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Competence Building: A Systemic Approach to Innovation Policy

Author

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  • Borrás , Susana

    () (Department of Business and Politics, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark And CIRCLE, Lund University, Sweden)

  • Edquist , Charles

    () (CIRCLE, Lund University)

Abstract

The main question that guides this paper is how governments are focusing (and must focus) on competence building (education and training) when designing and implementing innovation policies. With this approach, the paper aims at filling the gap between the existing literature on competences on the one hand, and the real world of innovation policy-making on the other, typically not speaking to each other. With this purpose in mind, this paper discusses the role of competences and competence-building in the innovation process from a perspective of innovation systems; it examines how governments and public agencies in different countries and different times have actually approached the issue of building, maintaining and using competences in their innovation systems; it examines what are the critical and most important issues at stake from the point of view of innovation policy, looking particularly at the unresolved tensions and systemic unbalances related to competences in the system; and last but not least, it elaborates a set of overall criteria for the selection and design of relevant policy instruments addressing those tensions and unbalances.

Suggested Citation

  • Borrás , Susana & Edquist , Charles, 2013. "Competence Building: A Systemic Approach to Innovation Policy," Papers in Innovation Studies 2013/28, Lund University, CIRCLE - Center for Innovation, Research and Competences in the Learning Economy.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2013_028
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    File URL: http://wp.circle.lu.se/upload/CIRCLE/workingpapers/201328_Borras&Edquist.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Mariacristina Piva & Enrico Santarelli & Marco Vivarelli, 2006. "Technological and organizational changes as determinants of the skill bias: evidence from the Italian machinery industry," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(1), pages 63-73.
    2. Jan Fagerberg & Martin Srholec, 2009. "Innovation Systems, Technology and Development: Unpacking the Relationships," Chapters,in: Handbook of Innovation Systems and Developing Countries, chapter 4 Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. Pierre Garrouste & Stavros Iaonnides, 2001. "Evolution and Path-Dependency in Economic Ideas: Past and Present," Post-Print halshs-00274526, HAL.
    4. Thomas J. Kane & Dietmar Harhoff, 1997. "Is the German apprenticeship system a panacea for the U.S. labor market?," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 10(2), pages 171-196.
    5. Daron Acemoglu, 1997. "Training and Innovation in an Imperfect Labour Market," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 64(3), pages 445-464.
    6. Kander, Astrid & Enflo, Kerstin & Schön, Lennart, 2007. "In Defense of Electricity as a General Purpose Technology," Papers in Innovation Studies 2007/6, Lund University, CIRCLE - Center for Innovation, Research and Competences in the Learning Economy.
    7. Castellacci, Fulvio & Natera, Jose Miguel, 2013. "The dynamics of national innovation systems: A panel cointegration analysis of the coevolution between innovative capability and absorptive capacity," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 579-594.
    8. Varsakelis, Nikos C., 2006. "Education, political institutions and innovative activity: A cross-country empirical investigation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(7), pages 1083-1090, September.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Innovation system; innovation policy; public policy instruments; Knowledge; R&D; learning; skills; training; education; competences; competence building; innovation policy instruments;

    JEL classification:

    • L38 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise - - - Public Policy
    • M38 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Marketing and Advertising - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • O25 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Development Planning and Policy - - - Industrial Policy
    • O30 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - General
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • O38 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Government Policy

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