Research and development expenditure in the business sector as indicator of knowledge economy: the Portuguese experience (original) (raw)
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Oviedo University Press A comparative analysis of business R&D policy in Spain and Portugal
This paper compares the R&D policy strategy of Spain and Portugal to promote business R&D spending by focusing on the R&D objectives, incentives and outcomes. It aims to uncover new matters for policy attention and research concerning the public support for business R&D. These countries have similar R&D structural problems to address, two of the most generous fiscal systems for R&D and comparatively low S&T indicators as compared to the EU average. Both failed to reach the R&D intensity goals of the past and it is unlikely they will reach the R&D goals set for 2020. Nevertheless, the rationale for attracting international R&D investment is competitive. Three important issues call for attention: the inverse public incentive structures for business R&D, the faster growth of the BERD/GDP ratio in Portugal over recent years and the implications of the tax reform in Spain in 2008. As a conclusion, we believe that both countries are missing opportunities for mutual learning and should coordinate their R&D public policies.
A comparative analysis of business R&D policy in Spain and Portugal
This paper compares the R&D policy strategy of Spain and Portugal to promote business R&D spending by focusing on the R&D objectives, incentives and outcomes. It aims to uncover new matters for policy attention and research concerning the public support for business R&D. These countries have similar R&D structural problems to address, two of the most generous fiscal systems for R&D and comparatively low S&T indicators as compared to the EU average. Both failed to reach the R&D intensity goals of the past and it is unlikely they will reach the R&D goals set for 2020. Nevertheless, the rationale for attracting international R&D investment is competitive. Three important issues call for attention: the inverse public incentive structures for business R&D, the faster growth of the BERD/GDP ratio in Portugal over recent years and the implications of the tax reform in Spain in 2008. As a conclusion, we believe that both countries are missing opportunities for mutual learning and should coordinate their R&D public policies.
Archives of Business Research, 2014
Significant* research* has* studied* the* impact* of* Research* and* Development* (R&D)* on* Gross* Domestic* Product* (GDP)* at* the* country* level.* * However,* few* studies* consider* the* possibility* that* a* country's* GDP* can* also* be* a* driver* for* R&D.*This*paper*investigates*the*causal*relationship*linking*R&D*and*growth*in* a* sample* of* European* Union* (EU)* countries,* with* an* emphasis* on* Portugal.* A* causal* relationship* from* growth* to* R&D* can* only* be* proven* for* France* and* Spain,* whereas* the* inverse* causality* only* seems* to* exist* for* The* Netherlands.* The* coBintegration* results* question* the* existence* of* a* longBrun* relationship* between*R&D*and*GDP.
2016
ABSTRACT: Increasing Research and Development (R&D) has been considered one of the most important strategies to ensure innovation, stimulate technological development and promote economic growth. The investigation on this subject assesses whether R&D promotes economic growth, but doesn’t measure the proportion of economic growth that is attributable to these activities. Following the methodology proposed by Ivanov and Webster(2007), the aim within this investigation is to quantify the contribution of Scientific R&D services to economic growth in Portugal and compare it with the EU15. For this purpose, economic growth of Portuguese economy and EU15 are disaggregated into economic growth generated by Scientific R&D and by the other economic activities, evaluating, in an ex-post analysis, what proportion of that growth was generated by Scientific R&D services. For an average annual real growth rate per capita of the Portuguese economy of 0.46% in 2001-2011, the results suggest that gro...
On R&D, medium and high-tech industries and productivity: an application to the Portuguese case
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This paper investigates the potential impact of increased R&D efforts and structural change in Portugal on labour productivity. The paper addresses Portugal's ambition, expressed in the 2005 Technological Plan. Based on existing literature on the relation between R&D expenditures, structural change and productivity, we evaluate the contribution of R&D and high-tech industries on productivity over the last 30 years. Our results confirm the importance of governement's R&D and of business R&D in the medium to high-tech sectors, as they stimulate productivity growth. However, we cannot hypothesize that productivity growth was primarily rooted on the development of medium-high technology industries.
