TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE

BIAC COMMITTEE UPDATE
TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE
January – August 2013
ABOUT BIAC
Committee Leadership
The Business and Industry Advisory
Committee to the OECD (BIAC) was
constituted in March 1962 as an
independent
organization
officially
recognized by the OECD as being
representative of business and industry.
BIAC’s members include the industrial and
employers’ organizations in the OECD
Member countries as well as several
observers and associate expert group
members.
CHAIR:
Richard A. Johnson, Arnold & Porter (United
States)
VICE CHAIRS:
Katsumi Emura, NEC Corporation (Japan)
Ayşegül İldeniz, Intel Corporation (Turkey)
Roland Sommer, AVL (Austria)
Karel Sperlink, Confederation of Industry of
the Czech Republic (Czech Republic)
In the framework of its consultative status
with the OECD, BIAC’s role is to keep the
OECD informed of the private sector’s
response to different policy options. BIAC
offers business and industry an excellent
opportunity
to
participate
in
intergovernmental discussions on policy issues,
thus giving the business community a
chance to shape the development of longterm policies in OECD countries.
BIAC SECRETARIAT
For further information, please contact:
This report provides an update on selected
activities of the BIAC Technology Committee
and related projects during the first half of
2013, and gives an overview of future BIAC
and OECD events that are of interest to our
members.

Tabea Kölbel
Policy Manager
[email protected]

Nathalie Mazier
Assistant
[email protected]
Phone: +33 1 42 30 09 60
Visit our website www.biac.org
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reports. The aim is to have a public launch of
the IPP at the upcoming Global Forum for the
Knowledge Economy in October 2013. BIAC
has been invited to give feedback on the IPP
via a user survey, the results of which will
feed into further development of the site
during August–September 2013.
In-Depth Evaluation of the CSTP
In response to a request made by the OECD
Committee on Scientific and Technology
Policy (CSTP) at its meeting on 26-27 March
2013, the OECD Secretariat developed a
draft Action Plan in Response to the
Recommendations of the In-Depth Evaluation
of the CSTP.
Revision of the Frascati Manual
The draft Action Plan includes: incremental
improvements to the operation of the CSTP
and its subsidiary bodies, which were
approved by the CSTP at its meeting in
March; further details of the scenario for
structural change that was the preferred
option of the large majority of CSTP
Delegates; draft mandates for the CSTP
bodies affected by the proposed structural
changes (and the existing mandates of those
not directly affected); and details of next
steps in terms of the preparation of new and
revised mandates and consideration of
projects for inclusion in the 2015-16 PWB.
Since its first edition in 1963, the Frascati
Manual has served as one of OECD’s most
translated and influential publications and a
reference document for anyone with an
interest in research and development (R&D).
By
providing
internationally
accepted
definitions of R&D and classifications of its
component activities, the Manual contributes
to intergovernmental discussions on best
practices for science and technology policies.
It represents the collective work of national
experts, produced under the aegis of the
OECD Working Party of National Experts on
Science and Technology Indicators (NESTI).
NESTI is undertaking a public consultation
with a view to revising the manual for
publication in 2015 and welcomes responses
by 1 September 2013. Find out more at
oe.cd/frascati-rev.
BIAC was invited to comment on the draft
Action Plan and submitted comments in June
2013, recommending the OECD to maintain
and strengthen its role in the global bio
economy as well as nanotechnology, keeping
momentum, visibility and identity of key
OECD activities in this area.
Innovation for Alzheimer’s and Dementia
A revised draft Action Plan will be presented
and discussed at the next CSTP meeting on
17-18 October 2013.
An expert consultation in Oxford, UK, on 2021 June 2013 stimulated discussion at the
highest possible level of expert engagement
in setting out an agenda for OECD action to
accelerate innovation for Alzheimer’s disease
and dementia. Country experts, policy
makers and other stakeholders shared views
on the main scientific, technological and
policy challenges Alzheimer’s and dementia
raise and discussed how to develop concrete
ideas for OECD action. Several BIAC
members participated in the meeting.
