This document discusses policies to support digital innovation and adoption. It finds that countries are experimenting with new approaches like test beds and sandboxes to promote technology adoption, and intermediaries, research centers, and challenges to foster collaboration. While new instruments are being used, traditional supports like grants and awareness campaigns are still relevant if adapted to digital challenges. The document examines examples from multiple countries and concludes that policies must stimulate both diffusion of digital technologies and collaborative innovation.

1. DIGITAL INNOVATION:
SEIZING POLICY
OPPORTUNITIES
Chapter 4
Please cite this publication as:
OECD (2019), Digital Innovation: Seizing Policy Opportunities, OECD Publishing, Paris.
https://doi.org/10.1787/a298dc87-en
Dominique Guellec
Caroline Paunov
Sandra Planes-Satorra

2. Questions addressed:
• What new instruments have countries implemented to
support digital technology adoption & diffusion?
• What are best practice examples of policy initiatives aimed
at stimulating collaborative innovation in the digital age?
Chapter 4. Policies to stimulate digital
innovation’s diffusion and collaboration
Chapter 4

3. Two important goals:
OECD countries are experimenting with novel
innovation policy approaches
Digital technology
adoption & diffusion
1
Collaborative
innovation
2
Chapter 4

4. Demonstration & testing of digital technologies
 Demonstrations of new applications (e.g. SME 4.0
Competence Centres, Germany)
 Testing facilities (e.g. Industry Platform 4 FVG, Italy)
 Test beds (e.g. testing grounds for self driving cars)
 Regulatory sandboxes (e.g. in fintech and energy sectors)
Foster adoption of most advanced technologies
 Access to state-of-the-art infrastructure & expertise
(e.g. Machine Intelligence Garage of Digital Catapult, UK)
Innovative policy approaches to support
digital technology adoption
Chapter 4

5. Example: SME 4.0 Competence Centres,
Germany
Chapter 4
Find this and other
case studies at:
https://oe.cd/2xP

6. Awareness raising & capacity building
 Technical assistance (e.g. Digital Extension
Centre, Chile)
 Innovation vouchers (e.g. service design
vouchers for manufacturing SMEs, NLD)
Financial support to SMEs
 Grants (e.g. SMEs programme for smart
manufacturing, Korea)
 Loans (e.g. Digital Loan scheme, France)
Traditional instruments for technology
adoption are being revisited
Chapter 4

7.  Platforms & forums for strategic planning (e.g. Platform
Industry 4.0 Austria)
 Collaboration facilitators
 Intermediary organisations (e.g. Catapult Centres , UK)
 Digital clusters (e.g. Cap Digital, France)
 Networks (e.g. Knowledge Transfer Network, UK)
 Collaborative research & innovation centres
 Spaces for collaboration & co-creation for business & public
researchers (e.g. Smart Industry Fieldlabs, NLD)
 Innovative organisation structures (e.g. Data61, AUS)
 Crowdsourcing, open challenges & living labs
Innovative policy approaches to support
collaborative innovation
Chapter 4

8. Example: Smart Industry Fieldlabs, Netherlands
Chapter 4
Find this and other
case studies at:
https://oe.cd/2xP

9. • New instruments are being used across countries to
support:
– Digital technology adoption (e.g. test beds, regulatory
sandboxes)
– Collaborative innovation (e.g. creation of intermediaries,
R&D centres, open challenges)
• Traditional instruments (e.g. grants, awareness raising) are
still relevant but are being revisited to respond to new
challenges and leverage digital technologies
Conclusions
Chapter 4

10. Project website:
https://oe.cd/2xw
The report and all project materials
Please cite this publication as:
OECD (2019), Digital Innovation:
Seizing Policy Opportunities, OECD
Publishing, Paris.
https://doi.org/10.1787/a298dc87-en

11. Structure of the report
Characterising innovation in the digital age
The impacts of the digital transformation on innovation
across sectors
How should innovation policies be adapted to the
digital age?
Policies to foster digital innovation’s diffusion and
collaboration
Key findings & recommendations
1
2
3
4
Chapters:

12. Project events
Netherlands
April 2018
Website
Summary
London
September 2017
Website
Summary
Paris
June 2017
Website
Summary
Paris
June 2018
Website
Summary
4 workshops Report launch event
London
April 2019
https://oe.cd/2xs

13. Policy papers
Guellec, D. and C. Paunov (2018), "Innovation
policies in the digital age", OECD Science,
Technology and Industry Policy Papers, No. 59, OECD
Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/eadd1094-en.
Paunov, C. and S. Planes-Satorra (2019), "The impacts
of digital transformation on innovation across
sectors", OECD Science, Technology and Industry
Policy Papers, OECD Publishing, Paris (forthcoming)
Planes-Satorra, S. and C. Paunov (2019), "The digital
innovation landscape in 2019", OECD Science,
Technology and Industry Policy Papers, OECD
Publishing, Paris (forthcoming)

14. Case studies
Find all country case study contributions at: https://oe.cd/2xP

15. Contact
Dominique Guellec, Dominique.Guellec@oecd.org
Caroline Paunov, Caroline.Paunov@oecd.org
Sandra Planes-Satorra, Sandra.PlanesSatorra@oecd.org