Draft Report of the Expert Group on International STI Cooperation to ...

• International acquisition <strong>of</strong> firms in technology intensive areas
The indicators so far are traditional indicators that capture important dimensions <strong>of</strong>
internationalisation. One caveat <strong>of</strong> this list is that <strong>the</strong>y do not reflect <strong>the</strong> breadth <strong>of</strong> innovation
activities, and <strong>the</strong>y do represent innovation activities differently for different sectors. As <strong>the</strong>
international innovation dimension is becoming more important, we suggest to explore and
develop new types <strong>of</strong> indicators. This exploration should receive high priority as it promises
to add value to understanding new trends and relevant dimensions <strong>of</strong> innovation
internationalisation. Examples <strong>of</strong> those indicators to be developed are:
• De facto standards, an indication <strong>of</strong> technological leadership, determining <strong>the</strong>
production and diffusion <strong>of</strong> innovation. Those de facto standards are hard to capture
systematically, analytical work could be done by <strong>the</strong> EU to establish processes to
capture <strong>the</strong> development <strong>of</strong> de facto standards.
• Level <strong>of</strong> involvement and leadership in standardisation bodies, such as number <strong>of</strong>
chairs in standardisation bodies coming from different countries. 27 This measure
indicates leadership and involvement at international scale.
Existing caveats for innovation measurement: We need to stress that this report focuses on
key STI indicators. The discussion here does not encompass two important dimensions that,
for a holistic development <strong>of</strong> an STI internationalisation strategy, should be considered in <strong>the</strong>
future (medium priority):
• <strong>the</strong> scope and relative strength <strong>of</strong> production and value added in different areas. An
overall strategy that also focuses on innovation must take production and
competitiveness indicators into account. We suggest to link indicator work to <strong>the</strong>
valuable work on key enabling technologies (KET) 28 , i.e. to link patent and
publications analysis with analysis <strong>of</strong> market share <strong>of</strong> certain innovative products or
technologies – depending on strategic interests.
• <strong>the</strong> demand conditions for innovation, i.e. <strong>the</strong> readiness <strong>of</strong> markets to trigger and
absorb innovations. The more favourable demand for innovation is in an area, <strong>the</strong>
more likely it is that innovation generation and spill over innovations (complementary
services and products) will also happen in this area. Especially in ICT and internet
based products and services forefront demand and co-development <strong>of</strong> innovations are
closely linked. Thus, data on market entry and diffusion patterns should be made
available to understand geographical differences in diffusion and understand where
<strong>the</strong> test markets for innovations are in different areas. This is crucial for any
international activity that is market oriented.
Funding, policy and framework conditions within EU and in selected comparator
countries / regions
27
28
The group is grateful to Pr<strong>of</strong>. Knut Blind, Berlin, for this suggestion.
See http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/ict/key_technologies/kets_high_level_group_en.htm
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