The third sector of R&D: literature review, basic analysis, and research agenda
<p class="first" id="d276112e96">The third sector of national innovation systems comprises non-academic, publicly owned R&D organizations that complement universities and private-sector firms and are normally called ‘research institutes’. Sch...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Pluto Journals
2017-02-01
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| Series: | Prometheus |
| Online Access: | https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.1080/08109028.2017.1362830 |
| Summary: | <p class="first" id="d276112e96">The third sector of national innovation systems comprises non-academic, publicly owned
R&D organizations that complement universities and private-sector firms and are normally
called ‘research institutes’. Scholarly attention to these organizations has been
scarce, partly a consequence of the theoretical imbalance in favor of conceptualizations
of innovation processes as requiring mainly universities, private-sector firms, and
governmental authorities to occur and succeed. Similarly, while this third sector
often makes up a significant share of national innovation systems, it receives less
attention in national research and innovation policy than do, say, universities. This
paper argues that the role(s) and function(s) of third sector research institutes
deserve to be mapped and analyzed in greater detail in order to understand how various
organizational actors interact to produce innovation. From a comprehensive literature
review and basic analysis of three institute groups in three Nordic countries, the
paper makes a first preliminary analysis of the topic. While this analysis yields
some interesting conclusions, its main function is to point the way for future studies.
In these, other actors in the system should be investigated in thorough empirical
studies, armed with tools from classic sociological systems theory that enhance the
conceptual strength of the innovation systems framework and enable the acknowledgement
of the role(s) and function(s) of several important organizational actors, not least
research institutes.
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| ISSN: | 0810-9028 1470-1030 |