Communication policies for innovation financed with public funds in Spain: the experts’ view

Abstract

Companies that receive public funds for research and development and technological innovation (R&D&I) projects must comply with certain communication obligations in accordance with relevant Spanish and European laws. The aim of this work is to assess these requirements (including their advantages and limitations) based on the opinion of experts in the field. Interviews were conducted with R&D&I managers in national and regional agencies; innovation, transparency, and scientific dissemination specialists; and company directors. The results confirm the value of communicating innovation, in accordance with the current trends of innovation dissemination and the principles of transparency. Experts consider that the required communication requirements are insufficient and that their means and formats must be adapted to enhance the dissemination of innovation and improve transparency by promoting accessible content in a unified repository. They propose the measurement and assessment of the social impact of subsidized projects, as well as the possibility of subsidizing communication actions, as in European projects. Moreover, there is an urgent need to standardize the communication obligations of all proposals.

Communication and Transparency of Innovation: The Case of the Valencian Community (Spain)

“…For this reason, the Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility [61] proposes the publication of a list of the entities benefiting from R&D&I tax incentives, in order to bring the publicity requirements into line with those for direct aid. Along the same lines, Vilaplana-Aparicio et al [5] also highlight the need to promote transparency measures in R&D&I tax incentives, such as the publication of aggregated data that allow the scope of this aid to be known.…”

“…The academic sphere has also studied compliance with communication and transparency measures in Spain. Studies related to compliance with communication measures highlight the need to homogenise and update the texts of the regulations and the calls for R&D&I grants themselves [1,64]; the underutilisation of online media in the communication process and the disparity in the publication of content by companies [3]; the need to carry out communication plans with a strategy and a detailed action plan before starting subsidised projects [4]; or the need to adapt media and formats to reach the target audience and enhance the impact of dissemination [5]. With regard to transparency, several authors have shown that, despite the evolution experienced in Spain, there are still shortcomings in its implementation [52,65,66].…”

“…The use and effects of communication on innovation in the framework of public subsidies have recently been the subject of analysis from academia in the framework of the evaluation of the efficiency of mechanisms for business innovation and innovation culture. Thus, recent studies have compared and analysed the regulatory frameworks governing these actions [1,2], described the compliance of beneficiary entities with the measures [3], collected expert opinion on the relevance and effectiveness of such actions [4,5], or assessed the relationship of transparency measures in reducing corruption [6,7].…”