Science Policy for an increasingly diverging Europe

This paper argues about the need for a revisited public policy framework giving priority to knowledge and technological change across the entire Europe, by discussing new cumulative data on R&D expenditure and the qualification of human resources across Europe. It takes a wide international comparison after a decade hit by recession and economic and budgetary problems, which shows an increasing internal divergence on knowledge investments across Europe, beyond the increasing gap between Europe as a whole and North America. As a result, the paper argues that new paradigms and conditions for responsible science and innovation policy across EU require the collective action of R&D institutions and a system approach to higher education, together with new initiatives towards international cooperation across an enlarged Europe. Analysis shows that chronic backwardness in science and technology in many European peripheries, including in EU southern and eastern regions, have been significantly overcome over the last decade. Nevertheless, their growing scientific and technological capacity is now associated with an increasing vulnerability as a result of the growing international competition for qualified human resources. Additionally, the comparative analysis of levels of economic diversification and sophistication across Europe, suggests the need to insist on qualification and institutional strengthening. This should consider active public policies to attract and retain qualified human resources all over Europe, as well as considering public actions towards promoting new markets. The way in which the economic fabric may gain competitiveness and access to external markets may require enhancing the degree of internationalization of the scientific community and encouraging international knowledge and innovation networks.

[1]  Manuel V. Heitor,et al.  The ''swing of the pendulum'' from public to market support for science and technology: Is the U.S. leading the way? , 2004 .

[2]  Julio E. Celis,et al.  Shaping science policy in Europe , 2014, Molecular oncology.

[3]  K. Morgan.  Smart Specialisation: Opportunities and Challenges for Regional Innovation Policy , 2015 .

[4]  K. Arrow.  The Economic Implications of Learning by Doing , 1962 .

[5]  Philippe Aghion,et al.  Science, Technology and Innovation for Economic Growth: Linking Policy Research and Practice in "STIG Systems" , 2009 .

[6]  R. Westrum.  The Social Construction of Technological Systems , 1989 .

[7]  J. Ziman,et al.  Science and Its Critics@@@Reliable Knowledge: An Exploration of the Grounds for Belief in Science , 1979 .

[8]  J. Stilgoe,et al.  Developing a framework for responsible innovation* , 2013, The Ethics of Nanotechnology, Geoengineering and Clean Energy.

[9]  A. Amsden,et al.  Review of: The Rise of "The Rest": Challenges to the West from Late Industrializing Economies , 2001 .

[10]  Manuel V. Heitor,et al.  Knowledge interaction towards inclusive learning: Promoting systems of innovation and competence building , 2002 .

[11]  Neil Selwyn,et al.  Education, nation states and the globalization of information networks , 2000 .

[12]  Anker Lund Vinding,et al.  HUMAN RESOURCES; ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY AND INNOVATIVE PERFORMANCE , 2004 .

[13]  Manuel V. Heitor,et al.  Technological Forecasting & Social Change How university global partnerships may facilitate a new era of international affairs and foster political and economic relations ☆ , 2015 .

[14]  B. Lundvall,et al.  The Learning Economy , 1994 .

[15]  M. Heitor,et al.  Democratizing Higher Education and Access to Science: The Portuguese Reform 2006–2010 , 2014 .

[16]  T. Gilead.  Education and the Logic of Economic Progress. , 2012 .

[17]  Hugo Horta,et al.  Developing human capital and research capacity: Science policies promoting brain gain , 2014 .

[18]  하대청.  Acting in an Uncertain World , 2009 .

[19]  M. Freel,et al.  Patterns of innovation and skills in small firms , 2005 .

[20]  Oecd Indicators.  Education at a Glance 2007 , 2007 .

[21]  K. Arrow.  The Economic Implications of Learning by Doing , 1962 .

[22]  Michael Waterson,et al.  Economic theory of the industry , 1984 .

[23]  Daniel A. Levinthal,et al.  ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY: A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON LEARNING AND INNOVATION , 1990 .

[24]  Manuel V. Heitor,et al.  Portugal at the crossroads of change, facing the shock of the new: People, knowledge and ideas fostering the social fabric to facilitate the concentration of knowledge integrated communities ☆ , 2010 .

[25]  E. Phelps.  Mass Flourishing: How Grassroots Innovation Created Jobs, Challenge, and Change , 2013 .

[26]  Suzanne Berger,et al.  How We Compete: What Companies Around the World Are Doing to Make it in Today's Global Economy , 2005 .

[27]  J. Stilgoe,et al.  Responsible research and innovation: From science in society to science for society, with society , 2012, Emerging Technologies: Ethics, Law and Governance.

[28]  Manuel V. Heitor,et al.  Innovation, Competence Building and Social Cohesion in Europe: Towards a Learning Society , 2003 .

[29]  Yuha Jung.  A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change , 2015 .

[30]  A. Amsden.  The rise of "the rest" , 2001 .

[31]  S. Robertson.  Re‐imagining and rescripting the future of education: global knowledge economy discourses and the challenge to education systems , 2005 .

[32]  Eva Majewski.  Higher education reform: matching education to labour market needs , 2013 .

[33]  M. Mazzucato.  The Entrepreneurial State: Debunking Public vs Private Sector Myths (an excerpt) , 2015, Journal of Economic Sociology.

[34]  Lawrence F. Katz,et al.  The Race Between Education And Technology , 2008 .

[35]  E. Yeldan,et al.  The origins endogenous growth , 2016 .

[36]  P. Romer,et al.  Should the Government Subsidize Supply or Demand in the Market for Scientists and Engineers? , 2000, Innovation Policy and the Economy.

[37]  M. Bengtsson,et al.  ”Coopetition” in Business Networks—to Cooperate and Compete Simultaneously , 2000 .

[38]  Wiebe E. Bijker,et al.  Science in action : how to follow scientists and engineers through society , 1989 .