Transcript Slide 1

Master in Engineering Policy and Management of Technology
- Science & Technology Innovation Policy-
INTERNATIONAL BENCHMARKING AS A
POLICY LEARNING TOOL
Lundvall B., Tomlinson M., from
“The New Knowledge Economy in Europe
- A Strategy for International Competitiveness and Social Cohesion” (2002)
Inês Azevedo
nº 6080
Master in Engineering Policy and Management of Technology
- Science & Technology Innovation Policy-
PURPOSE
To help built the foundations processes of policy learning related to
The Portuguese Presidency on “Economic Growth and Social
Cohesion – a Europe based on Knowledge and Innovation”
TO BENCHMARK DIFFERENT BENCHMARKING PRACTICES.
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Master in Engineering Policy and Management of Technology
- Science & Technology Innovation Policy-
WHAT IS BENCHMARKING (BM)?
Systematic comparison of on institution’s outcomes or processes
with either some other institution(s) or some accepted standard.
It is usually a rigorous comparison with an institution that is regarded
as superior in performance.
SEARCH
Key Actions
IMPROVEMENT
Example: Xerox (1980)
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Master in Engineering Policy and Management of Technology
- Science & Technology Innovation Policy-
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QUESTIONS CONCERNING THE PRIVATE SECTOR
1. In Microeconomics it is assumed that all firms have equal access
to technologies and modes of organization; in Macroeconomic
models it is assumed rational expectations.
2. Explicit and exact models vs Incomplete implicit and intuitive
model (BM)?
RISKS:
• “Post-Modern Management Techniques”.
• It may seem more exact than it is (numbers).
• Manipulated by those in power to impose controversial changes.
Technocratic top-down
vs
Democratic bottom-up Approaches
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Master in Engineering Policy and Management of Technology
- Science & Technology Innovation Policy-
IS BM A GOOD IDEA?
• QUESTIONS CONCERNING THE PRIVATE SECTOR
Turbulent
Competition
Quick
Change
Complex
New
Technologies
Volatile
Markets
Learning Economy
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Master in Engineering Policy and Management of Technology
- Science & Technology Innovation Policy-
IS BM A GOOD IDEA?
• QUESTIONS CONCERNING THE PRIVATE SECTOR
4. There is not only one single best practice (ex: sailing techniques to steam
power).
5. Copying: from excellence to disdain…
And the DIVERSITY?
BM might be seen as intensifying the selection process that market
competition gives rise to and it might result in too little diversity and
heterogeneity!
In the European discourse “diversity” across member states should be
regarded as a potential source of innovation and growth… This contrasts
with strategies aiming at convergence of institutions and policies.
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Master in Engineering Policy and Management of Technology
- Science & Technology Innovation Policy-
IS BM A GOOD IDEA?
• QUESTIONS CONCERNING THE PRIVATE SECTOR
6. The selection of indicators is a high “political” process and there will
always be a tendency to give more weight to what is most easily
quantifiable and measurable.
7. The CONTEXT!
So… IS BM A GOOD IDEA?
1. To FOCUS on performance and on what factor
could improve it.
2. ADAPTATION of the best practices (taking the
CONTEXT into account).
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Master in Engineering Policy and Management of Technology
- Science & Technology Innovation Policy-
IS BM A GOOD IDEA?
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QUESTIONS CONCERNING THE PUBLIC SECTOR
1. Most of the problems are the same then in the private sector...
…BUT EVEN MORE….
2. Conflicting interests and objectives.
3. Quality of education, health, social services cannot be assessed
exclusively by comparing input and output variables.
Technocratic top-down
vs
Democratic bottom-up Approaches
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Master in Engineering Policy and Management of Technology
- Science & Technology Innovation Policy-
IS BM A GOOD IDEA?
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QUESTIONS CONCERNING THE PUBLIC SECTOR
4. There is nothing that excludes the idea that BM could become an integral
part of a democratic process and contribute to the formation of an
European identity (Castells, 2002).
