Complementary realities: Public domain Internet measurements in the development of Canada’s universal access policies

Abstract

As access to the Internet has become increasingly essential for social and economic participation, public domain Internet measurements have become indispensable for users to validate quality of service their network operator delivers and for policymakers to identify and address gaps in broadband infrastructure. This article evaluates public domain Internet performance measurements available for assessing the state of connectivity and developing universal access service quality standards in Canada. The analysis suggests that different approaches to Internet measurement represent complementary windows into a complex and fast evolving reality of broadband connectivity. Despite their potential shortcomings, large-scale crowdsourced open data network testing platforms have a central role to play in enabling broadband infrastructure policy coordination across different levels of government, empowerment of consumers, and achievement of universal service objectives for quality of service users experience when accessing the open Internet.     

User values and the development of a cybersecurity public policy for the IoT

Public administrators, entrusted to develop public policy to manage the growing complexities of the IoT, face significant challenges. The challenges exist because of three reasons; First, there is a lack of policy direction. Second, user values related to cybersecurity are not well understood. Third, there is a lack of clarity as to how IoT public policy should be developed. In this paper we argue that new IoT policy should be guided by key stakeholder values (i.e. what users think to be important). We utilize the Public Value Forum to elicit public values to inform decision-making surrounding IoT policy by public administrators, conceptually informed by Rational choice theory. We use a five-phase process to introduce the decision context (i.e. the policy problem), define fundamental objectives, rank these objectives, identify value-based trade-offs between them and construct a multi-attribute utility model. The findings indicate several key themes for IoT security from the citizens themselves and decision-making administrators in diverse public agencies developing IoT cybersecurity public policy.     

The Dilemmas of External Earnings in Public Sector Scientific Research

Governments in a number of developed countries have repositioned their public research agencies to support economic objectives and to alleviate fiscal pressures. This has been accomplished through various strategies, including private-public partnerships and purchaser-provider arrangements. In the 1980s, the Australian Government introduced external earnings targets of up to 30% per annum for its public research agencies, as a means of strengthening their responsiveness to national economic needs. A case study of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization is presented in this article to discuss the impacts of the external earnings policy. Impacts on the type of research being undertaken by public research agencies, the quality of public research-industry relationships, the nature of scientists' work and the role of stakeholders are considered. A number of dilemmas are raised relating to the role of public scientific research.     

Who commercialises research at Swedish universities and why?

European universities have been increasingly pressured since the late 1990s to make a more visible contribution to economic development. This policy interest has produced an increasing focus on knowledge transfer generally, and more specifically on measures to promote a research culture which values patenting and firm formation. This paper presents results from an interview study of academic faculty views on knowledge transfer and commercialisation at five public universities in Sweden. Our results show that, despite the retention of inventor ownership at Swedish universities, there is a high degree of knowledge transfer of all kinds. The overriding driver of entrepreneurial behaviour among faculty appears to be the low level of direct funding for research in universities. We find that attitudes to firm formation vary from positive to ambivalent, and that faculty from the humanities and social sciences engage in a higher level of entrepreneurial and policy adaptive behaviour than they report. We conclude that faculty at Swedish universities perceive the role of public servant and entrepreneurial academic as conflicting. This perceived conflict may be one reason for reluctance to report instances of commercialisation of research.     

The ex ante assessment of knowledge spillovers: Government R&D policy, economic incentives and private firm behavior

This paper investigates the role of government R&D subsidy programs in stimulating knowledge spillovers. R&D subsidies are an effective public policy instrument when knowledge spillovers exist yet ex ante it is difficult to identify projects that have the greatest potential to increase innovation and economic growth. This paper derives a set of project and firm attributes that the literature finds generate knowledge spillovers and uses data on project proposals to estimate the degree to which a government R&D program conforms. We find that projects that were awarded R&D subsidies were more likely to have attributes such as participation in new research joint ventures and connections to universities and other firms. Following the post-award activities of firm, we find that receipt of a government R&D subsidy increased the funding from other sources when compared to firms that were not awarded funding.     

