Do R&D Programs of Different Government Levels Overlap in the European Union?

Abstract

Multiple levels of government currently design and implement research and innovation programs both in the US and in Europe. Empirical analysis of interdependencies among programs has not been fully explored, however. Our contribution is a first step in understanding potential complementarities across R&D programs. Using a sample of Spanish manufacturing firms, we study the determinants of firms' participation in national and in European level research programs and test for differences across programs. Our results suggest that firms' participation in European and national R&D programs is largely driven by different factors. We interpret these results as suggesting that, ex-post, there is no significant overlap of R&D policies between these two government levels, as intended ex-ante by policymakers in fulfillment of the principle of subsidiarity.