Policy Design and Evaluation

The Business Unit is coordinated by Dr. Susanne Bührer and Dr. Stephanie Daimer.

Projects of the Business Unit Policy Design and Evaluation

The analysis and evaluation of research, technology and innovation policy measures is the core task of the Business Unit Policy Design and Evaluation. Our work provides government and non-government decision-makers with background knowledge and impulses for new ways of thinking and acting. Our distinctive characteristic is our profound knowledge of how national and international innovation systems function and their dynamics. In our studies, we look at the diverse actors, instruments and strategies that produce knowledge and innovations, but take the whole system into account while doing so. We work on:

• formative and summative programme evaluations,
  

• studies of the run-up to programmes; the implementation and suitability of funding programmes within the scope of accompanying research,
  

• indicator-based impact analyses,
  

• further developing the methods and concepts of evaluations.
  

Our scientific policy consultation focuses on the analysis of

• the prerequisites and success factors of state intervention in the research and innovation system,
  

• the challenges of research, technology and innovation policy and governance; also new concepts like mission-oriented policy or Responsible Research and Innovation,

• the driving forces, developments and effects of internationalization processes (e.g. European research landscape),
  

• funding instruments, for instance for innovation-oriented start-ups,
  

• the demographic dimension of the innovation system (gender, mobility, careers),
  

• knowledge and technology transfer processes (e.g. new forms of cooperation and utilization).

We have a wide range of qualitative and quantitative analytical methods at our command. This enables us to apply a specially tailored mix of methods to all issues concerning the evaluation and analysis of policy instruments. These include different forms of data collection in funded and non-funded organizations like (online) surveys as well as generating company, industry, innovation and market data from databases. We also use interviews, participatory and discursive approaches like focus groups, workshops and expert hearings; peer group analyses and social network analyses as well as analyses of publications and patents.