Implementation arrangements for research and innovation policies in the Italian, Spanish, French, and German national recovery plan: A comparative analysis of emerging challenges for multi-level governance

The crisis triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic has challenged the socioeconomic systems of all European member states. To reduce the severe impact of the pandemic, the European Union has established a common fund for European states, launching therefore a social-economic recovery process. This fund was granted upon the submission of a programmatic plan of targets to be pursued within certain deadlines, appropriately assessed by the European Commission. Although the European Commission provided general guidelines for the elaboration of plans and the constitution of the multi-level governance of national recovery plans, each country followed its own institutional, political, economic, and social context. Thus, this article investigates the influencing factors on the implementation arrangements of research and innovation policies in four different contexts, geographically, historically, economically, and administratively, such as Italy and Spain as representatives of the Mediterranean model; France and Germany as representatives of the continental model. Findings confirm two main key factors, enriching the reference literature on implementation arrangements of public policies. Firstly, the actors' ability to join together in synergetic and cooperative networks is oriented towards achieving common goals. The second is the policy legacy, which still anchors actors in path dependencies, thus complicating their path diversion.