INNOVATION THEORY, SYSTEMS AND INDICATORS

The main aim of this paper is to develop the concept of viability as a general theoretical framework for the assessment of systems of innovation, defined broadly, at three main levels of aggregation – the national, the sub-national and the supra-national.

This paper traces the development of thought on the economics of innovation from perspective of discourse formations in order to assess the placement of the system of innovation approach in economic theory. In order to do this, a genealogical approach is used in order to chart the development of the study of innovation within an evolutionary perspective, in relation to the evolution of liberal...

In many extant analyses of the impact of non-reciprocal system of trade preferences it is typical to focus on the details of market access value of tariff concessions as explanation for why export of beneficiaries’ products may or may not respond to incentives. Very often the role that supply-related factors can and do play in the process is relegated to the background. This paper argues that...

Despite attempts to induce regional competitiveness in industrial manufactures, poor productivity performances continue to plague the ability of African entrepreneurs to compete successfully in international markets. While many plausible explanations can be put forward to explain this failing, we argue in this paper that an analysis of the social and institutional context within which these...

This paper is a contribution to the discussion on Innovation for Development. It is argued that innovation strategies in developing countries are the result of competing policy and contextual factors. In exploring this theme, it suggests that innovation strategies which are shaped by domestic market and policy realities are more robust and contribute towards improving the country-level...

The paper illustrates the role of political and social dynamics upon technological change. Examining dynamics transforming excavation practices on South Africa’s goldmines, it describes how a technology that opened up a range of social and economic opportunities became a constraint on those opportunities. This technology’s development and diffusion thereby established a critical precedent in...

This volume analyses the co-evolution of inequality and NSI across the BRICS economies. It reveals the multi-dimensional character of inequality, in going beyond its income aspect to include assets, access to basic services, infrastructure, knowledge, race, gender,...

This book offers a novel approach to the analysis of the role of transnational corporations in the national systems of innovation of the BRICS economies — Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa — and captures the institutional and policy dynamics that...

This book analyses the role of innovation financing in the BRICS countries — Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa — through a national systems of innovation approach, and captures the institutional and policy dynamics that have determined their location in the new ordering of the global political economy...

This five volume set examines various aspects of the BRICS economies from a national system of innovation perspective. Original and detailed data together with expert analyses by contributing authors on wide-ranging issues make this an invaluable resource for researchers and scholars in economics,...

In recent years, the need to address social and environmental challenges has grown in urgency. Climate change, global health, food security and many other global challenges cross national borders and affect a wide range of actors. Yet, in most cases, single governments cannot provide effective solutions. Global challenges call for co-operation on a global scale to build capacity in...

Innovation provides a path to sustainable growth but a strategy for innovation in a global economy is no longer national. Countries must attract people and investment from abroad and participate in world markets and institutions. This book starts with the language and system framework used to discuss innovation, and the statistical indicators needed to describe the activity. It then looks at...

The third mission encompasses all activities of universities beyond their first and second missions, education and research. An analysis of various countries with different economic, political and geographic features reveals an increased demand for such activities in particular with regard to technology transfer, but also as to the support of the civil society in more general terms. Therefore...

South Africa's forestry value chain reflects a legacy of historical import-substituting industrialisation policies. It is a resource-based set of activities with significant local value and international competitiveness.

South Africa remains one of the world's largest producers of gold, despite the majority of its deposits being several kilometres below the surface. In the late 1960s the depth of the gold deposits motivated the Chamber of Mines Research Organisation (COMRO), the industry's cooperative research institute, to undertake research and development of alternative technologies to extract the gold-...

In this book, Mario Scerri provides the reader with a novel and sweeping rendition of South Africa's economic history from the early part of the twentieth century to the present. He applies a broad innovation systems approach to this history spanning the period from 1916, which saw the drafting of South Africa's first Science and Technology plan to the first fourteen years of the post-...

The intensified pace of scientific advancements and technological progress reflected in newspaper headlines around the world today is related to the unprecedented and ever-accelerating speed of knowledge creation, accumulation and depreciation.

