Grupo de Ciencia, T ecnología y Sociedad (CSIC)
W orking Paper 00-04

Targeted research and technological innov ation,
and their re lationships in a new socio-political
context: A pp roaches to their ev aluatio n

Em ilio Muñoz*
Unidad de P olíticas Com paradas
CSIC
Madri d

* With the collaboration of Victor M. Díaz, Juan Espinosa de los
Monteros and María J. Santesm ases.

Paper prepared for the Workshop on "I nnovation and Diffusion in the Economy : The
Strategy and Evaluation Perspectives", L isbon. 24-25 J anuary , 2000, organised by
CI SEP, (ISEG, Technical University of L isbon)

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INDEX

Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1
Evaluation and its limits ............................................................................................... 1
1. The general fram e of reference. A European view ................................. 2
1.1 Procedures for the evaluation of programm es ...................................................... 4
1.2 The research an d developm ent (R& D) programm es. Thei r special trai ts ........... 5

2. A specific m odel to evaluate R&D program m es ................................. 6

3. Exam ples of Evaluation Exercises. Case Studies .................................... 9
3.1 National Programm es from the National R&D Plan ........................................... 10
3.1.1 The N ew Materials Nation al Programm e ................................................................ 10
a) Structural Characteristics .............................................................................. 11
b) Results ( the operational functioning) ............................................................. 11
3.1.2 The National Program me on R&D on Pharm aceuticals ......................................... 12
a) Structural Characteristics .............................................................................. 13
b) Results ............................................................................................................. 14
3.1.3 The N ational Health Programme ........................................................................ 15
a) Structural Characteristics ............................................................................ 16
b) Results ........................................................................................................... 16

3.2 The National Rese arch Fund ("Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria", F IS) ..... 18
3.2.1 The evaluation project ............................................................................................. 18
Results on the structure and function of FIS activities .................................................. 20

4. Som e presum ptive conclusions ...................................................................... 21

References .................................................................................................................. 22

1
Introduction
Science and technology policy -making and the study of its effects on innovation are
requiring a “more sophisticated understanding of the way s on which science and
technology interact” (to quote, as an example, N. Rosenberg , Science and Public Policy ,
vol 18, number 6, pages 335-346, 1991).

The ex ploration of these relations has been and continues to be at the core of the models
that, along the period initiated after the Second World W ar, have been used to promote
and analy se the science and technology activities and their outcomes. The “science
model” left pace to the “science push-market pull – R&D model”, i nspired on lineari ty ,
a model that represented the technological chang e leading to innovation as closely
dependent and based essentially on scientific results. More recently , after
acknowledgement of the insufficiencies of the linear model, models have evolved
considering that science and technology and innovation are part of a sy stem, a “social”
sy stem, whose essential activity is learning and which is also “dy namic”.

This orientation has corresponded with the idea that biology , and not phy sics, ought to
inspire the economics of technology and innovation (application of the theory of
Darwinian evolution, see for a review, J. Moky r, Bulletin of Economic Research, vol 43,
number 2, pages 127-149, 1991). The microeconomics view has been at the onset of
reco gnising the limitations of the dominant neolibe ral theory ba sed on the conc ept of a
stable a nd unique equilibrium. An importa nt lesson that has bee n learne d from the use
of evolutionary , biology based, models is that history – and culture – matters. As Moky r
has stated (see reference cited above) “... I t is simply impossible to understand long-
term economic growth without some kind of Schumpeterian theory of technological
creativity and innovation. The neoclassical equilibrium paradigm seems singularly
unsuited to that task” .

Evaluation and its limits
I n spite of this discourse, the indicators and methods applied to evaluate science and
technology outputs and their effects on innovation, are still, and mainly , based on the
concept of linearity . The bibliometric methods used to measure scientific production

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and its technological counterpart, i.e. scientific articles and patents, are looking to
productivity , whereas the economical and human resources devoted to science and
technology are being seen as the inputs to the sy stem. This output/input model of
evaluation i s leaving aside any assessment of the interactions between science,
technology and innovation and their actors, and may present limitations to the use of
econometric models, since they can not take into account the role of human actions and
influence s in the process a s well as the inf luence of c ultural values a nd of the
environment. However, citation and referencing data have been used in some emerging
fields (biotechnology and bioscience) to detect the links between science and
technology (Narin and Noma, Scientometrics , vol 7, N os 3-6, pages 361-381). The
situation see ms to need an a lterna tive. We have attempted such an alter native by using a
sociological – historical (analy tical-descriptive) approach. The methodology has found
grounds in a biolog ical (biochemical) metaphor that addresses the dissection of a
prog ramme (identific ation of its structure) and how this cor relates to the function
(activities funded, links and influences with the environment). The methodology is
based on the use of quantitative techniques throug h survey s addressed to the main actors
of the research and technology activities (the main researchers and/or the manage rs of
the projects). The most relevant point of this approach rests, not on the use of survey ,
but on the ty pe of survey : its structure and configuration.

