We draw upon historical evidence from several countries and contemporary studies of national innovation systems to argue that indigenous systems of academic training and public researchhave been in the past important elements of the institutional structures supporting a country's economic catch...

It is widely believed that while society allows technology to be private property, scientific knowledge is public and open. However, over the past quarter-century there has been increasing patenting of quite basic scientific knowledge. This essay argues that this is potentially a very serious...