Monday, September 25, 2006

Concurrent workshops

• Session A-1 Non technological innovation
• Session A-2 Multidisciplinary science, technology and innovation
• Session A-3 Global knowledge flows - Human resources and science and technology

Session A-3 Global knowledge flows - Human resources and science and technology

• International mobility of doctorate holders: First results and methodology advances
• Developing indicators for the effective utilisation of HRST: The case of South Korea
• Mobility of the higher skilled in the Swedish Innovation System – An indicator for knowledge flows
• Linking human resources in science and technology and scientific performance: The use of existing data to develop new indicators to analyze the scientific base of high and medium high technology manufacturing industries
• Indicators on researchers' career and mobility in Europe : A modelling approach

International mobility of doctorate holders: First results and methodology advances

Biographical Note

Laudeline Auriol, administrator at the OECD, has fifteen years of experience in the field of science and technology indicators and is the author of articles in specialized or academic journals.

She has a master's in applied mathematics and a D.E.S.S. [diplôme d'études scientifiques supérieures, a degree granted in France ] in demography.

Abstract

Measuring the international mobility of highly qualified persons poses a major challenge for statisticians. Not only are statistics on international migration inherently weak, but also it is difficult to take account of the qualification levels of the persons covered by those statistics. For several years, the OECD has been looking into questions surrounding the international mobility of students, researchers, scientists and other highly qualified populations while at the same time striving to improve the statistical system. Among various initiatives that will be reviewed, the article focuses in greater detail on one that seeks to track doctorate holders; the initial results of that initiative look promising for achieving a better understanding of the transborder movements of this category of graduates.

The first part of the article will provide a few basic points for understanding the statistical environment in which we put ourselves at the international level. While migration is, by its nature, international, the fact remains that measuring it is to a great extent subject to national concepts related to each country's policies on migration and acquisition of nationality. This leads to the following paradox: there are few if any internationally comparable statistics on international migration. Additionally, aside from the fact that qualifications are seldom taken into account in these statistics, education systems and qualifications are also quite different from one country to another, and this affects the nature of the statistics that describe them. The second part of the article will examine which recently created or improved databases within the OECD can be used to obtain indicators of the international mobility of qualified persons.

The third part of the article will focus on presenting and commenting on the initial results of a project conducted jointly by the OECD, Eurostat and the UNESCO Institute for Statistics for the purpose of measuring the careers and international mobility of doctorate holders. These initial results provide new indicators of the professional situation of the populations concerned in five countries: Australia, Canada, Germany, Switzerland and the United States. They also point to new approaches to consider for improving the measurement of the international migration of highly qualified persons and their mobility. Methodology advances appear possible through dedicated surveys designed to collect cross-tabulated data on country of birth, nationality, successive countries of residence, length of stay and other characteristics of the origin and mobility of the persons concerned. However, such data must be interpreted in light of the migratory systems that exist in the host countries.

Developing indicators for the effective utilisation of HRST: The case of South Korea

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Biographical Note

Ki-Wan Kim, Associate Research Fellow, Innovation Infrastructure & Policy Team, Korea Institute of Science and Technology Evaluation and Planning.

Abstract

Korea has benefited greatly from the existence of well-skilled human resources in its economic development process. Nevertheless, it is now confronting challenges of nurturing core S&T human resources for another economic leap and social development in the 21st century and utilizing its human resources in S&T (HRST) more effectively. Among others, the quantitative and qualitative mismatch between supply of and demand for HRST is regarded as the most important issue.

After summarizing the status-quo and issues of the HRST policy in Korea, this paper tries to review recent efforts to develop more adequate and policy-relevant indicators for the HRST by launching new surveys on the status of the HRST on the labor market, for example the survey on the college graduates in science and engineering, the survey on the career path of the 'major HRST' in Korea, and the effort to grasp the mobility of the HRST between the research sectors in Korea as well as 'international mobility' of doctorate holders between Korea and foreign countries.

These surveys are on-going process, but if it is timely possible, this paper will try to show the first results of the surveys and its implication to the HRST policy in Korea as well as to the recent international efforts to improve and develop statistics and indicators for the HRST.

