The concept of a national system of innovation has been wholeheartedly embraced in a recently published official report on science, technology and innovation in Ireland. The mechanisms for science and technology policy evaluation, particularly at programme level, contribute to, as well as fall...

The problems involved in evaluating interdisciplinary social science initiatives are described, based on experience appraising large ESRC-funded projects undertaken in the UK. The methods used include interview and questionnaire approaches addressed to investigators, the research community, and...