Foresight and Science, Technology and Innovation Studies

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Strategic Academic Unit Structure and System

The Foresight and Science, Technology and Innovation Studies Strategic Unit belongs to the second type of HSE Strategic Academic Units.

Management Committee (Heads of key subdivisions):

 

International Advisory Council:

Ten leading experts (average H-index = 10).

• Luke Georghiou, PhD, Vice President for Research and Innovation the University of Manchester; Professor of Science and Technology Policy and Management, the Manchester Institute of Innovation Research, Manchester Business School, UK, Chair of the committee;
• Angela Wilkinson, PhD, Strategic Foresight Counselor, OECD, France;
• Michael Keenan, PhD, Senior Analyst, Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation, OECD, France;
• Attila Havas, PhD, Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Economics, Center for Economic and Regional Studies, Hungarian Academy of Sciences;
• Jonathan Calof, PhD, Professor, Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa, Canada;
• Jennifer Casingena Harper, PhD, Consultant, The Malta Council for Science & Technology; Board Member, National Commission for Further and Higher Education, Malta;
• Kuniko Urashima, PhD, Deputy Director, Science and Technology Foresight Center, National Institute of Science and Technology Policy (NISTEP), Japan;
• Philip Shapira, PhD, Professor, Manchester Institute of Innovation Research, University of Manchester, UK; Professor, Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), USA;
• Marcio de Miranda Santos, PhD, Executive Director at the Center for Strategic Studies and Management in Science, Technology and Innovation, Brazil;
• Nicholas S. Vonortas, PhD, Professor of Economics and International Affairs, George Washington University, USA; São Paulo Excellence Chair, Innovation Systems, Strategy and Policy, University of Campinas, Brazil.

Goal

To create a world class center of excellence in the Russian Federation in the area of measurement, foresight and policy design in science, technology and innovation (STI).

Main Objectives

• Performing research in the area of measurement, modelling, and foresight of STI, including global research fronts, emerging technologies, evidence-based policy tools, social and economic impacts of STI, intellectual capital
• Developing empirical databases on innovative behavior of economic actors, global technological trends, network interactions within STI domain, human resources for STI, knowledge-intensive business services, etc.
• Translating research results into policy advice for government agencies, development institutions, and businesses
• Participating in expert groups of international organizations (OECD, Eurostat, UNIDO, APEC, and others) and research networks (ERA.Net RUS, Globelics, MEIDE, UniDev, and others)
• Implementing an international Master’s program in English (unique in the Russian Federation) with extensive research components, to train professionals in STI governance

Main Anticipated Deliverables

• HSE will set the agenda for research in Russia in a number of domains, including STI measurement, science and technology foresight, modelling innovative behavior of the economic actors, research of knowledge-intensive business services
• Foresight and STI Governance journal published by HSE will rise to the second quartile (Q2) of the Scopus Citation Index (by 2020);
• HSE will become a leading national think tank for the business sector in the area of STI
• HSE will become a coordinator and key actor in the international network of leading global foresight centers
• HSE experts will take leading roles in task forces within international organizations (OECD, Eurostat, UNIDO, WIPO, APEC, ITU, and others)
• The Master’s program on STI governance will obtain the EPAS international accreditation (by the European Foundation for Management Development) and will become one of the most prestigious educational programs in its domain with a share of foreign students as high as 30% (by 2020)

Strategic Academic Unit Background

The Strategic Academic Unit is organized on the basis of the HSE Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge (ISSEK) ― the leading center of excellence in the Russian Federation for STI statistics, policy, and foresight.

