Projects / Programmes
Monitoring and evaluation of impact of Strategic research and innovation partnerships
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 5.06.02 |
Social sciences |
Political science |
International relations |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| S170 |
Social sciences |
Political and administrative sciences |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 5.06 |
Social Sciences |
Political science |
Monitoring and evaluation, smart specialisation, strategic research and innovation partnerships
Researchers (11)
Organisations (3)
Abstract
The proposed project represents a continuation and an upgrade of the Targeted research project »Strategic development and innovation partnerships as a tool to strengthen innovation capability of Slovenian economy« (Oct.1, 2016- Sept. 30, 2019). The research team, which monitors the SRIPs from their formation on, has developed and tested a methodology for monitoring and evaluating SRIPs as the central instrument for the implementation of Smart Specialisation Strategy (S4). Based on this methodology, a mid-term monitoring was performed.
The objective of the proposed project is to upgrade the existing indicators and contribute to the preparation of the reports of the individual SRIPs in a manner which acknowledges the proposed methodology as well as indicators. On the basis of such reports the research team will be able to implement more realistically the evaluation of the efficiency and effectiveness of SRIPs by 2022, in spite of relatively short time period after the end of the instrument.
Important goal of the project is also the elaboration of the proposals for an upgrade of the system of management of SRIPs, which will enable not only more intensive internal communication, but also communication between different SRIPs. The proposals for better integration of SRIPs in the design of the priorities for research and innovation policy at the country level are to be prepared as well to assure full cooperation of the SRIPs in strategic planning of Slovenian economic development. The research group will assist the Government Office for Development and Cohesion Policy in the programming of Cohesion policy after 2020. This way the project should contribute to the overall development context of the country.
Through close cooperation with SRIPs’ offices, the research team will focus on gathering the missing data for the implementation of both, quantitative and qualitative analyses. This will be done through assistance in the preparation of the annual reports of the SRIPs with defining the necessary indicators to be included. Research team is organised so that each member is dedicated to a specific SRIP for monitoring activities of the SRIPs and gathers all relevant information to be able to provide assessment of their performance and effectiveness.
An important segment of the proposed project is also the cooperation with the respective government offices in the preparation of the background data for reports on the implementation of S4. Assuming that the S4 is aimed at development of a more sustainable and coherent research-innovation policy, which will enable the focusing of the available resources (both financial and human), the assessment of the central instrument like SRIP is essential for the evaluation of the S4 as such as well as for the programming of the Cohesion policy after 2020. The monitoring and the evaluation of the on-going phase (until Sept. 2019) provides the opportunity for certain corrections and upgrades of the current instrument. This is why the important part of the proposed project is not only to evaluate the effectiveness and success of the SRIP instrument as such, but to analyse possible optimisation of the S4 implementation with the objective to maximise its contribution to economic as well as research-development- innovation potential of Slovenia.
Significance for science
STI policy evaluation faces the same complex challenges as STI policies themselves. The policy interventions typically seek to affect complex phenomena that involve a number of actors and institutional settings (OECD 2012b). This complexity is a significant barrier to more efficient policy learning and the transfer of the evaluation findings into the policy.
The complexity of working across different departments of the government and coordinating the instruments, as well as integrating the findings of various evaluations in coherent new policy is a considerable challenge for the designers of innovation policies. They need to embrace evaluations as an integral part of R&D policy shaping from the perspective of providing the information and as a significant adjustment tool (Fteval 2012:3). Of course, such a backward linkage is possible only in the environment, where the commissioning institutions value the evaluation results and are integrating the findings in the process of (re)design of policies.
This is why the development of methodology with identification of appropriate indicators as well as the implementation of evaluation of the specific instrument such as SRIP can be an important contribution to evaluation science & practice. It offers an innovative concept of combination of monitoring and evaluation based on regular monitoring of SRIPs and continuous optimisation of the instrument.
Significance for the country
Strategic development and innovation partnerships bring an important novelty in the ways of promoting the cooperation among the enterprises as well as the cooperation between enterprises and public research organisations within the pre-defined priority areas of smart specialisation. The smart specialisation is focused primarily on improving the competitiveness of Slovenian business sector. Cooperation within the strategic partnerships should enable the business sector more focused integration in the value chains, which will be not only more successful but also at a technologically more demanding level and with higher innovation content.
Therefore the monitoring and evaluation of SRIPs is highly relevant for business sector as well, since it can reflect on the implementation of S4 and show where potentially adjustments of the instrument are needed. The partnerships can expand their programmes as well as their modus operandi on the basis of the inputs from the monitoring. SRIPs are also actively involved in the formulation of the appropriate indicators. At the same time, the policy makers can use the results of the monitoring to introduce additional measures, optimising the results for the business sector.
Most important scientific results
Annual report
2020
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Annual report
2020
