Innovation systems and local productive arrangements: New strategies to promote the generation, acquisition and diffusion of knowledge

Abstract

SummaryThe turn of the millennium has been characterized by a high intensity of changes with significant economic, social and political impacts. The emergence of a knowledge economy presents opportunities and challenges for countries, regions, organizations and individuals. The paper starts by focusing on the main features of the new pattern of accumulation and the acceleration of the globalization process, focusing particularly on their impacts for those less developed countries. Three main challenges are particularly addressed. The first is that several mismatches have resulted from the confrontation between the emergence of a new reality and the attempt to understand and orient it by using old conceptual analytical and normative models. The second refers to the need for new theoretical, analytical and normative frameworks to deal with this new reality. The third relates to the difficulties of stimulating and motivating the processes of creation, use and diffusion of knowledge and innovation in development conditions.To deal with the new mode of organizing production and innovative activities a wide range of methodological frameworks has been used. The paper reviews some of the most important, and centrally discusses the contribution of the concepts of innovation systems and of local production and innovation systems arrangements, as developed by a research network based in Brazil. Among the main advantages of these concepts addressed in the paper are: (i) the focus on learning, on building capabilities, on the localness of tacit knowledge, on the interaction between agents, on the role of different local and national contexts; as well as (ii) the importance of taking into account the power and international relations that affect the dynamics of local systems. Two main reasons emphasize the relevance of policy proposals to mobilize local productive and innovative systems. First, is the need to identify and design policies that take into account local specific requirements. The second refers to the importance of mobilizing the set of interdependent agents in their environment and of articulating different policy objectives and levels: local, regional, national and even supranational.