Sectoral Innovation System Research Articles

Rethinking the missions and functions of public research institutes: evidence from Iranian PRIs

Abstract Public research institutes (PRIs) are pivotal in national and sectoral innovation systems and the transition to a knowledge-based economy. So, the current study has reassessed these institutes’ functions and suggested policy recommendations to augment their influence in moving toward a knowledge-based economy. The findings of this research reveal that functions such as innovation hub and specialized accelerator; strategic and problem-oriented research management platform; standard and regulatory reference; specialized technical service center; center for cooperation, transfer, and dissemination of technology; and the hub of technology and policy intelligence in a specific industrial sector are crucial functions of PRIs in transitioning to a knowledge-based economy. Additionally, to foster a conducive environment for the influence of PRIs in actualizing a knowledge-based economy, policies related to governance and division of responsibilities, stimulation of both supply and demand sides, strengthening the linkage between the supply and demand sides, and provisioning supportive environment and infrastructure are recommended.

The use of foresight to anticipate and prioritise innovation system failures: The case of machine learning in broadcasting in South Korea

This article reports on a study applying foresight methods to explore and anticipate innovation system failures in relation to a particular case sector, that of broadcasting in South Korea. Although previous studies of system failures have contributed to an in-depth understanding of innovation system as an analytical concept and provided the base of policy intervention, they have failed to capture different degrees of system failures and their changes in the process of sectoral transformation. Through the application of a sectoral innovation system foresight approach to the broadcasting sector in South Korea’s encounters with artificial intelligence (AI), a series of current and future priorities among nine system failures are identified. The shift of nine system failure priorities between current and five-year time points is captured: the highest priority of system failures moves from directionality failures to market structure failures. By applying a sectoral innovation system foresight approach, we advance theory on system failures and innovation systems. We show that the use of sectoral innovation system foresight approaches can productively be applied to the understanding of current and potential system failures.

The adverse effects of political instability on innovation systems: The case of Mexico's wind and solar sector

The global transition to clean energy requires policies to support innovation in the energy sector. However, the stability of energy policies is vulnerable to political disruptions and policy reversals. This paper aims to understand how innovation systems respond to periods of political instability. Specifically, it investigates the impact of policy retrenchment under Mexico's President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) on the sectoral innovation system (SIS) for renewable energy. Employing the innovation system framework, we examine how the structure and functions of the SIS were affected by political changes under the AMLO Administration. Notable policy changes include canceling long-term auctions and strategic transmission projects, reducing science funding, and fostering uncertainty. These alterations significantly impact entrepreneurial experimentation, knowledge development, market formation, guidance of the search, resource mobilization, and the creation of legitimacy in the SIS for wind and solar technologies. On the positive side, we find that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and local governments took action to compensate for the lack of federal leadership, and distributed generation continued as a niche of innovation. This research contributes to the innovation literature with an empirical study of innovation systems in Mexico. More generally, it highlights the adaptability of innovation systems during political transitions.

Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Transition to Sustainability Trajectories: An Activity-Based Conceptual Analytic Framework

As the road to environmental and social sustainability is tied to large-scale systemic transitions, inevitably, sustainable innovation and entrepreneurship should be considered in their context. In this paper, we investigate how entrepreneurial opportunities develop in trajectories of sectoral transitions to sustainability. We adopt a social practice perspective and, based on insights from sectoral systems of innovation, socio-technical systems and activity theory, we develop an activity-based template/framework to represent sectors and their inherent dynamics in a structured and holistic way. The framework allows for the identification of entrepreneurial opportunities in the contradictions that emerge during transitions in the activities of sectors due to internally developed inconsistencies and/or external interventions. Hence, plausible narratives of the anticipated business futures can be constructed. It also surfaces the role of learning and knowledge creation, i.e., innovation, in resolving contradictions, thus creating value and stirring transitions in the direction of sustainability. The case study of the transition of the automobility sector to sustainability is used to test the framework proposed.

