Workshop participants offered a variety of suggestions to the National Science Foundation (NSF) and other federal agencies to improve the usefulness and relevance of data on industrial research and innovation, as well as to increase efficiency in collecting and processing the data. The suggestions dealt with the need to (1) clarify policy information needs; (2) improve the quality, coverage, and collection of existing data items; and (3) identify and collect new types of data.

'A great book to understand and foster innovation at all levels: a truly innovative piece of work.' Enrico Giovannini, Minister of Labour and Social Policies, Italy 'This book brings together original contributions from world leading experts on innovation indicators and is unique in several respects. First, the focus is upon innovation in terms of commercialized products and processes and not on secondary indicators of research or patenting. Second, it combines academic perspectives with user perspectives from industry and international organizations. Third, it strikes a good balance between old and new indicators, opening up new dimensions of innovation for measuring. It is a book worth reading for scholars studying innovation, for policy makers and, not least, for innovation managers in the private sector.' Bengt-Åke Lundvall, Aalborg University, Denmark and Sciences-Po, Paris, France This Handbook comprehensively examines indicators and statistical measurement related to innovation (as defined in the OECD/Eurostat Oslo Manual). It deals with the development and the use of innovation indicators to support decision-making and is written by authors who are practitioners, who know what works and what does not, in order to improve the development of indicators to satisfy future policy needs. This unique volume presents: the historical and geographical context for innovation indicators and measurement practical examples of how measurement is actually undertaken new areas of innovation indicators and measurement, including consumer innovation, public sector innovation and social innovation. This informative Handbook will appeal to policy makers in government departments, statistical offices and research institutes and international organizations such as the EU, OECD and the UN, as well as university departments of economics, sociology, law, science and technology, and public policy.

A conference proceedings that discusses policy needs, measurement issues, and some of the challenges in describing cross-cutting and emerging topics in science, technology and innovation.

The National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES), at the U.S. National Foundation, is 1 of 14 major statistical agencies in the federal government, of which at least 5 collect relevant information on science, technology, and innovation activities in the United States and abroad. The America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 expanded and codified NCSES's role as a U.S. federal statistical agency. Important aspects of the agency's mandate include collection, acquisition, analysis, and reporting and dissemination of data on research and development trends, on U.S. competitiveness in science, technology, and research and development, and on the condition and progress of U.S. science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. Improving Measures of Science, Technology and Innovation: Interim Report examines the status of the NCSES's science, technology, and innovation (STI) indicators. This report assesses and provides recommendations regarding the need for revised, refocused, and newly developed indicators designed to better reflect fundamental and rapid changes that are reshaping global science, technology and innovation systems. The book also determines the international scope of STI indicators and the need for developing new indicators that measure developments in innovative activities in the United States and abroad, and Offers foresight on the types of data, metrics and indicators that will be particularly influential in evidentiary policy decision-making for years to come. In carrying out its charge, the authoring panel undertook a broad and comprehensive review of STI indicators from different countries, including Japan, China, India and several countries in Europe, Latin America and Africa. Improving Measures of Science, Technology, and Innovation makes recommendations for near-term action by NCSES along two dimensions: (1) development of new policy-relevant indicators that are based on NCSES survey data or on data collections at other statistical agencies; and (2) exploration of new data extraction and management tools for generating statistics, using automated methods of harvesting unstructured or scientometric data and data derived from administrative records.

This book takes stock of what is known about the process of innovation and its effects, and the policy interventions that influence both. It provides insights into future research required to support evidence-based policy-making and makes clear the need to take a systems approach to the analysis of innovation, its outcomes and its impacts. The contributors explore the fact that economic theory, statistical measurement and the need to achieve targets are combining to shift policy focus towards the economic and social impacts of innovation. This is forcing economists and statisticians to look for new measures, indicators, and analytical frameworks to support the public policy debate and the implementations of change necessary for success. The book emphasizes the importance of linkages and communities of practice in measuring and analyzing innovation, and focuses on: the importance of social sciences as well as natural sciences to the activity of innovation. policy-relevant discussions on the measurement gaps in the activity of innovation quantitative results of analysis relating to the output of innovation activities theoretical frameworks and concepts for measurement of the activity of innovation suggestions for new measurement directions for the activity of innovation which will lead into an international forum to discuss indicator development at the OECD over the next decade. Illustrating that the expectations of innovation policies are being raised, this book will prove fascinating reading for policy analysts, economists, academics and students with an interest in innovation, industrial dynamics and science and technology.

Since the 1950s, under congressional mandate, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) - through its National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) and predecessor agencies - has produced regularly updated measures of research and development expenditures, employment and training in science and engineering, and other indicators of the state of U.S. science and technology. A more recent focus has been on measuring innovation in the corporate sector. NCSES collects its own data on science, technology, and innovation (STI) activities and also incorporates data from other agencies to produce indicators that are used for monitoring purposes - including comparisons among sectors, regions, and with other countries - and for identifying trends that may require policy attention and generate research needs. NCSES also provides extensive tabulations and microdata files for in-depth analysis. Capturing Change in Science, Technology, and Innovation assesses and provides recommendations regarding the need for revised, refocused, and newly developed indicators of STI activities that would enable NCSES to respond to changing policy concerns. This report also identifies and assesses both existing and potential data resources and tools that NCSES could exploit to further develop its indicators program. Finally, the report considers strategic pathways for NCSES to move forward with an improved STI indicators program. The recommendations offered in Capturing Change in Science, Technology, and Innovation are intended to serve as the basis for a strategic program of work that will enhance NCSES's ability to produce indicators that capture change in science, technology, and innovation to inform policy and optimally meet the needs of its user community.