Mobility of the Higher Skilled in the Swedish Innovation System – An Indicator for Knowledge Flows

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Biographical Note

Patrik Sandgren is an analyst at VINNOVA and the Swedish correspondent in the European TrendChart on Innovation – the Commission's network on innovation policy. Sandgren has participated in the OECD MONIT project and provided input to both OECD ICT Outlook and the OECD STI Outlook.

Eugenia Perez is an analyst at VINNOVA and did the analytical work for the Swedish security sector strategy and the industrial sector program for the metal sector. In cooperation with the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, Perez is currently working on a strategy for Swedish nanotechnology.

Abstract

Introduction

Knowledge is a central prerequisite for innovation and growth. Information reaches organisations through individuals and is later transformed into knowledge that spreads and refines in explicit and tacit form. Mobility of human capital addresses tacit knowledge since this type of knowledge is carried solely through individuals or organisations.

Today, innovation processes are more knowledge intense, which in turn results in a higher complexity concerning knowledge capital. The educational level of individuals augments the quality of this form of knowledge capital, increasing the demand for higher skilled and making the mobility of highly skilled individuals, such as PhDs, particularly interesting.

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to provide quantitative indicators of knowledge flows in the Swedish national innovation System. Cohort data of around 14000 PhDs employed in Sweden during the period 1993-2003 are explored in order to study the knowledge flows between three sectors, i.e. universities / university colleges, public administration and industry, representing the triple helix(1). This type of mobility studies has been demanded from policy makers, but until now, few studies have been accomplished.(2)

Earlier work on mobility have often been concerned with the in and out flow into a sector or a specific group. This study takes a different approach by mapping the mobility patterns of individuals in a cohort. By delimiting the work to a set cohort, more effort can be put on the study of how individuals move, and what characterizes them, not solely if they move.

Studied indicators

By the use of three indicators, three main aspects of mobility are studied. The first concerns mobility between the sectors given as the percentage of the population changing sector between two years. The other two are concerned with the mobility pattern of the population over the 10 years, where one shows population distribution over the number of changes and the other the flows between different sectors. A number of variables are then liked to the indicators, such as age, educational orientation, sex, country of origin and wage.

Findings

The distribution of PhDs over the sectors during the last 10 years was found to be relatively stable with around 40% in universities / university colleges, 5% in public administration and 55% in industry. The mobility between to contiguous years during the 10 year period varied between 4% and 16%. Further, 62% of the population was stable throughout the whole period and most of the mobile individuals change twice, back to their original sector. The biggest total flow of PhDs was found between universities / university colleges and industry, which were expected considering the relative size of the sectors. The individuals in industry tended to be the most stable, followed by the ones in universities / university colleges. The differences between mobility patterns of men and women as well as between countries of origin where negligibly small, except of a slightly higher rate of mobility among women.

Linking human resources in science and technology and scientific performance: The use of existing data to develop new indicators to analyse the scientific base of high and medium high technology manufacturing industries

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Biographical Note

Wendy Hansen, Senior Researcher MERIT, has done extensive work on human resources in S&T for the EU and North America. She is engaged in research on human resource issues and indicator development focusing on knowledge economy indicators and policy implications.

Abstract

Studies have shown that science and technology (ST) linkages vary among high and medium high tech manufacturing industries and across countries. Slow growth of these industries has been associated with weak science and technology linkages that can be explained, in part, by a lack of a strong scientific base. Bibliometric studies, innovation studies and case studies develop indicators to link scientific knowledge to technological innovations. Scientometric studies consider the relationship between a country's scientific base and its technology and industry system. These industries are operating in a knowledge economy, an economy in which one of the main challenges for measurement and indicator development is to consider knowledge capital and develop linkages to the more traditional science and technology indicators. Few studies have tried to link industries' scientific base and scientific disciplines. Few indicators have been developed to use scientific disciplines to expand indicator development for S&T linkages for these industries.

