The purpose of this article is to discuss the different types of instruments of innovation policy, to examine how governments and public agencies in different countries and different times have used these instruments differently, to explore the political nature of instrument choice and design...

It is often claimed that what traditionally have been called technology policies in many industrialised countries have undergone major changes during the last decades. Until the 1980s technology policies were primarily focused on financial support to different R&D producing organisations. The...