Libro Blanco Vol I en Ingles

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TOWARDS A NATIONAL INNOVATION STRATEGY FOR COMPETITIVENESSVOLUME 1COHERENCE ON VARIOUS LEVELSApart from the dynamism and complexity of innovation, a challenge imposed by the analysis of thefailures of the State on the institutional design of the system is the issue of coherence. The OECD indicates that,based on experiences in the governability of innovation systems, at least three kinds of coherences must beensured and coordinated:i) horizontal: referring to the integration of many policy areas, which implies ensuring that the variousplayers are aligned and carry out a social control (tackles the problems of capture);ii) vertical: ensuring that the creation and execution of policies are consistent (coherent) with theobjectives of the global Innovation Strategy (tackles the problems of agency); andiii) temporal: referring, firstly, to tackling dynamic inconsistency, but also to ensuring that the policiescreated now must continue to be effective in the future, which requires mechanisms that reveal the potentialincoherences and provide new perspectives and paths to change.As such, there is a huge institutional challenge that requires a reliable, transparent and rigorous State inorder to evaluate its interventions, capable of ending or re-formulating them, either because they areinefficient or because they are surpassed by the development of the market itself; a State capable of learningfrom its errors and avoiding capture by interest groups as well as interventionism that is inconsistent with themarket.THE RAISON D’ETRE OF THE INNOVATION COUNCILThe figures presented in Chapter 1 are evidence that the National Innovation System does less than itshould regarding innovation and its inputs: the public investment shortfalls in R+D or in the formation of humancapital, for example, indicate dynamic inconsistency at a government level. Meanwhile, the high proportion ofpublic spending versus private R+D spending (60/40) could suggest 75 problems of capture, which are alsoreflected in the lack of innovation dynamic or the weak relationship between the base research centres and theproduction sector. Quite possibly, the problem of the quality of education, which as has been indicated is notentirely attributable to a problem of resources, is the area where the problems of capture (and of agency) aremost evident.Three kinds of coherences must beensured and coordinated in theinstitutional design of an innovationsystem: horizontal, vertical andtemporal. These directly tackle thethree main failures of the State:capture, problems of agency anddynamic inconsistency, respectively.An efficient National InnovationSystem requires a managing, guidingand coordinating institutionalstructure located at the top of thesystem.The creation of a NationalInnovation System forCompetitiveness is proposed, witha multidisciplinary and multisectoralcharacter that includesthe government and that advisesthe President of the Republic.75 Another alternative is that the volume of public resources is so small, as indicated in Chapter 1, that it does not manage to formsufficient critical mass to generate attractive research for the private sector.101
TOWARDS A NATIONAL INNOVATION STRATEGY FOR COMPETITIVENESSVOLUME 1Thus, the urgency of an institutional redesign that ensures a high degree of governability and coherenceof the system becomes patent. Moreover, the analysis made by the Council during 2006 reinforces the convictionthat a body is necessary to propose consistent directions that contribute to the pertinence and coordination ofpro-innovation public policies, clearly separating the responsibility of proposing policies from the tasks offormulating and executing specific programs. Additionally, and most importantly, it must verify the execution ofthe policies that the Government commits itself to. This body should also have: i) a level of autonomy thatallows the Council to notify any eventual deviations from the agreed strategy to the Government, in order tocounteract any dynamic inconsistencies of the government; ii) a very good level of auditing and evaluation 76 totackle the problems of agency, and iii) optimally, to not have any kind of commitment with private interests, totackle the dangers of capture.Best international practices show that an efficient National Innovation System requires a managing,coordinating and guiding institutional framework at the highest levels of government. This is precisely what oursystem lacks –in the opinion of external evaluators. These considerations, combined with the need to count onthe visible and permanent commitment of the government at the highest level, led the Council in February 2006to discard recommending the option of creating a sectoral Ministry of Innovation and instead suggest creating amultidisciplinary and multi-sectoral National Council of Innovation for Competitiveness (that includes thegovernment). As an advisory body for the Presidency of the Republic, it should be responsible for proposing themain outlines of a long-run National Innovation Strategy that will serve as a guiding framework for the specificpublic policies and the operation of mechanisms for supporting business innovation, the formation of humancapital, scientific research and technology transfer.THE ROLE OF THE COUNCILBefore forming the Council, it is crucial to define the best link that a body of this type should have withthe government. For this, three options have been identified.A first model may be that of simply advising. In this role, the Council recommends the strategic actions inthe area of innovation as an expert consultant and defines mechanisms that facilitate the coordination ofvarious actions related to innovation, ensuring they are consistent with one another. This is a model that, even76 The proposal is not that the Council should do the auditing and evaluations by itself, which could lead to a heavy bureaucraticmachine, but it should have the minimum capabilities needed to sub-contract those services and define and control the terms of itswork.102FIGURE 2THREE BUDGET CONSIDERATIONSThere is a consensus at the heart of this Councilregarding three budget aspects essential for a goodperformance of the body.i) It is indispensable to have a minimum butautonomous budget to fulfil its functions, although thisautonomy does not imply that the implementation ofthese funds is not subject to evaluations, for example,through external audits.ii) One of the fundamental ways in which the Councilwill fulfil its evaluation tasks in the execution of theStrategy is the recommendation of global allocationsof the entire public budget related to innovation, yearto year.ii) This recommendation will reflect the generalperspective of this Council and will seek to ensurethat the funds allocations are adjusted to the broadlines of the strategy, but without ever entering into thedetails of those allocations.In addition to proposing a strategyand making recommendations on theuse of public resources for innovation,the Council has to evaluate theimplementation of the strategy adoptedby the Government, periodically reviewits bases and directions and, above all,caution society about when the systemdeviates from the objectives laid out.
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Libro Blanco Vol I en Ingles

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