Today Armenia strives to build a knowledge-based economy to improve its competitiveness. For this reason, the creation and development of innovation-supporting infrastructure becomes a critical challenge for the next few years. In this regard, the experience of developed countries in the design and implementation of innovation policies can be useful for the creation of National Innovation System (NIS) in Armenia. This thesis work investigates the NIS model in the Nordic countries, specifically in Sweden and Finland, and make conclusion on how the Nordic model of NIS could work in Armenia. For this purpose, a comparative analysis of the NIS models in the Nordic countries, specifically in Sweden and Finland, with the NIS models in Israel and South Korea was conducted. To study the implementation of the Nordic model in transition economies, an example of one of Baltic countries - Estonia, was considered where currently this model of NIS is being implemented. Also, the current situation of NIS in Armenia was studied, and conclusions were made on what lessons can be learned for the development of effective innovation policy in Armenia. An attempt was made to answer the following research questions supporting the purpose of this thesis: 1. What are the specifics of the NIS model in two Nordic countries studied, i.e. in Sweden and Finland (the main features and peculiarities of NIS in Sweden and Finland has been identified through a comparative analysis of the NIS in these countries with the NIS models in two non-Nordic countries, i.e. in Israel and South Korea)? 2. To what extent has the Nordic model of NIS been implemented in Estonia and what are NIS development challenges there? 3. What are NIS development challenges in Armenia? 4. What lessons can be learned for the development of effective innovation policy in Armenia? The theoretical basis for this work originates in scientific articles by Lundvall, Freeman, Metcalfe and many others, research and reports of international organizations and national agencies, official documents and information posted on the websites of governmental organizations. Also, semi-structured interviews were conducted in seven private companies in Armenia to compile firm-level innovation data sets.

Introduction: Previous literature indicates that standard economic analysis is often not well suited for the evaluation of research investments, necessitating the use of other methods. This work uses a mixed methods approach to investigate the economic value relationship between academia and industry, towards a holistic understanding of how research benefits arise and can be measured to provide greater insight into the drivers of the system, its sustainability, and economic competitiveness. Methods: Each of the pillars of the National Innovation System (NIS) model, adapted to assess the economic value relationship between academia and industry, were evaluated. The first research element (government) focused on the macroeconomic and regulatory context by evaluating the federal SBIR/STTR programs through an in-depth case study. The second element focused on the education and training system (academia) by assessing how technology transfer offices at universities measure research value. The final element of the study (industry) focused on communication infrastructures by investigating the digital tools used by medical technology firms to accelerate innovation beyond organizational boundaries. The academia and industry research elements each consisted of document review and semi-structured interviews. Results: While the federal SBIR/STTR programs were found to be a significant catalyst for the academic-industry economic value relationship, especially at the most crucial proof-of-concept stage, policy discrepancies between stakeholders might affect the desired program outcomes. Consensus measures and metrics were identified for both academia and industry, which inform the product and factor market conditions that drive academic-industry innovation capacity. In many cases, challenges behind these measures were also raised, highlighting the need for sensitivity to institutional mission, culture and other conditions when applying these measures. Valuation differences were also found to exist between public and private universities in entrepreneurial engagement and economic development. Conclusions: The measurement categories across both academia and industry describe adequate, dependable resources as the overarching product market theme and a talented and interconnected workforce as the overarching factor market theme. Taken together, they lead to more effective knowledge generation and diffusion, as well as a more informed NIS model with specific and practical utility for the economic value relationship between academia and industry. / Steven Ceulemans

