The main question that guides this paper is how governments are focusing (and must focus) on competence building (education and training) when designing and implementing innovation policies. With this approach, the paper aims at filling the gap between the existing literature on competences on...

Institutions (including regulations) are constitutive elements of innovation systems, and therefore cornerstones of innovation policy. Focusing on (soft and hard) regulation, the paper identifies the most salient regulatory areas from the perspective of the innovation system. When asking about...

In 2006 the European Commission introduced the concept of "Pre-Commercial Procurement" as an instrument to promote innovation and to mitigate grand challenges. One of the main motivations for the support of Pre-Commercial Procurement schemes was to use public needs as a driver for innovation....

Who produces scientific and technical knowledge these days? What type of knowledge is being produced and for what purposes? Why are firms and governments funding research and development? This chapter studies the role of knowledge production (especially R&D activities) in the innovation process...

The concept of a holistic innovation policy is defined in this article, with discussions of what it is, why it is relevant, and how it can be implemented to enhance product innovation. It is shown that the innovation systems approach has diffused rapidly during the latest decades and has...

The concept of a holistic innovation policy is defined in this paper, and it is discussed what it is, why it is relevant and how it can be implemented. One of the main conclusions is that the innovation policies in European countries are still linear (and not holistic), in spite of the fact that...

Innovation processes in emerging fields of technology frequently utilize scientific knowledge and technical skills from several research areas. Likewise, technological development frequently involves a diverse set of organizations including for example private firms, universities, corporate...

This article discusses the visions about nuclear breeder reactors, plans set out in the aftermath of World War II. This seemed like the ideal solution for future energy, and even small countries, as Sweden, launched breeder reactor programs. The breeder reactor never reached industrial...

This paper has two goals. First, it analyzes the extent to which the innovativeness of spin-offs, either born from a research facility or from another company, is influenced by locational conditions. Second, it provides evidence on how important local cooperation links are in comparison to...

Do the programs that aim to promote and develop industry clusters (also known as Cluster Development Programs, or CDP) work? Do they have an impact on enterprise development? This paper offers an insight into the methods that can help answer these fundamental questions through solid quantitative...