Alignment of Innovation Policy Objectives: a demand side perspective

This study is aimed at a better understanding of the interaction between design of public support for innovation at different levels of policy-making, and firms’ innovation activities. How do firms respond to the incentives offered by various policies? We propose an analytical framework to examine the alignment of technology and innovation policy objectives from a demand-side perspective, that is, from the perspective of firms that benefit from policy support. The framework builds on existing policy design frameworks, and proposes that firms’ use of the public support relates to their strategies for innovation development in terms of innovation paths and forms of organising interaction with external actors, and their specific technological and market learning loci. We apply this framework empirically using 1998-2000 and 2002-2004 Community Innovation Survey data for France and the UK.