¡§Science¡¨, ¡§Technology¡¨ and ¡§Innovation¡¨ are more important than the conventional productive elements in the era of knowledge economy. Lots of countries emphasized to advance the spread of knowledge in the innovation systems. Department of Industrial Technology also thought the relationships between governments, enterprises, research institutions and universities are important. Furthermore, the regional innovation system is the base of the national innovation system, but there were few research papers about regional innovation system. Therefore, we thought the regional innovation system is very important for regional developing and even the country. We collected the critical factors of the regional innovation system by literature review and the analysis of cases. And then, we adopt Delphi method to collect the professional¡¦s advices and check the critical factors of the regional innovation system. In concluding, we found out the factors below: 1.Governments should choose ¡§R&D¡¨ to be the orientation of the region, and supply the infrastructures to construct the good environment. It should establish relative policies and laws, and hold some exhibitions and conferences to promote the cooperation between the components. Central government and local governments should build good channel to communicate each other. 2.The research institutions, universities, and enterprises should have their own authorities and lead in the experts around the world. And they should spread the talents, technologies, and achievements between them. Furthermore, they should communicate with other international institutes. Having enough funds of R&D is also important for the research institutions, universities, and enterprises. 3.Finally, some results that we couldn¡¦t explain here is like intellectual property rights. Protecting intellectual property rights would increase invention and innovation, but sharing the knowledge and technology are also important for an innovation system. Consequently, the follow-up researchers could continue to research this subject.

Finland has made considerable advances in generating a coordinated national innovation system and building its national technology strengths. According to Castells (2000), Finland has established itself as the first true information society, with one website per person, internet access in 100 % of school, a computer literacy campaign for adults, the largest diffusion of computer power and mobile telephone in the world, and a globally competitive information technology industry, spearheaded by Nokia. The purpose of this thesis is to study and define the high frequency of consultation, deliberation and effective linkage creation between Finnish Government, education system, research institutes and industry. The process begins with the recognition that in the knowledge-based economy, knowledge can be fostered to produce economic benefits and national wealth. The result of the thesis found that not only basic components like government, education system, research institutes, and industry, but also outside components, like international cooperation, human resource and culture, play very important roles while investigating the factors which help to facilitate and enforce Finland to develop its information society and national technology strength.

The wind industry has arrived at a state of technological maturity and is occasionally already today cost-competitive to conventional sources of energy. This thesis investigates the process of innovation that took place within the industry. A theoretical background into economical theory of innovation together with a status quo assessment of today's wind industry serves as introduction to the topic. In the analytical part, inducement mechanisms and functions of technological development will be identified as crucial drivers for innovation within the sector. The key findings of this thesis lead to conclude that it is now the responsibility of the industry to becoming fully cost-competitive to conventional sources. The advancement of technological lifecycle will primarily depend on turbine manufacturers and their capability to drive innovation more independently from governments.

Sweden has yet to fully explore its industry regarding wild berries, with the resource patiently waiting in the forest to be used, with great potential for future endeavors. When it comes to wild berry related innovations, not much has happened in Sweden in the last couple of decades, with the technique of freezing houses being the most recent. Another country close to Sweden with possibly a more developed wild berry industry is Finland, which leads to the aim of this study which is to conduct a comparative study based on the separate countries’ innovation systems through a company perspective. The study was conducted by a comparative approach with data collected via literature studies and interviews gathered with purposive sampling. To further investigate the differences between the two countries facilitating and hindering aspects, a performance matrix was applied. These were ultimately connected with functions of innovation development based on the innovation system approach, and a reflection on cumulative causation. The results indicated most facilitating aspects in Sweden as originating from demand side actors, and most hindering aspects as originating from actors third party and companies. In Finland, most facilitating aspects come from companies and third parties, and most hindering aspects also come from third parties as well as supplier/ labor actors. The innovation system analysis found Finland to have more facilitating aspects relating to functions contributing to the inception of innovations while compared to Sweden. The study concluded that Sweden has great opportunities to flourish in the industry, however the interplay between actors should follow a more Finnish approach.

