Microsoft Word bal paper with addendum doc

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Paper to be presented at the DRUID Tenth Anniversary Summer Conference 2005 on 

 

D

YNAMICS OF 

I

NDUSTRY AND 

I

NNOVATION

:  

O

RGANIZATIONS

, N

ETWORKS AND 

S

YSTEMS

 

 

Copenhagen, Denmark, June 27-29, 2005 

 

 

  

NATIONAL INNOVATION SYSTEMS - ANALYTICAL CONCEPT AND 

DEVELOPMENT TOOL 

 

Bengt-Åke Lundvall 

Aalborg University 

Fibigerstræde 4 

DK-9220  Aalborg Ø 

 

And 

 

Tsinghua University 

 

 

 

29 November 2004 

 

Abstract 

The term national system of innovation has been around for more than 20 years and today it 

has become widely spread among policy makers as well as scholars all over the world. In this 

lecture I will take stock and look ahead from a rather personal point of view. I will give some 

insight in why the concept came about and give some space to criticism and self-criticism. I 

will mention but certainly not give justice to alternative conceptualizations of innovation 

system. 

In the paper I reflect on the origin and use of the national innovation system concept in terms 

of theory and practice. I will argue that the concept has some characteristics in common with 

an engineering approach but also with critical theory and grounded theory. The intuition 

behind the Aalborg-version of the NSI-concept pointed in the right direction but the concept 

was certainly not fully worked out when first introduced. Some of the major weaknesses have 

been repaired but some remain. 

In the paper I criticize attempts to make the concept ‘more rigorous’ through organizing the 

definition and analysis around a list of  ‘functions’, ‘factors’ and ‘activities’ and I present the 

principles used to organize the Danish DISKO-project as an alternative and less agnostic 

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approach.

1

 Here a core of the system is defined and it is illustrated that it is necessary to both 

to understand micro-behavior in the core and understand ‘the wider setting’ within which the 

core operates. 

At the end of the paper I discuss some further developments needed to make the concept 

relevant and applicable to developing countries. Here special attention is given to institutions 

and capabilities supporting learning. I point to the need to give more emphasis to the 

distribution of power, to institution building and to the openness of innovation systems.  

 

                                            

1

 My excuses to the reader to write such a long paper. In my negotiations with Peter Maskell I 

promised too much in the title to begin with and I have not had enough time to slim it down. In 

the oral presentation I will (have to) give a condensed version.  

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