Measuring Science, Technology, and Innovation: A Review

Report prepared for the Panel on Developing Science, Technology, and Innovation Indicators for the Future, National Academies of Science

An “indicator” is a set of facts or observations that tells us something meaningful about the underlying phenomenon of interest, in this case science, technology and innovation (henceforth STI). In order to evaluate whether a particular set of facts is a good indicator, or to determine whether there are indicators we should have that we do not, we need to consider in some detail what makes a particular set of facts meaningful.