Evaluation, consultations, foresight exercises

 

The last overall evaluation of the Ukrainian innovation performance system was done under the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) in 2012. The “Innovation Performance Review: Ukraine”⁸⁰ was prepared by international and national experts from different fields of R&I andpublished in 2013. The review provides a comprehensive assessment of the factors that drive innovation, paying attention to the linkages and relations between the various components and actors of the national innovation system as well as identifying the good practices that could be useful for other countries with economies in transition.

 

The review describes the evaluation of the national innovation system as such and contains a dedicated chapter on Science and Technology and also lists the recommendations for improvement of the Ukrainian innovation system in different fields (e.g. funding, business environment, framework conditions, innovation policies, instruments, etc.).

 

General policy advice and a number of recommendations can be derived from this review in order to increase the efficiency of the national innovation system as well as to enhance the innovation capabilities of Ukrainian stakeholders. However, the Ukrainian R&I governance system has changed since 2012 due to the overall economic and political situation and the adoption of new laws and governmental decrees (see section 3.2).

 

The main recommendations of this review are the following⁸¹:

 

 

77 Source: Ministry of Education and Science, Department of International Cooperation and European Integration

 

78 Law of Ukraine on Scientific and Scientific Technical Activities 2015 (in Ukrainian). Link: http://zakon3.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/848-19: accessed on 10 April 2016.

 

79 Source: Ministry of Education and Science, Department of International Cooperation and European Integration

 

80 UNECE“Innovation Performance Review: Ukraine”: https://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/ceci/publications/icp7.pdf: accessed on 15 April 2016.

 

81 UNECE: http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/press/pr2013/Policy_Recommendations_InnovationUkraine.pdf: accessed on 15 April 2016.

 

· Evaluation of the national innovation system on a regular basis,

 

· Development of a single, comprehensive national innovation strategy for Ukraine as part of a holistic, consistent approach to policy prioritisation that would integrate and replace many existing policy measures,

 

· Creation of a National Innovation Council which should contribute to improving the governance of the national innovation system,

 

· Improvement of policy making including the provision of financial resources,

 

· Linkage of Ukraine’s future promotion policy to the promotion of innovation,

 

· Emphasis on the important role of industry-science linkages (ISL) in the national innovation system,

 

· Engagement of the private sector in public technology programmes through close consultation or public-private partnerships to ensure that venture capitalists have better information on potential opportunities.

 

As regards foresight activities, the Ukrainian government adopted in 2004 a “National Target S&T and Innovation Development Forecast Programme”, with the main task to define strategic STIpriorities. The programme was financed by the Ministry of Education and Science (MESU) and carried out by the STEPS Centre of the National Academy of Sciences⁸², which was particularly responsible for the analytical work. This programme was implemented in two phases, 2004-2008 and 2008-2012. The results were used as an informative tool for policy makers and did not have any impact so far on the national S&T priorities setting. ⁸³

 

The analysis showed a scientific potential in some disciplines while the country’s research system overall lags behind with regard to international standards. The final report outlines some priorities for policy-making:⁸⁴

 

· Creation of new forms to integrate science and production sectors;

 

· Improvement of management skills in the Ukrainian research sector and the dissemination of best practices nationwide;

 

· Development of high-tech sectors and acceleration of socio-economic development in the regions;

 

· Active implementation of R&D results and advanced technologies in different sectors of the national economy;

 

· Internationalisation of the Ukrainian RTDI.

 

In recent years, no significant foresight studies have been carried out in Ukraine due to lack of funding⁸⁵.

 

An evaluation of the research-performing institutions in Ukraine is currently being conducted based on the Governmental Decree on Approval of the Concept of reforming the system of funding and management of scientific and technical activities (2008). In line with this decree, thenew methodological framework and indicators (i.e. research quality, innovation performance, co-publications, international recognition, international cooperation, etc.) for the evaluation were set up with the objective to evaluate the performance of the research organisations⁸⁶. The methodology was tested in several research institutions and then further elaborated by NASU with the help of international partners,

 

 

82 G.M.Dobrov Center for Scientific and Technological Potential and Science History Studies, http://stepscenter.ho.ua/indexen.htm: accessed on 15 April 2016.

 

83 Igor Yegorov (2015): Nauka i Naukovedenie (Science and Science of Science), N.2(88), p.12-20

 

84 Igor Yegorov (2015): Nauka i Naukovedenie (Science and Science of Science), N.2(88), p.12-20

 

85 Correspondence with Igor Yegorov (20 April 2016)

 

86 Vitalii Gryga, Victor Rybachuk, Olha Krasovska (2014): Evaluation of R&D Institutions in Ukraine – The New Approach. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279979841_Evaluation_of_RD_Institutions_in_Ukraine - The_New_Approach: accessed on 20 April 2016.

 

e.g. DLR on behalf of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (as bilateral activity carried out under the intergovernmental agreement) and by the FP7-funded BILAT-UKR*AINA project.

 

The evaluation of all research-preforming organisations in Ukraine was requested by MESU following recent amendments to the Law of Ukraine on Scientific and Technical Activities. After the evaluation, the results will be validated by MESU to implement the next steps⁸⁷. NASU plans to test the new approach in June and July 2016. 14 institutes were selected for this survey, which is based on the Leibniz Association approach for the evaluation of research institutes.⁸⁸

 

4. FINANCING OF R&D

 

4.1. System and extent of governmental R&D funding incl. indirect funding

 

In comparison with Ukraine’s GDP per capita (which is slightly above 7,500 PPP), Ukraine still affords herself a relatively high level of GERD/GDP relation (around 0.7% in 2013/2014), which equals the one of significantly richer countries (measured in GDP per capita) such as Slovakia, Poland, Croatia or South Africa.⁸⁹

 

The successive crisis of the economy in the late 2000s causing depreciation of the national currency, the Ukrainian hryvnia (UAH), and then the 2013-2015 Euromaidan Revolution followed by war have had a negative impact on R&D funding. State funding of R&D has itself fluctuated over the past decade accounting for 36% of GERD in 2002, 55% in 2008 and 47% in 2013.⁹⁰

 

In the budget of Ukraine for 2016, allocations for scientific and technical support for the military-industrial complex have been significantly increased due to the military conflict in the occupied eastern Ukrainian territory. As a consequence, the budget for R&D decreased. According to a high-ranking MESU representative⁹¹, the state budget is expected to increase in the next years because of the importance of RTDI for the further development and economic growth of Ukraine.

 

 

Figure 9: Gross domestic expenditure on R&D (GERD) 2005 – 2014 (Source = OECD)

 

 

87 Source: Ministry of Education and Science, Department of International Cooperation and European Integration.

 

88 Information on this was provided by Professor Igor Yegorov, Deputy Director of the Institute for Economics and Forecasting of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.

 

89 UNESCO Science Report 2015.

90 Ibid.

91 Presentation of Dr Strikha, Deputy Minister at MESU, at EaP panel training for EaP countries, 14.March 2016

 

The gross domestic expenditure on R&D (GERD) decreased from 1.17% in 2005 to 0.66% in 2014⁹² (see Figure 9 above). This also caused a decrease in the total number of researchers and a considerable brain drain. The state budget was used mainly for the institutional (basic) funding of universities, academies and research institutions. Competitively allocated grants for bigger research projects were almost not available at all.

Year	Gross Domestic Product		Governmental R&D expenditures
	(GDP) at current prices,
	billion UAH		absolute value,	a share of GDP,%
		thousand UAH
	1 587		4 897 618,3	0,31
	1 979		4 627 311,0	0,23
2016^93	2 262		4 607 183,5	0,20