Innovation and Technology Policy Research

Innovation is widely considered to be at the heart of successful societies, yet it is vital to ensure that investment in research and innovation is effective and responds to societal needs. The questions that inform our work include:

  • What are the economic and social returns to investment in research?
  • How can Europe develop and adopt science, technology and innovation policies that serve the needs of policymakers, businesses and communities?
  • What governance structures facilitate innovation and use of technology?

RAND Europe is a trusted source of thinking and ideas on these questions and other challenges that confront decision-makers as they seek to use scientific and technological resources in the best possible way. Our work is divided into three areas:

Featured Commentary

How Far Does the Scope of Horizon 2020 Extend? — 19 Mar 2012

"Horizon 2020 promises a novel industrial policy that tackles two issues: the inability to develop new technologies and market rigidity. The private sector cannot exploit many promising technologies due to risk-aversion and short-sightedness. A crisis-haunted public sector may be even less willing to take risks. Market rigidity, reinforced by the dominance of large incumbents in key sectors, undermines the competitiveness and agility essential if Europe is not to trail in the global recovery," writes senior research fellow Jonathan Cave in Public Service Review: European Science and Technology

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Can ARVs Be Used to Prevent HIV/AIDS?

Many complex issues surround the use of antiretroviral (ARV) therapy as HIV prevention, and seen in the recent U.S. Food and Drug Administration decision to consider an ARV drug not just for HIV treatment but also to prevent HIV/AIDS. RAND Europe is partnering with several organisations on Mapping Pathways, a project exploring potential treatment regimes and conducting research, community engagement, and policy work in the U.S., India, and South Africa.

Could the Strengthening of Health Systems in Africa Improve Industrial Development?

The performance of health systems is a key determinant of the inclusiveness of economic growth. Exclusionary, poor quality health care worsens impoverishment, while inclusive health care redistributes the benefits of growth toward the poor and ill. With Kenya and Tanzania as case studies, RAND Europe is exploring the extent to which unexploited potential synergies between industrial development and health systems can strengthen and contribute to faster and more inclusive growth?

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Exploring How the EU Should Establish a Cybercrime Centre — 28 Mar 2012

A European Cybercrime Centre (ECC) hosted by Europol would bring together input from several different entities and drive a common approach to tackling cybercrime. To gather background evidence for this initiative, RAND Europe researchers visited a number of EU Member States' high tech crime units to better understand their capabilities, conducted interviews with EU-level stakeholders, and held a scenario-based workshop where organisations could discuss the work and impact of an ECC.

What Factors Affect the Wider Adoption of Electric Vehicles? — 17 Feb 2012

To understand the factors affecting the wider adoption of electric vehicles, RAND Europe has sponsored a project to evaluate the barriers, as well as relevant government and public-private interventions that have been used in other countries to facilitate adoption. The project team will also conduct a survey to determine the potential uptake of electric vehicles within a municipality, using Cambridge, UK, as a case study.

Understanding the Impact of ICTs in the Middle East and North Africa — 30 Nov 2011

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) help to empower citizens and transform economic life. An important policy challenge is to identify and harness the benefits while mitigating the risks created by the new technologies. At the World Bank's request, RAND Europe helped develop a framework for thinking about ICT use in MENA. The report builds on an earlier research which benchmarked indicators for the knowledge economy in the region, analysing associations between indicators of ICT diffusion and development.

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Innovation and Technology Policy

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Joanna Chataway, Director, Innovation and Technology, RAND Europe