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Why innovation policies should include a multiple system perspective: the case of biotechnology in EC Member States' innovation systems
Sander Kern
Dialogic Innovation and Interaction, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Christien Enzing
TNO Strategy, Technology and Policy, Delft, The Netherlands
Abstract
Traditionally, public policies in the field of innovation have been based on neo-classical assumptions about market failures concerning for example appropriability conditions and information asymmetry. In addition, during the last decade, policy makers at both the national and international level have adopted the concepts of innovation systems and system failures for the formulation, implementation and evaluation of their innovation policies. The innovation system concept broadens the rationale for government intervention as it introduces system imperfections by referring to inappropriate functioning of innovation systems.
Nevertheless, the diversity in innovation system concepts and their relatively one-sided approach raise the need for reviewing innovation systems as a conceptual tool to innovation policy. In this paper we use the results of three EC funded studies on biotechnology developments in Europe to demonstrate that biotechnology innovation systems are simultaneously shaped by national, sectoral and technological characteristics and also their interplay. Therefore we argue that innovation policymakers need to take into account all of these aspects for the design and implementation of (more) effective policies.
Keywords
national, sectoral and technological innovation systems, Innovation policies, biotechnology
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