Closing the policy cycle: Increasing the utilization of evaluation findings in research, technological development and innovation policy design

The limited take-up of evaluation findings in research, technological development and innovation (RTDI) policy (re-)design remains a major concern to policy-makers and the evaluation community. To identify the main opportunities for closing the policy cycle, an in-depth analysis was undertaken of 53 purposely chosen evaluation exercises ordered by public administrations and agencies in the field of RTDI. The focus was on evaluations of non-thematic (i.e. general) RTDI funding measures in the areas of public funding of RTDI, industry--science linkages, and performance-based funding of RTDI in universities and public research centres. Factors related to 'process' (mainly stakeholder involvement), 'design' (methodology) and 'content' (formulation of recommendations and use of evidence base) were considered. The paper concludes that the limited take-up of evaluation findings relates mainly to the lack of early and systematic involvement of a broad spectrum of stakeholders and the use of non-harmonized indicators and non-transferable evaluation methods. Copyright The Author 2012. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com, Oxford University Press.