Satisfaction with CTI innovation promotion is high
Berne, 18.04.2017 - Research institutions, businesses and start-ups give the Commission for Technology and Innova-tion CTI good marks for its work, which they regard as efficient and unbureaucratic. The R&D instruments are well coordinated and the coaching programme is very useful. There is some crit-icism that the CTI programmes are too little known. These are the results of two external evalua-tions and impact analyses on innovation promotion commissioned by the CTI.
The external evaluation confirms that the CTI has a coherent set of instruments for R&D project support which promotes both science- and market-driven innovation. In addition, project partners give positive feedback on the CTI’s lean and unbureaucratic structure with its short processing times, and specialist knowledge of the market and science field are assessed positively by the project partners. The evaluation suggests that satisfaction with the implementation of CTI programmes is high among both research partners and industry partners, with a slightly higher level of satisfaction among the former. The evaluators see potential for raising the profile of the CTI: 55% of industrial companies with more than 20 employees have not heard of the organisation.
A third more employees and exports
The business partners surveyed clearly stated that CTI-sponsored projects boost their competitiveness. According to the companies surveyed, CTI projects have helped them in particular to accelerate the launch of products on the market and to generate a greater market share. SMEs taking part in CTI-funded projects engage in significantly more R&D activities and invest more in R&D than comparable firms not receiving funding. Companies which receive CTI support also state that turnover in the fields in which projects were funded rose by about 50 per cent and the number of employees and volume of exports by about a third.
Research partners see the main benefits of CTI support in networking with partners from industry and expanding research activities. CTI funding allows the creation of new positions for the promotion of young scientists.
80 per cent of start-ups with CTI Label still on the market
The coaching programme for start-ups is also considered to be transparent and goal-oriented. Eighty per cent of all start-ups state that it is useful. The programme reaches its target group, namely science-based start-ups: more than half are spin-offs from universities. However, according to the survey, few people are aware of the CTI coaching programme: a quarter of the start-ups surveyed in a control group were unaware of the CTI’s offering. The coaching programme clearly has a positive impact: there was a survival rate of 80 per cent among start-ups awarded the CTI Label between 2005 and 2009. The 300 start-ups which took part in the coaching programme during this period had created around 1,350 full-time positions by 2016. About 15 per cent of CTI start-ups are fast-growing.
External evaluations in three areas
The CTI is mandated by law to report on its funding activities and to provide information on their impact on the economy. In October 2015, therefore, it commissioned three external evaluations and impact analyses in the areas of R&D project funding, start-up promotion coaching and entrepreneurship promotion. The contracts were awarded to three different consortia. The first two reports containing recommendations to the CTI are now available, and the report on entrepreneurship promotion will be published this summer. The follow-ups to the reports containing long-term updates will be published in 2018.
In parallel with these impact analyses, the Swiss Federal Audit Office SFAO also carries out selected qualitative case studies on CTI R&D project funding.
The CTI has released statements on the two final reports and the recommendations made. The statements explain how the findings are to be understood and which measures can be taken based on the findings, both now and for Innosuisse, which begins operations on 1 January 2018. The final reports and statements are available here: www.kti.admin.ch/impactanalysis.
Address for enquiries
CTI Communication
media@kti.admin.ch
Tel. +41 58 464 19 95
Publisher
Commission for Technology and Innovation - as of 1.1.2018 Innosuisse – Swiss Innovation Promotion Agency
http://www.kti.admin.ch
