An increasing number of countries support private R&D activity by fiscal incentives in response to the tightening international tax competition. Consequently, the importance of direct R&D subsidies is diminishing. This paper describes R&D tax incentive mechanisms in OECD countries and surveys...

Evaluating the possible consequences of R&D tax incentives before their introduction is challenging, not least because the details of the system remain unknown, and because the ultimate reactions and responses of various actors involved remain uncertain. In order to shed some light on the issue,...

Subsidies to business sector R&D can be given either as R&D tax credits or direct grants. Majority of the OECD countries use both policy tools, Finland has used only grants. The Finnish support system has been functioning relatively well, but it has been argued that it does not support well...

We compare different tax incentive schemes for private R&D investments using a numerical model of R&D-investments and firm dynamics. We find that tax incentives that are based on the incremental annual spending increase firms' R&D spending much more than tax incentives that are based on the...

Subsidies to commercial R&D can be given as R&D tax credits or through direct grants. Tax incentives have become an increasingly popular policy tool over the last decades. In this note I discuss the pros and cons of the two forms of subsidies in light of Norways experience with R&D policy. I...

This study analyses how R&D expenditure impacts the productivity of companies. We analyse the productivity impact of R&D using a large panel dataset of Finnish firms over a nine-year period from 1996 to 2004. Our results are two-fold. In the short run (in 1-2 years) we find no statistically...

This study analyses those country characteristics, which lead those regions to become as productive operation and innovation environments for firms and research centres. This study shows that those countries who invest wisely to develop their innovation environment will be successful in high...

Nanotechnology has been touted as a general purpose technology (GPT) and engine of growth for the 21th century, following in the footsteps of ICT. Nanotechnology is still in an early phase of development, it is scientist driven and thus largely exogenous to the economy at present. In Finland the...

The Finnish experience in the 1990s represents one of the few examples of how knowledge can become the driving force in economic growth and transformation. The countrys industrial structure that was previously raw material-, energy-, and capital-intensive changed in less than a decade to...

This descriptive paper analyses structural characteristics of Finnish university departments (FIDs) and benchmarks them against foreign university departments from Scandinavia, the UK and the US (FODs). In the first place the study aims to reveal information on differences in department size. In...