Basic Research: Approaches for Performance Improvement

10.12.2020

BMBWF Review by Jürgen Janger and Thomas König

In a joint report for the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF), Jürgen Janger (WIFO) and Thomas König (IHS) highlighted central approaches for improving performance in basic research in Austria.

To this end, three different policy target dimensions in the area of research, technology and innovation (RTI) were formulated, namely the influence on performance, impact and direction of basic research. "Even though an RTI system like the one in Austria contains elements of all three target dimensions, it makes sense to think of them separately because it is enormously helpful in sorting the instruments and evaluating them", says the team of authors Janger und König.

It becomes clear that the performance of basic research actually lags behind the comparison countries (EU Innovation Leader) in all three target dimensions. The report identified possible levers for each target dimension to increase the performance of basic research.

Especially in the area of the "performance" goal the report does not only concern an increase in financial resources, but also changes in allocation mechanisms. More excellence should also bring more "impact". According to the report, there are also good reasons for more direction-oriented research policy.
 

Publications

Jürgen Janger (WIFO), Thomas König (IHS)
Forschungspolitik in Österreich. Zentrale Ansatzpunkte für eine Leistungssteigerung in der Grundlagenforschung (Research Policy in Austria. Central Starting Points for Improving Performance in Basic Research)
Studies, September 2020, 72 pages
Commissioned by: Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research
Study by: Austrian Institute of Economic Research – Institute for Advanced Studies
Online since: 17.11.2020 0:00
 
Dieser Bericht bewertet die Leistung des österreichischen Forschungssystems anhand von drei komplementären Politikzielen mit Schwerpunkt auf der Grundlagenforschung: Leistung in Bezug auf die Forschungsqualität, sozioökonomische Auswirkungen der Forschung und Richtung der Forschung mit Blick auf die Bewältigung von Herausforderungen. Für alle drei Dimensionen identifiziert der Bericht Bereiche mit Verbesserungspotential und diskutiert – basierend auf rezenter Literatur sowie im internationalen Vergleich – Ansatzpunkte, wie Leistungssteigerungen erzielt werden können.
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Mag. Dr. Jürgen Janger, MSc

Research groups: Industrial, Innovation and International Economics