Innovation in the Service Economy

The main theme of this report - innovation processes in services - is a fascinating and stimulating subject. Further, it is a subject that is of vital importance to innovation studies in general and, moreover one that has implications for the overall development of industrial innovation policies.(...) The development of service, information or knowledge societies is a process that may be compared to the emergence of industrial society during the nineteenth century in terms of the social impact it has had. Indeed, the emergence of service economies seems to be changing the fabric of the social and economic systems. The common perception of modern service societies as dominated by hair dressing and hamburger flipping is universes apart from the dynamism and complexity of the emergent service economy. The main aim of the present survey is to describe and discuss issues that are related to these factors. By doing this we hope to be able to attain a better understanding of the processes behind recent developments and a better understanding of the factors that are likely to help shape future developments.