Publications & Documents

This report assesses the enabling conditions for maximising the benefits of foreign direct investment (FDI) on SME productivity and innovation in Portugal. It looks at the quality of investment that Portugal attracts and the capacity of Portuguese SMEs to benefit from any knowledge and technology spillovers resulting from these investments. It studies the extent to which FDI-SME spillovers occur through value chain linkages, strategic partnerships, labour mobility, competition and imitation effects. The report provides an overview of Portuguese public institutions responsible for investment, SMEs, innovation and regional development policies, taking a close look at arrangements to ensure multi-level policy coordination, stakeholder consultation and evaluation of policy impacts. It then reviews the mix of government policies that are currently in place to support FDI-SME linkages and spillovers, noting areas for further policy reforms. The last chapter introduces a regional lens, focusing in particular on the regions of Norte and Alentejo. This report is part of a broader European Commission-OECD programme on strengthening FDI-SME linkages and serves as a pilot for future country assessments.

This paper concludes the project 'Support to Improve Effectiveness of Lithuania’s Innovation Policy' which summarises the findings, policy options and recommended actions. It aimed at providing support to efforts of the Government of Lithuania to better deliver existing policies, and develop and implement appropriate new policies, instruments and institutions in selected areas of science, technology and innovation (STI) policy. The report takes stock of recent policy actions taken since the 'OECD Review of Innovation Policy: Lithuania 2016'. Drawing on international good practices it explores the scope for improvement in selected areas of STI policy: a) consolidation of innovation agencies and enhancing Lithuania’s STI Council, b) public procurement of innovation , c) mission-oriented innovation policies, and d) industry 4.0 and artificial intelligence. The project has been aligned with ongoing Lithuanian reform processes, some of which are reflected in the ‘New Generation Lithuania’ plan related to the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility.

Les petites et moyennes entreprises (PME) et les entrepreneurs ont été durement touchés pendant la crise du COVID-19. Les réponses politiques ont été rapides et sans précédent, aidant à amortir le choc et à maintenir la plupart des PME et des entrepreneurs à flot. Malgré l’ampleur du choc, les données disponibles jusqu’à présent indiquent une création soutenue de start-ups, aucune vague de faillites et une impulsion à l’innovation dans la plupart des pays de l’OCDE. Cependant, le soutien des gouvernements a été moins efficace pour les travailleurs autonomes, les petites et jeunes entreprises, les femmes et les entrepreneurs issus de minorités. Les pays n’ont pas non plus tous été en mesure de soutenir les PME. Alors que les campagnes de vaccination se déploient et que les perspectives économiques s’éclaircissent, les gouvernements doivent prendre le virage d’une sortie de crise et créer les conditions nécessaires pour reconstruire en mieux. Les Perspectives 2021 de l’OCDE pour les PME et l’entrepreneuriat apportent de nouvelles données probantes sur l’impact de la crise sur les PME et les entrepreneurs et les réponses politiques apportées. Elles réfléchissent à des questions à plus long terme, telles que l’endettement des PME ou le rôle des PME dans des chaînes d’approvisionnement plus résilientes, ou la diffusion de l’innovation. Le rapport contient des profils de pays qui comparent l’impact, les facteurs de vulnérabilité et les sources de résilience dans les pays de l’OCDE, et mettent l’accent sur le soutien à la liquidité et les plans de redressement pour les PME.

The digital transformation of public sectors, economies and societies is generating challenges as well as opportunities for governments. Robust public governance is needed to respond to these challenges, reap the full benefits of digital and data-driven government, and encourage a holistic, systemic transformation. This Handbook presents the OECD Framework on the Governance of Digital Government, which was developed based on the experiences of Member and Partner countries. The Handbook identifies the aspects that need to be addressed when devising public governance frameworks for digital government, including contextual factors, institutional models and policy levers. Based on the Framework, the Handbook also provides a practical and easy-to-use toolkit for policy makers seeking to improve the digital government maturity of their administrations.

This report is a first-of-its-kind work to provide evidence on how cities’ investments in innovation and data use can pay off in powerful ways for residents. It offers analysis on the different ways local governments build capacity at the strategic and technical level, from organisational structure and strategy, to resource allocation and outcome evaluation. It shows that cities with higher public-sector innovation capacity and data use practices have higher levels of city and life satisfaction. Furthermore, when looking across key well-being dimensions from housing to environment, health and walkability, cities with higher innovation capacity and data use practices outperformed cities with lower capacity. The lessons in the report have been distilled into 10 recommendations to help local leaders boost their data use and innovation capacity to improve resident well-being.

Connectivity is an essential pillar of ensuring an inclusive digital transformation. The COVID-19 health emergency has further accentuated the awareness of how the quality, capability and resilience of broadband networks are becoming even more critical to ensure an inclusive society as more and more activities, such as work and education, are conducted in a remote manner. Therefore, policies aiming to expand connectivity and increase its quality are of paramount importance. Furthermore, analysing the performance of networks is crucial to inform policy makers and regulators to identify quality gaps and design the right policies and regulation towards closing those gaps. This report focuses on the state of broadband speed quality across the G20 and how to upgrade the speeds of networks further to spur economic recovery. It identifies existing gaps and puts forward policies and regulation towards extending high-quality networks and upgrading the quality of networks.

This paper aims to help policy makers understand and improve the conditions for firms to thrive in an increasingly digital economy where data has become an important resource for innovation. The paper: 1) analyses trends in the adoption of information and communication technologies and activities that enable firms to collect, store and use data, including big data analysis (BDA); 2) provides new evidence from micro-econometric analysis of firms’ BDA and innovation in products, processes, marketing and organisation, considering different types of data used for BDA; 3) examines business models of firms that successfully innovate with data; and 4) discusses policies that can help improve the conditions for all firms to go digital and tap into the potential of data for innovation.

Data portability has become an essential tool for enhancing access to and sharing of data across digital services and platforms. This report explores to what extent data portability can empower users (natural and legal persons) to play a more active role in the re-use of their data across digital services and platforms. It also examines how data portability can help increase interoperability and data flows and thus enhance competition and innovation by reducing switching costs and lock-in effects.

Reliable and high-quality connectivity is fundamental for the digital transformation. Furthermore, the COVID-19 health emergency has shown that access to high-quality broadband services at affordable prices, across different territories is essential to ensure that economic and social activities can continue in an increasingly remote manner. However, important disparities in terms of connectivity persist in G20 countries and especially within countries between different types of regions. Overcoming the territorial divide is essential to ensure that no region and its inhabitants are left behind, regardless of where they live. This report offers a roadmap to policy makers to reduce the digital divides experienced by people living in different places within countries. While this is a key policy goal, the reduction of regional disparities needs to be accompanied with sufficiently high levels of broadband speeds across regions for people to be able to fully benefit from the economic opportunities and services brought about by digitalization.