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...

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...

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...

Nanotechnology has been proposed as the next general purpose technology and engine for growth for the 21th century. Increasing public R&D investments are foremost reflected in the growth of scientific publications, while nanotechnology still is in an uncertain phase of development with various...

This paper aims to provide an overview of the recently introduced demand based innovation policy instrument in Finland - the Strategic Centers for Science, Technology and Innovation (in Finnish - SHOKs). SHOKs are formed to support the innovative activities of existing industries in Finland with...

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...