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Measuring R&D: Challenges Faced by Developing Countries
SUB-REGIONAL HANDS-ON TRAINING ON SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION INDICATORSDamascus, Syria
18-20 September 2010
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Products
NEW AnnexSample
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Outline
The problem
The process
Contents of the Technical Guide
Thinking ahead
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R&D statistics in developing countries (1)
Recognition, meeting targets, evidence-based S&T policy, but:
• lack of interest at the level of policy makers (low policy-relevance?)
• S&T is still not properly represented in economic/social public policies. lack of resources devoted to statistics in S&T
• lack of technical knowledge for the production of cross-nationally comparable R&D statistics
• weak statistical institutions
• difficulties in applying FM concepts and methods
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R&D statistics in developing countries (2)
Particular characteristics of R&D activities to be taken into account:
• R&D performers function within the specific context of a national, cultural, political, financial and economic system
• different structures in terms of government, innovation system, higher education system, statistical system
• particular ‘culture of information’
• Users of R&D stat: Gov, analysts. + international donor agencies
S&T indicators • adapted to particular policy needs
• provide answers to actual policy questions
However, international comparability is foremost
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The process (1)
Experience acquired through the UIS work, in particular through direct contact with S&T statisticians in numerous workshops and other meetings around the developing world.
Advisory Meeting to the UIS S&T Statistics Programme held in Montreal, Canada, December 2007.
Papers commissioned by UIS to Jacques Gaillard (IRD, Paris), Michael Kahn et al (HSRC, South Africa), and Gustavo Arber et al (RICYT, Argentina).
Proposal for an annex to the Frascati Manual on measuring R&D in developing countries was presented at the OECD 2008 and 2009 NESTI meeting.
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The process (2)
Expert Meeting on Measuring R&D in Developing Countries in Windhoek, Namibia, 14 to 16 September 2009
Consultant has drafted:• Technical Guide on Measuring R&D: Challenges for
Developing Countries
• Proposed Annex to the Frascati Manual
Both to be released in 2010
Some of the issues might also present measurement challenges for a future revision of the Frascati Manual
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Contents of the Technical Guide
1. Introduction
2. The nature of R&D activity in developing countries
3. R&D expenditure
4. Internal and international mobility of the R&D workforce
5. Specific fields of R&D activity
6. Foreign and internationally controlled entities
7. Strengthening R&D statistical systems
8. Thinking ahead
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Chapter 2: The nature of R&D activity in developing countries
The growing importance of R&D
• More ‘R’ than ‘D’ in developing countries.
• Strong presence of the government and higher education sectors in the performance of R&D. Lower emphasis on R&D in business sector.
• Occasional R&D / Informal R&D
• Special types of R&D
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Chapter 2: The nature of R&D activity in developing countries cont…
Heterogeneity and concentration • Developing countries are a heterogeneous group:
» Group A: countries with consolidated R&D systems and developed S&T statistics systems no major difficulties in applying Frascati Manual concepts.
» Group B: countries with consolidated R&D systems and less developed S&T statistics systems need specific guidance on how to establish and consolidate sound R&D statistics systems.
» Group C: countries with incipient R&D systems need specific guidelines on how to start creating a regular R&D statistical collection.
• High degree of concentration (in group of countries, in particular institutions, in major projects, etc) lead to volatility and inconsistencies in statistics.
