Research On The Role Of Central Government Departments In Science And Innovation Policy Networks And The Network Evolution Mechanism

Chinese government plays an important role in China’s government-led innovation model.After several rounds of reforms in the economic and science and technology systems,the central government has substantially restructured inter-departmental relations,but there are still problems of overlapping institutions,cross-functionalities and blurred responsibilities.Promoting the modernization of the national science and technology innovation governance system and examining how central departments can cooperate effectively with each other has become an urgent issue to be addressed in the administrative system reform.This study aims to clarify the following empirical questions: What is the role of government departments in the central STI policy network,are they contributors or brokers and what brokers’ roles are they taking on? What are the mechanisms for the evolution of policy networks?Based on the policy networks and holistic governance theory,this study explores the roles held by departments in the central government departments’ science,technology and innovation policy network based on the process of formulating science,technology and innovation policies,and analyses the mechanisms affecting the evolution of the policy network.Firstly,this study identifies the departmental roles in the central science and innovation policy network using a social network analysis method,taking science and technology innovation policies from1980-2019 as the research sample,and analyses the roles of contributors and brokers in the central government departments,and on this basis,identifies the different types of roles of brokers.Secondly,this study constructs an evolving model of the central science and innovation policy network based on the exponential random graph model(ERGM),and empirically tests resource dependence,path dependence and network structure as the evolutionary mechanisms of the policy network.The findings suggest that: firstly,with the administrative system reform,the departments in the central science and innovation policy network play a role both as contributors and brokers.The contributor-broker two-dimensional quadrant shows that the science and technology-based departments represented by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the economy-based departments represented by the Ministry of Finance and the Development and Reform Commission play an important role in the science and innovation policy-making process,with the leader of science and technology innovation governance transformed from the Development and Reform Commission to the Ministry of Science and Technology.And as the reform progressed,the role of intermediaries in the major science and technology-based departments gradually changed from that of representative to liaison and consultant,while the change in the type of brokers in the major economic-based departments was not obvious,showing the co-existence of representatives,consultants and liaisons.Secondly,the formation and evolution of policy networks in the process of science,technology and innovation governance is influenced by a combination of endogenous and exogenous factors.Gaps in resources between government departments,including administrative,financial and human resources,have a positive impact on the establishment of cooperative relationships between government departments.Two sectors in a policy network that have never worked together before have the same partners,and the partners have a catalytic effect on the establishment of cooperation between the two sectors,and the history of triadic closed cooperation between sectors in a policy network has a catalytic effect on the re-establishment of cooperation between any two of the three sectors.