Innovation Policy and Performance
A Cross-Country Comparison
This publication examines the relationship between innovation policy and economic performance in six OECD countries – Austria, Finland, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom. In-depth analyses highlight countries’ strengths and weaknesses in innovation, as well as the effectiveness of their innovation policies in driving economic performance. Taken together, the country studies constitute a rich evidence base which will be of considerable interest to innovation policy makers in all OECD countries. They indicate that countries share a need to adapt – or even profoundly change – their innovation policies in order to deal with opportunities and threats posed by new technological and economic developments.
Sweden
Sweden’s performance in science and technology is high by most standard indicators. Nevertheless, Sweden has not always succeeded in sufficiently translating its high investment in knowledge or its excellent science into high economic performance. Taking a long-term perspective, Sweden’s position as a leading high-income country in Europe has gradually eroded. In the early 1990s the country went through a deep recession. Competitiveness was under pressure of increasing cost unparalleled by productivity growth. Growth accelerated in the second half of the 1990s, supported by a new macroeconomic framework put in place in response to the crisis and accompanied by largescale investment in knowledge. Nevertheless, it is a challenging task to sustain high growth while maintaining Sweden’s welfare state. Boosting productivity growth – through innovation and other means – would be instrumental in achieving these goals. At...