The Importance of Programme Evaluation in German Innovation Policy

At this year’s annual meeting held in September the German Association of Economists (Verein für Socialpolitik) approved guidelines on economic policy evaluation standards. These guidelines formulate a standard evaluation measure for the quality of programme evaluation. This article offers a brief presentation of key aspects of the Association’s new guidelines and compares them to the Maryland Scientific Methods Scale (SMS), an international benchmark. It subsequently draws on examples from other policy areas in Germany and abroad to show that good evaluations can be conducted and can make a crucial contribution to improving policy.