There are three characteristics of a system:
1. System shares a goal/main function (overall goal of IS: to develop & diffuse innovation)
2. Two constituents: components and interactions
3. There are observable boundaries to the system
Linear model:
Research -> development -> production -> marketing
Based on Technology push: no demand pull (e.g. Concorde)
Promising technology and marketing help overcome all obstacles
Linear process: ‘Steps follow up smoothly’ – true?
Linear model – based policy unsuccessful: considered no feedback loop
Than the chain link model was created. This model was based on invention and innovation demand.
It recognizes that innovation is a learning process involving multiple inputs. It has feedback loops and
it recognizes that there are differences per industry.
National innovation system was created (Met gevornment, supply side, enz.)
NIS was developed to foster EU competitiveness. Innovation was important for economic growth.
Main focus: the network of institutions in the public and private sectors whose activities and
interactions initiate, import and diffuse new technologies.
Main function: to pursue innovation processes -> to develop, diffuse and use innovations.
Theorizing NIS: to what extend does B explain A
Applying NIS: How can policy shape B
Importance of NIS:
- Show the sharp differences among various national systems in such attributes as institutional or
organizational set-up, investments in R&D and performance.
- Most public policies influencing innovation processes or the economy as a whole are still designed
and implemented at the national level.
Reasons for success NIS:
- The framework is a ‘boundary object’; it has qualities for multiple systems and is thus easily diffused
-Created for aiding of policy -> immediately adopted as a legal framework
Definition National innovation system: “a set of institutions whose interactions determine the
innovative performance of national firms”
Main concepts necessary for an NIS:
1. System has a function
2. Two kinds of constituents; components (a) and relations (b) among the components
3. The system has boundaries
Boundaries: the distinction between what is inside and outside a system:
-to identify boundaries, identify the causes or determinants for innovation
-NIS; the country borders are usually the boundaries
Components (a) ->
- Organizations: Formal structures that are consciously created and have an explicit purpose. They
are players of actors.
, Can vary greatly between NISs. This is dependent on:
-Which organization that performs public R&D
- The institutional rules that govern of influence these organizations
Links between university/public research organizations and innovating firms are especially
important to the performance of NISs
-Institutions: Sets of common habit, norms, routines, established practices, rules, or laws that
regulate the relations and interactions between groups and organizations. They shape behavior and
they constitute incentives and obstacles for innovation
Relations (b) ->
Complex relations characterized by reciprocity and feedback. Types of system relations: Competition,
Transaction and Networking.
Relations within the NIS->
There is not a one-to-one relation between activities and organizations.
-Thus 1 organization can perform multiple activities.
-And 1 activity can be performed by multiple organizations.
-Not all organizations can perform all activities.
-Institutions influence whether or not, and how, certain organizations perform certain activities.
The reciprocal relations between organizations and institutions are important for innovations and for
the operation of a system.
-Organizations are influenced by and thus embedded in an institutional environment.
-Institutions are also embedded in and developed within organizations.
Activities: Those factors that influence the development, diffusion, and use of innovations
-Structure: static (X firms, Y institutions and Z infra)
-Activities: dynamic (evolutionary character)
Innovation activities: they represent change in structural components.
-R&D: change in knowledge base of a firm
-Policy making: change in institutions
Actors and activities:
-Entrepreneurs: R&D
-Individuals: Financing and forming of market (demand side)
-Kick starter platform: Networking + Incubating
-Government: Creating and changing institutions
Resemblances to and differences from other innovation frameworks.
Similarity: resemblance to R/T-IS: literature on innovation system started with work on nation
innovation systems, then came work on Regional/Technological systems. These frameworks thus
share many central concepts, although they do have their own focus.
Difference: NIS combines existing elements of knowledge in new ways. TIS and other approaches
regard technological change and innovations as exogeneous. (exogeen is als het van buiten het
model komt)
Regional innovation system (RIS);
1. System shares a goal/main function (overall goal of IS: to develop & diffuse innovation)
2. Two constituents: components and interactions
3. There are observable boundaries to the system
Linear model:
Research -> development -> production -> marketing
Based on Technology push: no demand pull (e.g. Concorde)
Promising technology and marketing help overcome all obstacles
Linear process: ‘Steps follow up smoothly’ – true?
Linear model – based policy unsuccessful: considered no feedback loop
Than the chain link model was created. This model was based on invention and innovation demand.
It recognizes that innovation is a learning process involving multiple inputs. It has feedback loops and
it recognizes that there are differences per industry.
National innovation system was created (Met gevornment, supply side, enz.)
NIS was developed to foster EU competitiveness. Innovation was important for economic growth.
Main focus: the network of institutions in the public and private sectors whose activities and
interactions initiate, import and diffuse new technologies.
Main function: to pursue innovation processes -> to develop, diffuse and use innovations.
Theorizing NIS: to what extend does B explain A
Applying NIS: How can policy shape B
Importance of NIS:
- Show the sharp differences among various national systems in such attributes as institutional or
organizational set-up, investments in R&D and performance.
- Most public policies influencing innovation processes or the economy as a whole are still designed
and implemented at the national level.
Reasons for success NIS:
- The framework is a ‘boundary object’; it has qualities for multiple systems and is thus easily diffused
-Created for aiding of policy -> immediately adopted as a legal framework
Definition National innovation system: “a set of institutions whose interactions determine the
innovative performance of national firms”
Main concepts necessary for an NIS:
1. System has a function
2. Two kinds of constituents; components (a) and relations (b) among the components
3. The system has boundaries
Boundaries: the distinction between what is inside and outside a system:
-to identify boundaries, identify the causes or determinants for innovation
-NIS; the country borders are usually the boundaries
Components (a) ->
- Organizations: Formal structures that are consciously created and have an explicit purpose. They
are players of actors.
, Can vary greatly between NISs. This is dependent on:
-Which organization that performs public R&D
- The institutional rules that govern of influence these organizations
Links between university/public research organizations and innovating firms are especially
important to the performance of NISs
-Institutions: Sets of common habit, norms, routines, established practices, rules, or laws that
regulate the relations and interactions between groups and organizations. They shape behavior and
they constitute incentives and obstacles for innovation
Relations (b) ->
Complex relations characterized by reciprocity and feedback. Types of system relations: Competition,
Transaction and Networking.
Relations within the NIS->
There is not a one-to-one relation between activities and organizations.
-Thus 1 organization can perform multiple activities.
-And 1 activity can be performed by multiple organizations.
-Not all organizations can perform all activities.
-Institutions influence whether or not, and how, certain organizations perform certain activities.
The reciprocal relations between organizations and institutions are important for innovations and for
the operation of a system.
-Organizations are influenced by and thus embedded in an institutional environment.
-Institutions are also embedded in and developed within organizations.
Activities: Those factors that influence the development, diffusion, and use of innovations
-Structure: static (X firms, Y institutions and Z infra)
-Activities: dynamic (evolutionary character)
Innovation activities: they represent change in structural components.
-R&D: change in knowledge base of a firm
-Policy making: change in institutions
Actors and activities:
-Entrepreneurs: R&D
-Individuals: Financing and forming of market (demand side)
-Kick starter platform: Networking + Incubating
-Government: Creating and changing institutions
Resemblances to and differences from other innovation frameworks.
Similarity: resemblance to R/T-IS: literature on innovation system started with work on nation
innovation systems, then came work on Regional/Technological systems. These frameworks thus
share many central concepts, although they do have their own focus.
Difference: NIS combines existing elements of knowledge in new ways. TIS and other approaches
regard technological change and innovations as exogeneous. (exogeen is als het van buiten het
model komt)
Regional innovation system (RIS);
