PhD student: Mrs L.W. Verboeket

Promotor: Mrs Prof J.E. van den Brink

Duration: 1/1/2017 - 31/12/2021

Abstract:

Governmental bodies both in and outside of the Netherlands are currently experimenting on a large scale with more or less new forms of public finance, e.g. prize-backed innovations. My research focuses on these so-called public prizes. Public prizes are often legally structured as a public procurement or as a subsidy. However, governmental bodies regularly do not (explicitly) comply with any existing legal framework for public financing while giving away their prizes. This lack of consistent policy might be harmful, especially since the national and EU public finance regulations are specifically aimed at preventing diverging legal conditions and, subsequently, legal uncertainty and inequality. My research looks not only at the different legal appearances of the public prize, but also at the legal regimes that may be applicable to the use of public prizes. Are the differences found in legal protection justified? From a comparative perspective I take a look at the use of public prizes in the US, birthplace of the public prize as a policy tool.