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(English) The Retreat of Public Research and its Adverse Consequences on Innovation (Italiano) I cambiamenti nella ricerca pubblica e le conseguenze avverse sull’innovazione

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  • Daniele Archibugi
  • Andrea Filippetti

Abstract

(English) Does it matter whether research is conducted by the private business rather than in universities or government research centres? While most of the attention of science and innovation policy in the last decades has explored the relevance of the interconnections between public and business players in enhancing knowledge-based societies, a major trend has been ignored: both the quota of public R&D and its share over the total R&D investment has shrunk in most OECD countries. As a result, a larger fraction of knowledge is today generated in the private sector. We argue that this is a major problem since public research and private research differ along a number of characteristics, e.g. public access, potential for future technological innovations, criteria of resource allocation. This trend can have adverse implications for long-term innovation and economic welfare in our societies. Through the lens of the public goods theory and of the sector of funding and execution of R&D for the period 1981-2012 we try to explain why. (Italiano) E' un problema se l'attività di ricerca è condotta nelle imprese private piuttosto che nelle università e nei centri di ricerca pubblici? Mentre numerosi studi di politica della scienza e dell'innovazione degli ultimi decenni hanno esplorato la rilevanza delle interconnessioni tra soggetti pubblici e privati nel promuovere le società basate sulla conoscenza, una tendenza fondamentale è stata ignorata: sia la quota di R&S pubblica che la sua quota sul totale dell'investimento in R&S sono diminuite nella maggior parte dei paesi OCSE. Di conseguenza una frazione maggiore di conoscenza è oggi generata nell'industria. Viene qui sostenuto che si tratta di un fondamentale problema perché le attività di ricerca pubblica e quella privata hanno sostanziali differenze e specificità, tra le quali: le condizioni di accesso, il potenziale di ulteriori innovazioni tecnologiche, i criteri per l'allocazione delle risorse. Queste tendenze hanno conseguenze nocive per il benessere e l'innovazione nelle nostre società. Tentiamo di spiegare perché attraverso la prospettiva della teoria dei beni pubblici e dei settori di finanziamento e di esecuzione della R&S per il periodo 1981-2012.

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  • Daniele Archibugi & Andrea Filippetti, 2016. "(English) The Retreat of Public Research and its Adverse Consequences on Innovation (Italiano) I cambiamenti nella ricerca pubblica e le conseguenze avverse sull’innovazione," IRPPS Working Papers 94:2016, National Research Council, Institute for Research on Population and Social Policies.
    • Handle: RePEc:cnz:wpaper:94:2016
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