1. The general fram e of reference. A European view

The application of methods and practices to evaluate the public policies and their
programmes addressed to the attainment of goals is experiencing a phase of great
expansion and ex perimentation. The European Union and the Commission are
contributing in a decisive manner to this ty pe of e xercises in such a way that this is
forming a position towards the support by the Member States to the evaluation ex ercises
as a means f or ga ining ra tionality in the proce ss of making decisions or to fr ame the
launching of the respective actions.

There are nevertheless relevant differences between the European countries with respect
to tradition and intensity in the evaluation practices corresponding to the realm of public

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policies and programmes. The North European countries possess greater experience in
the use of evaluation practices as an instrument for the process of making decisions. I n
this context, it is worth to mention the relevant role play ed by the main actors involved
in the management of the prog rammes themselves. Other countries like Belgium, the
north of I t aly and several regions of France are beg inning to consider the evaluation as a
"help sy stem" for the planning and management of the public intervention. This
development is matching with the put into practice of a series of European prog rammes
of socio-economical nature and significance like the Structural Funds Programme and
several programmes of Control and Reg ulation. I n the great majority of the Southern
European countries, the evaluation practices are still being considered as a sing le
regulatory imposition that constrains the process of decision making, what implies a
limited influenc e on the politica l arena . I n many case s, the rele vance of the e valuation
practices in these "less-developed" countries, in terms of evaluation capacity and skill,
is even more limited by the abse nce of qua ntitative (or able to be me asured ) objective s
as well as by the deficits in an information of quality , which are necessary factors for
the attainment of good results in the evaluation exercises. The work performed through
the drive and support of the European Union/Commission has allowed the identification
of a series of factors and components deemed necessary to carry out evaluation
activities with enough quality and appropriateness to monitor and assess programmes
which are running or just have ended. They are the following:
1) analy sis of the capa city to absorb the economic resourc es of the pr ogra mme while it
is going on;
2) identification of the tangible products obtained as compared with the foreseen ones;
3) analy sis of the efficiency of the programme (i.e. assessment of the costs of unit of
product);
4) evaluation of the impact;
5) evaluation of the impact in socio-economical terms; and
6) identific ation of the hur dles that ar e ag ainst the succ ess of the initiative .

From them, the evaluators may provide adequate data and proposals to evolve further
evaluation processes and to give recommendations with regard to issues related to
organisation and to the real locati on of resources, according to an eventual
reprog ramming.

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The lack of ade quate infor mation may hamper the quality , in-depth and r elevanc e of
the processes of analy sis and evaluation. Therefore, the Public Administrations share
the responsability for establishing effective sy stems of follow-up and providing the
information with suf ficients leve ls of quality and extent.

1.1 Procedures for the evaluation of programm es

The prevailing trend in the evaluation of prog rammes, mainly of socio-economical
characterist ics, follows al ternative approaches. In the first place, the "bottom-up"
approac h is applied with the aim of colle cting a nd valuing information at the projects
level in order to proce ss and integ rate it into the analy sis of the prog ramme . As the
number of projects is usually high, this approach enforces upon the selection of a
sample. An adva ntag e of this approa ch is that it allows the ga thering of information by
means of survey s and interviews on the results and impacts of every project.

The analy sis of the impact requires statistical data and information. The existence of
data bases may allow the performance of longitudinal studies based on the history of
each case in view of correl ating the results of the programme with t he basic objectiv es.
When the data base is lacking, several other methods, as for example the focal groups,
can be used, but taking into account that the building of good control g roups is a pre-
requisite to value the programme and its effectively . The second approach looks to the
"top-down" analy sis which does not imply to reckon to samples and permits to process
the information with a high level of ag greg ation. This approach is based on the data that
are afforded by the respective agencies, though additional instruments such as case
studies or in-depth studies are needed to gathe r detaile d information with r espect to the
projects.

