MODELING SYSTEMS OF INNOVATION - AN ENTERPRISE-CENTERED VIEW

Business enterprises operate as components of what is commonly referre d to as a system of innovation. The system of innovation is the contex t for a process of innovation that can be described in terms of the kn owledge sources and flows that lead to commercial advances, In this pa per, we develop a model of the innovation process and of the system of innovation in which it takes place. The model, which describes the sy stem from the perspective of the firm or enterprise, has the following properties: (a) it is flexible in its application but symmetrical in structure, making it easier to generalize or specialize; (b) it is sim ple, which helps makers and implementers of policy to visualize their role in the system; and (c) it is quantifiable, which aids comparisons among firms and among different systems of innovation. We make some a pplications of the new model, and show how other frameworks can be map ped onto it, Tn particular, we show the relationship with the European Community's model Innovation Survey and based on that, make some comm ents on future directions for survey instruments. (C) 1998 Elsevier Sc ience B.V.