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Do Germany’s Federal and Land Governments (Still) Co-ordinate their Innovation Policy
Journal
Research Policy
ISSN
0048-7333
Type
journal article
Date Issued
2002-09
Author(s)
Wilson, David
Abstract (De)
This paper reports the results of an empirical study on how the German federation and Länder interact in the field of innovation policy and whether this interaction counts as co-ordination. For there to be genuine co-ordination, there must be evidence of fitting together as part of a coherent framework and some commonality of objectives. The fieldwork sought to identify the areas of interaction which were seen by respondents as part of a co-ordination process. Three broad areas of interaction were accordingly positioned in a spectrum of declining formality: innovation infrastructure, promotional programmes and individual projects. An important finding, which emerged from the fieldwork in Germany was that a combination of factors is shifting the balance of emphasis and activity from the formal and binding to the informal and voluntary end of this spectrum. The factors cited most frequently by the interviewees were a reduction in federal expenditure, an increasing use of competitions and some broader constitutional developments. But is this interaction really co-ordination? The authors put the case for taking a broad view of what counts as co-ordination and conclude that there is genuine co-ordination up to a certain point (the federal system places limits on how far that process can go). A subsidiary conclusion coming from the empirical study and which may surprise many non-Germans, is that German officials are familiar and comfortable with the areas of untidiness which result.
Language
English
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
HSG Profile Area
Global Center for Entrepreneurship + Innovation
Refereed
Yes
Publisher
Elsevier
Volume
31
Number
7
Start page
1123
End page
1140
Official URL
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
255342