Public/private partnerships and innovation policy: the Spanish experience

Publicado en M. Decker y M. Ladikas, comps., Bridges between Science, Society and Policy. Technology Assessment: Methods and Impacts, 101-127, Berlin-Heidelberg-New York: Springer-Verlag, 2004.

This paper analyses, from an institutionalist perspective, the emergence, nature and ways in which Parliamentary “scientific and technological advice” activities are carried out in different European countries. We argue that the connection of Technology Assessment (TA) with the political process can only be understood if this type of information resource is regarded not only as an input in the decision-making process but also as a legitimising mechanism. Some local pre-conditions are important for the emergence of these practices, as well as the existence of some political entrepreneurs willing to advance the initiatives within their respective political systems. Two different models of arrangements of Parliamentary TA are identified, the instrumental and the discursive one. The adaptation, consolidation and differential impact of these information production practices are mediated by two factors: the capacity of PTA organisations to gain support both inside and outside the Legislature, and their capacity to access decision-makers in an environment of competition with other organisations that also produce TA. The two models have both types of these capacities in differing degrees. It is argued that differences in impact are to be analysed in the context of the rules of the political game and the types of incentives that TA organisations face.

En este artículo se describe y analiza la evolución que ha seguido la política regional de ciencia, tecnología e innovación de Andalucía desde la primera mitad de los 80, a partir de la consideración de diversas variables tales como los modelos e ideas, los intereses, las preferencias políticas y el contexto socioeconómico e institucional. Andalucía fue una de las primeras Comunidades Autónomas que emprendió una política regional de ciencia, tecnología e innovación. En esta comunidad se ha desarrollado un modelo de política caracterizado por la separación de las esferas de la política científi ca y de la política tecnológica con un predominio de la primera sobre la segunda. Se argumenta que el factor decisivo que explica tanto la adopción en Andalucía de un modelo de política regional de I+D de orientación académica, como su estabilidad a lo largo de los años, ha sido la fuerza que han tenido en esta región los intereses universitarios en el juego político andaluz.

This paper aims to analyse the dynamics of relationships between public and private   sector in the context of S&T policies and to present some experiences of Public/private partnerships (PP/Ps) in relation to innovation policy. It also attempts an understanding of the forces and factors that explain the increase of collaboration between public and private sectors, and its growing relevance in the discourse of S&T policies.

The argument I put forward is that the general emphasis on public-private collaboration in science, technology and innovation policies is not only the outcome of a process of changing rationales for policy intervention to cope with problems of efficiency and implementation of traditional policies (OECD, 2002b), but also the result of general factors such as: some concrete S&T policy legacies, the overall Spanish political context emphasis on consensus, the tradition of corporatist arrangements, and the general concern on Industry-Science Relationship (ISR) issues, such as technology transfer and R&D collaboration.