Innovation Policy Platform
The Innovation Policy Platform (IPP) is a joint
OECD-World Bank project that aims to collect
existing OECD, World Bank and national
materials and to transform them into webbased ‘strategic intelligence’ for policymaking and analysis. Building the IPP
involves ordering, synthesising, and linking
together these materials, which include the
OECD’s and World Bank’s extensive
statistical resources and existing published
The consultation was born out of the
September
2012
OECD
workshop,
“Anticipating the Special Needs of the 21st
Century Silver Economy: From Smart
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Technologies to Services Innovation”, cohosted by the Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation, OECD and Waseda University,
with the support of the Japanese
government. The workshop had concluded
that innovation was needed to meet the
challenges and opportunities of global
demographic change and mitigate the health,
social and economic impacts of aging. For
more information see oe.cd/innovatingagainst-alzheimers
options, understand the new dynamics of
world trade, identify new opportunities, and
devise approaches to negotiations that can
lead to a new era of trade and investment
liberalisation.
On 29 May 2013, several BIAC members
participated in a stocktaking seminar on
Global Value Chains (GVCs) organised jointly
by the Russian G20 Presidency and the
OECD covered a range of issues, including
input from the OECD-WTO Trade in ValueAdded database (TiVA). It discussed the
implications for global trade, development,
investment and employment policy GVCs.
BIAC is closely following and actively
contributing to the work on Alzheimer’s and
dementia carried out by the OECD ICCP
Committee, the OECD Working Party on
Biotechnology and the OECD Health
Committee.
At the OECD Meeting at Ministerial Level
(MCM) in Paris on 29-30 May 2013, Ministers
welcomed the OECD’s work on GVCs and on
measuring Trade in Value Added terms and
recognised GVCs as a powerful driver of
growth and productivity and support for job
creation. They also called on the OECD for
further analysis of the relationship between
GVCs and jobs and income, as well as of
how to make GVCs accessible to all. BIAC
will continue to contribute to the OECD’s work
on GVCs.
Creating Markets from Research Results
On 6-7 May 2013, a conference on Creating
Markets from Research Results – jointly
organised by the OECD, the European Patent
Office and the Technische Universität
München – focused on how to better exploit
scientific knowledge by fostering solid
management of intellectual property (IP) in
universities,
and
on
strengthening
collaboration
between
academia
and
industry. Around 300 senior representatives
of industry, academia and government
gathered to examine how to create markets
out of research results. BIAC was
represented by BIAC Technology Committee
Chair Richard A. Johnson, who spoke on a
panel on “Industry-science collaboration”.
Systems Innovation
In December 2012, the OECD Working Party
on Innovation and Technology Policy (TIP)
launched a new activity on Systems
Innovation as part of its 2013-2014 Work
Programme.
The first meeting of the TIP Steering Group
on Systems Innovation (SYMINNO) took
place on 28 March 2013. BIAC is represented
in the Steering Group by BIAC Technology
Committee Vice Chair Roland Sommer.
Global Value Chains
Global Value Chains (GVCs) have been
driving global integration in the past decades
and boosting cross-border trade and
investment to unprecedented levels. The
OECD’s analysis on GVCs brings to light the
costs of any protectionist measures taken by
governments. BIAC sees a clear opportunity
for the OECD, through this fact-based
analysis, to help policymakers assess the
The first phase of the project focused on
developing a conceptual framework on
system innovation to help policy makers rethink innovation policies in the context of
green growth. The second phase of the
project was launched at the June 2013 TIP
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meeting. It will aim to test and validate some
of the findings from the conceptual work
through case studies on governance of
transition management or system innovation
in large technological systems.
At the June 2013 TIP meeting, the OECD
Secretariat proposed that the work will be
carried out over the next 18 months be
structured into three main areas: 1) Economic
impacts as well as the interaction of IPRs with
open access policies, the impact of
technologies such as text and data mining
and publishing practices. 2) Policies and
platforms
for
open
data,
including
infrastructure initiatives, especially with a
focus on interoperability of systems for
metadata and the development of commons
standards for data archiving and sharing as
well as policies to encourage a “culture” of
open data among scientists, companies and
public research institutions. 3) Analysis of
policy implications.
Public-Private Partnerships for Science
and Technology
The rise in Public-Private Partnerships
(P/PPs) in STI is driven by a range of factors
such as budgetary constraints, new public
management ethos, and the fact that
innovation has increasingly become a cooperative and networked based activity.
