The Evolution of National Innovation Systems

摘要

The literature on national innovation systems (NIS) is a relatively new and rapidly growing field of research (Fagerberg 2003; Balzat and Hanusch 2004). The NIS approach was initiated in the late 1980s by Chris Freeman (1987), Giovanni Dosi et al. (1988), and Bengt Ake Lundvall (1992) and followed by Richard Nelson (1993), Charles Edquist (1997), and many others. Markus Balzat and Horst Hanusch (2004, 196) have described an NIS as "a historically grown subsystem of the national economy in which various organizations and institutions interact with and influence one another in the carrying out of innovative activity." It is about a systemic approach to innovation in which the interaction between technology, institutions, and organizations is central. Since the late 1990s, NIS thinking emerged in a growing number of policy studies (e.g., OECD 1999, 2002). However, Balzat and Hanusch (2004, 200) have rightly observed a conflict between the theoretical conjectures and methodology of the NIS contributions and the practical implementation of the NIS policy benchmark studies. The latter often use benchmark techniques comparing single benchmark indicators across countries with the aim of clear cut policy recommendations and designing optimal institutional framework conditions for innovation performance.