EU Research and Innovation Policies as Factors of Convergence or Divergence after the Crisis

The 2008 global financial and economic crisis has disturbed the evolution of research and innovation (R&I) policies in Europe and it continues to have significant consequences. This article reviews the evolution of and changes in R&I policy funding and measures before and in the aftermath of the crisis, and analyses reactions in three groups: Southern, Central-Eastern, and Northwest European country groups. Based on the analysis of the Erawatch-TrendChart Inventory, we show that the crisis induced three different responses. In Northwest Europe, it induced further support for R&I activities; in Southern Europe it led to the collapse of national public support and its substitution only to some extent by EU Structural Funds; and in Central-Eastern Europe to an apparently much stronger compensation effect. Overall, these trends suggest that R&I policies have operated as a factor of further divergence between Northwest and South, and as potential factor of convergence between Northwest and Central-East