National innovation system
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The national innovation system is the flow of technology and information among people, enterprises and institutions which is key to the innovative process on the national level. According to innovation system theory, innovation and technology development are results of a complex set of relationships among actors in the system, which includes enterprises, universities and government research institutes.
There is no single definition of national innovation systems. Here are a few of the dominating ones (quoted by the OECD publication National Innovation Systems (http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/35/56/2101733.pdf) (1997))
A national system of innovation has been defined as follows:
- .. the network of institutions in the public and private sectors whose activities and interactions initiate, import, modify and diffuse new technologies. (Freeman, 1987)
- .. the elements and relationships which interact in the production, diffusion and use of new, and economically useful, knowledge ... and are either located within or rooted inside the borders of a nation state. (Lundvall, 1992)
- ... a set of institutions whose interactions determine the innovative performance ... of national firms. (Nelson, 1993)
- .. the national institutions, their incentive structures and their competencies, that determine the rate and direction of technological learning (or the volume and composition of change generating activities) in a country. (Patel and Pavitt, 1994)
- .. that set of distinct institutions which jointly and individually contribute to the development and diffusion of new technologies and which provides the framework within which governments form and implement policies to influence the innovation process. As such it is a system of interconnected institutions to create, store and transfer the knowledge, skills and artefacts which define new technologies. (Metcalfe, 1995)
Further reading
- EDQUIST, C. (1997), Systems of Innovation: Technologies, Institutions, and Organizations, Pinter, London.
- FREEMAN, C. (1987), Technology and Economic Performance: Lessons from Japan, Pinter, London.
- LUNDVALL, B-Å. (ed.) (1992). National Innovation Systems: Towards a Theory of Innovation and Interactive Learning, Pinter, London.
- METCALFE, S. (1995), “The Economic Foundations of Technology Policy: Equilibrium and Evolutionary Perspectives”, in P. Stoneman (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation and Technological Change, Blackwell Publishers, Oxford (UK)/Cambridge (US).
- MIETTINEN, R. (2002), National Innovation System: Scientific Concept or Political Rhetoric, Edita, Helsinki.
- NELSON, R. (ed.) (1993), National Innovation Systems. A Comparative Analysis, Oxford University Press, New York/Oxford.
- PATEL, P. and K. PAVITT (1994), “The Nature and Economic Importance of National Innovation Systems”,STI Review, No. 14, OECD, Paris.
- diffusion of innovations
- diffusion (anthropology)
External links
- National Innovation Systems (OECD, 1997) (http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/35/56/2101733.pdf)