Abstract
How language is used has political implications as well as communicational consequences. Regional development, using means of systematic support for innovation, is a widespread phenomenon globally that also includes numerous political ambitions and implications. This article argues that ambiguities regarding the use of terms such as ‘innovation system’ and ‘innovation support system’ need to be clarified to improve communication in this field, as well as to reveal underlying political ideas on how systematic support for innovation should be carried out, by drawing on examples from studies of regional systems. Such ambiguities contribute significantly to the often-mentioned lack of involvement and engagement in regional development on the part of higher education institutions and academics. Examining key terms and concepts of this discourse, in the interests of promoting a common and stringent use of terminology, helps to illuminate whether the desired academic involvement in innovation processes relates to ideation, implementation and commercialization, or to support for processes through the contribution of knowledge and expertise.
Highlights
How language is used has political implications as well as communicational consequences
In researching a number of regional innovation systems in Sweden (Swenberg et al, 2019), we have identified some peculiarities in how the concepts of innovation systems and innovation support systems are used and understood
We have found that government employees, academics and intermediary representatives hold different views and mean different things in their use of the two concepts
Summary
The term ‘innovation system’ first occurs in the literature in the 1930s (Coase, 1937), but it is sparsely used until the 1960s, when it occurs approximately a dozen times, and is increasingly in evidence during the following decade. In examining some 101 academic papers and public reports, all of which address regional innovation support systems, the term ‘innovation support system’ (ISS) is used for purposes ranging from denoting some kind of general innovation support to software applications for specific uses in innovation processes. The innovation support exists within an innovation system, as either an integral part of it (where ISS 1⁄4 ‘innovation system’), or as a sub-system of it, possibly dedicated per sector Most of these different usage summaries are derived from the ways in which the term ‘innovation support system’ occurs in the text. The narrower the application of the term, the more it excludes other usages This variety of ways in which the term ‘innovation support system’ is applied indicates that support activities which address innovation processes need a vocabulary that expresses in what sense these activities form a systematic approach to innovation support
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