Understanding the flow of knowledge between scientific research and policymaking is increasingly important. This study examines the influence of the EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard, which has been active at the science-policy interface since 2004. We analyse citation trends in scientific publications and policy documents to assess the Scoreboard’s usage, impact, and reach. Our findings indicate that the Scoreboard is cited more frequently in policy documents, though academic interest is growing. Policy documents cite the Scoreboard more quickly, reflecting its immediate relevance for policy actors, while scientific publications take longer to cite it and utilise its data. Papers citing the Scoreboard tend to have a higher citation impact than average, underscoring its significance in a broad set of research fields. In our citation content analysis, we find that "insight" citations are more common than "data" citations. However, papers combining patent data and Scoreboard tend to receive more citations, highlighting the value of integrating R&D data with other relevant variables to better understand the innovation process. Additionally, we show that the Scoreboard has influenced EU policy discourse to address the need for structural changes towards high R&D intensity sectors, and showing EU’s strengths in green innovation.
Authors
CONFRARIA Hugo, GRASSANO Nicola, MONCADA PATERNO' CASTELLO Pietro, NINDL Elisabeth
Related Organizations
- Pages
- 54
- Published in
- Belgium
- Rights Holder
- https://ec.europa.eu/info/legal-notice_en#copyright-notice
Table of Contents
- Abstract 4
- Acknowledgements 5
- Executive summary 6
- 1 Introduction 7
- 2 Background 8
- 2.1 The role of international organisations in the science-policy interface 8
- 2.2 The genesis of the Scoreboard and its political background 9
- 3 Data and Methods 12
- 3.1 Data 12
- 3.2 Analysis 13
- 3.2.1 Time trends 14
- 3.2.2 Institutional representation and collaboration 14
- 3.2.3 Research and policy areas and topics of influence 15
- 3.2.4 Citation content analysis 16
- 4 Results 19
- 4.1 Time Trends 19
- 4.2 Institutional representation and collaboration 21
- 4.2.1 Scientific publications collaboration network 21
- 4.2.2 Policy documents publishing organisations 23
- 4.3 Areas and topics of influence 30
- 4.4 Citation content analysis 36
- 4.5 Citations to the Scoreboard beyond science: in the EU Policy-making 39
- 4.5.1 Change in the narrative – structural R&D intensity gap 40
- 4.5.2 New policies in main EU policy documents using Scoreboard results 41
- 5 Discussion and Conclusions 43
- 6 References 45
- 7 Annexes 50
