The Governance of Innovation in Europe

Innovation is increasingly seen as the main motor of business comptetitiveness. European firms are considered to lag significantly behind firms in Japan and the USA in their capacity to commercialize new knowledge. Innovation itself is seen to be an interactive process with strong social as well as technological linkages between users and innovators. This study of some 1000 large and small firms in 11 industrialized regions of Western and Eastern Europe identifies reasons for Europe's innovation gap and suggests steps that should be taken by governance bodies to reduce it. Among the key aspects examined are competitiveness and the extent to which firms engage in systemic innovation linkages with other firms and knowledge centres.