I t is also possible to employ a mix or dual approach combining the " bottom-up" and
"top-down" lines. This blended sy stem of analy sis seems best suited to carry out more
complete evaluation e xercises and thus, it is a dequate f or the applic ation to the "e x-
post" assessment of programmes or for their follow - up accordi ng to a thematic
perspective. I n any one of these approaches, the ex isting shortcoming s in information,
as it can be obtained from the official reports and sources, can be overcome by

5
additional sources of information from the clients, actors or managers of the
programmes. To this end, the evaluation exercises rest on in-depth analy ses, survey s,
interviews, protocols and questionnaires aimed to get the opinions and reactions of these
actors, any one of t hese in struments havi ng been used in view of the characterist ics of
each programme or of the availability of well checked information.

1.2 The research and developm ent (R&D) program m es. Their special traits

All the outlined methodology has been applied to the evaluation of programmes of
socio-economical natures. The chal lenge is to adapt these procedures and inst ruments to
the R&D programmes which are holding specific propert ies and characteristics when
compared to soci o-economical programmes. Som e of them are:
• The influence of R&D activities on economy and society is long rang ing; those
activities act in an interactive and indirect way with socio-economy .
• The input economical indicators used are essentially macro-economical ones such as
the percentage of Gross Domestic Product devoted to R& D activities as well as the
number of huma n resourc es employ ed in those ac tivities. They are distributed in
three (macro) subsectors: Government, Higher Education and Business. Any
correlation of these "top-down" informations and data with "bottom-up" actions is
ext remely difficult .
The indicators of production and results ("output" ) relate mainly to the dy namics of
the scie ntific community - re searc h publications and documents concer ned with /the
dissemination of knowledge and, eventually , with its protection rights (patents).
There are no indicators of economic outputs with the exception of data on the
technological balance (" degree of sufficiency ").
• The functioning of R& D programmes is shaped by the sociolog ical and behavioral
patter ns of the scie ntific community .
• The R&D programmes and the ag encies involved in the management of the
programmes are run and controlled by scientists and technolog ists who are acting in
their double capacity as clients and managers and then are involved in a series of
processes of interaction and feed-back.

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• I n the R&D prog rammes, there is a frequent mix of the levels of planning and
management, unlike what occurs wi th the socio-economical programmes. There is
scanty informati on on the relevance of the role of t hose agencies with respect to
these two levels of intervention.

2. A specific m odel to evaluate R&D program m es

The philosophy of biology provides with gr ounds to analy se and assess the activities
linked with the development of science and technology from the perspectives of the
social sciences. I have resorted to this strategy to ex plore, from the point of view of the
evolutive biology , the relationships between the life technologies and their socio-
economical implications (Muñoz 1997).

Following the theoretical lines of the evolutive biologist Ernest May r (1982), I have
coined th e term biología operativa ("Operational biology ") to integ rate the notions of
structural and functional biology (Muñoz , 1994) as to confront the evolutive biolog y
notion. The "operational biolog y " offers, in my opinion, the possibility to propose a
model for the evaluation of R&D programmes which is rooted in the process of cellular
transduction. The model ("transducing model") as depicted in fig . 1 offers the following
advanta ges a nd analy tical possibilities.
1. I t allows to distinguish (and assess) the different steps or levels of action in R&D
programmes.
a) Planning level which corresponds to the political domain on which the objectives
are defined and established.
b) Management and funding level which operate in the allocation of economical
resources through the intervention of the agencies. Two paths are possible: path 1,
where the object ives are passively diffused to t he agency (A) that is acting as
transmitte r and contr oller. I n path 2, the ag enc y (A' ) is not re ceiving tar ge ted
objectives and, therefore, becomes a transducer which allocates resources throug h
experts committe es.

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Po liti cal do main
(goals , objectiv es )
Agency (resources )
Actors - exp erts
Clien ts
(proje cts , grants)
Pub lic ations
Effects ( impact ) on the system
Relat ion with socio- economic proble ms
Effect on u sers
Pro d uct s
B ´
CC
DD
A A´
C´
D´
Pa th 1 Pat h 2
Comm ittee s
(2) Analogy : Cell fun ction
Relat ionships an d regu l a tions
Coupling Structure s Actors
Function Cli ents
(3) Methodo logy :
Separat ion of th e parts (differen t elemen ts ) and analy sis o f the resu lts .
Possib le integra tion
Figu re 1.- The “ tr an sducin g “ mode l of R&D pr ogr a mmes
(1)
B

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c) L evel of programme execution, on which the expert-actors and the clients-
benefic iaries a re intera cting . I n path 1, ther e are two ty pes of actors: the experts
("peers") and burocrats (B ) who are allocating resources in relation to the pre-
established goals to the clients (receptors) as g roups (C) or individuals (D). I n path
2, the ex perts are acting wit hin the functi on of agency A' , whereas the clients -
beneficiaries are represented in rectangle B' and they will receive grants - in aid,
fellowships as c ollective s (C´) or individuals (D ' ) to pe rform r esear ch a ctivities in a
complex institutional and ope rational e nvironment.
d) L evel of production with the products poured in the scientific-technical "milieu"
recorded in the statistics of the respective agencies or poured into the external
"milieu" (society in broad terms). The assessment of the products deriving from path
1 needs to be carried out in frag mented way ( fr om the experts and c lients) while in
the case of path 2, the analy sis of the products requires a more complex and
integrated way (from the agency and the di fferent ty pes of actors).
e) "Feed-back" level t hat applies t o any of both pat hs and that influences the future
decisions at every level of the programme.