5. For international BM related to innovation, knowledge and social
cohesion, it is important to agree on the critical performance indicators
…Knowledge based and competition vs distributional issues.
7. Indicators reflecting income and knowledge creation need to be
presented as a distribution around a mean rather than just an average
value. Ideally there should be indicators of social distribution, gender
distribution and regional distribution of the different indicators.
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Master in Engineering Policy and Management of Technology
- Science & Technology Innovation Policy-
IS BM A GOOD IDEA?
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QUESTIONS CONCERNING THE PUBLIC SECTOR
8. Different performance indicators?
Richest countries: environmental objectives
Small Nordic Countries: equal income distribution.
Big European Countries: Strong and Broad knowledge base
Small European Countries: specialized
National Development Plans?
9. Different “Best practices” in different countries?
State intervention vs Markets?
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Master in Engineering Policy and Management of Technology
- Science & Technology Innovation Policy-
BM NSI
Innovation System (1980s): relationships and interactions between R&D
laboratories and technological institutes and production system.
National System of Innovation (NSI) (Freeman, 1987).
1. Innovation: an interactive process (from the linear model (1970s)
to a chain-linked
method (1986)).
2. Relationships and interactions between agents have to involve nonmarket relations (“organised markets”… elements of power, trust, loyalty).
3. National Contexts (different possibilities of organised markets)
MAIN PROBLEMS OF NSI BM
1.
2.
3.
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Lack of coordination when the research is used to guide the creation of effective
policies.
Indicators are weak in some of the most important aspects of innovation systems.
It is difficult to conceptualize certain elements such as “trust” and “social capital”.
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Master in Engineering Policy and Management of Technology
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NS FOR KNOWLEDGE CREATION AND
LEARNING
Marx: What really made the industrial revolution a
revolution was not the use of machinery, but the stage
where machinery was used to produce machinery!
Systematically applying knowledge to the production of
knowledge to establish the learning economy??
SOCIAL CAPITAL: most important scarce factor in the
future?
Globalisation undermines traditional communities based on (…)
class, locality and family. If left to itself, the globalising learning
economy gives rive to increasing inequality between people and
regions.
Integrate INDICATORS OF SOCIAL EQUALITY AND OF SOCIAL CAPITAL
on BM innovation systems?
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Master in Engineering Policy and Management of Technology
- Science & Technology Innovation Policy-
A MORE SYSTEMATIC PROCESS
How to have a systematic and rigorous procedure while benchmarking
innovation processes?
BASIC IDEA: to have a continuous dialogue both between national
governments and European community and between the national
government and their own citizens.
RISK in the present era:
A growing alienation between a minority of sophisticated
cosmopolitan modernists and a majority that is sceptical to
globalisation and to further integration in Europe.
Planning and Auditing Stage
National Development Plans
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Master in Engineering Policy and Management of Technology
- Science & Technology Innovation Policy-
Planning and Auditing Stage
Internal Research and
Assessment
Selection of Data and
Indicators
Selection of Strategy
Selection
of Partners
Selection of External
Benchmark NSIs
Collect and Analise Data
Suggest Improvements and Policy
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Master in Engineering Policy and Management of Technology
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INTELLIGENT BM
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Not focus on comparing quantitative data: Focus on the
efficiency of a system, stimulating reflection and supporting
learning.
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Learning at different levels (European, national).
•
To develop less-demanding forms of comparative analyses than BM
(national development plans?).
•
For BM IS, more reliable indicators for the quality and intensity of the
relationships, economic dynamics and social issues.
•
For indicators of learning organisations and experience-based basic
knowledge this is also important… And also a need of CONCEPTUAL
WORK (p.e. “social capital”)
•
BM may be adequate in the present era of complexity, rapid change and
uncertainty... But also think about alternatives between the 2 extreme
approaches.
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Master in Engineering Policy and Management of Technology
- Science & Technology Innovation Policy-
IS THIS BENCHMARHING?
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