Science, innovation, and public services: editorial introduction

The quality of public services is critically influenced by innovation and, ultimately, by advances in basic research, which however embeds the feature of a global public good. Two broad issues emerge. The first concerns the evaluation of the socio-economic impact of science. What are the benefits and spillovers that R&D investments, research infrastructures and big science can bring to society? The second concerns which type of institutions and policies are most suitable for supporting R&D activities. These topics discussed in this article represent the core of the special issue “Innovation and Public Services: from the lab to enterprises and citizens”.