2. The model attempts to make an analog y of the rese arch progr ammes with the
functioning of the cell where there is a coupling between structure and function.
This analogy eases the process of evaluation by measuring the global or partial
results of the programme and by identify ing the variables: the independent such as
the coupling between the parts or processes of the programme and the dependent
ones such as the c omposition of the experts co mmittees (" structure ") or the
interac tions between the experts and the c lients (" reg ulation" ).
3. The model allows the separation of the parts or elements of the programme driving
to a reductionist methodology for the analy sis or leading to an integ rative view from
the analy sis of the parts, in an analogous manner to the methods applied in the
biochemical analy sis.
The conceptual frame of this methodological approach stems in the sig nificance of the
microlevel of analy sis to understand the relations between the top-down and the bottom-
up approaches to the proposals and actions of the main agents of the science and
technology sy stem. I t runs parallelisms with the philosophy that led, in a different order
of things, to the application of technolog y assessment (TA), the instrument that during

9
the decades of seventies and eighties helped to the process of decision–making in the
emergence of a goal–oriented model of technolog y prog ramme. Various models of
technology assessment can be distinguished depending on the mediation between
science, politics and the general public: the “instrumental model”, the “elitist model”,
the “participative model”. Our methodology is not purely related to that of TA, but it
borrows some chara cteristic s to the first two models: the instrumental a nd the elitist
ones, whereas it shows its independent nature because our methodology is used to the
“ex-post” evaluation of science and technology programmes (and processes), whereas
the T.A. aim s to assess “ex – ante” the appreciat ion of the eventual consequences of the
scientific and technological developments and prog rammes. (Bechmann, Science and
Public Policy , vol. 20, number 3, pages 11-16).

3. Exam ples of Evaluation Exercises. Case Studies

We have attempted to introduce and develop the culture of evaluation of research and
development programmes by carry ing out a series of evaluations on various R&D
programmes and/or innovative technologies or sectors. Through these exercises the
rationale was to combine an interesting rese arch a genda with a possible use of the
results by the policy makers and manage rs of the R&D ac tivities. The subjec ts of study
were selected by apply ing a series of criteria:
• They must hold academic, scientific and technological relevance;
• They should reflect, whenever this were possible, the demands from bodies of the
Administration;
• They should represent an important share of the resources allocated by the agencies
involved;
• They should be attacked after a good scientific, cog nitive and managerial
background from the team (at least from one of its members) involved in the
evaluation;
• They should constitute a relevant contribution to the innovation patterns of Spain
(emerging technologies, important socio-economical topics) and to the conomic
wealth of the country or of any of its regions.

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3.1 National Programm es from the National R&D Plan

The National R& D Plan was the instrument esta blished by the Law for Promotion and
General Coordination of the Scientific and Technical Research (referred popularly as
the "L aw for Science", L aw 13/1986). The idea underlining the establishment of the
Plan was to coordinate research from a "top-down" approach making recourse to the
option of planning throug h objectives and g oals fixed by the political author ity where
the different actors should play the game.

For obvious reasons, some prog rammes of the National R&D Plan were good canditates
as subjects of evaluation. Apply ing the criteria outlined before, the following
prog rammes, all belonging to the first Na tional R&D Pla n extending fr om the period
1988-1992 (93), were selected: New Materials, R& D on Pharmaceuticals and Health.

3.1.1. The New Materials National Programm e

The evaluation was based on a mixed approach using official information from the
agencies (see below) and a survey addressed t o the princi pal investigators of th e
research projects funded by the programme. A complex tex t on the results of the
exercise has been published as a Documento de Trabajo (Working Paper) by Espinosa
de los Monteros et al. (1994).

The purpose of the curre nt analy sis is to provide an overview of those results as f iltered
by the "transducing" model lens.

The dri ving force for the eval uation ex ercise was the research in terests of the C SI C
team who presented a project to the National Plan for its funding. The project was
approved and funded. Thus sugg esting some interest from the Administration.