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Chapter 3: R&D expenditure
Use of secondary data from national budget
New sources of funds emerging
Discrepancy between voted and allocated budget
Budgetary commitments are not followed up
Mixing of budgetary records and annual reports from performing units
Definition of S&T / R&D budgets
Identifying R&D components in the national budget
State-owned enterprises, university-owned companies and national scientific academies
Private universities
Fiscal year vs. calendar year
Information systems in government and higher education inadequate for statistics
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Chapter 4: Internal and international mobility of the R&D workforce
Underestimation of researchers
Unpaid research
Informal research
Research outside of the normal work setting with external funding
Multiple part time positions not taken into account or undercounted
Master’s research
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Counting researchers
Overestimation of researchers
Counting the contract instead of the real effort
Multiple full-time research positions
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Counting researchers
Special cases
FTE calculation >1 and FTE>HC
R&D in times of crisis
Visiting researchers
Brain circulation
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Counting researchers
Recommendations
Peer interviews of researchers
Include a module on barriers
Use secondary sources• Publication databases, both national and international
• STMIS and other databases of researchers
• Databases and registers of clinical trials
• Databases and registers of the main foreign donors involved in funding R&D in the countries
• University accreditation databases
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Chapter 5: Specific fields of R&D activity
Traditional knowledge
Clinical trials
Industrial activities
Other activities
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Special types of R&D - Traditional knowledge
Traditional knowledge (TK)
A cumulative body of knowledge, know-how, practices and representations maintained and developed by peoples with extended histories of interaction with the natural environment.
These sophisticated sets of understandings, interpretations and meanings are part and parcel of a cultural complex that encompasses language, naming and classification systems, resource use practices, ritual, spirituality and worldview.
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Special types of R&D - Traditional knowledge
Dichotomy between traditional and scientific knowledge systems
substantive grounds – because of differences in the subject matter and characteristics of traditional and scientific knowledge
methodological and epistemological grounds – because the two forms of knowledge employ different methods to investigate reality
contextual grounds – because traditional knowledge is more deeply rooted in its environment
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Special types of R&D - Traditional knowledge
Links between traditional and scientific knowledge systems
Scientific approach to TK (in ethno-botany, ethno-pedology, ethno-forestry, ethno-veterinary medicine, ethno-ecology, etc).
The application of scientific methods to TK, converting it into a source of scientific information. (in biodiversity science or nature conservation; traditional health and pharmacopeia).
Interaction between scientists and communities in participatory technology development
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Special types of R&D - Traditional knowledge
Measurement issues and recommendations
Establish the boundaries for TK (what qualify as R&D)
The activities establishing an interface between traditional knowledge and R&D
Some fields of activities in TK are trans-disciplinary (e.g. ethno-botany), making them extremely difficult to map into the current classification’s structure.
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Special types of R&D - Clinical trials
Clinical trials
(Can) involve a significant amount of R&D
Need to be conducted on a wide population
Growth area for developing countries
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Special types of R&D - Clinical trials
Measurement of clinical trials
Registers of clinical trials available, e.g. WHO but also national
Funding often from abroad
Performance various possibilities• a local branch of the foreign main sponsor
• universities and university hospitals
• individual researchers
• local medical clinics
• locally registered PNPs
• international PNPs
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Special types of R&D - Clinical trials
Measurement issues and recommendations
Occupation category of local staff
• Medical doctors and other professionals with at least ISCED 5A degrees should be considered as researchers
• Nurses and other staff with qualifications below ISCED 5A should be accounted for as technicians
FTE calculation is important (often part-time)
Attribution of sector of performance must be done with care to avoid double counting
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Special types of R&D - Industrial activities
Reverse engineering: understanding the structure and functioning of an object (in order to make a new device or program creates a similar object in a different way), copying it, or improving it.
Recommendation: If reverse engineering is carried out in the framework of an R&D project to develop a new (and different) product, it should be considered as R&D.
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Special types of R&D - Other activities
Community development and other social projects
• R&D only in development and testing phase experimental development (most probably in the field of social sciences)
Religious research
• part of humanities,
• should be included in R&D surveys.
This (religious research) will not be a recommendation
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Chapter 6: Foreign and internationally controlled entities
Foreign antennas
Foreign company’s R&D labs
International organizations operating in the country
Foreign universities based and conducting R&D in campuses set up in the country
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The foreign institutions sector
Recommendation
Create a “foreign institutions” (FI) sector as a separate sector of performance
Funding flowing from this sector to other sectors should be considered from “Abroad” as stated in the main body of the Frascati Manual
What is included?
