National and international R&D support programmes and technology scouting in European small and medium enterprises
Journal of Science and Technology Policy Management
ISSN: 2053-4620
Article publication date: 21 May 2020
Issue publication date: 26 November 2020
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of national and international R&D support programmes on firms’ technology scouting, defined as firms’ use of external knowledge sources.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on a unique data set on R&D support programmes for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in both manufacturing and service sectors across 28 European countries, this study reports treatment effects estimated by the copula-based endogenous switching model, which takes into account unobserved firm heterogeneity.
Findings
Empirical results indicate that R&D support programmes have heterogeneous effects on technology scouting. In particular, a crowding-out effect arises in the case of informal sources of external knowledge, whereas additional effects are reported for formal, strategic sources.
Practical implications
For informal sources of external knowledge, a random distribution of R&D measures would have a substantially larger effect rather than using current selection criteria.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to explore the policy effects on technology scouting applying a copula-based endogenous switching model. Most cross-sectional empirical studies use matching estimators, although their main disadvantage is the selection on observables.
Keywords
Citation
Radicic, D. (2020), "National and international R&D support programmes and technology scouting in European small and medium enterprises", Journal of Science and Technology Policy Management, Vol. 11 No. 4, pp. 455-482. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSTPM-10-2019-0091
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited