Network governance of innovation policies: The Technological Plan in Portugal

Abstract

Policy makers are responding to the challenges of governing increasingly broad, complex, dynamic and multi-sectoral domains of innovation policy, with more flexible forms of governance. This paper analyses how the coordination of a wider innovation policy agenda was recently dealt with in Portugal. We argue that the Technological Plan for 2005--9, is an interesting case of network governance (NG) that contrasts with the closed corporatist structures and vertical path dependencies and divisions that had characterized Portuguese governance of innovation policy in the past. Although NG is not a new phenomenon, there is no comprehensive theory to help explain under which conditions NG can contribute to improve the effectiveness of systemic innovation. Our main aim is to assess the effects of such new networked coordination in terms of better articulation, control of implementation and monitoring of progress towards pre-defined objectives, over a wider innovation agenda. Copyright The Author 2012. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com, Oxford University Press.