• Foreign antennas
• International organizations
• Foreign company’s R&D labs (remains in the business sector)
• Foreign universities (remains in the HE sector)
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The foreign institutions sector
The principal sector sub-classification
Business enterprises
Government
Higher Education
Private non-profit
International organizations
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Chapter 7: Strategies for setting up S&T statistics systems in developing countries
Institutionalizing S&T statistics
Establishing registers
Structural issues in the private sector and the private not-for-profit sector
User-producer networks
Science & Technology Management Information Systems and other secondary sources
Survey procedures and estimation
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Institutionalization of S&T statistics
Political support
Infrastructure and sustained staff training/capacity building
Involvement of NSOs: “Official statistics” status for R&D surveys.
Adequate legal framework
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Establishing registers
R&D in developing countries tends to be very much the purview of public bodies
Recommendations:
Establishing a database of public sector R&D projects
• include human and financial resources; align with national policies.
• design could reflect the R&D statistical reporting/definitions.
• source for evaluation of such projects.
Establishing STMIS
• provide overview of research system.
• framework for establishing complete registers as sample frames for R&D surveys.
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Establishing registers
Other sources
• associations (trade, academic).
• learned societies.
• registers or databases of scientists and engineers.
• database of research grants.
• databases of scientific publications.
• patents and other IP documents.
• business registers.
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Structural issues in the private sector and the PNP sector
Publicly-owned businesses play a major role in R&D in some developing countries
Recommendations:
• should consider issuing data for ‘publicly-owned businesses’ separately from the ‘fully private enterprise sector’.
• private enterprises could also be disaggregated by ownership, in particular the various degrees of foreign ownership.
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Structural issues in the private sector and the PNP sector
Business enterprise R&D is presumed to be generally weak in developing countries when compared to industrial countries.
Recommendations:
• take into account when conducting sample surveys, perhaps by over-sampling, especially amongst larger companies.
• big companies should not be missed out as it might imply significant error.
• invest time in interviewing key firms to understand their R&D function and obtain a clear picture of their activity.
Private-non-profit sector: make a significant contribution to R&D in developing countries, but the sector tends to be very volatile.
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User-producer networks
Recommendations: • user-producer networks and other forms of stakeholder
consultation should be instituted.
• establishing national S&T statistics groups.
• involve multiple actors.
• coordinating/networking among institutions/databases.
• partnering with business associations.
• conducting face-to-face visits by statisticians and project leaders.
• exploit pre-existing personnel ties.
• get NSO involved; to deal with privacy of information.
• training of interviewers/primary data producers.
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Science and Technology Management Information System and other secondary sources
STMIS (e.g. database of scientists, research grants, etc): frequent source for the production of R&D statistics.
Recommendations: • need close integration between the statistical system and the
STMIS.
• need adjustments to produce comparable statistics, taking into account issues of definitions and coverage.
• need a balanced approach using both STMIS and surveys.
• need different approach to Private sector organizations as they are frequently not covered by these systems.
Combined R&D and innovation surveys
Recommendations: • the relative rarity of occurrence of R&D in businesses needs to be
taken into account.
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Survey procedure and estimation
Recommendations:• attention needs to be paid to questionnaire design.
• frequency of survey.
• prioritize area of work; accompanied by step-by-step approach.
• use of survey questionnaires of other countries for inspiration: need adaptations to local situation.
• get expertise from the NSO, in conducting survey, in sampling ….
• different questionnaires might be designed for different sectors based on stakeholder consultations. “One size does not fit all”.
• procedures need to be developed for estimating missing data.
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Chapter 8: Thinking ahead: Other products – beyond R&D
Redefine the concepts of scientific and technological education and training at broadly the third level (STET), Scientific and technological services (STS) and S&T activities (STA)
Better integrate education statistics with R&D statistics
Hands on guidance
Metadata
Model questionnaire
