The Dynamics of Innovation Systems: Perspectives, Influences and Operationalization

• Applicant: Dr. Ann Hipp
• Subject Area: Economic Policy, Applied Economics
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 496310572

Industrial nations currently face global challenges - new future-oriented technologies, climate change and international value chains shape existing system structures and require a realignment of innovation policy. Only this would allow for an increase of firms’ competitive advantages, the growth of new industries and the rise of equal living conditions in regions. The literature on innovation systems examines the determinants of innovation for the growth of a system, which can be one or more economies, regions, sectors or technological units. Recent studies consider the effects of institutional influences and new technologies on the innovation capacity and the competitive edge of the actors in a system. Based on the different units of analysis, however, the diversity of systemic approaches increases, which leads to a decreasing coherence of the collective research efforts and inconsistent recommendations for policy and firms. Moreover, the majority of studies uses static and descriptive methods, which compare a number of systems at one point in time. But this impedes a measurement of the influences and the evolution of system structures. So far, methodological approaches to operationalize innovation systems and the developments therein are highly fragmented. Thus, there is a lack of analytical approaches to understand the developments and the effects of system structures and to derive coherent recommendations for action. A research exchange between the different perspectives and a knowledge transfer on the influences and their operationalization would provide a better understanding on the development and support of innovation systems. The primary research questions are as follows: How do innovation systems develop over time and are there similar trends among the different concepts? Which effects have institutional factors and new technologies on the development of innovation systems and how can they be measured? The present network bundles a comprehensive expertise on the different types of innovation systems as an economic concept and connects economists with political scientists, geographers and engineers. It consists of 18 members out of 14 institutions, among them 6 international partners from the UK, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and Switzerland. The project is structured in four workshops and two conferences, which are scheduled within two steps. Step 1 comprises a research exchange between the different perspectives on innovation systems. Step 2 addresses the knowledge transfer into the areas of institutions and technologies to approach the measurement of innovation system dynamics and their effects. The aim of the network is to prepare the collective scientific works and to give new impulses for advancing the concepts and methods.

• DFG Programme: Scientific Networks
• Co-Investigator: Dr. Martin Kalthaus