Public and Private Financing of Business R&ampD

This chapter aims to inform the policy debate by examining fundamental changes in the financing, organisation and conduct of business R&ampD and their implications for S&ampT policy. It presents key statistics describing private and public financing of business R&ampD and reviews the major changes in business strategies for R&ampD from the perspective of the firm. It then identifies important issues that policy makers will need to address to enhance not only the effectiveness of public financing of R&ampD but also the performance of national innovation systems. These include greater emphasis on knowledge creation, SMEs and intellectual property rights (IPRs). While the general conclusions are broadly applicable across the OECD area, the steps that individual countries take will need to be tailored to the characteristics of local industry (specific industries, their relative stage of development) and the capabilities of other elements of their national innovation systems.