The instruments for the evaluation we re analy sis of the inf ormation g athered from
official sources and a postal survey addressed to 431 principal investigators (54 per cent

11
from universitie s, 35 per cent fr om CSI C and the re maining 11 per ce nt from semi-
public organism associations from fi rms and government interface organisations).

a) Structural Characteristics
• The prog ramme wa s targ eted with prede termined prior ity lines, expressed in broad
terms but well suited from the technical point of view.
• The main Agency responsible for the management of the programme was the
Secretari at of the National R&D P lan with speci fic action on th e research projects
and on infrastructure and accom pany ing measures.

The Centre for Technological and I ndustrial Development (CDTI ) was the ag ency
involved in the management of the industrially oriented projects (" proy ectos
concertados" which are collaborat ive projects bet ween public sector research centres
and industries and "proy ectos de desarrollo tecnológico" implemented by the
industries alone).

The involvement of the two agencies can be assimilated to path 1 according to the
model of fig. 1.

b) Results (the operational functioning)

b-1) The regional distribution of the resources was g athered from the data provided by
the main Agency . The results summarised as follows indicate an uneven and quite
peculiar profile.
- Main share corresponding to percentag es higher than 10 per cent: Madrid
(42.2%) and Cataluña (15.7%).
- Medium share corresponding to percentag es between 5 and 10 per cent: Arag ón
(9.4%), País Vasco (8.9%), Comunidad Valenciana (7.4 per cent) and
Andalucia (5.5%).

b-2) The conclusions about the products of the programme are:
• Relevant contribution to the building and development of a scientific community
able to c ompete both inter nationally (publications inc rease d in number and

12
importance in internationa lly refere ed journals) and nationally (the resea rches were
granted of staff-tenured positions in universities and CSI C).
• Mismatch between the scientific objectives and the industrial ones. Researchers
from the public sector pursued publications and training of personnel with low
applica bility of their r esear ch even in those projects ide ntified as " applied
research". On the other hand, projects from the 11 per cent of the other organisms
revealed a low degree of scientific productivity but a high rate of applicability in
their re sults.
• Contribution to the establishment of good infracture and well equipped laboratories.
• Formation of a well trained, highly skilled personnel. This result has led to a
paradoxical situation: this personnel is ex cessive for the socio-economical demand
but its offer is insufficient f or the scie ntific and te chnical ne eds.
• All the users of the programme seem to be satisfied but definition of success and
estimation of satisfaction was different for the most important groups of actors;
researchers and industrialists. The effects of the programme on the users apperared
to be divergent depending on the users´ affiliation.

3.1.2 The National Program me on R&D on Pharm aceuticals

The rationale underly ing the evaluation followed the same pattern as that indicated for
the Materials Programme. The same driving force and the same instruments supported
the evaluati on of the programme on pharmaceutical research and development.

The evaluation was based in the analy sis of the information provided by the agencies
involved in the management of the prog ramme and in a survey addressed to a universe
of 124 principal investigators of the research projects (80.6 per cent from universities,
18.5 per cent from CSI C and 1 from a hospital located in Barcelona). This distribution
shows al ready a marked difference wi th respect to he New Materials Programme as th e
R&D on Pharmaceuti cals programme appears strongly linked t o university reserach.

A complete text on the evaluation of the programme has been published as Working
Paper in Espinosa de los Monteros et al. (1995 a).

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a) Structural Characteristics

• The programme was targeted with a general goal and several speci fic aims of
general nature as well as with ten technolog ical objectives.

The gene ral aim of the progr amme was to foster a nd coordinate the R&D a ctivities
of the publi cs sector and the firms operat ing in the pharmaceut ical area, one of the
leading sectors in busine ss R&D expenditure but unable to compete satisfac torily in
a global world. The spec ific aims were still quite g ene ral such as: the promotion of
pharmaceutical research to increase its size and ex cellence; the establimment and
maintenance of an adequate infrastructure; the training of personnel both in Spain
and abroad; the education of skilled support personnel; the integration of renowned
scientists from ab road into Spanish r esear ch labora tories; coordina tion of the
activities between the public research sector and the private research centres and
firms.

These broad objectives impl ied the int ervention of three agencies. The main
Agency was the Secretariat of the National R&D Plan involved directly in the
funding of research projects and infrastructure as well as in the support of
accompany ing measures. The training and educational activities were manag ed by
the General Di rectorate of Sci entific and Technical R esearch (Minist ry of
Education and Science). The line related to innovation and technological
development was run by CDTI.

I t is worth noting that the line of industrial links g eared by CDTI held the lion´ s
share of the financial resources (52.4 per cent of the total funds of the programme).

