Public procurement in Big Science: politics or technology? The case of CERN

Abstract

Public procurement from Big Science Centers (BSCs) yields a variety of spillover effects that can ultimately have growth enhancing consequences for their Member States (MS). We study the determinants of procurement for the biggest research infrastructure ever built: the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. A unique database of firms that have registered to become industrial partners of the LHC program allows us to estimate the determinants for potential suppliers of receiving an order from CERN. We compare the relative weight of firms’ technological features and CERN’s procurement rules aimed at securing a juste retour for its MS. Although in accordance to CERN’s procurement rules our results highlight the role of both technological factors and political constraints, we also show the existence of a premium toward Swiss and French firms. We document that the constraints related with the achievement of a juste retour affect—directly or indirectly—the procurement policy of many European BSCs and international bodies whose budget is financed by the public funds of their MS. Therefore, our results have policy implications that go beyond our empirical application.

Technology transfer from procurement relationships in big science contexts

“…Of the various kinds of collaborations that BSCs establish with suppliers (e.g., contract research, joint research, training, conferences and the creation of physical infrastructures) (D’Este and Patel, 2007), procurement relationships act as a powerful tool to support suppliers’ innovation through the exchange of technology and tacit knowledge (Autio et al, 2004; Bastianin et al, 2022; Bastianin and Del Bo, 2021; Castelnovo and Dal Molin, 2021; Castelnovo et al, 2018; Dal Molin and Previtali, 2019; Florio et al, 2018; Ghisetti, 2017). Such procurement favors technological spillovers and innovation impacts from BSCs to suppliers (Castelnovo and Dal Molin, 2021; Dal Molin and Previtali, 2019; Castelnovo et al, 2018; Autio et al, 2004).…”

“…However, as pointed out by Florio et al (2018), it would be inappropriate to consider the impact of BSCs only in terms of their scientific dimension. In fact, these RIs develop large, capital-intensive and cutting-edge technologies that are often the result of collaborative procurement relationships between them and suppliers, involving technological spillovers and knowledge diffusion (Autio et al, 2003; Bastianin et al, 2022; Bastianin and Del Bo, 2021; Castelnovo and Dal Molin, 2021; Castelnovo et al, 2018; Dal Molin and Previtali, 2019; Florio et al, 2018).…”

Projecting the socio-economic impact of a big science center: the world’s largest particle accelerator at CERN

“…3 It also relates to the literature on the economic effects of BSC (see, e.g., Autio et al, 2004;Helmers and Overman, 2017;Vuola and Hameri, 2006). Lastly, it relates to a growing strand of literature on the socioeconomic impacts of CERN, a benchmark case study for the analysis of BSC (see, e.g., Åberg, and Bengtson, 2015;Bastianin and Del Bo, 2020;Bastianin et al, 2021;Florio et al, 2018b;Nilsen and Anelli, 2016;OECD, 2014). An important contribution in this literature is who perform an ex-post CBA analysis of the LHC.…”