New perspectives on innovation policy

Our research theme aims to study the changing landscape for policy making and develop new approaches to guide the 21st century innovation policy.

We have identified three trends in policy that are of particular importance for the research theme:

• a strong shift to the third generation of innovation policies – the transformative innovation policy
• an increasing focus to move from partial policies to holistic innovation policy
• a remarkable revival of interest towards mission-oriented innovation policies

The purpose of the research theme is to develop an ambitious and forward-looking research agenda to study these issues.  

Research focus

The theme focuses on:

• Development of the conceptual foundations of emerging topics in innovation policy.
• Empirical work mapping the evolution of innovation policy practices on the ground.
• Practice-oriented studies on how the new concepts could be implemented in real world settings.

Activities

The theme aims to:

• Create a forum for discussing the emerging topics in innovation policy.
• Engage in a dialogue with policy makers in Europe and beyond.
• Develop international cooperation with renowned research centres across the world.
• Co-develop funding proposals based on the participants’ common interests.

Seminars on innovation policy

2026

South-Korean innovation policy – February 9, 2026

Speakers

• Prof. Joonmo Ahn, Department of Public Administration at Korea University and Associate Editor, R&D Management Journal, will present the evolution of innovation policy in South Korea.
• Dr. Sang-Min Park, Director of R&D Budget Coordination Division at the Ministry of Science and ICT and Vice-Chair of OECD TIP, will provide insights into the current challenges and future perspectives of Korean innovation policy.