Economic Footprint of a Large French Research and Technology Organisation in Europe: Deciphering a Simplified Model and Appraising the Results

Europe has seen the importance of Research and Technology Organisations (RTOs) grow in recent years. This is hardly surprising given that their main mission is to harness science and technology to foster innovation that can improve the quality of life and boost economic competitiveness. In the current economic context, it is key to demonstrate the positive impact of their activities on the economy and society, i.e. spin-offs, considering that they receive public subsidies. Accordingly, the European Association of Research and Technology Organisations (EARTO) published a report in March 2018 that details the economic footprint of 9 of its members, which includes the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA). This French organisation, whose budget represents 60% of the total budget from all 9 RTOs, was the subject of a separate calculation in the framework of the research carried out for the paper: data was provided by the CEA and simulation was performed on the basis of the model provided by IDEA Consult. This article deals with the provision of empirical results about the CEA and makes a comparison with the results obtained for the 9 RTOs using the same methodology. This case study highlights information that can be used to provide a more accurate assessment of the CEA’s economic impact based on its specificities compared with its European counterparts. In addition to estimating the economic spin-offs of technology transfers, it is equally important to take into account value creation associated with the procurement of high technology—the impact of “big science”—which is substantial in the CEA’s defence sector and undervalued in the economic model used by IDEA Consult. Thanks to a literature review summarising the advantages and limitations of the different impact assessment approaches and thanks to interviews at CEA management level—that helped us to better understand the impact-generating mechanisms—the paper opens new avenues of research to improve the methodology for measuring the impact of research organisations that are very diverse in their duties. The new methodology proposed takes into account the spillovers of their activities, as well as offering useful approaches for governments and the European Commission. More specifically, it proposes to apply the same methodology—in the opposite direction—to measure the spin-offs of the contract research activities (with a multiplier as in the methodology used by IDEA Consult) and to estimate the science market characterised by very specific calls for tender that generate innovation. Using the same model, we therefore propose to couple an estimate of the footprint of jobs and standard purchases, with an estimate of the spin-offs linked to both technology transfers (RTO to industry) and to high-tech purchases (industry to RTO).