走向有效的公众参与科学——论科学传播“民主模型”的困境与知识分工的解决方案

科学传播中公众参与科学的民主模型是通过政治想象翻译成协商民主来实现的。过去二十年中,虽然公众参与科学无论在理论还是实践上都取得了巨大成就,但也面临着与公共政策中决策科学化与民主化相同的两难困境,使公众参与科学流于表面。这一困境产生的原因在于缺乏自我反省的体制化科学异化公众,进而导致在协商过程中科学家与公众政治地位不平等。实际上,科学家与公众拥有不同类型的知识,关注科学风险的不同维度。通过知识的劳动分工,公众负责决定目标,科学家负责实现目标,可以走向真正有效的公众参与科学。     

RESEARCH FUNDING IN AUSTRALIA: A VIEW FROM THE NORTH

This paper seeks to contribute to the continuing controversy in Australia on the best way to deploy that country's scientific and technological research and development (R & D) resources. It puts forward and discusses some policy options relating to the ‘restructuring’ of the Australian R&D system currently underway, for the consideration of the research community and those responsible for the research policies. In particular, the paper comments on how overall objectives and priorities for R&D can be set, the need for evaluations of the research and development that is conducted, the need to develop a dialogue between the public and the scientific community over the setting of research and development directions.     

科技创新政策体系框架研究

当前科技创新政策呈体系化发展,已逐渐成为独立的政策部类。研究提出科技创新政策体系框架并推动形成共识,是支撑政策研究和政策实践的理论基础,也是推动政策制定、交流、评价和实施的保障。本文基于理论分析和对比研究,在公共政策范畴中,围绕研发系统和技术经济系统厘清科技创新政策体系的范畴及与其他经济社会政策的关联;并探讨从政策分析、政策制定、政策执行、政策目标四视角提出了科技创新政策体系框架结构,（1）从政策分析视角,按照政策类型分为强制性政策、宏观战略和落地实施政策;（2）从政策制定视角,按照政策工具类型分为供给面、需求面和环境面政策;（3）从政策执行视角,按照创新主体类型分为政府、企业、公共研发机构等类型政策;（4）从政策目标视角,按照价值导向分为经济目标和社会目标导向政策。     

公共政策对企业创新支持的绩效——基于直接补贴与税收优惠的比较分析

政府公共政策是否促进了企业创新？公共政策和技术创新的研究领域一直不乏“促进论”和“抑制论”的争论。现有文献还缺乏系统研究对此进行甄别。本文认为,政府直接补贴和税收优惠对不同所有制类型企业的创新活动激励具有差异性,从而无法简单归入“促进论”或“抑制论”。本文以全国第一次经济普查的26326家规模以上内资企业、2970家港澳台投资企业以及3625家外资企业分析对象,通过地区层面和行业层面的实证分析得出了以下结论：（1）政府对内资企业研发活动的直接补贴政策显著提高了内资企业的研发强度。这支持了“促进论”的观点;（2）税收优惠政策对港澳台投资企业的创新活动增加有着较强的促进作用,这是“促进论”中成本效应发挥的重要结果;（3）港澳台和外商投资企业的研发强度与政府直接补贴呈现出显著的负相关关系,这意味着“抑制论”中挤出效应的作用机制使政府直接补贴对企业创新活动了负面作用。本文的政策含义是政府在实施促进企业自主创新活动的各项公共政策中,应该以对内外资企业都统一的公平的税收优惠为主而减少直接补贴的使用;在利用直接补贴对企业研发提供支持时,应以对内资企业补贴为主,减少港澳台和外资企业的直接补贴。     

县域宅基地退出的政策工具与实践比较

探索宅基地自愿有偿退出机制是深化宅基地制度改革、促进乡村全面振兴、优化城乡人地资源配置的重要举措。科学设定政策目标、合理配置政策工具是构建宅基地退出机制的关键内容。基于文本分析视角,以浙江义乌、湖北宜城、山东禹城、宁夏平罗4个宅基地制度改革试点地区为案例区,展开县域宅基地退出的政策工具与实践比较分析,并结合地方特色探究案例区宅基地退出政策的适应性,总结其特征规律。结果表明：①不同地区的政策工具选择差异较大,义乌市以供给型政策工具为主,禹城市、宜城市和平罗县以环境型政策工具为主。②各地政策目标存在差异,义乌以经济目标为主,兼顾社会目标并适当考虑生态目标;禹城和平罗以社会目标为主,兼顾经济目标;宜城主要关注社会目标。③各地宅基地退出不同实践模式中使用的主要政策工具与政策文本中使用的主要政策工具类型不完全一致,除义乌外,其他三地的主要政策工具在实践中均有变化;不同实践模式中的主要政策目标与政策文本中体现的主要政策目标均保持一致。④经济发展水平、地方财政实力、第一产业在经济发展中的重要程度、城镇化水平以及地域文化特色对宅基地退出政策工具和政策目标选择有较大影响。基于此,提出宅基地退出政策制定应考虑地方特色和现实需求科学设定宅基地退出政策工具,综合运用多种政策工具建立宅基地退出长效机制,依据宅基地功能价值论制定差异化的农民宅基地退出方案。     

Why would medical publishers not incorporate core bioethical values into their Ethics Guidelines?

