Countries across the OECD have developed ambitious plans for STI policy to contribute to socio-technical transitions as the world recovers from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. These plans contain a broad variety of policy goals and instruments designed to support STI in a changing global environment, to tackle new and growing challenges in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, and to apply new tools and approaches to STI policy making, especially digital tools, that emerged in the context of the pandemic.

1. Policy Transitions
Caroline Paunov, Hunter McGuire & Jan Einhoff
Working Party for Innovation and Technology Policy (TIP)
OECD-VINNOVA Workshop, Session 2
Introduction to methods and insights
from analysis of six countries

2. BACKGROUND: 2021-22 TIP PROJECT
2

3. Country
perspectives
Tools and
approaches
3
Context in the 2021-22 TIP Project
4
1
Co-creation
initiatives
Compilation of
20+ initiatives
Joint co-creation
workshop with
GSF in Sept 2021 TIP workshops
on tools (8 Dec)
and approaches
workshop
(spring 2022)
Analysis of
alternative tools
and approaches
for STI policy
Community
exchange 19 Oct
2021; report on
lessons learned
Country work on
Germany, Korea,
Spain and Italy
Themes:
knowledge
transfer, business
innovation in
transitions
STI goals and
policies for post-
COVID-19
transitions using
traditional
and semantic
analysis
Policy
Transitions
3
STI strategies,
instruments and
societal attitudes
2
Collaborative
Transitions
Project

4. 4
Objective
Provide evidence of changes in STI strategies
and policies in response to the COVID-19
pandemic.
Key Questions
a) How have the key ideas in national STI strategies evolved
between the pre-COVID-19 and intra-COVID-19 periods?
b) What are the STI policies being implemented, and have
changes in STI strategies translated into changes in policy
practices?
c) What is the relationship between strategy, policy, and
society?

5. 5
Project phases
Pilot Phase Synthesis phase
Manual Analysis
(4 countries)
Computerised
Analysis
(4 countries)
Manual Analysis
(7+4 countries)
Computerised
Analysis
(23 countries)
Consultation
& Revision
(In progress)
Dialogues
(Proposed)
Implementation phase
DSTI-STP-TIP(2021)3
June 2021 TIP Meeting September: Steering Meeting
October: Steering Meeting
December 2021 TIP Meeting
Refinement
&
further
analysis
2022
Q4 2021
Q3 2021
Q2 2021
December 2022 TIP Meeting
Release
of
final
report,
code
and
analysis

6. 6
Starting point for the analysis
Sustainability
Inclusivity
Resilience
Policy tools Co-creation/Openness
Openness
Digitalisation
Competitiveness
Global engagement
Hypotheses
developed in the
recent TIP policy
paper are used
as a starting
point for this
project
This report aims to
establish a dictionary of
key terms associated
with STI policy.
Definitions and relevant
policy initiatives are
identified.

7. 7
Methodology
Qualitative Analysis
(11 countries)
Semantic Analysis
(11+12 countries)
• Reading of documents from 11
countries
• Selection of sentences relevant to
key terms
• Synthesis of keywords
• Comparison of periods (pre-COVID-
19 and intra-COVID-19) and
countries
Topic Modelling
Word Embeddings
Computer-generated topics
to describe text
Vector representation of
changing “meanings”
Consultations
Countries validate and
extend the results from the
two types of analysis
They recommend additional
resources and provide
additional context, especially
on causality and processes
National STI strategies STI ministry and agency strategies
Key pieces of legislation
Other relevant national strategies
279 documents

8. 7 INITIAL FINDINGS FROM THE
ANALYSIS
11

9. 12
1 / Interestingly, proximity across countries affects similarities
across strategies
Using each country’s unique mix of topics in the intra-COVID-19 period, it is
possible to algorithmically group countries with similar topic models
Europe & Latin
America
Bi-Oceanic
East Asia
Other

10. 13
2 / Six major topics are discussed in STI strategies

11. 14
3 / Digitalisation, sustainability and competition are
dominant themes with some changes over time (1)
In countries that emphasised competitiveness before the crisis, there was a
“doubling-down”. Countries interpreted it in relation to their other goals.
Resilience very significantly increased in prominence after the start of the
crisis.
Inclusivity was very heterogeneously defined (region, society, etc.).
Sustainability was the overriding strategic priority in STI in a plurality of
countries. It appeared to grow in importance between the two periods.
Digitalisation was, internationally, the single most prominent topic. Countries
interpreted digitalisation in relation to their own goals (sustainability,
competitiveness, society, etc.)

