Developing national systems of innovation: university-industry interactions in the Global South

Abstract

The research projects in this book focus on a particular part of the workings of innovation systems: the interactions between universities and public laboratories and firms, and how these interactions affect the efficacy of the efforts of firms to acquire new capabilities. In recent years, the relationships between universities and firms, and how these relationships influence the innovation process, have been extensively studied in high-income countries. The studies reported in this book are among the first to be directed to what is going on in developing countries. Scholars of economic development, who have employed the innovation systems concept in their study of how developing countries catch up, have been particularly interested in the differences in these structures in developing countries and countries at the frontier. There are two central questions for most of the scholars who have contributed to this book. What is similar and what is different about the relationships between how universities and public laboratories interact with firms in developing as contrasted with advanced industrial economies? How do these differences reflect and support the differences witnessed in on-going innovations? This book is the first large-scale report on these matters, and their implications for policy in developing countries.