Under the auspices of DG Research of the European Commission, a study to characterize the scientific base of high and medium high technology manufacturing industries was recently carried out. Two concordance tables have been developed to link non-patent citation data and the OECD Field of Science and Technology and the scientific base and the field of discipline or specialization according to UNESCO's ISCED '97 classification. The scientific base for high and medium high technology industries for four countries (France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom) are characterized according to the field of specialization of the scientific base. Indicators are being developed to make links between statistics on R&D expenditures and the flows of S&T graduates. We will be able to produce indicators on R&D expenditures and knowledge flow as measured by scientific publications according to S&T disciplines. We can propose composite indicators on technology and innovation and human resources (as measured by the field of specialization scientific base). This means we can consider the scientific base and fields of specialization as drivers of growth. For example, we can link measures of R&D activities factoring in the field of specialization of the scientific base to study the effect on growth. The examination of the scientific base of these industries according to field of specialization and linkages to R&D measures can help explain different growth rates across countries. This new indicator represents a valuable addition to the indicator family linking technology, innovation, human resources and industry performance. Using existing data (and classification systems of the OECD and UNESCO) and borrowing indicators from other well developed scientific knowledge measures (e.g. expenditure data, graduate data) we can produce new composite indicators to explain technology, innovation and growth for high and medium high technology industries at the national level and across countries. This work can be expanded to other industries and for international comparisons of industry growth and policy implications.

Indicators on researchers' career and mobility in Europe : A modelling approach

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Biographical Note

Philippe Moguérou holds a PhD in economics. His main research interests are labour economics, economics of innovation and econometrics, applied to the analysis of scientific labour markets. He currently works at IPTS where he is mainly involved in a project that aims to build an information system on European researchers.

Olivier Da Costa, Maria Paola di Pietrogiacomo & Patrice Laget, IPTS, European Commission.

Abstract

The European Research Area (ERA) aims at creating a common science and technology base in the European Union and at strengthening scientific excellence, competitiveness and innovation through the promotion of better co-operation and co-ordination between R&D actors, and in particular between the researchers at the core of the system. Within this context there is a growing need to create the necessary conditions to attract and to retain well-trained and highly-motivated researchers. Improving attractiveness of research careers by creating a European labour market of researchers is a key element of the ERA strategy. Therefore, the mobility of researchers is strongly promoted by the European Commission.

However, the lack of adequate statistics on researchers and more generally on the human resources for science and technology in Europe is impeding the understanding of the nature, scale or net output of the phenomena of brain circulation across countries, regions, sectors and professions. An ideal database encompassing complete, harmonized and comparable data on researchers does not exist.

The Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS) of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) is developing an information system on researchers' stock, mobility and career which is needed to support the design of adequate policies in this field at European and Member State level. The approach followed by IPTS consists in developing specific indicators on researchers' mobility and career. They combine by definition several factors to build an overview, a simplification in one dimension of a complex multidimensional reality. To estimate and model these indicators, it will be necessary to fill the gaps in the EU and national data, to build proxies when robust data are not available and to estimate and extrapolate the results when necessary and feasible.

This paper will summarise in three points the methodology and results.

The identification of data sources is based on an inventory and analysis of about 100 data sources in nine European countries. These sources can be classified in six main categories:

• Labour Force Surveys (LFS).
• Registers.
• Graduate surveys.
• Other national surveys, studies or research (e.g., on a university, a research centre, a sector, a specific pool of graduates).
• Pilot ad-hoc surveys carried out by IPTS.
• Other national and international data sources and surveys (e.g., R&D surveys, CHEERS survey, Eurostat-OECD CDH survey, US NSF SESTAT system).

The "modelling" approach is based on the following steps:

• Harmonization of data.
• Synthesis of information.
• Approximation and estimation.
• Extrapolation at the EU-25 level.
• Now-casting and medium-term forecasting.
• Assessment of the quality, reliability and pertinence of results.

The construction of indicators on the career and mobility of doctoral students/graduates and post-doctorates in life sciences in Europe will be presented as an example. Indeed, the construction of these indicators is based on a combination of Eurostat data, national data and data coming from the NetReAct survey ("The role of Networking in Research Activities") commissioned by IPTS.