12. 15
3 / Digitalisation, sustainability and competition are
dominant themes with some changes over time (2)
On average, strategy documents spent more words discussing
“sustainability”-related topics in the intra-COVID-19 period
On average, strategies spent fewer words discussing
“digitalisation”-related topics

13. 16
4 / Intra-COVID-19 priorities differ across countries
No data
Variety of
priorities
Sustainability is a
clear, overriding STI
priority
Resilience and
digitalisation are
emphasised

14. 5 / Sustainability priorities and goals are not the
same (1)
• Reference to green deal that
will facilitate disruptive
innovation and sustainable
growth
• Plans: green investment,
green VC fund, involving civil
society, promoting
digitalisation, launching green
mobility test environments.
• Goal of climate neutrality by
2040.
17
• Reference to fossil free society,
creation of circular economy,
creation of growth and jobs
• Goal of climate neutrality in
2030 in alignment with SDG
goals.
• Reference to low-carbon
economy transition to fight
climate change
• Innovation is seen as a solution to a
social challenge.
• Long-term pledge to carbon
neutrality and the Sustainable
Development Goals.
• Supported by research towards a
green and circular economy
through a public green
investment scheme,
competence centres, the
macroeconomic environment,
procurement, and the creation of
markets.
Sustainability is the single overriding, cross-cutting principle in these countries’ STI
policies.

15. 5 / Sustainability priorities and goals are not the
same (2)
• Climate change is recognized as a
grand challenge that will have
major impacts on the economy.
• Sustainable production and
the bioeconomy play a central
role.
• Smart cities that use digital
technologies are seen as
contributors to sustainable
development.
18
• Sustainability is considered a
guiding principle for
transitions and in particular for
innovation policy.
• Commitments for meeting
sustainability objectives include
hydrogen technology, electric
mobility, battery production,
and AI.
Sustainability is a prominent goal in these countries’ STI
policy.

16. 19
6 / Sustainability is discussed from many different
angles (1)

17. 20
6 / Sustainability is discussed from many different
angles (2)
“Sustainability” was more related to “citizen”
and “distributed innovation” before the crisis
In the intra-COVID-19 period, it was more
related to “diversity” and “decision_make”
It was roughly equally related to
“innovation” in both periods
It is possible to
perform this
comparison for
any country or
term

18. 21
6 / Sustainability is discussed from many different
angles (3)

19. 22
6 / Sustainability is discussed from many different
angles (4)
Hydrogen
Batteries
Digitalisation
Electricity
Green Energy
Electric Vehicles
Rail
Biofuel
Biodiversity
Bioeconomy
Manufacturing
Smart Cities

20. 7 / Digitalization is also discussed differently (1)
• Digitalisation is not an end in
itself.
• Essential for boosting
competitiveness,
productivity, sustainability,
and resilience.
• Trust and human dignity are
important for digitalisation, as is
are a political framework and
co-creation with society.
• Digital innovation hubs,
creating an AI strategy and
infrastructure, and to finance
digitalisation among SMEs.
• Digitalisation is considered a
crucial component to Germany’s
competitiveness and in
addressing inclusivity issues.
• There are pledges to digitalize
the education and health care
sector.
23
• Commitments are being pursued
for more specific applications in
order to become a data-driven
society.
Digitalisation is prominently featured as a common principle in these countries’ STI
policy.

21. 7 / Digitalization is also discussed differently (2)
• A challenge and opportunity
for advanced manufacturing.
• A persistent theme is the use of
data and new technologies
such as AI and machine
learning that are seen as key
technologies of the future that
should be exploited.
24
• An accelerating driver of
change that makes innovation
faster and supports the
creative economy.
• A secular trend requiring
changes to regulation.
Commitments include
developing digital
infrastructure, and supporting
data availability.
• European High Performance
Computing Joint Undertaking.
Digitalization is prominently featured as a common
principle in these countries’ STI policy.

22. The scope of STI strategy documents may have slightly
broadened around the COVID-19 experience. However,
strategies continue to interpret key topics of the pre-COVID-19
period.
Engagement with sustainability remains important across all
countries, with important differences in specific goals and
plans
Proximity across countries affects similarities across strategies
Other dominant themes are digitalisation and competition as
well as inclusivity matters (regions, involvement, etc.)
25
Key takeaways