Mapping National Innovation Ecosystems

Increasingly, researchers and policymakers alike recognize that innovations are generated by complex and dynamic national ecosystems that include government, industry, universities and schools.

Innovation has been shown to be a key factor in determining a country’s competitiveness and economic growth potential. Through investments in education and research and development, many developing countries have tried to avoid the “middle income trap” of stagnation by working to create high-value employment opportunities. To better understand country-level readiness to innovate, we have compiled a set of publicly available data indicators and created a data tool to illustrate innovation capabilities and infrastructure by country. Our approach builds on and advances existing national innovation metrics by constructing transparent, publicly sourced indicators that emphasize changes over time and interrelationships between different indicators, as opposed to creating simple indices across groups of indicators. This occasional paper is targeted to an applied audience, explaining the methods used to assemble the data, an overview of the indicators, practical applications of the data, summary statistics, and data limitations. The data are not intended to be a tool for providing answers about innovation, but rather a starting point for future work including market landscaping, country-level diagnostics, and qualitative protocols for research.

During the past 40 years, Shenzhen has risen from a fishing village into a globally leading innovation hotspot. What drives such remarkable growth? Is there a “Shenzhen model” for technological catch-up that is different from the classical “Silicon Valley model”? What kind of policy lessons can Shenzhen offer to developing countries and lag-behind regions? Based on international patent and scientific publication data, this report classifies Shenzhen’s technological trajectory and catch-up process into three stages: 1) accessing advanced technology by participating in the Global Production Networks (GPNs) and Global Value Chains (GVCs), 2) accumulating technological knowledge and enhancing absorptive capability through imitation and 3) achieving indigenous innovation. We interpret this remarkable catch-up process from the perspective of 1) technological specialization, 2) the local innovation ecosystem and 3) its embeddedness into the Global Innovation Networks (GINs). The last part summarizes Shenzhen’s policy lessons in fostering innovation-based economic growth in developing countries and areas.

Innovation requires supportive innovation ecosystems. This book is about building innovation ecosystems and improving existing ones. These have the character of complex adaptive systems. Innovation ecosystems do not just happen; they need to be engineered. Cases and examples in the book of how to engineer innovation ecosystems illustrate widely applicable fundamentals. No previous knowledge of complexity is assumed. Innovation ecosystems are systems of people usually in organizations behaving as normal non-rational beings, making decisions, experiencing successes and failure, learning, and living. An innovation ecosystem is a complex system of connections and relationships among people and their environment. We call these Rainforests or complex adaptive systems. This book applies complex adaptive systems and Rainforest Thinking to building innovation ecosystems.Understanding such systems helps deliver economic and social benefits: entrepreneurship, new business opportunities, workforce utilization, exports, investment, quality of life, prosperity, and more in a holistic, positive manner; and, most importantly, a robust innovation culture. Strategic planning and planning strategies change when the environment is a mix of certainty and uncertainty, as in complex adaptive systems.

Fransman explains how innovation happens and which factors can help or hinder, by treating innovation as a systemic phenomenon, or ecosystem of players and processes. It will appeal to economists, other social scientists, business people, policy makers, and anyone interested in innovation and entrepreneurship.

This book offers a comprehensive overview of the dynamics underpinning the successful performance of local innovation systems (LIS), that is, spatial concentration of innovation activities in specific geographical areas, characterized by the synergetic co-localization of research centers, innovation-driven enterprises, large corporations and capital providers. The reader will gain a deeper knowledge of LIS theory and learn about the theoretical and empirical challenges of studying the LIS from a relational perspective. The book also provides an analytical framework to explore the level of connectivity among LIS actors through the use of social network analysis (network architecture) and second, to assess the variety of different types of relationships that local actors put in place to produce innovation within the LIS (network portfolio). More specifically, this book explores which network configuration is associated with a successful LIS by deriving evidence from the empirical study of the biopharma LIS in the Greater Boston Area (GBA), which has been exemplified as a benchmark case in terms of successful LIS performance. This book also contributes to the theoretical debate about the optimal configuration of network structure (e.g. network closure vs. network openness). In capturing the heterogeneous nature of the LIS demography, it addresses the challenges brought about by the adoption of a holistic approach. Finally, the study provides insights into the network portfolio composition, which has been underexplored by extant literature. Besides addressing the scientific community in the field, this book will also be a valuable resource with practical implications for policymakers and those actors willing to undertake an active role in the development of an LIS in their own regions.

Presenting an updated overview of transformational entrepreneurship, this book explores how critical concepts can be contextualised for different regions and countries, underlining the fact that no one system fits all. In order for entrepreneurship to play a role in socio-economic development, a balance needs to be struck between focusing on individual entrepreneurial activities and regions, and society-wide changes. Building on the Editors’ previous books, Systemic Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurship Centres, this volume delves deeper into the importance of innovative eco-systems, providing examples of how transformational entrepreneurship can be implemented in different geographical locations. An invaluable read for policy-makers as well as scholars, the authors provide a series of detailed case studies from regions including the UK, Malaysia and Africa.

This contributed volume explores and reveals the dynamics, strengths and weaknesses, trends and implications of entrepreneurship in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Presenting papers by respected experts in the field, it shares essential insights on the status quo of entrepreneurship and the opportunities and threats it faces in the MENA region. Topics range from development of entrepreneurial universities to international entrepreneurship, as well as emergent topics such as green entrepreneurship, sustainable entrepreneurship and youth entrepreneurship.