Scandinavian Working Papers in Economics

Papers in Innovation Studies,
Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research

No 2009/2: The Widening and Deepening of Innovation Policy: What Conditions Provide for Effective Governance?

Susana Borrás ()
Additional contact information
Susana Borrás: Copenhagen Business School, Postal: CIRCLE, Lund university , PO Box 117, Sölvegatan 16, SE-22100 Lund, Sweden

Abstract: In relation to the gradual and steady introduction of the systemic perspective and of new public management techniques in innovation policy-making during the past decade, many countries in the developed and developing world have been substantially widening and deepening their innovation policies. The introduction of new and more sophisticated policy instruments (deepening) has been accompanied by an expansion of the realm of action for innovation policy (widening). The main argument of this paper is that this remarkable governmental activism and experimentalism raises important analytical questions about the conditions under which innovation policy contributes to an effective governance of the innovation system. Hence, this paper has two main purposes. Firstly, it characterises in an unambiguous way the widening and deepening trends in innovation policy, problematising their possible effects on governance. And, secondly, it develops an analytical toolbox based on a series of theoretical assumptions about the political conditions for effective governance of innovation systems.

Keywords: Innovation Policy; Innovation System; Governmental Activism; Governmental Experimentalism

JEL-codes: O30

20 pages, March 1, 2009

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