Introduction

As we have seen in earlier chapters, the concept ‘National System of Innovation’ may be used in two senses: in a broad sense it encompasses all institutions which affect the introduction and diffusion of new products, processes and systems in a national economy; and in a narrow sense it encompasses that set of institutions which are more directly concerned with scientific and technical activities. This book is mainly concerned with national systems in the broad sense and has stressed the importance of the interactions between the production system, the users and innovation. In this chapter, however, we focus more on the narrower set of formal institutions and attempt to outline some major stages in the evolution of these institutions.

Chapter 1 has pointed out that flexibility in the economy does not only derive from market institutions. This chapter shows that the capacity to adapt to major changes in technology has depended historically on the development of a network of scientific and technical institutions, both in the public and private sectors. Whereas chapter 7 has focused mainly on the role of the public sector as user of innovation, this chapter concentrates more on its role as producer.

In the early days of the industrial revolution contact between science and industry was certainly already important (Musson and Robinson, 1969) but it was largely on an individual basis and not on a systematic, continuous basis. Firms were very small and science was largely the province of individual enthusiasts, loosely linked in scientific societies and in national academies.