Business R&D strategists are pursuing open
innovation, collaborating with universities and
government labs. Policy makers increasingly
rely on P/PPs as an instrument of innovation
policy. While there is a wide variety in the
form and nature of P/PPs in the area of STI,
the lack of a clear comprehensive framework
for the design and implementation of P/PPs in
the area of STI is often an obstacle to policy
makers and business partners alike.
BIAC is following this project closely through
active engagement in the Steering Group on
Open Science.
New Sources of Growth: Knowledge
Based Capital
Investment and growth in OECD economies
is increasingly driven by intangible or
knowledge-based capital (KBC). In many
OECD countries, firms now invest as much or
more in KBC as they do in physical capital
such as machinery, equipment and buildings.
This shift reflects a variety of long-term
economic and institutional transformations in
OECD economies.
The methodology of the new project on
P/PPs consists of: 1) analytical research and
a review of the literature; 2) economic
analysis of the effectiveness of P/PPs in STI
using evaluations and available indicators
and a policy questionnaire; and; 3) case
studies of recent or new P/PPs in STI.
A progress report will be given to the CSTP in
October 2013. The final report planned to be
finalised in December 2014.
During the 13-14 February 2013 OECD
Conference on Growth, Innovation and
Competitiveness - Maximising the Benefits of
Knowledge-Based Capital, BIAC Technology
Committee Chair Richard A. Johnson
moderated a session on "KBC and the
Creation of Value by Business". During the
session, business panellists from different
industries and backgrounds described how
KBC – including data, software, R&D, design
and branding – are affecting business
models, practices and value creation today.
Other sessions of the conference focused on
tax, competition, corporate governance,
global value chains and IPR. The results from
Open Science
Following the discussions on the OECD
project on Open Science at the December
2012 TIP meeting, two main axes of work
were selected for further research because of
their direct policy implications, namely: 1) the
impact of open access policies on research
and innovation and 2) lessons from open data
platforms.
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the conference were fed into the final OECD
report on KBC, which was presented to
Ministers at the OECD Meeting at Ministerial
Level (MCM) in Paris on 29-30 May 2013.
BIAC has provided input and comments in
several occasions. Ministers at the 2013
MCM welcomed the OECD’s analysis and
advice in the field of new innovative sources
of growth, notably KBC. The final KBC
synthesis report, which was presented to
Ministers in May 2013, is available here.
of nanotechnology research. BIAC members
continued to contribute to the project on tyres
and nanotechnology, which was launched at
the initiative of the tyres industry through
BIAC and will be finalised next year. As
through the use of nanotechnology tyres can
become lighter and more fuel-efficient, the
project will provide concrete and practical
input to the OECD’s broader work on green
growth.
Biotechnology
Nanotechnology
The BIAC Biotechnology Committee has
continued its active participation in the
activities of the OECD Working Party on
Biotechnology (WPB), which works under the
auspices of the OECD Committee on
Scientific and Technological Policy (CSTP).
Nanotechnology has enormous potential for
helping to address many of the global
challenges of the 21st century. Its current
rapid development should therefore be
actively encouraged. The OECD is at the
forefront of international efforts to improve
global understanding of the responsible
development of nanotechnology and has
established itself as a leading organization in
this area.
The work of the WPB aims to promote
research and research co-operation and to
encourage the development, application and
diffusion of innovative products, technologies,
infrastructure and services which will
contribute to sustainable economic growth
and
development,
environmental
sustainability and human welfare. The
Working Party will advise on how research
and innovation in the biosciences can
contribute to addressing global challenges
such as environmental protection; climate
change; food, water and energy supply and
security; and animal and human health
globally.
The BIAC Nanotechnology Committee has
continued its active participation in the
activities of the OECD Working Party on
Nanotechnology (WPN), which works under
the auspices of the OECD Committee on
Scientific and Technological Policy (CSTP).
The objective of the WPN is to advise on
emerging policy-relevant issues in science,
technology and innovation related to the
responsible development and use of
nanotechnology. The activities of the Working
Party complement the work of the OECD
Chemicals Committee Working Party on
Manufactured Nanomaterials (WPMN) which
focuses on international co-operation in
health-related and environmental safetyrelated
aspects
of
manufactured
nanomaterials.
