Welcome to the December 2013 issue of Prometheus, an issue that celebrates an unlikely collaboration between Prometheus and Dionysus. Both are central to myths concerning great benefits to humankind, fire in the former case and wine in the latter. Their previous encounter did not end well for Prometheus. Dionysus’ father, Zeus, condemned the titan to have his liver eaten by an eagle every day as punishment for his gift of fire to humans (as depicted on the cover of our journal). Let us hope that this second collaboration ends rather better.
The energy for this special issue comes from Anil Hira at Simon Fraser University, and combines two of his great interests, innovation and wine. In particular, he has been curious about innovation at industry level, and the structural relationships between key stakeholders. Anil assembled a team including established scholars and research students, to review the progress (or its opposite) of the wine industry in different parts of the world. The central role played by Anil is reflected in his coauthorship of all but one article. We think this unique in a refereed journal but are happy to be instructed otherwise.
The interest in structural relationships, rather than the innovations themselves, naturally leads Anil to consider the triple helix model of innovation. The approach is timely, since it is some twenty years since Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff first published their ideas. Their notions were controversial at the time, challenging the prevailing assertion that an industry would prosper on a global scale through intense local rivalry, each firm in its silo of intellectual property, and remote government focused on promoting competition. Rather, they argued that complex, non-linear collaborative relationships between firms, universities and governments lay at the heart of sustained industry- level innovation and prosperity. In the first paper of this issue, Anil gives a detailed account of how these curious relationships interact, illustrated by application to wine industries throughout the world. In this overview he is able to demonstrate that success is invariably sustained by these relationships, yet incomplete or dysfunctional helices play a large part in poor performance - even when factor endowments and ancillary advantages would lead one to expect the opposite.
The remainder of this special issue elaborates the detail hidden by the overview given in the opening chapter by reviewing the wine industries in seven countries, charting the development of the helix in each case. In Australia, Hira and Aylward show the importance of these complex relationships in the astonishing success of the industry, but warn that the current helices are close to reaching their strongest possible state. Without further evolution and development, the industry risks a plateau state while rivals close in. In Brazil, Guedes and Hira reflect upon the spectacular success of Brazil as an emerging economy generally – but not in wine making. They are able to show that the institutions are not operating in ways conducive to greater development, thereby throwing away many natural advantages. In New Zealand, Hira and Benson-Rea explore an apparent anomaly - a world class industry working on a small scale with a tiny domestic market. Teasing apart the institutional relationships that support this effort, the authors wonder if this is a model for other aspirant industries. This sets up a contrast with Wilder and Hira’s discussion of Ontario, where the apparent growth of the industry conceals some fundamental problems at the institutional level.
Hira’s approach to South Africa is a sensitive piece, contrasting the triple helix structures during and after apartheid, concluding that whatever the undisputable social gains, the industry dynamics have not achieved their formerly favourable constellation. Liberman’s work on Argentina is important, demonstrating how an industry can strengthen its position against older, established competitors when the triple helix is working. She goes further, to remind us that the model refers to structures and institutions, and that the important roles of interpretation and sense making of actors are outside the model. Although those familiar with the model accept that this is the case, it is a salutary lesson for policy makers and implementers who are tempted to mess with structures and forget that people make things happen within those structures. The final paper, by Hira and Gabreldar is both a review of the wine industry in the United States and also a reflection on the lessons learned from the other papers in this special issue. The paper is able to show that these triple helix relationships are more than necessary conditions for sustained success.
So there we have it – a special issue of Prometheus devoted to wine. In kinder versions of the myth, Prometheus is eventually saved by the efforts of Hercules. At times, this special issue has seemed epic in scale, but Herculean efforts from the authors, editors and reviewers have produced an issue of which we can be well pleased.
Editor