Arrangement of Actors in the Triple Helix Innovation - Technopolis: Best Practices for Science and Technology Cities - page 137

6 Proposal for an Actors' Interface in the Triple Helix
Innovation takes place through a set of institutions—research centers, techno-
logical, productive, and society. These in turn are represented by different actors—
researchers, inventors, producers, investors, and consumers. Sometimes the same
person can take some of these roles, but either way the relations between the
actors, known as social capital, will be a decisive factor in the innovation process.
To catalyze these relations we recommend the innovative entrepreneur, a role
that needs to be prepared to articulate the networks that produce innovation.
Innovation must be focused on the well-being of people and stimulate economic,
social, and environmental development with international scope. That is, it must be
sustainable.
Since we will depend on the interaction ability of the entrepreneur—a bridge
between the generation and use of knowledge—he has to be analyzed in its
relation with the ''social context'' or the surrounding environment. This innovation
environment within the Schumpeterian view is connected to the competitiveness of
nations, as mentioned above, and should be part of public policy in providing
conditions for competitiveness to the cities which will absorb these products in the
market.
But data from more advanced countries show that the innovative capacity of a
company or a nation does not depend simply of their economic capacity to invest
in new technologies, or of their leader's, to develop appropriate economic strat-
egies; but the social, cultural, and political capacity to productively apply and
socially enjoy the tangible and intangible assets available (Maciel 2001 ).