Business R&D Policy in Spain and Portugal: Objectives, Incentives and Outcomes
2013
Spain and Portugal are two EU countries of different size but similar structural problems of science and technology (S&T) to address. Over recent years, the R&D policy of both countries has been designed to tackle analogous R&D structural problems and challenges aiming to increase the historical low-level expenditures on R&D (GERD), business R&D expenditures (BERD), and BERD/GERD ratio. This paper compares and discusses the R&D policy strategy of Spain and Portugal to promote R&D, with particular attention to R&D objectives and business R&D incentives. In this sense, the paper focuses on the characteristics and differences of the two main tools used by governments to stimulate business R&D: direct funding (subsidies and loans) and indirect support (fiscal incentives for R&D). The scope and design of these instruments are likely to condition the firms’ decision on how and when to invest in R&D and be able to partly reduce the problems with business underinvestment in R&D. The paper s...
An Analysis of the Business Enterprise Research and Development Expenditures Composition in Brazil
In this paper, business enterprise R&D expenditures in Brazil are decomposed to stress the role of the individual firms' innovation efforts and of the industrial structure in the aggregate levels of this indicator. Based on the aggregation of the manufacturing industry sectors into four groups according to their technological intensity, the ratio between R&D expenditures and net sales of the manufacturing in Brazil was analyzed and compared with the ratios observed in Germany, in the United States and in Canada. It is argued that if the target of Brazilian innovation policy is to increase the ratio between business enterprise R&D expenditures and the GDP, the focus should be placed on high and medium-high technology sectors. On the other hand, additional instruments targeting medium-low and low technology sectors should be used to allow them to benefit from incremental innovations and from the absorption of practices not directly related to R&D. JeL-code | O3 Uma Análise da Composição dos Gastos Empresariais em Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento no Brasil resumo Neste trabalho, os gastos empresariais em P&D no Brasil são decompostos para explicitar o papel dos esforços de inovação das firmas individuais e da estrutura produtiva nos níveis agregados desse indicador. Com base na agregação dos setores da indústria de transformação em quatro grupos de acordo com seus níveis de intensidade tecnológica, analisa-se a relação entre gastos em P&D e receita operacional líquida no Brasil, comparando-a com os indicadores referentes à Alemanha, aos Estados Unidos e ao Canadá. Argumenta-se que, se o objetivo das políticas de inovação no Brasil é aumentar a relação entre gastos empresariais em P&D e PIB, seu foco deveria recair sobre os setores de alta e média-alta tecnologia. Por outro lado, instrumentos adicionais de política com foco nos setores de média-baixa e baixa tecnologia devem ser adotados para que esses segmentos beneficiem-se de inovações incrementais e da absorção de novas práticas não diretamente associadas às atividades de P&D. PALAvrAs-chAve | Políticas de Inovação; Mudança Estrutural; Gastos em P&D; Gastos Empresariais em P&D; Intensidade Tecnológica código JeL | O3 Business enterprise research and development expenditures composition in Brazil 435 Rev. Bras. Inov., Campinas (SP), 13 (2), p. 433-458, julho/dezembro 2014
Advances in economics and business, 2018
This paper explores the relation between R&D and economic growth using data from the EU-28 countries for the period 2001-2014. We consider panel data econometric techniques and control variables commonly used in the literature are analyzed together with a number of other variables to which existing studies often give little attention. Our results suggest that R&D expenditure and the patents (European Patent Office-EPO) have a positive and significant effect on economic growth for all countries.
R&D in the Public and Private Sector in Brazil: Complements or Substitutes?
2002
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the evolution of the relations between the Brazilian public research sector, particularly the universities, and the productive sector as stimulated, directly or indirectly, by government policies from the 70's up to the present days. Special emphasis is given to the schemes devised by the Ministry of Science and Technology, which was created in 1985. The argument we want to develop is that government actions to bring universities and enterprises closer together may have succeeded in doing so for the duration of a specific project, but were unable to create long-lasting links. The role of university research as complementary to, and not substitute for, industrial research is emphasised in a number of recent studies on innovation, as outlined in the first section. Then, we proceed to the analysis of the evolution of the relations between the public sector research and industry in Brazil. We start with a sketch of the industrialisation by import substitution model adopted in Brazil, highlighting the role played in it by local R&D, when the country was under military rule. Next we tackle the changes in those relations as the country reoriented its development model with the return to democratic regime in 1985. The Ministry of Science and Technology, created in that year, has since then devised and implemented a number of schemes to foster links between public sector research and enterprises. The most significant of those schemes are presented and their results are analysed. We conclude by saying that government actions to stimulate private investment in R&D as well as fostering links between enterprises and public sector research had a very limited success.