Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
and measuring innovation is widely debated within innovation
studies, different theoretical approaches are closely linked with
policy development and transformation. Often, too, this policy
process is related to national identity. For example, following a
Schumpeterian style analysis that entrepreneurialism is central to
economic growth, successive United States governments have long
struggled with how best to inculcate an 'entrepreneurial spirit' in
their national population (e.g. Bush, 1945).
More broadly though, the idea that innovation can be managed
by governments - that is that it might even be possible to develop an
'entrepreneurial spirit', for example - is an established component of
contemporary public policy. The most effective means of managing
innovation policy is underpinned by the national innovation systems
(NIS) approach. The NIS framework was developed in the early
1980s by a group of innovation scholars concerned about the best
metrics to use within the OECD as a measure of economic
development (Lundvall, 2007). Observing that a number of factors
impacted on the innovative performance of a nation, the NIS
approach was developed to reflect the interrelated nature of all the
components of an economic system that impact on innovative
performance (Lundvall, 2007).
A very specific example of how the NIS approach was adopted to
enhance the economic outputs of a particular nation-state can be
seen in the example of Finnish company Nokia. In the early 1990s,
in the middle of a significant national recession, the government of
Finland was concerned that research and development indicators
showed a lack of effectiveness in the national economy and so began
a search for the most effective policy instruments to rectify this
problem (Freeman, 1995; Lemola, 2003). A review of existing
protocols showed that innovation needed to be understood as a
complex array of interrelated factors, and that decent research and
education systems are important components (Lemola, 2003).
Cooperation between all actors and improvement in relation to
international standards were also identified as key factors in building
an effective innovation system (Freeman, 1995; Lemola, 2003).
Because of earlier investments in information communication
technologies (Freeman, 1995; Lemola, 2003), the cooperation