The WPB is currently working on the role and
impact of S&T policies on biobased
chemicals and bioplastics, the impact of
synthetic biology on the bioeconomy, healthy
ageing and biomedicine and innovation in the
health sector, and supporting the sustainable
development of marine biotechnology.
Over the last few months, BIAC has
continued its active involvement in activities
of the WPN, including in the areas of
nanotechnology for green growth, update on
indicators and statistics, and the STI
landscape supporting the commercialization
BIAC is represented in several WPB Steering
Groups and in the Task Force on Industrial
Biotechnology (TFIB), which usually meets
back-to-back with the WPB.
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BIAC Strategic Vision on Technology and
Innovation
UPCOMING EVENTS IN 2013
Please note that this is a provisional list and
that some dates may be subject to change.
In light of the rapidly changing innovation
landscape, BIAC encourages a forwardlooking agenda for the OECD’s programme of
work and longer-term strategic vision. To
support this, it is planned to update the BIAC
vision paper. In addition, the BIAC Secretariat
is working to further reinforce the links to
other BIAC policy groups, such as ICCP,
biotechnology, nanotechnology, health, green
growth, recognizing that addressing major
global challenges requires cooperation and
cross-disciplinary work. The current version
of the BIAC strategic vision paper on
innovation and technology is available here.
19-20 September: BIAC Nanotechnology
Committee Meeting (Washington, DC, USA)
14 October: OECD Working Party on
Research
Institutions
and
Human
Resources (RIHR)
17-18 October: OECD Committee for
Scientific and Technological Policy (CSTP)
21-23 October: OECD Working Party on
Industry Analysis (WPIA), including a joint
CIIE/WPIA workshop on “Understanding
productivity growth – New insights, new
questions”
New OECD STI Deputy Director
22-23 October: OECD Global Forum on the
Knowledge Economy (Istanbul, Turkey)
Mr. Dirk Pilat, a Dutch national, was
appointed Deputy-Director of the Directorate
for Science, Technology and Industry (DSTI).
As Deputy Director, Mr. Pilat will support the
Director of STI in pursuing the Directorate’s
programme of work and contributing to the
achievement of the strategic goals of the
Organisation as defined by the SecretaryGeneral.
24-25 October: OECD Committee on
Industry, Innovation and Entrepreneurship
(CIIE)
24-25 October: OECD 29th Global Science
Forum, Tokyo (Japan)
4-6 November: OECD Working Party on
Biotechnology
11-13
December:
OECD
Thematic
Workshop and Working Party on Innovation
and Technology (TIP)
SELECTED OECD PUBLICATIONS
Main Science and Technology Indicators
2013/1
on Gross Expenditures on R&D (GERD)
confirm that the modest recovery initiated in
2010 continued into 2011. For the whole
OECD area, total R&D expenditures grew in
real terms by 1.3% in 2010, mainly driven
by the higher education and government
sectors, while business R&D only increased
by 0.6%. OECD estimates indicate an
overall real growth rate for GERD of 2.1% in
This biannual publication provides a set of
indicators on the level and structure of the
efforts of OECD members and seven
partner economies in the field of science
and technology. The latest OECD estimates
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individuals was sustained through 2009.
Job mobility patterns differ markedly across
countries, with more frequent mobility
among doctorates not working in research.
International mobility and migration of
doctoral graduates have kept increasing
over the decade. Click here.
2011 driven by a gradual recovery in
business R&D (2.8%) and sustained growth
in research in the higher education sector
(2.5%), despite a reduction in government
R&D (-1.2%). Please find further information
on
the
MSTI
webpage,
including
instructions for accessing the data. The
related database is available on the OECD
iLibrary.
Measuring Patent Quality: Indicators of
Technological and Economic Value
Nanotechnology for Green Innovation
This working paper contributes to the
definition and measurement of patent
quality by proposing a wide array of
indicators to capture the technological and
economic value of patented inventions and
their possible impact on subsequent
technological developments. The detailed
dataset, as well as the program codes to
compile the indicators, are now publicly
available. Click here.
This paper brings together information
collected through Working Party on
Nanotechnology discussions and projects. It
relies in particular on preliminary results
from a project on the responsible
development of nanotechnology and
outcomes of a symposium held in 2012.
