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Policy Debates Edited by Fiona Wishlade

A Post-Mortem of Regional Innovation Policy Failure: Scotland's Intermediate Technology Initiative (ITI)

, &
Pages 1260-1272 | Received 06 Jan 2014, Accepted 28 Oct 2014, Published online: 07 Jan 2015
 

Abstract

Brown R., Gregson G. and Mason C. A post-mortem of regional innovation policy failure: Scotland's Intermediate Technology Initiative (ITI), Regional Studies. The Intermediate Technology Initiative (ITI) was one of the most ambitious ‘systemic’ regional innovation policy instruments developed in the UK in recent years. However, little of the ITI's anticipated outputs materialized and the programme was prematurely terminated. This paper examines the reasons for its failure, which largely centred on the programme's inappropriate design. The findings suggest that greater recognition needs to be given to the specificities of local entrepreneurial ecosystems when designing, aligning and executing systemic innovation policy instruments. It is argued that paying greater attention to policy failures could potentially help innovation scholars better understand how innovation systems function.

Brown R., Gregson G. and Mason C. 区域创新政策失败后的事后检验:苏格兰的中间技术创新 (ITI),区域研究。中间技术创新 (ITI),是英国近年来所发展的最有野心的“系统性”区域创新政策工具之一。但ITI所预期的结果,却鲜少有所实践,而该计画亦过早遭到终止。本文检视该计画失败的原因,并主要聚焦该计画不合宜的设计。研究发现指出,当设计、连结与执行系统性的创新政策工具时,需要更进一步认识到在地企业生态的特殊性。本文主张,对政策失败有更多的关注,具有潜力协助研究创新的学者更佳理解创新系同如何运作。

Brown R., Gregson G. et Mason C. Une analyse rétrospective de l’échec de la politique régionale en matière d'innovation: l'initiative écossaise en faveur de la technologie intermédiaire, Regional Studies. L'initiative en faveur de la technologie intermédiaire (Intermediate Technology Initiative; ITI) s'est avérée l'un des outils ‘systémiques’ les plus ambitieux de la politique régionale en matière d'innovation que l'on a développés au R-U au cours des dernières années. Néanmoins, les résultats réalisés par l'ITI étaient inférieurs aux attentes et on a mis fin prématurément au programme. Cet article cherche donc à examiner les causes de cet échec, lesquelles étaient centrées dans une large mesure sur la conception inadéquate du programme. Les résultats laissent supposer qu'il faut prêter plus d'attention aux particularismes des écosystèmes entrepreneuriaux locaux au moment de la conception, de l'alignement et de la mise en oeuvre des outils systémiques de la politique d'innovation. On affirme que prêter plus d'attention à l’échec de la politique pourrait, en principe, aider les chercheurs à mieux comprendre comment fonctionnent les systèmes d'innovation.

Brown R., Gregson G. und Mason C. Autopsie einer gescheiterten regionalen Innovationspolitik: die Intermediate Technology Initiative (ITI) in Schottland, Regional Studies. Die Intermediate Technology Initiative (ITI) war eines der ehrgeizigsten Instrumente der 'systemischen' regionalen Innovationspolitik, die in den letzten Jahren in Großbritannien entwickelt wurden. Allerdings stellten sich nur wenige der erwarteten Ergebnisse der ITI ein, weshalb das Programm vorzeitig beendet wurde. In diesem Beitrag werden die Gründe für ihr Scheitern untersucht und vor allem im ungeeigneten Aufbau des Programms gefunden. Aus den Ergebnissen geht hervor, dass beim Entwerfen, Ausrichten und Umsetzen von Instrumenten der systemischen Innovationspolitik die speziellen Gegebenheiten der lokalen unternehmerischen Ökosysteme stärker berücksichtigt werden müssen. Wir argumentieren, dass sich die Innovationsforschung durch eine stärkere Beachtung von politischen Fehlschlägen potenziell ein besseres Verständnis der Funktionsweise von Innovationssystemen erarbeiten könnte.

Brown R., Gregson G. y Mason C. Autopsia del fracaso de una política de innovación regional: la Iniciativa de Tecnologías Intermedias (ITI) en Escocia, Regional Studies. La Iniciativa de Tecnologías Intermedias (ITI) fue uno de los instrumentos más ambiciosos de la política de innovación regional ‘sistémica’ desarrollados en el Reino Unido en los últimos años. Sin embargo, pocos de los resultados anticipados de la ITI se materializaron y el programa finalizó antes de tiempo. En este artículo analizamos los motivos de este fracaso que en gran medida se debió al diseño inapropiado del programa. Los resultados indican que, a la hora de diseñar, alinear y ejecutar instrumentos políticos de innovación sistémica, debe otorgarse un mayor reconocimiento a las particularidades de los ecosistemas empresariales de ámbito local. Sostenemos que si en las investigaciones sobre innovación se prestara más atención a los fracasos políticos, posiblemente se podría entender mejor cómo funcionan los sistemas de innovación.

JEL classifications:

Acknowledgements

The authors are very grateful to the substantial numbers of people who were interviewed during this study. In addition to stakeholders and participating companies, numerous people in Scottish Enterprise and the Intermediate Technology Initiative (ITI) kindly provided input into the research. The authors would also like to thank Phil Cooke, Alex Coad, Suzanne Mawson and Fiona Wishlade for their constructive suggestions made on earlier versions of this paper. They also wish to thank the referees for the very helpful comments received. The usual disclaimer applies.

Notes

1. While this figure does seem very low, when the situation in Scotland is compared with elsewhere, the ITI's performance may be less disheartening. The German technology organization Fraunhofer, which is often regarded as a best-practice example for public financing of applied research commercialization, provided support for 33 spin-off projects and produced ten spin-offs in 2012 (Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Citation2013). The Fraunhofer is a much larger research organization with 67 research institutes, 23 000 employees and an annual R&D budget of almost £2 billion. While the focus of this organization is directed towards technology transfer more generally, these relatively modest spin-off figures paint a more positive picture of the ITI's performance. The authors are very grateful to one of the anonymous referees for making the point about comparisons with other programmes.

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