We review the evidence on the impact of public R&D spending. We first look at the evidence from micro-analysis of the impact of public intervention on private R&D and innovation, with a focus on the latest results from crosscountry micro-research performed within SIMPATIC (www.simpatic.eu). To...

The European Union has prioritised the pursuit of innovation-based growth and targeting of resources to promote research and development, but performance on innovation remains weak. With the lack of results comes fatigue, waning interest and mounting criticism about policy. Should the EU abandon...

Concern exists that public funding of science is increasingly risk averse. Funders have addressed this concern by soliciting the submission of high-risk research to either regular or specially designed programs. Little evidence, however, has been gathered to examine the extent to which such...

After the Bologna agreement and the Lisbon Agenda, reform of European university systems has been higher on the political agenda. This is necessary, since most European universities have been suffering from stifling blankets of government regulation, having to make do with much less funds than...