Emerging Trends in Biomedicine and Health
Technology Innovation: Addressing the
Global Challenge of Alzheimer's
New Sources of Growth: Knowledge-Based
Capital: Key Analyses and Policy
Conclusions
The economic and social impact of chronic
brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s and
other neurodegenerative diseases will
become the #1 public health problem
worldwide by 2050, directly affecting 100
million people. Ongoing demographic
trends, namely ageing populations, are
leading to the unprecedented expansion of
consumer demand for healthcare services,
which will confront a serious crisis in a
climate of shrinking resources. Click here.
This synthesis report aims to provide
evidence of the economic value of
knowledge-based capital (data, software,
new business models, design, etc.) as a
new source of growth and to improve
understanding of current and emerging
policy challenges. Click here.
Interconnected economies: Benefiting from
global value chains
Careers of Doctorate Holders: Analysis of
Labour Market and Mobility Indicators (STI
Working Paper)
International
production,
trade
and
investments are increasingly organised
across countries via global value chains
(GVCs). A new OECD book and its
Synthesis report examine the policy areas
related to the rise of global value chains.
They are accompanied by 40 data-driven
country notes covering: participation in
GVCs; distribution of value-added; export
shares in GVCs; and competitiveness in
manufacturing and services.
This paper analyses the labour market and
mobility indicators generated by the second
large-scale data collection on Careers of
Doctorate Holders, a joint project by the
OECD, UNESCO Institute for Statistics and
Eurostat. Doctoral degrees being awarded
across the OECD have increased steadily
and the labour market premium of doctorate
holders relative to other highly qualified
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Stimulating Economic Growth through
Knowledge-Based Investment
Exploring Data-Driven Innovation as a New
Source of Growth
Recent studies have shown that knowledgebased capital (KBC) is an important source
of economic growth in many of the world’s
advanced economies — much more so than
R&D alone — and is positively correlated
with real GDP per capita in a cross-section
of these economies. While literature is still
in its infancy and there is, as yet, no
systematic discussion of KBC policy, this
working paper attempts to start filling the
gap. Click here.
Data continues to be a valuable asset for
stimulating innovation and productivity. This
report explores the potential of data and
data analytics to contribute to economic
growth and well-being in sectors such as
online advertisement, health care, utilities,
logistics
and
transport
and
public
administration. It identifies areas where
coherent public policies and practices for
data collection, transport, storage, provision
and use are needed to unlock the potential
of big data. Click here.
Regulatory Frameworks for Nanotechnology
in Foods and Medical Products: Summary
Results of a Survey Activity
Biotechnology for the Environment in the
Future
As nanotechnology develops, governments
are developing regulatory approaches for
the use of nanotechnology in foods and
medical products. This policy paper
explores governments’ efforts to support the
responsible use of nanotechnology. Click
here.
This report examines policy developments
in
environmental
biotechnology
and
industrial
biotechnology.
Policies
in
environmental biotechnology focus on
landfill taxation and risk assessment,
whereas policies in industrial biotechnology
include the emerging fields of biofuels,
biobased chemicals and bioplastics. Click
here.
OECD Review of Innovation Policy in
Southeast Asia
Beyond Industrial Policy: Emerging Issues
and New Trends
The Southeast Asian region is one of the
most dynamic in the world. A better
understanding of its science and technology
(S&T) capabilities helps countries to ‘move
up the value chain’ and enhances mutually
beneficial
co-operation
with
OECD
economies.
This
book
provides
a
quantitative and qualitative assessment of
Southeast Asian countries’ capacity in S&T
and innovation. Click here.
This report proposes a new typology of
industrial policy to parallel the evolution of
policy interventions. These have moved
from
product
market
interventions
(production subsidies, state ownership, tariff
protection),
through
market
failurecorrecting taxes and subsidies (R&D
incentives, training subsidies, investment
allowances, access to finance) to a new
focus on interventions that help build
systems,
create
networks,
develop
institutions and align strategic priorities.
Click here.
Knowledge-based Start-ups in Mexico
This report evaluates the performance of
the knowledge-based sector in Mexico and
recommends ways to improve the financing,
creation and expansion of innovative
knowledge-based start-ups. Click here.
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