The aid scheme of the Centre for Technological and Industrial Development as an instrument of industrial and innovation policies.

Investment in R&D&I is a key element for the future competitiveness of companies and, therefore, of regions and nations. Governments can support companies in this process, but restrictions require well-designed and proportionate interventions

Challenge

The challenge of the Spanish Government is to support Spanish companies in their competitive improvement through investment, both public and private, in research, development and innovation. To this end, through the Centre for Technological and Industrial Development, it has a public aid scheme that finances projects by companies and technological and research centres through direct aid of various kinds and by promoting technological cooperation and the implementation of large projects. The evaluation of this scheme - in order to know its results, effects, impacts and its effect on competition - is an obligatory exercise for the European Commission to allow its existence within the framework of State aid.

Solution created

Novadays designed for the CDTI the necessary solution for the evaluation of the aid scheme between 2015 and 2020, resulting in two evaluation reports analyzed by the Commission. This solution was based on the mobilization of all available data -both in the center itself and in the National Institute of Statistics, as well as in the Commercial Register- for the realization of a deep quantitative analysis with the latest techniques available and from the perspective of public sector economy. This quantitative work was complemented by extensive qualitative fieldwork, involving personal interviews with more than 200 beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries of the scheme, and more than 20 working groups to analyse specific problems of the aid scheme and its impact. All this was accompanied by an important set of training activities and dissemination of results, both within the Centre and to society.

Impact

This type of action is necessary because it legitimises public intervention in something as strategic as innovation policy and industry policy, while at the same time providing lessons for improving the effectiveness and efficiency of programmes that concentrate significant resources, such as R&D aid schemes.