Inclusive agro-industrial development and sectoral systems of innovation: insights from South Africa

ABSTRACT The agro-industries are widely viewed as important to inclusive industrial development due to their relatively low entry barriers and acessibility to small firms. However, the agro-industries are more technologically complex than commonly assumed. Small and young firms face challenges acquiring capabilities to compete effectively. The paper explores how differing sectoral systems of innovation (SSI) shape patterns of inclusion and exclusion in the agro-industries, and the factors shaping this. It analyses two contrasting South African agro-industrial sectors, maize processing and fresh citrus. It proposes a partial conceptualization of ‘inclusive’ SSIs (ISSIs) as sectoral configurations of actors and institutions that lower entry barriers and narrow capability gaps between small firms and dominant incumbents at the technological frontier. It argues that ISSIs rely on institutions that coordinate innovation-related activities in a manner benefitting small firms and new entrants, by aiding the broad diffusion of relevant technology and capabilities. Alongside state agencies, business associations can play an important role in this regard. It identifies the characteristics of state-business relations and inter-firm dynamics of competition and collective action as important underlying determinants of ISSIs. Thus, the paper highlights the need for attention to sector-level political economy in understanding the diverse outcomes of SSIs.

Science and Technology Ventures in India: Integrating NIS, SSI and Ecosystem Perspectives

The study traces the emergence of science and technology ventures (STVs) in India through two systemic lenses—National Innovation System (NIS) perspective, which espouses a top-down, policy-driven approach to encourage STVs, and the ecosystem perspective, which highlights the role of independent organisations in nucleating STVs. Converging the NIS and ecosystem perspectives—at sectoral levels—is found to be germane for STV emergence. The sectoral systems of innovation (SSI) perspective is then advanced to emphasise how the integration of NIS and ecosystem approaches has enabled a thriving STV landscape in India. The case of biotech sector is discussed to illustrate the integration. Based on this analysis, the study advocates policy intervention at the sectoral level, and a thrust on firm-centric innovation as a complement to investments in fundamental research, to unleash a wave of STVs in the country.

Optimizing digital transformation paths for industrial clusters: Insights from a simulation

Digital technologies have revolutionised industrial clusters, implementing digital transformation without careful consideration can lead to higher risks and ineffective investments. However, the existing research often focuses on enterprises in a specific position, whereas the entire supply chain or end-to-end research is rarely conducted. To fill this gap, this study proposes a sectoral innovation system. It conducts a simulation model to study the digital transformation process by considering the behaviour, knowledge learning, and innovation of upstream and downstream enterprises in different cluster types. The simulation dynamically presents production and productivity changes during the transformation process of the entire industrial cluster. The results reveal that an orderly transformation path is the most effective for Marshallian clusters, whereas a simultaneous transformation works best for central satellite clusters. In addition, the social network simulation before and after the digital transformation of the two industrial clusters shows that enterprises in central-satellite clusters communicate more frequently during digital transformation, which is ultimately conducive to a better performance of the digital transformation of industrial clusters. These findings emphasise the need for tailored digital transformation strategies based on cluster type to maximise benefits, underscoring the importance of leading firms in industrial clusters. It also guides the government's industrial policy formulation and management enlightenment regarding the digital transformation of enterprises.

A Systematic Strategic Technology Planning Process for Material and Component Industries With a Sectoral Innovation System View

Recent trade tensions between the U.S. and China force multinational corporations to deal with severe supply chain disruptions. Although the comparative advantage of nations is the basis of supply chain collaboration in a serious rivalry between leading and emerging power, composite materials are often employed as weapons to protect the competitive advantage of strategic sectors in advanced nations. Also, the tight coupling between product and process innovation has been a critical issue in risk-sharing partnerships in manufacturing. Thus, in this article, we examine how firms make transitions in interdependence-decoupling cycles in the context of increasing competitive tensions. Practitioners and researchers still have difficulties finding practical guidelines for effective strategic technology planning encompassing various types of innovations. This study proposes a systematic strategic technology planning process in public R&D programs affecting a firm's strategic technology planning. There is ample evidence and/or cases to show the effectiveness of technology planning for the material and component industries (MCIs) with different characteristics. The primary objective is to address the unique aspect of the MCI roadmap and provide a more advanced framework for public technology planning. Consequently, the systematic technology planning process offers an R&D strategy to transform industry structure from finished products to components and materials for responding to severe supply chain disruptions across the value chain.

