Charles Edquist

Edquist, Charles is co-ordinator for the project National Systems of Innovation in a Globalising, Knowledge-based Economy: A Comparative Study of Small Countries in Europe and Asia. The participating countries are Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, and Taiwan. One research group from each country participates in the project, i.e. in total about 35 researchers. The project is running from September 2002 until August 2005. The respective research councils in their home countries finance the various national teams. The Swedish part of the study is financed by The Swedish Public Agency for Innovation Systems (VINNOVA) and The Swedish Agency for Growth Policy Studies (ITPS).

The purposes of the project are
To refine and operationalise the systems of innovation (SI) approach. This means increasing the usability of the SI approach for empirical studies:
by developing concepts and methodologies suitable for empirical analyses,
by ‘translating’ its key concepts into empirical ‘correspondents’, i.e. variables reflecting concepts, indicators measuring variables and using comparable sources in this quantitative work, and
by developing a ‘framework’ for empirical studies of national systems of innovation. Alternatively this might be called a ‘methodology’ for analysing different national systems of innovation in a comparative perspective.
To use the SI approach by actually carrying out empirical and comparative studies of the national systems of innovation in the ten participating countries.
To draw policy conclusions. This means identifying ‘problems’ that should be subject to innovation policy in various systems of innovation, but it also includes studying earlier and currently existing policies.
As the co-ordinator for the project as a whole I organised the first kick-off workshop in the project in August 2002, a workshop in Oslo in March 2003, a workshop in Taipei in November 2003 and another one in Lund in September 2004. I have also written nine ‘Progress Reports’ within the project. At the Lund workshop, reports on the national systems of innovation of the ten participating countries were presented. They were structured according to a ‘Comparative Framework for and Proposed Structure of the Studies of National Innovation Systems in Ten Small Countries’ written by Charles Edquist and Leif Hommen, Lund, February 2004, 118 pp (see section 5.3). Leif Hommen and myself will publish an edited volume with results from the project.

Edquist, Charles is a participant in the TEARI Oxford Handbook of Innovation project, which is running during 2002-2004. Among the objectives of this project are:
Producing a comprehensive overview and synthesis of the role played by research and innovation in modern societies.
Focusing not only on technical but also on social and organisational aspects and the links with policy.
Assessing the role of the EU research programs in enhancing our knowledge in this area.
Having a cross-disciplinary team of leading researchers with extensive experience from large-scale research projects in this area working together on the project.
The TEARI project is co-ordinated by Jan Fagerberg, Oslo University and the other members of the team are Björn Asheim, Kristine Bruland, Susana Borrás, John Cantwell, Charles Edquist, Meric Gertler, Manuel Mira Godinho, Ove Granstrand, Bronwyn Hall, Alice Lam, William Lazonick, Francisco Louca, Bengt-Åke Lundvall, Franco Malerba, Ian Miles, David Mowery, Rajneesh Narula, Richard Nelson, May O´Sullivan, Mario Pianta, Walter W. Powell, Bhaven N. Sampat, Keith Smith, Nick von Tunzelman, Bart Verspagen and Antonelli Zanfei. Among the results of the project will be the Oxford Handbook of Innovation published by Oxford University Press in November 2004. (For my contributions to TEARI, please see Edquist 2004 in section 5.2 and Edquist 2004 in section 5.3.) The European Commission and The Norwegian Research Council finance the project (external link)

Edquist, Charles is, together with Leif Hommen, the Swedish partner in the EU-financed project entitled Innovation for Utilities: Innovation Friendly Public Procurement and Fight against Telecommunications Fraud and Security Threats. Public sector purchases represent about 11 % of the European Union’s GDP. This means that innovation friendly public procurement has the potential to be an absolutely central innovation policy instrument in the EU (as it is already in the U.S). Telecommunications operators are among the most innovative utilities. Their experience in procurement with emphasis on fraud detection systems will be crucial for other utilities with innovation handicaps. These issues are focussed in this project. The project is co-ordinated by Anastasius Gavras at the European Institute for Strategic Studies in Telecommunications, Heidelberg, Germany and has partners in four additional European countries. The central objective of the Swedish partner in the project is to develop ’public technology procurement’ as an innovation policy instrument.

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