Participation in public programmes for innovation support in manufacturing industry in Peru

ABSTRACT

This paper analyses the participation of Peruvian companies in public programmes for innovation support promoted by the Peruvian government from 2012 to 2014. Specifically, it examines the characteristics of firms that are informed about these programmes and, more importantly, the motives leading them to apply for this support. Using data from the 2015 National Survey of Peruvian Innovation in manufacturing firms, we find that knowledge about programmes is positively influenced by variables related to the percentage of qualified employees, R&D intensity, and their links with other agents. Firms with higher R&D intensity, are also more likely to apply for public support, together with firms perceiving the lack of external funds as an important innovation obstacle, while variables such as the perception of high cost of innovation and the utilized installed capacity, reduce the likelihood of application. These findings partially coincide with the previous empirical literature. Finally, the association between R&D intensity and public support is examined. Results show that total public support is associated with higher R&D intensity of supported firms, while in the case of only-funded programmes, non significant effects were found.

KEYWORDS:

• Public programmes for innovation support
• technology policy evaluation
• developing countries
• R&D subsidies

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 Despite to be a relevant subject in the literature on evaluation of public support for innovation, the information needed to perform this research is not always available. Innovation surveys usually ask firms about the reception of public funds but not about their participation at the previous stages of this process i.e. if they are informed and applied for public funding. Consequently, the studies devoted to analyze the participation and selection in public programs supporting innovation activities are scarce.

2 If we limit this to the firms applying for some type of financial support, the rate of success among applicants in our sample is 62%.

3 Although a latest version of the survey, which currently runs until 2018, is available, we think that the use of policy instruments aimed at promoting innovation in Peru, between 2013 and 2014, was applied more actively and especially in a more stable way. The period between 2016 and 2018 instead is characterized by strong political instability in the country, making the latest edition of the survey not very convenient to analyze these public policies. Despite of this limitation, the 2015 edition of the survey, provides rich information about the allocation process, and this is not usually available. Then, we can contribute with evidence exploiting this data for the first time for Peru.