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Seville, 22 September 2006
The Istituto Andaluz de Tecnologia and Filas organized the second OMEN transnational dissemination event on How to Evaluate Innovation Policy: A Comparison of European Methodologies  . The objective of the conference was to promote and discuss the importance of innovation policy impact assessment (PIA) and benchmarking on the development and competitiveness of regions.
The Conference was opened by Javier Iglesias, General Director of the Istituto Andaluz de Tecnologià and Miguel Ángel Serrano, General Director of the Agencia de Innovación y Desarrollo de Andalucía, both of whom emphasized the significance of being able to measure policy impact in order to implement long-term strategies and sustainable development at the regional level.
Elena Navajas Cawood ( European Commission, IPTS ) pursued this issue and introduced the three main pillars of the i2010 programme (ICT inclusion in all population segments, improvement of public services through e-citizen and ICT for the overall improvement of life quality). Moreover, Ms. Navajas explained the complexity of assigning a unique definition to the term "innovation" and, consequently, the difficulty of measuring the very impact of these policies without clear, shared and long-standing indicators.
In this perspective, Regions, and more specifically Regional Innovation Systems, must become privileged observatories from which to monitor the technological transformations that are brought about by the application of information technology applications. This, in fact, is what drove IPTS to promote a study on the importance of ICT in the economic development of Andalusia (Spain). The preliminary results for 1995-2005, which will soon be published, indicate that ICT has permeated all sectors, especially in a region such as Andalusia, a major ICT producer.
Juan Mª González, General Director, Observatory of Innovation and Participation, Junta de Andalucía introduced another positive experience on the permanent analysis of regional level innovation policy. González presented the activities of the Innovation Observatory set up by the Innovation, Science and Industry Councillorship of the Andalusia Region. The Innovation Observatory analyses, evaluates and monitors the Innovation System in Andalusia and prepares scientific and technological forecasts for the Innovation, Science and Enterprise Councillorship (CICE) in order to identify the key innovation actors in Andalusia and assist CICE in PIA activities.
The fundamental significance of actively involving policy makers in the definition of processes through which to measure the impact of innovation policy was introduced by Ms. Michela Michilli, Head of the Filas EU Projects and Initiatives Unit . In particular, Ms. Michilli pointed out how the success of the project and the guarantee of the implementation of its results in the five participating regions is determined by the permanent presence and active participation of regional innovation stakeholders in every phase of Project OMEN. The Regional Round Tables, organized as part of OMEN in six different European regions, guarantee a continuous exchange of ideas and the comparison of regional needs in terms of innovation and, more importantly, ensure the integration of the project results in regional policy.
Andrea de Panizza and Paolo Roberti, ISTAT Research experts on PIA and benchmarking collaborating with Project OMEN, introduced the Policy Impact Assessment (PIA) methodology for innovation policy.
The definition of indicators for the assessment of policies is based on the need to measure and compare results, identify the weak points and understand their causes, create new innovative approaches to improve processes and monitor the progress and benefits of policies. In particular, the indicators adopted by OMEN were chosen to measure the results of policies and the policy implementation processes in order to outline an assessment that will provide information not only on the socio-economic nature of policies, but also on their strategic orientation. The indicators involve traditional evaluations on the financial distribution of innovation policies as compared to all policies, but also entail a qualitative analysis on aspects such as the coherence of policies and innovation strategies. Mr. De Panizza analysed these indicators in great detail and explained the difficulties involved in obtaining the necessary data.
Subsequently, Mr. Paolo Roberti demonstrated how the indicators can be used to perform policy impact assessments. The objectives of PIA can be summarised as the measurement of policy quality (in terms of finance, efficiency, efficacy, utilized resources, etc.), policy assessment (effective and potential, statistic and dynamic), the comprehension of these results in relation to the employed resources and the duplicability of all results. In all cases, the fundamental starting point is that policy assessment cannot be improvised ex-post, but should be planned ex-ante in order to reach certain results. Mr. Roberti then illustrated the complexity of policy assessment using four policy models and illustrating the steps that are required for a valid PIA process (target and objective evaluation and their evaluation), emphasizing how the choice of the measurable variables is determinant for the selection of the best tools and indicators. Nonetheless, PIA can be fundamental even in the process of defining, managing, altering, evaluating and implementing innovation policy and is even more important as a tool to understand what has occurred in the past.
Fabienne Corvers of DG Research – Impact Analysis Unit of the European Commission emphasized her full agreement with many of the points made by Mr. Roberti.
The European Commission views PIA of its policies as a tool to implement its objectives in a perspective of sustainable development. In this context, PIA entails the analysis of the expected results (economic, social and environmental) of all the Commission policy proposals and pursues the support of all decisional processes, evidences the trade-offs and synergies between sectorial and cross-evaluations, and integrates, into a single document, the expected results of community actions through a process of simplification and transparency.
