The impact of public support on firm propensity to engage in R&D: Spanish experience

Abstract

Our objective is to estimate the effect of public low-interest loans for R&D projects on the probability of performing R&D by Spanish firms. The estimations provide evidence of the effectiveness of public low-interest loans, being the stimulus effect larger for SMEs than for large firms and also higher for manufacturing than for services. Supported firms are approximately 25 percentage points more likely to self-finance their R&D investments than nonsupported firms. The effect is quite relevant if we consider that the probability of selffinancing R&D activities is 53.2 percentage points higher when the firm has invested in R&D activities in the previous year. This result suggests that firms can be induced persistently to perform R&D activities by means of loans.JEL Classification: H81, L20, O38.

Subsidies or loans? Evaluating the impact of R&D support programmes

“…It seems that the CDTI is especially sensitive to the previous technological success of candidate firms in order to award a loan. These results are in accordance with the evidence provided by Huergo et al (2016) for the same loan system. They are also in accordance with Liu and Rammer (2016) who find that patent stock is highly significant and positive in explaining the probability of receiving public funding.…”

Assessing the Performance of Japanese Major Universities through the Research Funding System

“…The analysis compares each university's individual output to the results obtained by these inter-institutional alliances, thus concludes that inter-institutional alliances can be an excellent strategy in order to obtain higher international visibility., the Spanish CEI initiative has promoted inter-institutional research collaboration, and Campus of International Excellence (CEI) is an effective programme to improve quality of scientific production. Huergo, et al (2016) estimate the effect of public low-interest loans for R&D projects on the probability of performing R&D by Spanish firms. The estimations provide evidence of the effectiveness of public low-interest loans, being the stimulus effect larger for SMEs than for large firms and also higher for manufacturing than for services.…”

Determinants of public funding for innovation in Chilean firms

“…In addition, this result is contradictory because most of the public programs implemented in the country indicate in their bases that they are oriented mainly to the promotion of SMEs, such as the INNOVA CHILE Program. The export experience has been a relevant variable in some studies (Afcha, 2012;Huergo et al, 2016), because the firms that export their products face greater competition, which force them to be more competitive and innovative. Thus, state agencies could reward this feature by assigning their funds to projects with potential international success.…”

“…Gongora-Bianchi et al (2009) indicate the Mexican firms that request public funding have greater technological level, whereas the firms selected to receive funding are more oriented to international markets, have an exploratory-analytical strategy and exhibit high technology. Finally, Huergo et al (2016) show that the firms that belong to the high-tech sector, have performed expenses in R&D in the previous year and have received some type of assistance previously have greater probabilities of obtaining this funding.…”