Learning from policy learning to develop third-generation research and innovation governance

Purpose and goal

The aim of the project was to review R&I policy changes in Sweden, understand what the drivers of policy change were, to see whether these were amenable to generalisation and what could be said about future policymaking. A final aim was to produce a chapter for an edited book on the future of innovation policy. The study is complete and a draft chapter has been submitted to the editors of the book.

Expected results and effects

A draft chapter has been produced, submitted to the editors of the book and lodged with Vinnova. The results were presented at an open seminar with policymakers and academics at Vinnova on 30 October 2018. Beyond the chapter, we are working on a journal article, more heavily based on political science. We have built up a considerable body of documents and other evidence about Swedish R&I policy, which we expect to exploit in extensions to this work. We expect to influence future policy development in Sweden.

Planned approach and implementation

Our methods were traditional. We reviewed the political science literature on the drivers of policy change and used categories from the literature in our analysis. We collected copies of documents from both published and unpublished sources and interviewed people who had been involved in the policy developments studied. We were able partly to rely in our own archives from previous studies. Our results are being reviewed by our interviewees and other policy participants prior to final publication.