2010. The paper focuses on two aspects: comparative performance with its direct counterparts, in particular the US..; and intra-European distribution of resources and capabilities. A set of technological indicators is presented to show that Europe is still in a consistent delay when compared to Japan and the U.S., especially in R&D investment and in the generation of innovations. A small convergence occurs in the diffusion of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), the sector most directly linked to the concept of the “new economy.” In the field of knowledge collaboration, Europe reveals opposing paths in the business and in the academic worlds. Within Europe, the level of investment in scientific and technological activities is so different across countries that it does not merge into a single continental innovation system
MeSH term explosion and author rank improve expert recommendations
No full textInformation overload is an often-cited phenomenon that reduces the productivity, efficiency and efficacy of scientists. One challenge for scientists is to find appropriate collaborators in their research. The literature describes various solutions to the problem of expertise location, but most current approaches do not appear to be very suitable for expert recommendations in biomedical research. In this study, we present the development and initial evaluation of a vector space model-based algorithm to calculate researcher similarity using four inputs: 1) MeSH terms of publications; 2) MeSH terms and author rank; 3) exploded MeSH terms; and 4) exploded MeSH terms and author rank. We developed and evaluated the algorithm using a data set of 17,525 authors and their 22,542 papers. On average, our algorithms correctly predicted 2.5 of the top 5/10 coauthors of individual scientists. Exploded MeSH and author rank outperformed all other algorithms in accuracy, followed closely by MeSH and author rank. Our results show that the accuracy of MeSH term-based matching can be enhanced with other metadata such as author rank
Productivity Growth, Knowledge Flows, and Spillovers
No full textThis paper explores the role of knowledge flows and productivity growth by linking direct survey data on knowledge flows to firm-level data on TFP growth. Our data measure the information flows often considered important, especially by policy-makers, such as from within the firm and from suppliers, customers, and competitors. We examine (a) what are the empirically important sources of knowledge flows? (b) to what extent do such flows contribute to TFP growth? (c) do such flows constitute a spillover of free knowledge? (d) how do such flows correspond to suggested spillover sources, such as multinational or R&D presence? We find that: (a) the main sources of knowledge are competitors; suppliers; and plants that belong to the same business group ; (b) these three flows together account for about 50% of TFP growth; (c) the main "free" information flow spillover is from competitors; and (d) multinational presence contributes to this spillover.
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