Foresight and STI Governance no 4, 2016
The new issue of Foresight and STI Governance presents results of Russian studies assessing import substitution prospects, the current state of the knowledge-intensive business services sector, and the impact of fixed-term employment contracts on companies’ innovation activities. International experts share methodological recommendations on increasing efficiency of European innovation policy, and designing technology development strategies.
Science management practices as a study object
On 8 December ISSEK hosted a discussion of best R&D and/or S&T management practices applied by academic organisations. Leading science, technology and education experts discussed conceptual models of R&D management, analysed various aspects of measuring academic organisations’ performance, and debated whether it would be at all possible to develop any universal success recipes.
R&D management model is changing
Discussions at the “Foresight and STI Policy” conference the HSE Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge is hosting for the sixth year in a row, highlight the changes in approaches to studying the current state and expected development trends in the S&T sphere. Major trends of Russian and international Foresight studies include deep integration of their results into science, technology and innovation (STI) policies at all levels, growing number (and complexity) of analytical techniques, and involvement of new actors.
Green economy will help to eradicate poverty
In October, at the invitation of HSE ISSEK Laboratory for Science and Technology Studies, Dr. Holger Schlör, leading researcher at Jülich Research Centre’s (Forschungszentrum Jülich) Institute of Energy and Climate Research (Germany) spoke to HSE students and staff. According to him, Germany (which the OECD calls “green growth laboratory”) is planning to completely switch to green energy by 2050, generating 80% of energy from renewable sources.
Strategy-making time comes for science towns
Science towns are becoming serious players in the national strategic planning system. The federal law “On the Science Town Status” becomes valid in the next year, obliging the local authorities to design long-term socio-economic development strategies. Science towns’ mayors, members of the Russian Ministry of Education and Science, and experts from the Higher School of Economics discussed practical aspects of meeting the law’s requirements at a conference hosted by HSE on 5 July.
Ability to Manage Technology and Innovation Is in High Demand
Science, technology and innovation policy is a field that requires special skills and knowledge. The MA programme in Governance of Science, Technology and Innovation trains professionals for management and policy making in this area of work. On June 28, the first cohort graduated from the programme. Before the ceremony, Rae Kwon Chung, Principal Advisor on Climate Change at the Executive Office of the Secretary-General of the United Nations and a member of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change which was awarded Nobel peace prize in 2007, delivered a lecture on Reformulating Economics to Serve Sustainable Development.
HSE’s 'Foresight' among Top Russian Journals in Scopus' Research and Innovation Rankings
At the beginning of June, SCImago Journal and Country Rank announced its 2015 rankings of journals indexed in the international academic citation database Scopus. Foresight , a journal published by the Higher School of Economics, placed 115 in the new ranking. Less than three years ago, the journal placed into the second quartile in the Business, Management and Accounting (miscellaneous) ranking, becoming the first Russian publication to rank in this category. In addition, Foresight was among the top-ten best Russian journals in the social sciences and humanities, according to the Scopus ranking.