National Innovation System and an Approach to Innovation Activities at the Scale of an Economic Sector: Some Theoretical Foundations

Innovation is one of the important factors for rapid and sustainable economic and social development in an internationally competitive environment. Identifying and analyzing the national innovation system is a necessary need, moving towards building policy solutions to support Vietnam's national innovation system. However, at the scale and level of an economic industry, this connotation can and should be developed and applied according to the industry innovation system approach.
 Keywords: National innovation system, sectoral innovation system, emerging innovation system, fragmented (dual) innovation system.

Challenges in Connecting The Elements of Sectoral System of Innovation for Developing Electric Vehicle Industry in Indonesia

<p>This article discusses industrial development on EV di Indonesia, viewed from<strong> </strong>Sectoral system of innovation (SSI) perspective. The objective of this study is to map challenges in connecting the elements of SSI for developing EV industry. The method of study is a desk research, where the information input relies on secondary sources, consisting of statistical data, official documents and scientific references. This study found eight challenges to develop EV industry. The institutional challenges include: i. fiscal programs are still less effective to promote industrial collaboration on EV innovation with universities and R&D institutions; ii. Local content target is still difficult to fulfill; iii. unreadiness of local industry to be involved in the EV supply chain; and iv. Slow consumer response towards EV program incentives. On the knowledge and technology challenges are: i) the quality and standards of EVs from domestic R&D are still inadequate for commercial scale; and ii. potential investors have not shown adequate interest in local EV development. The demand challenges are: i. the plan to make Indonesia as EV hub in ASEAN region is far from reality due to lack of investors; and ii. the lack of ECS accessibility is a barrier to the domestic EV market.</p><p> </p>Keywords: electric vehicle, sectoral system of innovation, institutions, knowledge and technology, demand

From lagging behind to going beyond: windows of opportunity and latecomers' catch-up strategies

PurposeTo answer the questions: what roles windows of opportunity act in the catchup process of latecomers, what strategies latecomer enterprises should adopt to size windows of opportunity to catch-up with incumbents even going beyond?Design/methodology/approachThis paper studies the catch-up history of the Chinese mobile phone industry and proposes a sectoral innovation system under scenario of technology paradigm shifts. Then a history-friendly simulation model and counterfactual analysis are conducted to learn how different windows of opportunity and catch-up strategies influence the catch-up performance of latecomers.FindingsResults show latecomers can catch up with technology ability by utilizing technology window and path-creating strategy. However, catching up with the market is not guaranteed. Demand window can help latecomers to catch up with market as it increases their survival rates, different sized windows benefit different strategies. However, it also enlarges incumbents' scale effect. Without technology window technology catch up is not guaranteed. Two windows have combination effects. Demand window affects the “degree” of change in survival rates, while the technology window affects the “speed” of change. Demand window provides security; technology window provides the possibility of a breakthrough for technology ability.Practical implicationsThe findings of this paper provide theoretical guidance for latecomer enterprises to choose appropriate catch-up strategies to seize different opportunity windows.Originality/valueThis paper emphasizes the abrupt change of industrial innovation system caused by technology paradigm shifts, which makes up for the shortcomings of previous researches on industrial innovation system which either studied the influence of static factors or based on the influence of continuous changes.

Institutionalization of personalized medicine in India: analysis of research trends and government interventions.

The biggest challenges that any country faces are affordability and accessibility of quality healthcare. Technological advancements can address these challenges. One such advancement is personalized medicine (PM). This paper discusses the implementation and institutionalization of PM. Using the sectoral innovation system framework, this work describes government interventions with research trends in PM in India. The Web of Science database was used to analyzeresearch trends. Indian government-funded interventions to institutionalize PM were compiled and analyzed. Results suggest that India's healthcare sector is dynamic. The framework discusses some specifics, including the research network, boundariesand government initiatives to promote PM adoption. Based on the policy gaps, this paper further proposes an integrated policy framework for incorporating PM into India's healthcare system.