Fabienne Corvers then illustrated the PIA process starting from the identification of a problem through to the definition of a Commission proposal. The methodology definition for PIA of previous Framework Programme policies and the simulation of future scenarios is implemented through an accurate analysis involving a consultation system of all the DGs involved in the Framework Programme as well as stakeholders.
The evaluation of the weak and strong points of previous Framework Programmes is also accompanied by a detailed economic and social assessment of the policy impact. In fact, this analysis has turned out to be essential for the simulation of the future scenarios and expected results on the basis of the objectives indicated for the 7th Framework Programme..
Juan Callejón, Deputy Director of Innovation for the Agencia de Innovación y Desarrollo de Andalucía emphasized the importance of efficient financial tools for innovation and the development of SMEs by illustrating the actions undertaken by the Andalusia Region through the support of Agencia IDEA.
The Conference continued with a Round Table, moderated by Mr. Carlo Donzella, OMEN Project Manager, in which the approaches and the results obtained by the INNOV 4 Strand 2 Projects were illustrated. All of these projects are financed by the European Commission and are directed at the definition of PIA and Benchmarking indicators. Vanja Rangus, from the Lubljiana Municipality, presented the methodological approach adopted by Project
IMPACTSCAN4INNOPOL ( http://www.impactscan.net/default.aspx ) that focuses on SMEs. In this perspective, the project is investigating the role of intermediaries in terms of provided services and the needs expressed by the partner regions.
Philippe Perez of the Mediterraneé Technologies Regional Development Agency pointed out how Project Arise has reached common PIA objectives and indicators from the very different characteristics of the partner regions (such as relevance, efficiency, efficacy of regional innovation policy).
Rafael Muguerza of the Navarra Regional Government presented Project IASMINE . The Project uses the Lisbon Strategy as the starting point for its benchmarking exercise. IASMINE aims to evaluate all the regional innovation policies in all partner regions in terms of the objectives and actions indicated by the four key themes of the European Union Innovation Strategy in order to prepare a methodological guide that will unite objectives with results and a structure for constructive dialogue amongst innovation actors.
Coordinator Daniel De la Sota from the Confederación Empresarial de Madrid presented Project Innowatch ( www.idetra.com/innowatch ) . This project pursues a twofold objective: the definition of a methodology and the translation of this methodology into a software tool that will allow coherent conclusion to be drawn on the efficiency of innovation policies through a comparative approach and the exchange of good practices.
Anne Piccolo from the Federation of Municipalities of the Kouvala Region in Finland identified the three crucial issues addressed by Project MERIPA : How to compensate for the lack of common statistics amongst the partner regions? How to combine indicators that will be of use in a single tool for the assessment of regional innovation policy? How to model indicators that will face the local issues and innovation systems?
In his presentation of Project EUROCOOP ( http://www.iccr-international.org/euro-coop ), Michael Stampfer of WWTF underlined the need to regulate collaboration amongst public authorities and research organizations as demonstrated by the experience of the city of Vienna where notwithstanding the presence of excellence centers there is no major private-public research structure. In this case, Research and Innovation programmes aim at promoting the collaboration amongst research centers and research centers and the public administration.
OMEN Project Manager Carlo Donzella drew the final conclusions and indicated the critical issues and processes shared by all the projects. All the participants agreed that there is no single approach possible to PIA and emphasized the problem of the availability and reliability of statistical data. Nonetheless, a not overly subjective qualitative approach was identified as being as necessary as a statistical approach, and often linked the need for a constant consultation process amongst regional innovation actors.
Michael Stampfer in thanking FILAS, IAT and all OMEN partners for the fruitful conference and the exchange of ideas amongst all INNOV 4 Strand 2 projects, underlined how the new INNO-DEAL project, coordinated by FILAS (and in which at least one partner from every INNOV 4 Strand 2 project participates) is a natural forum for all these projects. Mr. Stampfer invited FILAS to coordinate not only INNO-DEAL but also this forum on benchmarking and PIA methodologies. All panel members full-heartedly backed the proposal. Carlo Donzella accepted the challenge with enthusiasm on behalf of FILAS and thanked the Round Table Members for their recognition and trust in Filas' operation.
In closing the day, Mr. Donzella also presented the next OMEN International Event that will by held in Cyprus next summer and invited all the participants to attend again and pursue the useful exchange of experiences and knowledge. In particular, following the new proposal, the panel between the various INNOV 4 Strand 2 projects will be extended and structured into a formal session for the comparison of the methodologies and results of the implemented analyses. |
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