National innovation system

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Also called National System of Innovation.

The National Innovation System (A.k.a. NIS, National System of Innovation) is the flow of technology and information among people, enterprises and institutions which is key to the innovative process on the national level. According to innovation system theory, innovation and technology development are results of a complex set of relationships among actors in the system, which includes enterprises, universities and government research institutes.

There is no single definition of national innovation systems. A few dominating definitions are listed below (quoted by the OECD publication National Innovation Systems (1997)):

A national system of innovation has been defined as follows:

.. the network of institutions in the public and private sectors whose activities and interactions initiate, import, modify and diffuse new technologies. (Freeman, 1987)
.. the elements and relationships which interact in the production, diffusion and use of new, and economically useful, knowledge ... and are either located within or rooted inside the borders of a nation state. (Lundvall, 1992)
... a set of institutions whose interactions determine the innovative performance ... of national firms. (Nelson, 1993)
.. the national institutions, their incentive structures and their competencies, that determine the rate and direction of technological learning (or the volume and composition of change generating activities) in a country. (Patel and Pavitt, 1994)
.. that set of distinct institutions which jointly and individually contribute to the development and diffusion of new technologies and which provides the framework within which governments form and implement policies to influence the innovation process. As such it is a system of interconnected institutions to create, store and transfer the knowledge, skills and artefacts which define new technologies. (Metcalfe, 1995)

[edit] NIS In Egypt

There is no formal uniform organizational framework for a national innovation system in Egypt; the elements of a national innovation system in terms of education and research institutes, industrial parks, incubators and venture capital funding exist but they are not well-coordinated or well-meshed. [See Nawar, Abdel-Hameed (2005)"NIS in Egypt: The Need for A Strategic Shift "]

The key players in a national innovation system in Egypt include:

government,
business and industry,
education,
research
international cooperation and
other enablers.

Each of the key players is made up of a number of elements. The relations within and among the key players and channels of interaction among the key players are often structured in terms of seemingly static hierarchy rather than network.

Recent reforms in Egypt are introducing more dynamics and networking among the key players

[edit] Further reading

EDQUIST, C. (1997), Systems of Innovation: Technologies, Institutions, and Organizations, Pinter, London.
FREEMAN, C. (1987), Technology and Economic Performance: Lessons from Japan, Pinter, London.
FREEMAN, C. (1995), “The National System of Innovation in Historical Perspective”, Cambridge Journal of Economics, No. 19, pp. 5-24
LUNDVALL, B-Å. (ed.) (1992). National Innovation Systems: Towards a Theory of Innovation and Interactive Learning, Pinter, London.
METCALFE, S. (1995), “The Economic Foundations of Technology Policy: Equilibrium and Evolutionary Perspectives”, in P. Stoneman (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation and Technological Change, Blackwell Publishers, Oxford (UK)/Cambridge (US).
MIETTINEN, R. (2002), National Innovation System: Scientific Concept or Political Rhetoric, Edita, Helsinki.
NAWAR, ABDEL-HAMEED (2005), NIS in Egypt: The Need for A Strategic Shift, Faculty of Economics and Political Science, manuscript
NELSON, R. (ed.) (1993), National Innovation Systems. A Comparative Analysis, Oxford University Press, New York/Oxford.
PATEL, P. and K. PAVITT (1994), “The Nature and Economic Importance of National Innovation Systems”, STI Review, No. 14, OECD, Paris.
OECD, (1997), National Innovation Systems, OECD Publications, Paris.
diffusion of innovations
diffusion (anthropology)