Abstract:

Based on her experience as National and EU expert on R&I policies for ERAWATCH-EC, the presentation will review the challenges and opportunities of mapping exercises of Research and Innovation (R&I) policies at Regional, National and European level. Firstly, the presentation will picture the flow of R&I policy information for policy-making at the European Commission level. Secondly, it will present the advantages and disadvantages of working with different taxonomies of R&I policies. Thirdly, it will critically review the analytical problems encountered when working with R&I public policies databases and national reports of public policies at European level through some examples (e.g. Pontikakis et al., 2009; Fernandez-Zubieta and Guy, 2010; De Dominicis et al., 2010; Fernández-Zubieta and Van Bavel, 2011).  Finally, it will summarise the problems faced when collecting, systematising and analysing R&I policy information and ways to overcome these.