Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
know here, is that the innovation support system (D) is part of a system of
innovation and that it can be set up, controlled and financed by authorities at
several spatial levels.
An innovation support system consists of all agencies found in three support
stages, namely the provision of general information, technological advice and joint
R&D projects, between firms (of which technology-following SMEs are the main
group) and universities and public research establishments. Agencies found in these
stages try to help to solve innovation problems mainly of technology-following
SMEs by either giving them advice themselves or by referring them to other agencies
in a further stage of support. If it concerns a highly complicated technological
problem, the SMEs might finally be referred to a university or public research
establishment. The agencies can be mainly nationally initiated or regionally initiated.
In the next section, this analytical concept of an innovation support system,
consisting of three support stages, will be used to identify the agencies found in a
region, to find out whether they are co-operating with each other (system or
infrastructure?), whether overlap can be observed and to what extent they have
been set up, controlled and financed by local, regional, national or international
authorities.
4 Case-Studies of Regional Innovation Support Systems
from Western Europe
On the basis of the theoretical framework and typology presented in the previous
section, it will be analysed what kind of institutionally embedded innovation
support systems can be found in the case of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, the
North East of England and Utrecht, the Netherlands, in this section in order to
draw some general lessons on how regional innovation support systems are related
to technopoles in
Sect. 5
.
4.1 Baden-Württemberg, Germany
In Germany, which has a long history in supporting science, technology and
innovation, the two federal ministries are mainly responsible for implementing the
policies and providing funding. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research
(BMBF), which had an annual budget of over €12.7 billion in 2010 (BMBF
2012
),
provides funding for education, research and development. This includes institu-
tional funding for Germany's research organisations (jointly funded by the Federal
Government and the Länder (regional state governments), contributions to uni-
versity large infrastructure investments, priority research programmes in key
sectors, and international subscriptions.
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