INNOVATION STUDIES

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INNOVATION STUDIES -POLICY IN THE 21st
CENTURYImpacts from trends in economy and society

• Prof. dr. ir. Ruud E. Smits

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CENTRAL THEME

• Consequences and challenges of major trends in
  economy and society for innovation research and
  -policy

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ST, ECONOMY SOCIETYInseparable

• Innovation Systems
• Seamless web
• Social Construction Of Technology
• Co-evolution
• Mode 1 Mode 2
• Technological culture

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AN EXAMPLE OF A TECHNOLOGICAL CULTURE
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OUTLINE

• What and why?
• Four Major Trends
• Consequences for Policy Research
• To wind up

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INNOVATION WHAT WHY?
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WHAT?Inventions and innovations

• An innovation is a succesful application of an
  invention
• Innovation processes are complex processes of
  change characterised by co-evolution of
  scientific, technological, societal and economic
  systems

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WHY?To innovate is difficult

• Nuclear energy
• Intelligence in the net or in the PC?
• Innovation in SMEs
• Computers in the schools
• Genetically modified food
• Failing new high tech firms
• Automation catastrophes

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4 MAJOR TRENDS
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1. STRUCTURAL CHANGES IN OUR ECONOMY

• Shift from agriculture industry
  (knowledge intensive) services
• Advent of Cultural Industry
• Revolution in agriculture from mass production
  to specialties
• Increase knowledge intensive goods and services

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INCREASE KNOWLEDGE INTENSIVE GOODS AND SERVICES
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QUESTIONS CHALLENGES

• Dynamics innovation in services
• Role knowledge intensive (business) services in
  innovation
• Role IT in the New (?) Economy
• Knowledge infrastructure agriculture, services,
  IT
• How to quantify/measure not only input, but also
  (intangible aspects of) throughput and output of
  innovation processes?

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2. THE AGE OF THE LIFE SCIENCES

• 21st century belongs to biotechnology
• revolutionary changes in health-care system
• many new technology based firms (NASDAQ)
• Changes in innovation processes
• public-private markets
• risky product-development
• many important ethical issues

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THE AGE OF OF THE LIFE SCIENCES Many ethical
issues

• (human) Cloning
• Bio-patenting of human material
• Xeno-transplantation
• Genetic screening privacy
• Preserving biodiversity
• Research with human embryos

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QUESTIONS CHALLENGES

• Dynamics innovation in life sciences
• Innovating in public-private markets
• How to handle ethical issues?

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3. ADVENT OF THE NETWORK SOCIETY

• End of top down steering
• From discrete loosely coupled to fuzzy strongly
  coupled systems
• Optimizing systems in stead of parts
• Growing importance of. Strategic
  alliances. Flexibility. Interface between
  organisations and systems
• IT and sustainable development driving forces
  and facilitators

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QUESTIONS CHALLENGES

• How to innovate in chains, clusters and networks?
• How to handle competition versus co-operation?
• How to mobilise the creative potential of users?
• New role of government concept instruments
• Role of intermediaries

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4. CHANGES IN KNOWLEDGE INFRASTRUCTURE

• From supply- to demand driven
• 2nd order Knowledge Infrastructure knowledge
  intensive business services
• Distributed Knowledge Base. Types of
  knowledge. Sources of knowledge. Users of
  knowledge. Transfer of knowledge
• From Mode 1 Mode 2

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QUESTIONS CHALLENGES

• New institutions, relations, missions in research
  system
• Role of multidisciplinary research in
  monodisciplinary research systems
• Quality control in a non-academic setting
• Role intermediaries, KIBS, 2nd order KIS
• Instruments to effectively involve users
• Status of researchers
• New, broader set of indicators

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MAJOR TRENDSTo wind up

• Structural changes in the economy
• services
• new sectors
• knowledge intensive products and services
• 21st century life sciences
• Advent of network society/economy
• Changing knowledge infrastructures

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CONSEQUENCES FOR INNOVATION POLICY AND - RESEARCH
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CONSEQUENCES FOR INNOVATION POLICIESFurther
development integral innovation policy

• STARTING POINTS
• Taking whole innovation system into account
• Network character, important role intermediaries
• Interaction with users, learning, awareness,
  mobilising creative potential users
• Distributed nature knowledge base
• Multi-layered structure international, national,
  regional, local

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CONSEQUENCES FOR INNOVATION POLICIESFurther
development integral innovation policy

• ACTIONS
• Redesign roles and relations of actors and
  layers. Government partner. Users
  KIS interaction (intermediaries?)
• . Politics stimulating debate
• Improving strategic intelligence technology
  assessment, foresight, clusters, indicators
• Re-design KIS consequences mode1 mode 2
• New instruments participative and communicative

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INNOVATION RESEARCHCases

• Innovation in services
• Innovation in life sciences
• IT and sustainability
• IT and the (New?) Economy

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INNOVATION RESEARCHTheory

• Two main streams. Processes (SCOT,
  evolutionary,...). Systems (Hughes, David,
  Freeman, Lundvall,..)
• Two problems. Seperated. Description in terms
  of entities in stead of systems

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INNOVATION RESEARCHTheory

• Role of intermediaries in innovation processes
• Innovation in chains, clusters, networks and
  systems
• Development of indicators (throughput, output,
  intangibles)

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INNOVATION RESEARCHAnalysis and support of
decision-making

• Content. Insight in potential assesment
  implementation. Technology assessment,
  technology foresight, clusterstudies,
  indicators
• Process. Support actors in innovation processes
  in networks
• . Scenarios, gaming, group decision support
  systems, strategic workshops

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TO WIND UP
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TO WIND UP

• Innovation is the work of man, but....
• ....making science and technology work is by no
  means easy, and.....
• ....very dependent on. the further
  development of integral innovation policies .
  deeper insight in relation between processes and
  systems. adequate indicators and strategic
  intelligence

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MEDIATOR BETWEEN TECHNOLOGICAL ARTEFACTS AND USERS
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INNOVATIONTo wind up

• Science and technology are the work of man, and
  by this policy makes sense
• Influencing ST in the direction we want is not
  easy
• Succesful innovation is far more than pure ST

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FROM MODE 1 MODE 2

• MODE 1
• Academic context
• Disciplinary
• Homogeneous
• Hierarchical stable
• Academic quality control
• Accountable for academic world

• MODE 2
• Application oriented
• Transdisciplinary
• Heterogeneous
• Heterarchical and variable
• Broader quality control
• Accountable for society as a whole