Innovations in Innovation Policy Making. The Austrian Competence Centre Programme K+

Abstract

In 1998 the first Competence Centre Programme, K+, a multi-actors and multi-measures research and technological development (RTD) policy, was introduced to Austria. Whilst the policy initiative had predecessors in the USA, Australia, Sweden and other OECD countries, it was the first of its kind for Austria. The programme was a major policy innovation for the country, not only due to its novel instruments and goals, but also because it was created in a new way, breaking with the policy style dominant in the RTD policy field before.The paper looks into the question why this major policy innovation, which in the meantime has been recognised as a best practice model by international consultants and the OECD alike, could take place. This analysis applies the policy learning approach, considers the knowledge resources utilized for the programme creation, implementation and evaluation as well as different forms of learning which took place.