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EU Cohesion Policy and Innovation Support in Central and Eastern Europe: A Critical Review *

05 June 2019

Varia

RiTo No. 39, 2019

This paper gives an overview of the results of cohesion policy investments in RTDI and enterprise in Central and Eastern European countries that joined the EU after 2004.

The results differ by countries, as well as between the regions within those countries. On the one hand, there are invaluable outputs and outcomes in the form of new research infrastructure, cooperation networks, new jobs in the RTDI sector, the creation of innovative start-ups, etc. On the other hand, the impacts are unevenly distributed, with significant disparities in terms of knowledge production, technology absorption or innovation performance. The evaluations carried out to date conclude that there is still much room for improvement in the logic of policy interventions in CEE countries, as well as in the management of national and regional innovation systems. Different policy recommendations are formulated in the literature on this topic, which can be grouped into the following eight categories:

  • Change the Logic of Intervention
  • Consider Specific Innovation Patterns in Policy-Making
  • Adopt New Approaches to Financing Innovation
  • Contextualise Support Measures and Focus on Incremental Innovation
  • Adopt Gradual Sectoral Changes
  • Support International Knowledge Networks and Global Value Chains
  • Adopt the Broader View of Innovation
  • Change Routines and Address Institutional Bottlenecks.

* Serbanica, C., Constantin, D. L. (2018). EU Cohesion Policy and Innovation Support in Central and Eastern Europe: A Critical Review. – CESifo FORUM, 19(1), 24–31.

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