It is widely accepted that innovation is key to economic growth. Countries where research and innovation are high on the national agenda are best suited to prosper in the knowledge-based economy. Conversely, countries whose economies are mainly dependent on natural resources and basic industries tend to lack competitiveness and flexibility in adapting to changing global trends. The...

When Muchie and Lundvall initiated the international conference ‘African Systems of Innovation and Competence Building’ March 2001 in Aalborg the intention was to reexamine the problems of African development by mobilising the scholarship on innovation systems. The major objective was to respond to academic and analytical questions: what lessons could be drawn from applying the innovation...

World Crises of the 3rd Millennium

• Social inclusion sustains dynamic domestic market
• de-mystifying the need to dissociate andantagonize economic and social policies
• Robust banking system not exposed to problematic assets
• Investment growing above consumption Several investment opportunities:
  Oil & Gas, Energy, Infrastructure, PAC...

• Concurrent crisis's all emanate from the current mode of production and consumption, waste, and environmental degradation
• Accelerated distribution through neo-liberal globalisation
• Hegemonic World System, Unilateralism & State violence

Concluding remarks:

• South Africa’s economy is largely driven by cities
• Towns and cities serve as concentrations of economic activity within the national spatial economies
• Economies of scale
• Specialised business services
• Infrastructure
• 71% of population live in cities and towns, particularly along the coast, Gauteng, and Limpopo and...

• Economic growth - development programmes - seek to improve the quality of life of the general population
• Rising rates of change
  • unaccompanied by any significant improvement in most of the indicators of human development & 'jobless growth'
• Growing gap between Africa, & especially sub-Saharan Africa, and most of the rest of the world in...

• Overview insights of biofuels
• Problem statement
• Objectives of the study
• Research Hypothesis
• Research methodology
• Findings and discussion
• Recommendations and conclusion

The purpose of this paper is to re-examine the role that benchmarking can play in rural and agricultural innovations. Although generally known as ‗traditional sectors‘, rural activities are far from static but rather driven by old and new challenges pleading for innovative responses. Despite the broad range of insights from the burgeoning literature on innovation systems during the last decade...

• For meaningful adaptation to and mitigation of climate change,
  • Information and knowledge - essential
• If rural households, communities have access to information,
  • it will enhance their awareness; adaptation and mitigation capacity
• How do we enhance climate change awareness?
• There are various ways in which...

As of today, the 6th of May 2010, we share the world with at least 6,819,184,140 other human beings (US Census Clock Widget1). Can I encourage you to participate in a mind experiment; and normalise that rather large number to just 100 people.

Outline

• Introduction
  • Innovation strategies in the OECD and in the European Union
  • What is innovation?
  • Innovation systems
• OECD Innovation Strategy (IS)
• IS Products - 2010 Key findings
  1. Empowering people
  2. Unleashing innovation in firms
  3. Creating and applying knowledge
  4. Applying...

Innovation and innovation policies are important, as they have been linked to growth, and growth is needed to pay for social services and to pay back the bailouts resulting from the recent financial crisis. In fact, the financial crisis was a direct result of innovation in financial services. Monetized debt instruments were brought to the market as new, or significantly improved, products, a...

In managing Gauteng as a global city region it will be important to enhance:

• Alliances with regional universities and research centres
• Boost the regional innovation systems of Gauteng
• Overcome silos in policy making and improve co-ordination in the management of the city region

Local Economic Development is important for:

• Growth in Productivity and Competitiveness
• Social Cohesion
• Good governance a.k.a. Accountability

Science Parks contribute to:

• Capacity mobilisation
• Capability formation
• Competency creation

National Systems of Innovation provide the conceptual framework to:

• Research, Science & Innovation contributes to increased and expanded performance of institutions, firms & agency
  • “core dimension for political prioritisation in improving society’s efficiency in resource use”
• KISS: How, Why, Where & When are important metrics
  • Requires a deep understanding of underlying political economy, history...

• Introduction
• Evolutionary Political Economy
  • Schools of Economic Thought & Innovation
  • Critique of Neo-classical Economics
  • Evolutionary Political Economy
• National Systems of Innovation
  • History
  • Current divergent paths
• Policy Matters
  • Explicit
  • Implicit
• Concluding...