Innovation Policy or Policy for Innovation? – In Search of the Optimal Solution for Policy Approach and Organisation

Governments believe in the effectiveness of public funding to support innovation support, in part, because of the positive conclusions of impact analyses of such programs. Industry typically claims that it would not have innovated (or innovated so rapidly) without the motivation of continued public support. Given that public support for innovation is available in all countries, industry can be expected to take advantage of these support programs on a global basis. A globally coordinated approach towards public support of industrial innovation is problematic, given the global competition for investment in innovation activities by countries. Contemporary innovation is covering and partially integrating many different fields — management areas at company level, governance and policy fields in the public sector. “Innovation policy” is a misleading term: coherent and consistent policy to support the creation and acceptance of innovation is better understood as “policy for innovation”, with the emphasis on more systemic policy measures.