Harnessing the science base: Results from a national programme using publicly-funded research centres to reshape firms’ R&D

Kevin Mulligan (), Helena Lenihan, Justin Doran and Stephen Roper

Research Policy, 2022, vol. 51, issue 4

Abstract: Since 2000 and the launch of Science Foundation Ireland, Irish policymakers have been involved in a large-scale national science policy programme. Starting from a position with little pre-existing research infrastructure beyond its traditional higher education system, Ireland allocated significant public resources to rapidly develop an extensive research centres programme. These centres are designed to harness knowledge embedded in the national science base to impact firm-level Research and Development (R&D). Each research centre focuses on basic and applied research (as opposed to development), targeted at prioritised sectors of the economy. Using a novel panel dataset (2007–2017), our analysis provides the first evaluation of these research centres. Results indicate that research centre collaborations increase firm-level R&D, and, over time, re-orientate collaborating firms' R&D towards more applied research. We also consider how impacts vary depending on the firms’ characteristics (size and sector), and research centre characteristics. Our findings demonstrate that Ireland's policy programme improved firms' R&D profile, and suggest key policy lessons for other economies who might consider adopting a similar strategy.

Keywords: Research centres; Collaboration; Firm-level R&D; Basic research; Applied research; Heterogeneous treatment effects (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D04 D22 O25 O30 O31 O38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:respol:v:51:y:2022:i:4:s0048733321002602

DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2021.104468

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