Catching-up in renewable energies: the role of knowledge dimensions in sectoral innovation systems

ABSTRACT The rapid development of renewable energy technologies and sectoral transformation can open green windows of opportunity for latecomer countries to leapfrog. The present study focuses on analyzing the relationship between the knowledge dimensions of the sectoral innovation system – including localization, diversity, concentration, and originality – and the outcomes of the catching-up process in the renewable energy sector. In this way, we distinguish between successful latecomers and leader countries. The study analyzed data from a panel of 15,600 patents in these countries from 2000 to 2015 and examined the quantitative indexes of knowledge dimensions. To illustrate the outputs of the catching-up process, we use two dependent variables: renewable equipment export and renewable electricity generation. The findings show how the evolution of knowledge dimensions impacts technological catch-up in both leader and successful latecomer countries in different ways. While knowledge localization is crucial in leader countries, latecomer countries benefit from concentration and originality.

Global value chains and sectoral innovation systems: An analysis of the aerospace industry

This paper explores the link between a country's position in the aerospace global value chain (GVC) and the strength of its innovation system. Countries’ participation to different stages of the GVC is proxied using export data at a narrow product level, while innovation system indicators are built from US patents. The analysis covers the 2007–2018 period for 38 countries. Our results highlight a relationship between the strength of the innovation system and a country's participation and specialization in different stages of the aerospace GVC: varied and pervasive (quality) rather than more intensive (quantity) innovation systems are associated with a stronger presence in higher value-added stages of the value chain. These results highlight the importance of improving an innovation system targeting the development of a differentiated knowledge base and fostering the integration of different actors to sustain the aerospace industry and facilitate upgrading within the value chain.

Examining the Effectiveness of the South African Apparel Industry’s Systems of Innovation

The debate on national innovation systems in Africa continues as Africa seeks to lead its development. This paper examines South Africa's apparel industry’s 2007 to 2017 industrial policy action plans (IPAPs). The triple helix theory is used to guide a content analysis. The content analysis shows that the sectoral systems of innovation (SSI) of the South African apparel industry have met coherence policy issues since 2007. This paper also identified underlying policy inconsistencies in the SSI of the South African apparel industry. This paper recommends and suggests that the policy relating to the apparel industry be revised following the identified SSI policy inconsistencies to strengthen the performance of the apparel industry SSI. This paper validates Manzini's (2015) call for a closer look at SSI and identifies one of the approaches to assess policy coherence or inconsistencies in the apparel industry and other industries.
 
 Received: 5 September 2022 / Accepted: 1 December 2022 / Published: 5 January 2023

THE TECHNOLOGICAL EVOLUTION OF FETAL MONITORING IN PREGNANCY CARE

The current context of medical activity demands from obstetricians a broad understanding of the scientific and technological advances. The objective of this article is to reveal the historical evolution of medical practices and technology in a particular field of health, namely the health of the fetus and the medical practices of its follow-up, in the face of the enormous technological advances that have occurred in the supply of cross-cutting technologies with potential use in this particular field. The methodology used was a non-systematic bibliographic review carried out in scientific journals in the medical field, and for the interpretation of the material collected, the approach of sectoral innovation system was adopted, which can be defined as a network of agents that interact in a specific technological field. The main results of the research show that over the centuries, with the advancement of technology, new equipment has been proposed to eliminate the limitations of interobserver interpretation, thus allowing new multicenter randomized studies. Furthermore, it has become clear that the health crisis caused by the Coronavirus limited, broke, and disrupted face-to-face care in all medical fields and served as a springboard for accelerating the use of electronic systems and artificial intelligence in medical care. And finally, it can be observed that the process of technological diffusion encounters several tensions between those who defend remote prenatal care and those who have aversion or distrust towards modernization, excessive medical conservatism, lack of regulation on the subject, and ethical issues that limit its advances.