It is quite universally acknowledged by bioethicists, at least in the western world, that respect for the patients’ autonomy, non-malevolence, beneficence, and justice (also called equity) are four core ethical values in medicine. The Ethics Guidelines of key journals in laboratory medicine are not explicit about the first three of these values, and even implicitly, they seem to miss values of justice. Health equity being one of the main objectives of public health policy across the world, we suggest that values of equity explicitly become part of the Ethics Guidelines of laboratory medicine journals. Biochemia Medica could show the way to other medical publishers by incorporating into its Ethics Guidelines these very important core bioethical values.     

Bottom-up estimation of industrial and public R&D investment by technology in support of policy-making: The case of selected low-carbon energy technologies

This paper discusses a bottom-up approach to estimate the level of R&D investment by technology in areas where data are scarce. It develops a four-step methodology for the estimation of corporate R&D investments at technology level. This approach can overcome gaps in existing data by combining publicly available information in a novel way, even though it introduces some uncertainty. This is illustrated for a set of low-carbon energy technologies that were identified as key for meeting Europe's long-term energy and climate objectives by the European Strategic Energy Technology Plan. The paper finds that the aggregated R&D investments dedicated to these technologies amounted to €3.3 billion in the EU in 2007, including public funding from European Union Member States and at EU-level, and industrial research activities from companies with headquarters registered in the EU. The results allow conclusions on the European energy research policy to be drawn, such as the dominance of industrial funds, and have provided significant input to the European policy making in this field. The paper ends with suggestions on how to further enhance the accuracy of the approach and how to widen its application to other sectors.     

中国吸引外资研发机构政策的多维量化分析

本文选取中国政府于2012-2019年颁布63份政策文本为研究对象,以创新活动最集中的北京、上海、深圳作为样本,构建政策主体、政策目标、政策对象及政策工具四维研究框架,以政策收集-政策分析-政策评估-政策优化为研究脉络,对中国吸引外资研发机构政策进行量化分析和文本挖掘。研究结果显示：政策扶持更加精准和全面,政策主体之间的关联性增强,机构合作更加广泛和深入;政策目标呈现多维性,重点在于获取创新资源和提升创新能力;政策对象上重视吸引独立企业研发主体,非独立企业研发实体等成为重要吸引对象;政策工具上使用环境类工具最多,供给类工具居次及需求类工具最少。尽管在政策主体、政策目标、政策对象和政策工具方面均存在差异,但随着政策演进逐渐呈现规范化和全面化的趋势。针对现行中国吸引外资研发机构政策弱点,笔者提出提升政策执行力、完善微观政策等建议。     

Public policy as information

Clearly, public policy-making is an activity that both generates and uses information. Both the role of public policy in relation to informational assets and the role of information technologies have been widely canvassed, But can the concept of information itself be used analytically to understand public policy-making? In pursuit of this objective, key theories of public policy are re-interpreted from an informational perspective using a process of reciprocal interrogation. From this analysis, three types of informational role are identified within the policy process: response, control and accountability; structured interaction; and meaning-making. In summary, it is argued that public policy enables collective responses to problems to be formulated and implemented through information transmission and signalling. Through institutional pattern-making, public policy structures and selects information flows. Finally, information forms the basis of meaning-making in public policy. As a result of this exploration, some suggestions are made as to how these concepts may be used to improve policy-making.     

Innovation in a federal state

As a country with a relatively small international reputation for manufacturing and, apparently, with an even smaller one for technology-based product and process innovation in manufacturing, Canada has a long way to go to develop its manufacturing and innovative activities to the stage reached by most European countries. Recently, however, a number of science and research policy studies have been made to examine problems associated with innovation in manufacturing. This present paper deals with two important elements associated with these studies, namely, the organization of the public sector in Canada and the roles and responsibilities of the public sector agencies with regard to the encouragement of technology-based innovation in manufacturing. As pointed out in the paper, the federal structure and the agencies within it may at present frustrate as well as encourage innovation. However, assuming that the appropriate policy objectives can be articulated and accepted, the removal of the principal public sector frustrations will be dependent upon better divisions of responsibility and labour between the three levels of government.     

Science policy: two views from two decades

Science policy, as the theme appears in Prometheus over the last 20 years, has been represented by discussions of industrial competitiveness. Many comparative articles have appeared under this theme, as well as evaluations of policies aimed at innovation. By the mid‐1980s, articles in Prometheus were tracing the emergence of the knowledge economy, with some of its associated issues. The issue of human resources for the knowledge economy has received scant attention, however, but Prometheus authors have discussed public participation in science policymaking and setting priorities. Finally, authors have noted and analyzed the closer management of Australian science to direct it toward economic ends. Overall, Prometheus has tracked the dominant themes of science policy in other OECD countries well, and also given space to issues that are less prominent but nonetheless important.     

