Postgraduate Course: Innovation Systems: Theory and Practice I (PGSP11334)
Course Outline
| School | School of Social and Political Science |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | Is technological innovation contributing to the removal of geographical boundaries? The web, the globalisation of financial markets, the increasing delocalisation of manufacturing towards low-wage countries, the standardisation of intellectual property rights, all are seen as generating a global economy in which nation states and local constituencies have become less relevant. Local economies, however, are characterised by different infrastructures for research, innovation and production and continue to display different rates of technological change and economic growth.
Having emerged in parallel with efforts in economics to include technological change and knowledge dynamics into endogenous growth models, the development of systemic approaches to innovation can be seen as an attempt to provide an answer to this apparent paradox.
From an interdisciplinary and historical perspective, this course focuses on issues surrounding knowledge dynamics (creation, accumulation and diffusion), the interdependence and non-linearity of research and development activities, the role of institutions, and the emergence of organised markets, with a view to elucidate the shortcomings of the notion of optimality and allow for useful comparisons between the trajectory and performance of selected systems.
This course, which requires no prior knowledge of the area, is designed to provide a much needed introduction for students to concepts at the centre of contemporary studies of technological change and innovation including technological systems, industrial clusters and sectoral, regional, and national innovation systems. The relevance of such systemic approaches will be discussed in the context of both advanced economies and developing countries. The focus will be on the relationship among a variety of possible systemic configurations, processes of structural change and innovative performances.
Finally, the course will explain why and how the concept of innovation systems entail a different perspective on innovation policy, one that tends to focus on long-term competence building and requires the effective coordination of a variety of policy types, from science and education to labour markets to finance and industrial strategy. |
| Course description |
WEEK TOPIC
1 Discovery, invention, innovation, research, development and commercialisation
2 Innovation as a systems phenomenon ¿ general theories and models
3 Geography of production and geography of innovation ¿ nations and regions
4 Entrepreneurship and knowledge spillovers
5 The role of institutions and organisation and their changing dynamics
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- organisational and institutional changes required to promote innovation in different settings
- the emergence of networks and organised markets
- different ways to finance innovation
- the planning and coordination of the different components of an innovation policy strategy
- the importance of innovation systems for economic development
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Reading List
Breschi S and Lissoni F (2001) Knowledge Spillovers and Local Innovation Systems: A Critical Survey, ICC, 10 (4), 975-1005.
Carlsson B. (2006), The Role of Public Policy in Emerging Clusters, in (eds) Braunehjelm P and Feldman M, Cluster Genesis: Technology Bases Cluster Development, Oxford University Press.
Cooke P (2001), Regional Innovation Systems, Clusters, and the Knowledge Economy, ICC, 10 (4): 945-974.
Cooke, P. (2005), Regional Asymmetric Knowledge Capabilities and Open Innovation, Research Policy, 34, 1128-1149.
Edquist C (1997), Systems of innovation: technologies, institutions, and organizations, Routledge UK.
Etzkowitz H and Leydesdorff L (2000), The dynamics of innovation: from National Systems and ¿Mode 2¿ to a Triple Helix of university¿industry¿government relations, Research Policy, 29 (2), 109-123
Freeman C (1995), The National Systems of Innovation in Historical Perspective, Cambridge Journal of Economics, 19, 5-24.
Kenney M and Patton D (2006), ¿The Co-Evolution of Technology and Institutions¿, in (eds) Braunehjelm P and Feldman M, Cluster Genesis: Technology Bases Cluster Development, Oxford University Press.
Laranja M, Uyarra E and Flanagan K (2008), ¿Policies for Science, Technology and Innovation: Translating Rationales into Regional Policies in a Multi-Level Setting¿, Research Policy, 37 (5) 823-835.
Lundvall BA, Johnson B, Andersen ES and Dalum B (2002), National systems of production, innovation and competence building, Research Policy, 31, 212-231.
Malerba F (2002), Sectoral systems of innovation and production, Research Policy 31(2), 247-264.
Maskell P. (2001), Towards a Knowledge-based Theory of the Geographical Cluster, ICC, vol. 10 (4), 921- 943.
Metcalfe S, and Ramlogan R, 2005 Innovation Systems and the Competitive Process in Developing Countries, The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, 48, 433-446.
Nelson RR, Nelson K (2002), Technology, institutions, and innovation systems Research Policy, 31(2), 265-272.
Nelson RR (1993), National innovation systems, Oxford University Press New York.
Porter M.E. (2003), The Competitive Advantage of Nations, The Free Press, NY.
Rosiello A, Avnimelech G. and Teubal M (2001), Towards a Systemic and Evolutionary Framework for Venture Capital Policy, J Evol Econ, 21, 167-189. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Alessandro Rosiello
Tel: (0131 6)50 8246
Email: Alessandro.Rosiello@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Gillian MacDonald
Tel: (0131 6)51 3244
Email: gillian.macdonald@ed.ac.uk |
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