Persistent Developmental Limits to Devising Policy Innovation for Innovation Policies in Emerging Economies

Promising industrial profiles of Southeast Asian emerging economies have met their developmental limits in the face of the Asian Financial Crisis in the late 1990s. However, following the crisis, they have not been successful in upscaling the technological competitiveness of their industries. By applying the national innovation system approach originally developed in advanced western economies as an institutional mechanism of policy innovation in light of developmentalism, I seek to explain these persistent developmental limits in Malaysia and Indonesia. My qualitative research examines literature discussing policy coordination mechanisms in innovation policies and policy documents containing coordination mechanisms involving firms, universities, and government agencies; then, how these issues implicate innovation policies in the two countries. I employ a comparative institutional analysis between them focusing on institutional characteristics of the national innovation systems, specifically their institutional obstacles occurring within development paths amidst prevailing political environments. I suggest that persistent developmental limits in Malaysia and Indonesia result from systemic failures of achieving developmental aims regardless of their politico-administrative regimes. Existing institutional frameworks of the national innovation systems, entrenched in the socio-economic prevalence of the two countries, have not fit the nations’ developmental aims pursued upon innovation upgrading.

Comparison of National Innovation Systems in the European Union Countries

The effective operation of national innovation systems can be a source of many opportunities, but it cannot be forgotten that innovation in itself may mean limiting but also generating various types of risks for the functioning of the local market. The main aim of the article is to present the concept and classification of national innovation systems in the world and to try to answer whether the type of NIS determines the level of innovation of the economies of the European Union countries. The following research thesis was formulated in the study: the type of National Innovation System determines a certain level of innovation in the economy of an European Union country, i.e., in countries belonging to a developed NIS, the level of innovation of the economy is higher than in countries belonging to developing systems. The results of the analysis confirm the research thesis. In the empirical part, the level of innovation in the European Union countries was assessed using the synthetic measure of development (SMD) by Z. Hellwig. Based on the obtained values of the synthetic measure of development (innovation), a ranking of the innovation of the economies of the EU countries was compiled and groups of countries with a similar degree of innovation in the economy were distinguished. The developed ranking of the European Union countries was compared with the NSI classification presented in the theoretical part of the article. The study covered 2010 and 2019.

Simulation of knowledge development in an innovation system based on neural network model

Innovative development is impossible without the support of scientific research capable of forming fundamentally new technological approaches. The process of knowledge development cannot be fully formalized, therefore, management decisions are made in conditions of uncertainty. The models developed on the basis of self-organization are the most effective for predicting the development of knowledge in the innovation system. On the basis of the developed recurrent neural network, the analysis of the influence of the state scientific and technical policy on the formation of the strategies of the actors of the national innovation systems of the BRICS countries is carried out. The determinants of the influence of the state scientific and technical policy on the development of knowledge in the innovation system are revealed.

The Dutch Green Deals Policy and Its Applicability to Circular Economy Policies

This study investigates the applicability of the Dutch Green Deals policy instrument for use in projects that help the transition towards a Circular Economy in the Netherlands. Green Deals provide an opportunity for firms, NGOs, universities, and provincial, municipal, or waterboard governments to sign an agreement with the national government to take away barriers for a Circular Economy related innovation. Quantitative and qualitative content analysis has been performed, categorizing all green deals as being related to Circular Economy and those are further categorized thematically and analytically. A total of 50 relevant Green Deal agreements are selected for quantitative and qualitative content analyses that cover 9 themes, 20 industry classifications, and 10 types of action undertaken, being particularly popular in the biobased economy and construction industry. The policy instrument is believed to be successful in addressing a variety of barriers and as useful in strengthening national innovation systems, thus, it can be recommended for application in other countries. The instrument does lack clear policy indicators and would benefit from explanatory reviews with each agreement. Future research could compare this policy instrument to similar instruments employed in other EU countries and developing countries, the potential role of green financing for such green deal agreements should also be considered.

Factors of Collaboration Affecting the Performance of Alternative Energy Patents in South Korea from 2010 to 2017

In recent years, innovation of alternative energy technologies to manage climate change has become an important goal worldwide. South Korea has been focusing on the innovation of alternative energy technologies through its investments and innovation systematic capabilities. This study quantitatively examines the effect of national innovation systems that are designed to improve the performance of innovation. To do so, this study analyzes the effects of financial support from the national research and development (R&D) project, and collaborations between institutions regarding the national innovation systems on patent performance based on citation count, which is a useful indicator of patent quality. Specifically, this study analyzes the effects of financial support from the national R&D project, as well as collaborations between universities, industries, and the government regarding patent performance using the patent data of South Korea. These data were used in congruence with a hurdle negative binomial model, using data from 2010 to 2017. Consequently, this study establishes that financial supports from national R&D project are generally inefficient. The relational aspects of the South Korean innovation systems are also generally inefficient, while collaborations between universities and industries contribute toward improving the performance of alternative energy patents.

Efficiency evaluation of BRICS’s national innovation systems based on bias-corrected network data envelopment analysis

The very limited studies that tried to measure the efficiency of national innovation systems (NISs) in BRICS economies were limited to the assumption that the innovation process at national level consists of one stage only and got different and conflicting results. Therefore, this study endeavours to measure the efficiency of sub-processes within the BRICS’s NISs and identify where the system failure lies in each NIS. Bias-corrected network data envelopment analysis (DEA) is used to measure the efficiency of total NIS and the efficiency of the other sub-processes within the system: (1) knowledge production process (KPP), and (2) knowledge commercialization process (KCP). The results showed that NISs in BRICS economies suffer from low performance in commercializing their outputs of universities and research organizations. While, on the other hand, their performance in creating scientific and technical knowledge is good in comparison to other studied countries. We suggest that the reason behind this imbalance is the network system failure associated with weak institutions and high uncertainty in the economy. In this study, we argue that the problem in BRICS NISs is not a problem of resources, but it is a problem of system management and institutions. Some bridging policies are suggested to be adopted by BRICS economies to improve their innovation performance and overcome the system failure of weak links between universities and industry.