The three agencies involved in the R& D on pharmaceuticals programme acted
according to path 1 of the model (fig.1).

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b) Results

b-1) The regional distribution following the same separation marks as in the Materials
programme (see above) was:

- Medium share: Comunidad Valenciana (9%), Andalucía (7.7%), Canarias
(7%) , Castilla- L eón ( 5%).

This distribution presents a ma rked dif fere ntial prof ile with respe ct to that
shown by the Ne w Mate rials programme-incorporation of Galicia, Canarias and
Castilla-L eón among the winners - and disparition of Aragón. The important
share in number of projects and in funding by three universities (Santiag o de
Compostela (Galicia), L a La guna (Canarias) and Valencia (Comunidad
Valenciana) who were the leaders, provide clues to this specific profile.

b-2) Some conclusions about the products of the programme are:

• Relevant contribution to production of knowledge but rather poor impact on the
domains related to development and technological innovation.
• The training of y oung researchers has been one of the relevant assets of the
prog ramme where as the policies and crite ria a pplied to the alloc ation of
fellowships ra ised a g re at level of critic isms. A signif icant pa rt of the tr ained
scientists were incorporated in the public research sector (42%) and other part
(15%) were integrated in industries.
• The prioritie s of the prog ramme were both too br oad in scope and far a way
from the interests of the S panish pharmaceutical industries. The research was
driven by curiosity -instead of being moved by the will to solve pr oblems of
practical relevance.
• The Spanish pharmaceutical industries are not very prone to collaborate with
the public research sector. They present divergent aims, in terests and
professional tracks.
• The absence of skilled technical personnel flaws the research potential of the
are a in particular in connec tion with the applied a spects - clinical tr ials - of this

15
sector. The programme confirmed the need for it but was unable to correct for
the defic its.
• From the technolog ical objectives prioritised by the programme, only three of
them; "ex perim ental and cl inical pharmacology " (35 per cent ), "drug sy stems
designed th rough specific mechanism s and strategies" (27 per cent) and "search
for new leader compounds of therapeutic interests" (19 per cent) have shown a
reasonable level of accomp lishment .
• The administrative bodies involved in the pharmaceutical policies (drug
approval, price s settlement , reg ulations a nd norms) wer e not inter ested or
unaware of the research outcomes of the programme. This reveals a strong
rupture in the coordination mechanisms and in the flow of knowledge
production from the science base towards practical goals.
• The success of the projects of industrial nature is only on average: there were a
short number of projects and a small collaboration with the public sector.
Among it , the hospi tals, th at were absent from t he research realm, em erge as a
new actors, though their funding was comparatively very low with that obtained
by universities or CSIC from the collaborative projects with the industry .
• The users of the programme show a different deg ree of satisfaction: research >
industry > hospitals.

3.1.3 The National Health Programm e.

The evaluation of this programme showed the same patterns and responded to the same
forces driving the evaluation of the two former prog rammes.

The instruments a pplied for the eva luation were the same a s those applie d to the other
two programmes, albeit a differential feature resulted from the population of principal
investigators and their affiliations. Among the 235 ones detected, 124 of them (52.8 per
cent) belonged to universities, 45(19 per cent) to CSI C, 44 (18.7 per cent) to hospital
and 22 (9.4 per cent) to other organisms (charities, foundations and centres adscribed to
the Nationa l Health Sy stem).

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There is a detailed publication on the eva luation of the He alth Prog ramme as Working
Paper (Espinosa de los Monteros et al., 1995 b) as well as a sy nthesis paper (Espinosa
de los Monteros et al. 1996).

a) Structural Characteristics

• The programme was t argeted, like in t he case of the R &D on Pharmaceuti cals, with
a broad objective and five aims of basic nature complemented with nine more
precise technological objectives.
• As in the former programmes, three ag encies were involved in the implementation
with the main role play ed by the Sec retar iat of the R& D Nationa l Plan, the other
two being involved in the same ty pe of activities and lines of action as stated for the
R&D on Pharmaceuticals programme. Their way of action can then be assimilated
to that of path 1 (model of fig.1).

An interesting distinctive fe ature of the Hea lth National Prog ra mme conce rns the
distribution of sources; in this case, the lion´ s share of the programme funds
corresponded to research projects and infrastructure 76.6 per cent of the total) while
the industrial related projects spent only the 13.5 per cent of it.

b) Results

b-1) The regional distribution profile shows marked differences with the other
programmes analy sed.
- Main share: Madrid (41.8%), Cataluña (23.5 per cent), Andalucía (11.4%).
- Medium share: Comunidad Valenciana (6.9%).
This uneven share reflect s the strength of the m edical academi a concentrated on
universitie s and a certa in number of hospitals (Hospita l Clínico y Provincial de
Barcelona, Hospital de la Santa Cruz y San Pablo (Barcelona), Hospital del Valle
de Hebrón (Barcelona) as well as the importance of the regions (demography ,
quality of medical care, level of technologies applied to health) in the Spanish
Health S y stem .