Major characteristics and achievements:

• Increased number of articles in the leading academic journals (indexed by the Web of Science and Scopus)
• A book series on STI studies in the Springer publishing house
• High visibility and competitive positions of the Foresight and STI Governance journal (published since 2007): 1st place in “Science Studies” and “Organization and Governance” in 2014, Russian Science Citation Index (RSCI); coverage by Scopus since 2013 (in 2014, SJR (SCImago Journal Rank): 0.19; SNIP (Source Normalised Impact per Paper): 0.47 (Q3)). Since 2014, the journal is published in English
• Branded statistical databooks, analytical reports and methodological guidelines, and contribution to international reports (OECD STI Outlook, OECD STI Scoreboard, Global Innovation Index, UNESCO Science Report, US Science&Engineering Indicators, and others) and the working papers series “Science, Technology and Innovation / STI”
• Regular information bulletins based on the results of monitoring studies that are used by the Government of the Russian Federation for decision making
• Exclusive rights for various software, databases and related know-how
• Experience in designing innovation programs for large companies: Gazprom, Gazprom Neft, Transneft, Alrosa, Rosneft, Energy Systems of the East, Aeroflot, Ruselectronics, Russian Post, and others
• Participation in research networks, expert communities and projects
• Support of science and technology cooperation between the Russian Federation and the EU
• Organization of international conferences twice a year
  

Key Subdivisions and Associated Units

• International Research Laboratory for Economics of Innovation (LEI) managed by Professor Ian Miles, the University of Manchester;
• International Research Laboratory for Science and Technology Studies (LST) managed by Profesor Jonathan Linton, the University of Ottawa, Editor-in-Chief of Technovation (Q1 in Scopus and Web of Science). 
  

  As a center for advanced studies, ISSEK actively cooperates with other HSE subdivisions (the Institute of Education, the Institute for Public Administration and Municipal Management, the Faculty of Economic Sciences, etc).

  In 2011, ISSEK established an International Advisory Board, headed by Professor Luke Georghiou, Vice President, the University of Manchester. The Board includes leading scientists from the UK, US, Canada, Germany, France, Hungary, Malta, Japan, Korea, China and Brazil.

Roadmap

 Grant proposal (PDF, 689 Kb)

 Roadmap (DOCX, 97 Kb)

Key Educational Programs and Their Development

The Master’s program “Governance of Science, Technology and Innovation” in English has currently seventy students enrolled, 22% of which are international students. The International Academic Council appraises the contents of the program.

The list of key Russian partner organizations of the program includes: Gazprom, ABB Russia, Skoltech, Russian Venture Company, Bright Capital, the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, and the Moscow Innovation Agency. Their representatives are members of the Academic Council of the program who participate in the work of the State Examination Commission, give lectures and offer internships for students.

The program implies close interaction with international partners:

• students of the program can join double-degree programs at the Technical University of Berlin and the Maastricht University;
• academic student exchange programs are in place with the Seoul National University and the University of Bremen;
• training and internships are arranged on the basis of the OECD and Joanneum Research (Austria);
• lectures are delivered by professors of the Harvard University, University of Manchester, George Washington University, University of Ottawa and experts of the OECD, European Commission, and National Research Council (Italy).

Program plans:

• to get the EPAS international accreditation (by the European Foundation for Management Development): start – 2018, accreditation – 2020;
• to develop English-taught online courses (30% of elective courses by 2020);
• to invite lecturers from the business community (double the number of lectures and master-classes by lecturers from the business community by 2020 compared to 2016);
• to raise the academic personnel outgoing mobility (up to 30% of academic personnel annually by 2020).

Key Research Projects and Their Development

Dozens of research projects have been accomplished on the basis of the Strategic Academic Unit. Many of them were pioneer projects and made a major contribution to the original methodology and tools of statistical measurement of R&D, emerging technologies (nano- and biotechnologies, ICT, photonics, and others), knowledge-intensive business services (engineering, design, and others), innovation activities in mining and manufacturing, services, agriculture, etc. Also, the research results have largely contributed to the development of methods and practices of foresight studies in science and technology, in various sectors of the economy (energy, aircraft, motor vehicles, shipbuilding, oil extraction, petrochemistry, transportation, agriculture, media industry, and others), as well as to the design of evidence-based STI policies and the evaluation of their mechanisms and outcomes.

Key research projects:

1. Advanced methodologies and tools for the measurement of STI dynamics and socio-economic impacts

2. Foresight instruments for sustainable economic growth, social welfare, and industrial competitiveness

3. Design and evaluation of impact-oriented policies for innovation-driven growth: theory, toolkit, empirical studies