Resources on Innovation

For perhaps obvious reasons I have been getting a lot of requests lately for information on innovation and researcher productivity. On the assumption that everyone who emails me reads this blog, below is my best stab at a snap-shot of very useful resources

The Sigma Xi postdoc study in the states is one of the largest studies to data on postdoc careers, matching and related issues. Publications, surveys and so on are available on the site below.

http://postdoc.sigmaxi.org/

The australian innovation report is below – this is a really strong set of documents with lots of relevance to the Irish case

http://www.innovation.gov.au/innovationreview/Pages/home.aspx

Pre-publication drafts of the Mirlees review papers are available below – includes chapters on taxation and innovation

http://www.ifs.org.uk/mirrleesreview/publications.php

British Skills Document Below – includes substantial information on skills training that these guys are rolling out

http://www.hmg.gov.uk/media/9102/NewOpportunities.pdf

The website of the Irish study examining students and researchers is below

http://geary.ucd.ie/ius

Really useful site on the UK Department of Innovation Universities and Skills Webpage

http://www.dius.gov.uk/policy/he-debate.html

Worth looking at, among other things, the governments report on research careers

http://www.dius.gov.uk/policy/documents/Nigel%20Thrift%20contribution%20to%20HE%20Debate.pdf

The research careers ireland website is also worth looking at.

http://www.researchcareersireland.com/Default.aspx

The recently released “Ireland’s Smart Economy” Document is below

http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/index.asp?locID=231&docID=4147

The Expert Group on Future Skills Needs is below. They have things up there such as the National Skills study

http://www.skillsireland.ie/

When I get time I will do a brief memo on the information resources available through CSO, IDA, Forfas and so on. The website below is worth a look

http://www.statcentral.ie/

The US Survey of Doctorate Recipients (SDR) gathers information from individuals who have obtained a doctoral degree in a science, engineering or health field. The SDR is conducted every 2 years and is a longitudinal survey that follows recipients of research doctorates from U.S. institutions until age 76. Data from this survey are available on the SRS Web site and on the SESTAT Web site. Several papers have been written with this data including the one linked below.

http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/srvydoctoratework/

http://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/12693.html

The US Survey of Earned Doctorates, which began in 1957-58, is a census of all individuals receiving a research doctorate from a U.S. institution.

http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/srvydoctorates/

J Scott Long has some good work on research careers and productivity

http://www.indiana.edu/~jslsoc/research_science.htm

The Cornell Higher Education Research Institute contains links to good working papers

http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/CHERI/

For those interested in causal evaluation of job programmes, training programmes and so on, see the recent economist article “International Bright Young Things” which places causal field experiments informed by behavioural economics at the heart of the future of economics

http://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12851150

Esther Duflo is one the leaders in this field. Examples of her experimental work is linked below. This should be studied closely by anyone who is setting up recovery initiatives if they really want to be sure that they are having an effect

http://ideas.repec.org/a/tpr/qjecon/v122y2007i3p1235-1264.html

http://ideas.repec.org/a/tpr/qjecon/v118y2003i3p815-842.html

http://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberte/0333.html