Evaluation in a systemic worldthe role of regional science and technology policy

Abstract

This thesis provides an overview of the evolution of innovation theories, together with the evolution of Science and Technology (S&T) policies and their rationales. It focuses on the different theories that justify policy intervention in an innovation system and uses policy evaluation as an approach to analyse theories in practice, applied to a concrete case study. Taking into account that regions have become complex policy spaces in which different policies coexist and that regional systems have become central for innovation activities in firms, this research uses a regional case study focused on a specific S&T programme in the Basque region to analyse different policy impacts at firm level. In addition, interactions between different policies in a multi-level approach are analysed, constituting a systemic evaluation. Finally, the coexistence of different rationales in a certain policy and their interactions are explored. The thesis thus provides a complete overview of regional policy complexity in science and technology from both a theoretical and practical perspective, proposing a new approach for evaluating this complexity with a mixed methodology that takes the best from both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Specifically, this thesis proposes an approach that combines a quasi-experiment (quantitative technique) with semi-structured interviews (qualitative technique), therefore giving a holistic view of policy impacts. In particular, the quantitative technique gives an explicative response to policies additionallities, whereas the qualitative technique complements the quantitative approach especially in terms of understanding firms¿ actual behaviour.