Symposium on international comparison of the budget cycle in R&D and innovation policies, July 2008

The OECD and the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Finance jointly organised a symposium on the topic "International Comparison of the Budget Cycle in Research and Development and Innovation Policies" in Madrid, 3-4 July 2008. The meeting was chaired by Mr Barry Anderson, Head of the Budgeting and Public Expenditures Division (BUD) of the Public Governance and Territorial Development Directorate, OECD.

The primary objective of the symposium was to provide systematic comparisons for a limited number of OECD countries of the usefulness of research and development and innovation evaluation systems for resource allocation purposes. The symposium focused on how evaluation techniques are applied for priority setting and how they influence the availability of financial resources for RDI activities.

Session 1: Funding of public research and development and innovation policies: overview

• Mr José Manuel Fernández de Labastida, Secretary General of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation
• Mr Jan Dietz, Special Adviser, Research Council of Norway
• Mr Jan van Steen, Senior Policy Officer, Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, Netherlands

Session 2: Funding of public research and development and innovation policies: detail

• Ms Otilia Mó Romero, General Director, Programmes and Knowledge Transfer, Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation
• Mr Juha Majanen, Budget Department, Ministry of Finance, Finland
• Mr Pedro Redrado, Chief of the Studies Department, Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology, Spain

Session 3: Evaluation of publicly funded research and development and innovation: recent trends

• Mr Fernando Hervás Soriano, Methodologies and Studies Division, National Agency for the Evaluation of Public Policies and Quality of Services, Spain
• Mr Luis Sanz-Menéndez, Chair of the OECD Committee of Scientific and Technological Policy; Director of the Institute of Public Goods and Policies; National Research Council; Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology
• Mr Bruno van Pottelsberghe, Professor at the Université libre de Bruxelles and Senior Research Fellow at the Institute Bruegel

Session 4: Evaluation of publicly funded research development and innovation: the institutional framework

• Mr Alfonso Beltran García-Echániz, Deputy General Director at the Spanish Science and Technology Foundation, dependent organisation of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation
• Mr Kevin Carroll, Energy Branch Chief, Office of Management and Budget, United States
• Ms Rosa Menéndez, Vice-President, Spanish National Research Council
• Ms Michaela Topolnik, Secretariat General, Austrian Council for Research and Technology Development

Session 5: Improving the use of performance information for resource allocation in RDI: funding and priority setting

• Mr José Manuel Fernández de Labastida, Secretary General of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation
• Mr Nowook Park, Director of the Center of Performance, Evaluation and Management, Korea Institute of Public Finance

Session 6: Improving the use of performance information for resource allocation in RDI: the budget process

• Ms Carmen Gil-Ruiz Gil-Esparza, Assistant Deputy Director, General Budget Director, Ministry of Economy and Finance, Spain
• Ms Nicole Hernandez, Project Director, Research and Higher Education, Ministère de l'enseignement supérieur et de la recherche, France
• Mr Dong Hoon Oh, Project Management, Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry, OECD

Session 7: Improving the use of performance informationf or resource allocation in RDI: evaluation, accountability and control

• Mr Pedro Cañas, Delegate Auditor and Internal Controller, Spanish National Research Council
• Mr Seung Jun Yoo, Associate Research Fellow, R&D Evaluation Center, Korea Institute of S&T Evaluation and Planning
• Mr Martin Weber, Head of Cabinet of Mr Henri Grethen, Member of the European Court of Auditors on Audit Group II "Structural Policies, Transport, Research and Energy"
• Mr Brian Pagan, Executive Director, Expenditure Management Sector, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat