Comparison of innovation policies in selected European, Asian and ...

Policy dimension
(1=low, 5=high)
Table 2.8: Score for each dimension of innovation policy systems for Europe,
Asia, Australia, and New Zealand
Europe
Europe,
Leading
NIS
(4)
Europe,
Follower
NIS
(4)
17
Europe,
Moderate
NIS
(4)
Europe,
Moderate
NIS,
in
transition
(3)
Asia
(4) Aust.
New
Zealand
1. Governance
structure
3.2 4.0 3.3 2.8 2.7 3.2 3 4
2. Policy strategic
intelligence
2.9 3.5 3.8 2.3 2.0 2.8 3 3
3. Science base,
public research
4. Public-private
3.7 4.3 3.0 3.8 4.0 3.4 3 4
partnerships,
knowledge
transfer
5. Private R&D &
3.5 3.5 4.0 3.3 3.0 3.2 4 3
innovation
activities
6.
3.0 2.8 3.3 3.3 2.7 2.6 3 2
Entrepreneurshi
p & new firm
creation
7. Framework
3.1 3.0 3.8 2.8 2.7 2.4 3 2
conditions for
innovation
3.1 2.5 4.0 3.0 3.0 2.8 4 3
Average 3.2 3.4 3.6 3.0 2.9 2.9 3 3
The Asian countries also have high ratings for two of the first three policy dimensions and
thus share some similarities with the European Innovation Leaders. The relatively lower
rating for the last three dimensions (Private RTDI policies, Entrepreneurship & new firm
creation, Framework conditions) is due to the relatively few mentioned policy schemes for
those dimensions, and the still relatively large emphasis on policies involving public R&D.
There is, however, a trend towards policies addressing the demand-side, including schemes
addressing innovation in SME’s, but these policy efforts are still difficult to quantify.
Secondly, the low rating on the last three innovation policy dimensions is to some extent
compensated by policy to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). For countries like
Singapore and Malaysia in Asia, and Ireland and Czech Republic in Europe (and other
European NIS in transition) attracting FDI is a major policy effort which impacts innovation,
and is therefore often close to direct innovation policy efforts.
New Zealand has high scores for ‘governance structure’ and ‘public research’ and is different
from Australia which has high scores for ‘pubic private’ and ‘framework conditions’.
Comparing the New Zealand scores with all other countries shows lower rating on the policy
dimensions regarding ‘private RTDI policies’ and ‘entrepreneurship & new firm creation’. On
the other, higher-rated dimensions the scores are similar to the Leading and Follower
European countries. New Zealand’s average score of three puts it behind Australia and
Europe, and equivalent to the Moderate countries.