The green-restructuring of clusters: investigating a biocluster's transition using a complex adaptive system model

ABSTRACT Bioclusters’ promise of helping achieving sustainable bioeconomies has invoked great interest among policymakers and academia. However, bioclusters are not intrinsically sustainable. If they are to fulfil their promise, bioclusters must undergo green-restructuring. While cluster-research has elaborated on green regional development, we need more clarity on how clusters transition to normatively desired states; we need more evidence of how green-restructuring unfolds. In this study, we conduct a longitudinal analysis to demonstrate how a biocluster green-restructures through the interactions of agency, regional and industrial structures, and phenomena at (supra-)national levels. To execute this analysis, we created a novel cluster-evolution framework that treats clusters, and the regional innovation system and sectoral systems of innovation that contain the cluster, as complex adaptive systems. We applied this framework to study the greening of the Basque pulp-and paper-biocluster, over four phases between 1986 and 2019. Our analysis helped us discover patterns of agency, structural dynamics, and of agency-structure interactions and how supra-regional phenomena shaped structures and agency over the four phases. Based on our findings, we recommend policymakers encourage not only green-tech entrepreneurs, but also institutional-entrepreneurs and place-leaders who can help shape both (supra-)regional and industrial structures.

Determinants of Using Standards to Upgrade Chinese Industrial Structure From the Context of Sectoral System of Innovation

Standards have profound effects on industrial productivity, international trade, and economic growth. For latecomer countries such as China, standards, and standardization are an important means to upgrade their industrial structure. Using the framework of a sectoral system of innovation, this article leverages China's hardware industry to investigate the relationships among factors that influence the performance of industrial upgrading via standards. Expert opinions and the decision making trial and evaluation laboratory method are used to evaluate the relationships. The evaluation results show that if some firms in a system have the capability to execute standardization and innovation, with the support of the government to build and shape standardization institutions and infrastructures, the knowledge and technological capabilities of the entire industry can be enhanced, leading to the gradual introduction of high-quality standardized products into markets by firms even as they move toward more knowledge-intensive segments. This article contributes to two academic fields. First, standards are an important but often neglected topic in the innovation system literature. This article not only investigates the neglected topic but also explores the mechanism through which standards influence industrial upgrading at the meso-level. Second, several previous studies assumed that the drivers of supplier upgrades in developing countries are mostly driven by powerful buyer firms that are based in advanced countries. However, this article finds that customer requirement is not the most influential driver of the industrial upgrading of developing countries.

Product and process innovation patterns in Polish low and high technology systems

Research background: While the Sectoral Innovation System (SSI) anticipates technology-related similarities in innovation patterns in the same sectors across countries, the distance to the frontier suggests that there are important differences with respect to the level of national technological development. Most contemporary analyses of sectoral innovation systems are focused on well-developed economies. In contrast, the evidence from developing countries including new EU members are scared and lack dynamics. Purpose of the article: The purpose of this paper is to identify and compare product and process innovation patterns in Polish low and high technology systems. The main assumption is that divergence and convergence in innovation patterns of low- and medium-low technology (LMT) and high technology (HT) systems evolve over time and are strongly influenced by the characteristics of firms, their linkages with other system participants, existing demand, and institutional conditions. Methods: According to the third edition of the Oslo Manual (OECD, 2005), we employ a harmonized questionnaire and methodology to collect unique micro data on innovation. The survey concerns 5252 firms including 873 firms from HT sector. The scope of the research relates to product and process innovation at least new to the firm. Findings & value added: Our results show that although the intensity of product and process innovation is higher in HT system, both business support institutions and public financial instruments better support firms in LMT sectors. On the other hand, existing demand and market structure favor the emergence of new innovations at the firm level (imitations), but with more emphasis on LMT. The key source of innovation is suppliers, with foreign suppliers in HT and national ones in LMT. In contrast to leading economies, LMT plays a key role in long term economic growth in Poland.

Sectoral innovation system of agribusiness in Bulgaria – main challenges and perspectives

Sectoral innovation system of agribusiness in Bulgaria – main challenges and perspectives