Improving Statistical Systems: Advice from the UIS Technical Guide National training workshop Amman, Jordan October 2010

Products NEW Annex proposed

Contents of the Technical Guide 1.Introduction 2.The nature of R&D activity in developing countries 3.R&D expenditure 4.Internal and international mobility of the R&D workforce 5.Specific fields of R&D activity 6.Foreign and internationally controlled entities 7.Strengthening R&D statistical systems 8.Thinking ahead

Chapter 7: Strategies for setting up S&T statistics systems in developing countries Institutionalizing S&T statistics Establishing registers Structural issues in the private sector and the private not-for-profit sector User-producer networks Science & Technology Management Information Systems and other secondary sources Survey procedures and estimation

Institutionalization of S&T statistics Political support Infrastructure and sustained staff training/capacity building Involvement of NSOs: Official statistics status for R&D surveys. Adequate legal framework

Establishing registers R&D in developing countries tends to be very much the purview of public bodies Recommendations: Establishing a database of public sector R&D projects include human and financial resources; align with national policies. design could reflect the R&D statistical reporting/definitions. source for evaluation of such projects. Establishing STMIS provide overview of research system. framework for establishing complete registers as sample frames for R&D surveys.

Establishing registers Other sources associations (trade, academic). learned societies. registers or databases of scientists and engineers. database of research grants. databases of scientific publications. patents and other IP documents. business registers.

Structural issues in the private sector and the PNP sector Publicly-owned businesses play a major role in R&D in some developing countries Recommendations: should consider issuing data for publicly-owned businesses separately from the fully private enterprise sector. private enterprises could also be disaggregated by ownership, in particular the various degrees of foreign ownership.

Structural issues in the private sector and the PNP sector Business enterprise R&D is presumed to be generally weak in developing countries when compared to industrial countries. Recommendations: take into account when conducting sample surveys, perhaps by over-sampling, especially amongst larger companies. big companies should not be missed out as it might imply significant error. invest time in interviewing key firms to understand their R&D function and obtain a clear picture of their activity. Private-non-profit sector: make a significant contribution to R&D in developing countries, but the sector tends to be very volatile.

User-producer networks Recommendations: user-producer networks and other forms of stakeholder consultation should be instituted. establishing national S&T statistics groups. involve multiple actors. coordinating/networking among institutions/databases. partnering with business associations. conducting face-to-face visits by statisticians and project leaders. exploit pre-existing personnel ties. get NSO involved; to deal with privacy of information. training of interviewers/primary data producers.

Science and Technology Management Information System and other secondary sources STMIS (e.g. database of scientists, research grants, etc): frequent source for the production of R&D statistics. Recommendations: need close integration between the statistical system and the STMIS. need adjustments to produce comparable statistics, taking into account issues of definitions and coverage. need a balanced approach using both STMIS and surveys. need different approach to Private sector organizations as they are frequently not covered by these systems. Combined R&D and innovation surveys Recommendations: the relative rarity of occurrence of R&D in businesses needs to be taken into account.

Survey procedure and estimation Recommendations: attention needs to be paid to questionnaire design. frequency of survey. prioritize area of work; accompanied by step-by-step approach. use of survey questionnaires of other countries for inspiration: need adaptations to local situation. get expertise from the NSO, in conducting survey, in sampling …. different questionnaires might be designed for different sectors based on stakeholder consultations. One size does not fit all. procedures need to be developed for estimating missing data.

Thank you!