Innovation Systems and International Specialisation

The original purpose of the concept of innovation systems was to explain international specialisation patterns (Freeman 2004, Lundvall 1985), but the focus of its later development has gradually become the institutional analysis of innovative activities (Carlsson, 2006; Lundvall, 2007b). Additionally, the current constructs of innovation systems at national and sectoral levels have several weaknesses. In this study, an integrative IS approach is proposed. In this framework, we conceptualise the interactions between different actors, and the influences of financial and education systems on firms’ innovative activities. Furthermore, we use tacitness, complexity and coupledness of knowledge, heterogeneity of demand, and sources of innovation to identify the resources and knowledge requirements of firms’ innovative activities. Based on the geographic scope in which firms operate and the extent of value-added activities firms provide, we can separate firms into different groups, and use the concept of ‘fitness’ between the NIS and SIS to analyse the international specialisation patterns