Innovation Systems and Policy for Development in a Changing World
Innovation Systems and Policy for Development in a Changing World
Historical experience has led to the conventional assumption that innovation emanates from the advanced countries. However, the last three decades have witnessed significant changes, with more and more innovations originating in the developing countries. This chapter argues that those changes are all inter-related and result from a paradigm shift from mass production to the information technology revolution, which can only be properly understood from an interdisciplinary and historically oriented perspective. The paradigm shift has radically changed the context for innovation by and for the poor (and the weak): it has enabled flexible production and access to global networks; it has opened up new technological opportunities for natural resource producers and for addressing the environmental challenges; it has segmented markets, making it possible for small scale niche production to be competitive while enabling a range of widely differing technologies to coexist; and it has provided a set of information processing and communication tools for aiding design, production, marketing and trade, both locally and globally.
Keywords: Innovation systems, paradigm shift, economic history, economic development, innovation policy
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