Strategic policy intelligence and management tools

Many regional and private decision-makers still hesitate to make significant investments in research, development and innovation (RTDI), either due to insufficient decision basis or too high uncertainty. As a result, those investments are, on average considerably lower than in the US, one reason for Europe's lower 'income' (GDP per capita). In order to address this deficiency, one focus of the activities of SEZ is to support a better application of strategic policy intelligence and management tools (SPI tools).

Strategic Intelligence can be defined as “the set of actions to search, process, diffuse and protect information in order to make it available to the right person at the right time in order to make the right decision” (IPTS). SPI tools are used to provide decision-makers with comprehensive, objective, politically unbiased and, most importantly, forward-looking information (e.g. on long-term developments, global trends, opportunities and threats, drivers of change, success factors, own (dis)advantages compared to competitors, etc). Their effective use yields more efficient and effective strategies for a range of policy fields.

As regards the remit of SEZ, the most relevant SPI tools are technology or regional foresight, technology assessment, technology watch, good practice analysis and evaluation, innovation audits, roadmapping and benchmarking. Their tailored and integrated use has the objective to contribute to a more successful design and implementation of RTDI policies, programmes and investments.

The strength of the application of SPI tools derives from:

• Participation: the SPI methodology invites the participation of all stakeholders involved in the decision-making process or affected by its outcomes;
• Evidence-base: SPI makes policy-making more objective through the integration of empirical data and rigorous analyses;
• Mediation and alignment: the SPI methodology generates mutual learning and understanding among the stakeholders and facilitates consensus-building;
• Decision support: If appropriately applied, SPI tools not only facilitate decision-making but generate also the commitment to the implementation of the decisions taken.

A variety of techniques - developed to collect, structure and assess information, to develop solutions, and design options for action - can be used to address the range of objectives and requirements of an SPI exercise. These include scenario workshops, expert panels, creativity techniques, and SWOT and STEEPV analyses.

Often, SPI exercises have been instigated by identifiable “trigger events” such as a landmark policy support framework, a change of government, or the stimulus of a pivotal seminar or report. Current best practice suggests that those exercises can gain in efficacy and efficiency if carried out on a more continuous and integrated basis and synchronised with major policy cycles. Applied consecutively along several stages of the decision-making process, SPI tools can provide indispensable input for vision and strategy development, for agenda development and implementation, for process monitoring, for evaluating and benchmarking the results, and for tailored feedback to encourage learning and upgrading of policies. A fictive case study of the Ruritania region, which was developed in the framework of the RegStrat project provides insights on how this can be practically realised at the regional level.