标志景区溢出价值及定价模型实证诠释

标志景区又开始了新一轮的涨价,引起了公众、政府、旅游者、企业等多方的质疑与不满,但学术界又缺少标志景区定价的理论解释。因此,建立一个标志景区定价理论解释模型具有非常重要的现实意义。本文通过揭示旅游目的地景区属性特征及其价值,发现标志景区除具有景区一般价值外,还具有符号价值、特色社会价值、关联价值所构成的溢出价值,并由此建立了标志景区溢出价值-景区标准价值的定价模型。提出标志景区基于何种定价类型取决于模型中的溢出价值影响度,即溢出价值对标志景区定价的影响程度。溢出价值影响度(Φ)采用构建溢出价值量表与模糊数学等方法求出,当Φ1,采用纯公共品定价模型;当Φ1,采用准公共品定价模型;当Φ=0,采用一般景区定价模型。选取广州塔、白云山两个标志景区进行检验,广州塔价格偏高,偏离了溢出价值反映价格的理论基础,白云山风景区的价格相对合理。     

Non-technological regulatory effects: Implications for innovation and innovation policy

This paper considers the link between public policy and innovation and contributes to the notion that public policies that do not directly address innovation carry along important implications for it. It explores the role of regulation for innovation and innovation policy by emphasizing the importance of non-technological regulatory effects for innovation and their potential as an input for innovation policy. The output of in depth interviews with stakeholders from the detergents industry is combined with various sources of secondary data and reveals a variety of non-technological novelties attributed to regulation that are relevant to innovation. These results are then matched against the objectives of innovation policy, an exercise that gives better insights on the policy links between regulation and innovation policy and concludes on the domains of complementarities between the two. We find that that regulatory policy can contribute to the achievement of targets set by innovation policy while innovation policy measures can facilitate the compensation of negative regulatory implications for innovation.     

科技评价是否有效促进了区域科技创新？——基于政策驱动的视角

当前,科技创新能力提升和科技创新高质量发展成为时代主题,科技评价政策引导科技创新高质量发展的“指挥棒”作用日益突显。本文通过搜集2006—2018年各省市的科技评价政策文件,在优化科技评价政策量化量表的基础上,分别从政策力度、政策目标和政策措施三个层次对政策文本进行量化分析。研究发现：我国科技评价政策总体上呈现“起步晚发展快”的特点,政策目标主题向创新人才培育、区域创新扶持与知识产权保护转变,同时,科技评价政策的作用机理呈现“非线性”特征,政策目标的作用方向正由“数量制胜”向“质量取胜”转变。从科技评价政策与区域科技创新能力发展的关系看,科技评价政策虽然在一定程度上促进了科技创新能力的发展,但是其直接政策效力明显薄弱;科技评价政策的多重目标导致政策的协同效应不足,同时,政策目标与政策实施之间的不协调也削弱了政策效力,导致其“指挥棒”作用仍然有限。     

生态产品价值实现地方经验上升为国家政策的机制分析——浙江丽水案例

【目的】地方经验上升为国家政策是中国公共政策研究的重要议题,现有研究主要关注经济政策与社会政策的上升与扩散,缺乏对多重属性政策创新扩散完整过程的考察。【方法】基于政策创新扩散视角,聚焦兼具经济社会双重政策属性的生态产品价值实现政策,尝试构建此类政策创新扩散的分析框架,深入考察中国首个生态产品价值实现机制试点城市浙江丽水地方经验创新扩散的完整过程,以厘清生态产品价值实现地方经验上升为国家政策的动态机制。【结果】研究发现：①经济社会双重属性的存在为生态产品价值实现政策的创新扩散营造合规空间,从而在中央与地方的双向推动下呈现特殊创新扩散机理。②生态产品价值实现地方创新受经济社会发展需求、政策企业家、自然资源禀赋的内部推动及政策网络中纵向环境与横向经验的外部形塑。③生态产品价值实现地方经验的上升表现为螺旋上升机制,正式科层制度与半结构化制度捷径是内嵌于这一机制的两大核心架构。【结论】基于此,在未来生态产品价值实现地方经验的创新扩散中应充分发挥政策企业家作用,因地制宜把握并创造政策网络中横向、纵向交流机会,并争取正式科层制的支撑,从而实现降低改革成本,推动生态文明建设的目标。