Evaluating governmental support to automotive research and development (R&D): a Swedish case

One objective of evaluating governmental R&D investments is to learn from the past and improve future activities. This paper discusses R&D evaluation methods using empirical data covering more than 15 years of publicly (co-)funded automotive R&D in Sweden, with a particular focus on public-private R&D partnerships. One contribution of the paper is that it illustrates the need to add a systemic level to the programme and project level in traditional R&D evaluation methods. Further, it argues for diversity in public R&D funding in terms of instruments used and in the selection of actors, activities and technologies to be sponsored. This diversity is threatened in the Swedish automotive context, as the public-private R&D partnership programmes (which give priorities to the industrial actors in the agreement) appear to crowd out other types of public R&D investments.