News
Seminar on demand-side innovation policy
On 1. October 2013 the Ragnar Nurkse School of Innovation and Governance organized a seminar covering the aspects of demand-side innovation policy and its application in the Estonian context.
Dr. Veiko Lember and Aleksandrs Cepilovs co-authoring the brief argue that innovation policy discourse previously dominated by supply-side policy instruments (e.g. R&D subsidies, tax breaks, grants etc.) has been transformed substantially during the last decade, shifting focus toward incorporation of demand-side measures (i.e. using public procurement, regulation or standards to stimulate innovation).
They also argue that in Estonia the situation is similar to that in the other EU countries, in that demand-side innovation policy instruments have not been systematically applied to support innovation. They therefore propose that more attention should be paid to incorporation of demand-side policy instruments in innovation policy in Estonia. However, they caution, design and implementation of demand-side policy tools in Estonia will require substantial policy capacity including a more in-depth and forward-looking technology-related knowledge among policy makers.
The policy seminar contributed to the Monitoring Science and Innovation Policy program (TIPS), which is an applied research project conducted in collaboration with the University of Tartu and coordinated by Dr. Tarmo Kalvet on behalf of the RNS.
