Collective Innovation Processes

9 Innovation Capacities as a Prerequisite for Forming a National Innovation System

The innovation system is one of the pillars of the economic analysis of innovation and one of the main suggestions in terms of economic policies aiming to adapt economies and organizations to a global competition based on knowledge. The introduction of innovation systemics has progressively become established in the scientific debate and is centered on the need for technology transfer and strengthened innovation capacities. The agents’ specific information and knowledge remain less important than their learning capacities. Therefore, innovation is more oriented towards the dissemination of knowledge and the actors’ ability to re-appropriate it than the creation of new knowledge.

The capacity to learn and adapt to new technologies is crucial for the performances of individuals, firms, regions and national economies. As a result, learning speed and forms are essential factors for the competitiveness and creativity of micro- and meso-economic, as well as national, systems. Learning capacities are linked to the actual ability of the economy to face its problems through its capacity to learn, learn to adapt, change and develop its institutional structures. Similarly, the concept of National Innovation System (NIS) involves the elaboration of these abilities, based on institutions, organizations, resources and competences. In a NIS, the learning processes are constantly connected with the routine activities ...