Building Capabilities for Innovation in SMEs: A Cross-Country Comparison of Technology Extension Policies and Programs

摘要

There has been a growth of policy attention in many advanced and developing countries to stimulating innovation at the enterprise and establishment level, particularly in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This paper examines technology extension policies and programs for building capabilities for innovation in SMEs for a selected set of programs and countries in the United States, Japan, Germany, Canada, Spain, and Argentina. These programs represent a range that offer best practice insights at the international level and/or which have particular relevance for new sets of countries seeking to implement such systems. The study shows technology extension program designs and operations are influenced by the innovation systems in which they are embedded. Drawing on our comparison of international examples, implications are discussed for the formulation of national and regional policies for the development of technology extension and related innovation programs targeted to SMEs