https://jstp.nrisp.ac.ir/ Journal of Science and Technology Policy en daily 1 Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0330 Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0330 https://jstp.nrisp.ac.ir/article_14163.html A reflection on the role of non-technological and cognitive drivers in innovative flows https://jstp.nrisp.ac.ir/article_14164.html Over the past three decades, the policy lab has emerged as a novel approach in public policy, signaling paradigm-like shift in the ontological, epistemological, and methodological foundations of policymaking. The core question of this article is to explicate the epistemic and methodological logic of policy labs and to examine their theoretical contribution to the transition from linear policymaking toward adaptive and learning-oriented governance under conditions of social complexity. Ontologically, policy labs draw on critical realism and a layered understanding of social reality in which hidden, multi-level causal mechanisms shape actors’ behavior and policy outcomes. Epistemologically, they rely on Retroduction and innovation, treating data as indicators of underlying generative mechanisms rather than endpoints of knowledge. Methodologically, policy labs integrate system dynamics modelling, agent-based simulation, network analysis, and causal evaluation to test and refine policy options prior to wider implementation. The analytical findings suggest that policy labs can overcome the limitations of the three dominant traditions—positivism, interpretivism, and pragmatism—and enable the establishment of adaptive and learning governance. The article concludes that institutionalizing such a paradigm requires a robust theoretical foundation, data-driven infrastructures, and trust-building institutional arrangements—an imperative that becomes even more critical for countries like Iran with high levels of social complexity. https://jstp.nrisp.ac.ir/article_14165.html This research examines the relationship between internal and external research and development (R&D) activities and their combined effects on innovation and productivity across various industrial sectors in Iran. Drawing on data from Iranian manufacturing firms operating in four distinct sectors—science-based, scale-intensive, specialized suppliers, and supplier-dominated industries—the study provides a nuanced understanding of how the configuration of R&D strategies shapes innovation outcomes. The empirical findings indicate that internal R&D exerts a positive and statistically significant influence on external R&D engagement, suggesting that stronger in-house research capabilities enhance firms’ absorptive capacity and ability to collaborate with external knowledge sources. This complementary relationship is particularly pronounced in science-based sectors, where technological complexity and knowledge intensity are high. The joint impact of internal and external R&D on innovation varies across sectors. In science-based and specialized supplier industries, the two forms of R&D complement each other, producing synergistic effects that enhance innovative performance. Conversely, in scale-intensive sectors, a substitutive relationship emerges, implying that external R&D may partly replace internal efforts. Moreover, product innovation is found to have a significant and positive impact on firm productivity, acting as a key mediating channel through which R&D investments translate into improved economic performance. The results emphasize the importance of targeted investment in internal R&D and the formulation of sector-specific innovation strategies. Although the study faces limitations related to cross-sectional data and incomplete control of macroeconomic variables, it offers valuable insights for industrial managers and policymakers in transition economies seeking to enhance innovation-driven productivity growth. https://jstp.nrisp.ac.ir/article_14166.html Tariff policies are among the most important regulatory instruments of the government in the industrial sector, and changes in them—particularly in an infrastructural sector such as the machinery industry—are shaped by complex policy conflicts. This study examines the change in the policy of exemption from customs duties on the import of industrial machinery in Iran; a policy that had been in place for approximately 40 years but was removed in 1401 with the enactment of the Knowledge-Based Production Leap Law, thereby subjecting these imports to customs duties. The main objective of the study is, through applying the Advocacy Coalition Framework as the theoretical framework, to explain the why and how of this policy change by identifying the coalitions involved, their belief systems, power resources, and strategies, and by analyzing the process that led to the final victory of the coalition advocating the removal of the exemption. This research adopts a qualitative methodology, and the data were collected and analyzed through documents, statements, and interviews with key actors over the period 1399 to 1403. The findings show that this policy change was not a simple bureaucratic adjustment, but rather the result of a turbulent struggle between two rival coalitions, each confronting the other on the basis of its own beliefs and through the use of different strategies and resources. https://jstp.nrisp.ac.ir/article_14167.html The toy industry in Iran, despite its role as