17
b-2) The analy s is of the results (outcomes) of the programme has allowed to draw
a series of conclusions similar to those outlined for the R&D on Pharmaceuticals
Prog ramme, but with some noteworthy spec ifities.
• The contribution to the production of scientific knowledge has been relatively
high (medium - hi gh) but perhaps insufficient for the predominance of the
research side in the frame of this programme on Health.
• The good training of y oung research personnel (as an asset of the programme)
contrasts with the poor use of these human resources in further research and
technological careers.
• The prioritie s of the prog ramme were onc e more too broa d a nd lac ked focus.
Only four one of the nine technological objectives " Health problems related to
environment and health and life sty les" with 31 per cent of the projects, Cancer"
(24%), Immunolog y (11%), and Toxicology (10%) have attained good records
in accompl ishment. The ot her five, some of them so relevant in scientific and
social ter ms such as " Aids" " Hea lth problems re lated to a ging ", " Human
genome" and "Development of health technolog ies" received a testimonial
attention from the demand side.
• The objectives were far from the interests of industries. This tog ether with the
low level of resources devoted to industrially - oriented projects has led to a low
participa tion of the Spa nish firms in the prog ra mme. Only 12 businesses we re
involved in the programme throug h the period 1989-1993. Moreover, the
collaboration of these firms with the main public organisations involved in the
execution of the pr ogr amme univer sities and CSI C was very low (seven
universities and one institute from CSI C were involved in 11 collaborative
projects out of 18, while the remaining 7 were performed in collaboration with
hospitals).
• Though some hospitals were play ers of the Health Programme, their
representation was rat her sy m bolic as compared wi th the research pot ential of
these institutions (see below on the evaluation of the Health Research Fund, FI S
from its a crony m of the Span ish name Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria) .
• The lack of links bet ween the research int erests of the public sector and the
industry was more than evident. This is particularly true for the CSI C centres -
in spite of the relevance of the biomedical research area for this institution.

18
These points out t o a basic structural problem in t he shaping of research on
health carried out by the CSIC research laboratories.
• The size and stability of the research g roups involved in the execution of the
Health Prog ramme was smaller than in other National Pr ogr ammes a nd this was
denounced by 54 to 66 per cent of the researchers responding to the survey who
consider ed that size a nd stability as insuff icient for a g oal re searc h perf ormanc e.
• The administrative bodies responsible for the health policy in Spain (i. e, the
Ministry of Hea lth of and Consume a nd the Reg ional Authoritie s) did show
moving away from the evolution and outcomes of the National R&D
Programme on Health.

3.2 The National Research Fund ("Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria", F IS)

This fund was created in 1980 rely ing on the tradition of a previous fund established in
1968 which aimed to direct the 15 per cent of the allowance of the pharmaceutical
industry to the Spanish Social Security Sy stem to promote research activities and to
fund travel fellowships and scientific meetings.

As José Ramón Ricoy , who was the first fully dedicated Director of the F I S, has
pointed out (Ricoy , 1996), three periods can be distinguished in the history of FI S. The
first period corresponded to the use for research in medicine of the funds from the
industry (the so called " etapa del Descuento Complentario " "st age of the
Complementary Discount") extending from 1968-1980.
- The second period was through 1980-1987 on which the F I S was manag ed with
a partially employ ed Director where the Funds beg an to build its identity .
- The last period that began in April 1987 when the position of a fully dedicated
Director was established.

3.2.1 The evaluation project

The evaluation ex ercise that was undertaken by our team focused on this third period
(1988-1995) and responded to the driven forces of the responsible of the agency who,
at the end of 1995, decided it was time to develop a full exercise of evaluation of a

19
research programme for the first time of the short life of science and technolog y policy
in Spain.

The evaluation had to be funded through the fig ure of a research project since the statute
of FI S made the agency unable to establish any contract. The proj ect was articulat ed
under the direction of E. Muñoz with a multidisciplinary team composed by medical
doctors, biomedical researchers, soci al scient ists. S ome of them had been formerl y
involved in the political and scientific management of F I S, others had ex perience in
bibliometrics and some other were experts in the analy sis of public policie s. An external
panel (advisory committee) composed of re levant scie nce prac tioners and polic y makers
was also established as a sort of monitoring control of the evolution of the project.

