The internationalisation of science and technology policy : Malta case study (1988-1996)

Abstract

In the last five decades, national S&T policy has evolved through dynamic processes of internationalisation: namely, international agenda-setting by inter-governmental S&T organisations, policy-watching and copying by governments, the interdependence of national research systems and the globalisation of R&D. This thesis argues that rather than reducing its relevance, the increasing internationalisation of S&T Policy, as a result of the impact of information and communications technologies (ICTS) and globalisation, is rendering national S&T Policy highly relevant and indeed crucial for innovation. The emerging rationale for national S&T Policy is, however, no longer based on traditional neoclassical economic approaches, with their primary focus on 'market failure', but on a new S&T policy paradigm based on evolutionary economics approaches, where the emphasis is on resolving government, network and learning failures. The thesis explores Lundvall's and Borras' work on defining a new innovation policy paradigm for the globalising learning economy, which reflects a shift from the mere improvement of knowledge production and acquisition processes to the development of network-based learning as the key to tacit knowledge and thereby global competitiveness. The core elements of the new policy paradigm are integrated policy visions, learning organisations and policy learning. On the basis of this framework, we analyse the development of national S&T Policy in the OECD context and the experiences of developing countries. which highlight the priority to be assigned. in policy formulation, to national context and indigenous processes of learning. combined with a strategic focus on learning from the global context. The main drivers of change in national S&T Policy are identified, in particular de Solla Price's exponential growth of science, the interdependence of national R&D systems in Ziman's dynamic 'steady-state'. and increasingly, the dynamic convergence of S&T, ICTs and international relations. A key obstacle to change is the institutional time lag, affecting organisations, policy-makers and policy concepts, in particular, the extent to which intergovernmental S&T organisations evolve as learning organisations affects the quality of S&T Policy advice they provide to member countries. We analyse the dynamics of change in national S&T Policy, i.e. its internationalisation, by studying the development of Malta's national S&T Policy. The analysis focuses on three aspects, firstly a comparative study of UNESCO's S&T policy advice to Malta in 1985 and OECD's advice to Portugal in 1984, from which we conclude that UNESCO's advice was based on largely outdated policy concepts and reflected teaching-oriented rather than learning-oriented approaches. Secondly, we analyse the impact of UNESCO's advice on the subsequent development of Malta's S&T Policy (1989-1996), tracing a mixed record of success in developing new paradigm policies. Thirdly, we focus on the development of Malta's National IT Strategy, identifying the key policy lessons to be learnt. The main conclusions drawn from the analysis are that despite increasing internationalisation, national S&T Policy is a key ingredient in the drive to stimulate innovation. National S&T Policy evolves sustainably on the basis of intense policy learning processes focused on both the national and global contexts, and through its strategic linking with national ICT policy and foreign policy. But the key drivers of effective S&T Policy are learning organisations, in particular, intergovernmental S&T organisations, governments, S&T policy advice bodies and the diplomatic core.