Mechanisms and Tools to Improve Science and Technology Policy in the Context of the Science-Centric Paradigm

Abstract

The need for the earliest possible development and implementation in Ukraine of a new model for science & technology and innovation policy with a radically higher level of science centricity is substantiated. The features of such a policy model in the science & innovation development context were identified. The source base of the study is scientific works of domestic and foreign authors, legislative and regulatory documents, and global and national statistical data. The historical and methodological context of the science-centric model of science & technology and innovation policy was explored. It was shown that the ideology of the science-centric concept of the model for societal development and accretion of public benefits was developed in the works of F. Bacon, and further elaborated by G. M. Dobrov, the founder of the Kyiv School for Science Studies. An integral index developed within the concept of intangible assets was used to measure the science-centricity level of science & technology and innovation policy. The research and development (R&D) intensity as a complex intangible characteristic of the country’s economy in the context of globalization processes in the economic and science & technology spheres was analyzed. An analysis of the R&D intensity in Ukraine compared to leading economies showed that Ukraine needed a new model of science & technology and innovation policy with a stronger science centricity, which would be capable of changing established downward trends in the R&D intensity of the domestic economic system and the human potential in the intellectual property field. This will create a socio-economic background favorable for building up an effective R&D-focused national economic system. The new model should take into account the dynamics of R&D intensification at the global level, in the main science & technology centers (USA, EU, Japan, China, and India), and in individual leading economies. The mechanisms and tools crucial for implementing the new model should be based on the relationships between science & innovation components of the economic system, such as R&D spending and the number of researchers, and on these components’ impact on capacity building of intangible assets and Ukraine’s readiness for future R&D-intensive production in the context of globalization processes.