The project was framed under the underly ing idea of the "transducing model". I n view
of the co mplexity of the ta sk the projec t aimed to define the structur e of the prog ramme
and t o analy se the functioni ng of the agency (the "transduci ng machinery ") and the
outcomes of this functioning (publications, impacts on the health sy stem and/or on the
institution or centr e where the resea rch was perfor med, inf luence of r esearc h tra ining
and knowledge transfer on the careers of the professionals of the Spanish Health
Sy stem).

The basic search lines i n the study were:
- the information derived from the Annual Reports of FI S and its records and data
bases,
- the analy sis of the call for proposals through the different y ears of the FI S
activities and the breakdown of resources between the different lines of activity
- the focus of the anal y s is on the research project s and the training scheme
("Becas de Ampliaci ón de Estudios", fello wships for enlarg ement of
professiona l skills)
- the follow-up of the allocation of resources through the different thematic areas
as a way to ex plore the implicit or ex plicit political decisions underly ing that
allocation.
- The correlation between the production of knowledge and the share of resources
as a function of projects, organisation, reg ions as a means to analy se the

20
eventua l influences - scientific , circunsta ntial, political - in he proc ess of
making decisions.
- Sear ch for the possible rela tionships between the objectives atta ined with the
research projects and the heal th sy stem; ex ploration of th e impact.

The desk analy sis of doc uments, survey s and intervie ws were the instruments
used for the analy tical development of the project.

Results on the structure and function of FIS activities

The work has permitte d to obtain a wide set of results whose de tailed prese ntation can
not be the subject of the present report. Some of the results of the study are available as
grey or public literature (Muñoz et al., 1999, Espinosa de los Monteros et al. 1999 a and
b; Sanz -Menéndez and Diaz Benito, 2000). An outline of the main conclusions is as
follows.
• The R&D activities funded by the Spanish National Research Fund (FI S ) did not
correspond to a targeted, well-defined programme. The funding ag ency (FI S )
behaved according to a pattern corresponding to path 2 of the model depicted in
figure 1.
• The share of resources was m arkedly i nfluenced by the criteri a of "excell ence",
releva nce and powe r of the sc ientific community . So, reg ional, institutiona l and
organisational distribution of the sources were mapping the most influential research
communities ( "Matthe w effe ct") .
• There is for the first time in the analy ses of rese arch pr ogra mmes perf ormed in
Spain, the possibility to correlate the sources allocated by a funding agency with the
research outcomes (bibliometric analy s is). This allows to analy se the productivity
(efficiency and efficacy ) of a research programme by ty pe of project, ty pe of
research, thematic area, institution or region.
• The ex ercise carried out allo wed for a contrast between the m otivat ions and interest
of the re searc hers per forming that activity in hospitals with those of the hospita l
manag ers a nd administrative heads.

21
• The group in charg e of the analy sis of the training subprogramme led by Sanz-
Menéndez ex pressed criticisms about the methodology used because it made
difficult to evaluate the causality of the public action. However, after using the
survey method praised by us, they conclude that it was possible to detect processes
situations and changes in the level of education and training of the users of the FI S
subprogramme with (unavoidable) evidence.

4 Som e presum ptive conclusions

• We have discussed in theoretical terms and presented ex amples on the application of
a methodology to evaluate R&D programmes that permit to obtain conclusions
extending bey ond the linear ty pes of analy sis based on the input/output approaches
or on the arguments of causality followed by the proponents of the classical methods
of evaluation of public policies.
• The method proposed by us found its grounds in biology as a source of analog ies
while the former methods and models based on linearity found its base in the
analogies with phy sics.
• I t is obvious that the methodology proposed by us can raise and it is going to raise
criticisms. But science progresses and the scientific method proceeds by performing
empirical analy s is (experiment) and by raising criticism, and/or support to them. To
stay attached with not totally convincing methodologies and approaches is to fig ht
against the unavoidable path of prog ress.
• The methods used by us, should they be referred simply as studies of the ty pe of
"public opinion polls" , allow to draw attention to the evolution of R& D
programmes, on how complex they are for an appropriate manag ement, on how they
can be (and are) influenced by several ty pe of actors (producers and clients). I n
summary , they permit to approac h the ana ly sis of c omplexity thriving in a n
extremely complex social " milieu".

22
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Espinosa de los Monteros, J., Martínez , F., Toribio, M.A., Muñoz, E. and L arrag a, V.
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Why organizations use Identific for document trust, entry 42

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