Microsoft Word bal paper with addendum doc

1.5 Is NSI a fruitful combination? 

Looking back it might be asked if ‘the national system of innovation’ was the best way to 

characterise what we wanted to capture by the concept. Some have argued that the most dubious 

element of the concept is ‘national’ since it brings in, ex ante, a level of analysis that might not be 

the most adequate for understanding the process of innovation. Given that our original intention was 

to confront national economic policy strategies and standard economics – very much focused on the 

national level - it was not an option to delete ‘national’ from NSI. I also believe that it has become 

even more important to be explicit about the national dimension as ‘globalisation’ becomes a major 

theme in the societal discourse. To cope with the problems connected with globalisation and the 

formation of the European Union calls for an understanding of the historical role of national 

systems. The analysis of how different countries differ in terms of institutional set ups supporting 

innovation and learning is important in this context. 

Rather I would see as more debatable our use of the term ‘system’. System appears in different 

social and academic discourses. Mechanistic versions indicate something that can be constructed, 

governed and manipulated by policy makers. Understanding systems as being complex and 

characterised by co-evolution and self-organising brings us closer to what we wanted to signal with 

our ideas. But it is true that we did not give any sophisticated specification of the theoretical status 

of ‘system’ in 1992. Mechanistic interpretations of system may be seen in regional development 

strategies based upon the assumption that ‘clusters’ and ‘regional systems’ may be built from 

scratch through policy initiatives. 

What about the ‘innovation’ part of the concept? How innovation is defined is as we shall see 

crucial for where we draw the limits of the innovation system. I would argue that it is through a 

better understanding of innovation, learning and knowledge that progress can be made in making 

the NSI concept more pregnant. This will be the theme of much of this lecture.