a "strategic cultural commodity" and a tool for identity-making, faces a profound innovation stagnation evident in the market dominance of imported or low-quality counterfeit products. Previous research has primarily focused on macro-economic challenges or cultural ideals, neglecting a systemic and functional analysis of the crucial Innovation System (IS) for Toy Design Studies.This qualitative study aims to fill this gap by diagnosing the structural barriers and functional failures that have blocked the flow and application of specialized design knowledge within the industry. The research employs the theoretical framework of the Sectoral Innovation System (SIS) Functional Approach. Data were gathered through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 20 key experts in the ecosystem (including industrial managers, policymakers, and academics) and analyzed using thematic analysis.The results indicate that the design innovation system is trapped in a low-level equilibrium. The core finding is the failure in the mechanism of demand for design knowledge, stemming from the extreme risk-aversion of local manufacturers (driven by economic instability and import pressures). This dynamic has led to the dominance of a vicious cycle of stagnation: the strategy of imitation effectively eliminates the need for original research and effective collaboration with academia. Functional analysis confirms severe systemic weaknesses in critical functions such as Guidance of Search (due to policy fragmentation) and Financing.To exit this deadlock, policy implications emphasize a paradigm shift towards a demand-driven approach, rigorous reform of the Intellectual Property (IP) regime to increase the cost of imitation, support for original design projects (to mitigate risk), and activation of the merchandising potential through strategic linkage with the media industry to secure a guaranteed market for domestic products. https://jstp.nrisp.ac.ir/article_14177.html Given the mission of think tanks to make decisions to solve problems and grand-challenges, empowering think tank experts requires different processes from traditional training. The purpose of this study is to present a model for developing and empowering think tank experts. This study has conducted qualitatively and through a descriptive phenomenological method. The data were based on the lived experience of 18 activists in the Iran's think tanks who were purposefully selected. The experiences of these participants were collected through semi-structured interviews and then analyzed using the Colaizzi method. The results were developed in the form of a model based on the overarching theme of "atmosphere". In this sense atmospher has become a factor beyond traditional one-sided training and provides the basis for human resource growth. In this sense, atmosphere and workspace has become a factor beyond traditional one way education and provides the basis for human resource development. The components of this model are categorized by 10 factors (constructive themes) and 44 categories related to the requirements of this atmosphere creation (basic themes). The atmosphere of autognosis, thinking and innovation, informal and interdisciplinary interaction, intellectual foundations, hope and self-confidence, ethics, demandingness, gradualness and intermediateness, presence of experts, and the atmosphere of problem-based. https://jstp.nrisp.ac.ir/article_14178.html Policymaking in the research and innovation ecosystem is not a linear process based on pure technocratic rationality; rather, it is a complex and multi-layered construct shaped at the intersection of macro-ideals, structural constraints, and pluralistic interests. This paper is derived from the book “Policy Design for Research and Innovation Politics, Institutions and Interest Intermediation Practices ”, which moves beyond these reductionist approaches to provide a comprehensive analytical framework for understanding the logic behind the formation and selection of policy instruments. The fundamental focus of the article is on articulating a tripartite framework consisting of policy (orientations and issue framing), institutions (organizational arrangements and coordination capacities), and interests (mediation strategies). In this regard, policy instruments are anatomized not as neutral mechanisms, but as micro-institutions of governance across three levels: authority, format, and mode of delivery. This study demonstrates how dynamics based on the principal-agent theory and patterns of specialization (internal and external) direct the design of intermediary organizations and the architecture of governance arrangements. Furthermore, the theoretical juxtaposition of the “mission-oriented” and “diffusion-oriented” paradigms reveals that the selection of the instrument mix is a function of either interventionist or capacity-building strategies. In this context, empirical evidence indicates fundamental differences in the outputs of centralized systems (characterized by path dependency and institutional layering) versus decentralized systems (grappling with structural fragmentation). Consequently, the effectiveness of policy design does not lie in the inherent nature of the instruments themselves; rather, it hinges on their precise calibration with institutional capacities, the logic of political economy, and their acceptance by the stakeholder network.