Public Expenditure Reviews in Science, Technology, and Innovation : A Guidance Note

The purpose of this Guidance Note is to help countries to assess the quality of public spending on  science, technology, and innovation (STI). It adopts a results-oriented framework, combining the consolidation of STI expenditures with the analysis of their main outputs, intermediate outcomes, and developmental impact. The framework proposes the analysis of three main sources of deficiencies: (i) program design/implementation; (ii) institutional conditions; and the (iii) composition and level of public expenditure. The main product of this exercise is an integrated set of actionable measures combining institutional reforms with changes in the policy mix (the composition and level of public spending) and strategic investments. This note is one of a larger set of products—including policy notes, firm-level surveys, and a joint global platform with the OECD (the Innovation Policy Platform)— developed by the World Bank Group to meet the demands of our client countries in this field of innovation policy.