ABSTRACT

Innovation Systems and The Competitive Process in Developing Economies

CRIC Discussion Paper No. 77

Stan Metcalfe & Ronnie Ramlogan

The problems of economic development and transformation, of closing the gaps between rich and poor countries appear, from the experience of the past half century, to be intractable. In this paper we argue that the instituted frame in relation to the growth and development of economic capability and its associated knowledge base are central to the development problem since they capture the fundamental point that economies only develop through their people becoming more knowledgeable. Given that the innovation agenda for developing countries is pressing. How can a transformation of innovation performance be achieved in a competitive international economy? What are the appropriate policy instruments? What role is there for universities? What stimuli can be given to entrepreneurial action? We explore these in terms of a critical evaluation of the idea of innovation systems and of the nature of innovation policy appropriate to innovation based development.

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