No. 16

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Coordination of Innovation Policy in Estonia

19 December 2007

Studies

RiTo No. 16, 2007

  • Raivo Linnas

    Ph.D. student in public administration, Tallinn University of Technology

The Riigikogu and the Government of the Republic face a serious task – influencing the factors impeding the implementation of innovation policy.

Above all, the leaders of innovation policy should find Estonia a suitable model for coordinating innovation policy, be it open coordination or some other method. The importance of coordination in the public sector is due to the typically multifaceted nature of the decision-makers and implementers in this sector. Cross-disciplinary coordination in Estonian public administration is nearly completely lacking, the coordination function cannot be distinguished from central management, and there is confusion and conflict between the proportions of centralism and decentralism. Existing knowledge and skills are not used in the best possible manner in order to fulfil the task of coordination; rather, this is done in a partisan and corporate manner. The institutions in the role of coordinating public administration have generally not been successful in their activity to date. When it comes to coordinating innovation policy, Estonia is facing a situation which tends toward decentralization and putting the open coordination method into practice, as the major part of innovation policy makers are outside of the direct field of influence of politicians.

Full article in Estonian

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