Governance of technology and innovation policy mix: The estonian experience since 2000

Abstract

Technology and innovation policies began to be implemented in Estonia in the 2000s, a time when the country’s governance system for technology and innovation policy was still weak. However, by building strong institutions, increasing budgets for research, and designing successful policies, rapid development of the governance system resulted in a short span of time. Successful implementation of European-type innovation policies helped to build strong governance as well. This study examines technology and innovation policies and the associated governance system in Estonia with a focus on the post-2000 period. Even though the country is generally accepted as a success story for strengthening its governance, and for the Europeanization of its technology and innovation policy, it still faces major problems. These problems will erode the strong governance system if they remain unsolved. Estonia is coping with relative worsening of the main outputs of technology policies, and the effects of the 2008-2009 economic crisis made the downturn more evident. Hence, defining and evaluating these weaknesses would be valuable for the country in order to pursue rapid development, which peaked in 2007-2008 and has slowed down since.