Asian countries imitate the success of Taiwan IC industry, especially Mainland China. Therefore, it is compared between Mainland China and Taiwan to discover the differences and similarities in my thesis. National innovation systems are divided into national industry innovation policies and industrial innovation systems; the former is composed of the history of IC industry, technical policies and industrial policies. And the latter is composed of the resources of technical people, industrial gatherings, research institutions, technical resource and transference. Finally, there are three points in my conclusion. First, the use of industrial policies and the portal model of foreign businessmen are similar. But they, for instance, the period of IC technology enlightenment, the early timing and importance of technology policies, the used way of industry policy, the way of technological transference, scientific research institutions and the local Fabs, are different. Second, their IC design industry is driven by Foundry. It occurs the special division of industry. And the development of their IC industry is driven by demand market in itself. The last, many 8 inches Fabs are built.

This study describes how institutions in a developing country, South Africa influence the salient characteristics and patterns of innovation in firms belonging to an emerging versus a mature industry. The patterns and characteristics of innovation in firms belonging to industries in different phases of their life cycles are influenced by various factors. Because of the wide range of factors and often due to the endogenous relationships between them, empirical studies in describing these patterns remain inconclusive. This research describes the patterns and the significant innovation characteristics of the firms through the lens of institutions. Special attention is paid to the institutional frameworks influencing innovation in firms at national and regional levels. These frameworks are often referred to as National and Regional Innovation Systems. The central argument of this study is that these innovation systems are expected to influence the characteristics of innovation in different ways when firms are situated in developed versus the developing countries. In this regard, this study attempts to contribute to the innovation knowledge-base of developing countries. The salient characteristics discussed in this study are types, institutional support (government), centre of knowledge and geographical locations of innovations. Chi-square, t-tests and stepwise logistic regressions were run on the responses of the firms regarding the chosen characteristics. The results suggest that in most cases these characteristics were different in firms belonging to an emerging versus a mature industry. Also the patterns of innovation were mostly dissimilar from the expectations of the studies based in the developed world. A logistic model was built to explain the relationships between the individual characteristics and the firms belonging to the two phases of the industry life cycle. The model, formulated on the salient characteristics of innovation discussed could successfully predict if a firm belonged to a mature industry or not. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

創新是指將發明本身商品化，亦指將創意或發明轉換為產品或服務的過程。創新的結果是產生新產品、產生新製程、打開新市場、獲得新補給來源、更是任何產業新組織體系的實行。創造創新經濟是創新的最終目標。隨著1980年美國拜杜法案 (Bayh-Dole Act) 制定通過，我國參考其政策亦於1999年跟進制定與實施「科技基本法」。十年以來，我國學研單位之研發成果透過技術移轉與境外實施推及商業化落實之預期效益仍相當有限，顯見由於文化及產業環境不盡相同的關係，美國之經驗對我國並不全然適用。行政院國家科學委員會自87年起推動7項國家型科技計畫，投入總經費八百四十一億餘元，總計產出二千七百一十四項專利中，以技術移轉者一千五百零四項，取得權利金二十一點七六億餘元，技術移轉獲取的權利金收入與投資金額比率只達4.03%，效能不彰，因此監察院教育及文化委員會於99年5月13日通過監委黃煌雄提案，糾正國科會。由於在產業環境及文化型態上，歐洲與臺灣有許多相似之處；例如：中小企業在產業中的比重，產業升級與轉型的壓力，文化傳統中對穩定及安全的依賴，研發體系與產業界相對的疏離等等。事實上，歐盟為了加強科技研發與創新之間的聯繫，採取一連串有益中小企業的措施，在這些機制與措施的影響下，歐盟各學術研究機構不論在專利申請、佈局與技術移轉、授權的發展方面已經有後來居上的態勢。因此，本研究擬藉研究、分析歐盟相關的創新策略和產學合作運作模式，包括里斯本政策（Lisbon Strategy）、歐洲2020政策（The Europe 2020 Strategy）、最近一期的第七期科研架構計畫（Seventh Framework Programme; FP7）、歐洲投資基金（European Investment Fund; EIF）、歐洲各地技術平台（European Technology Platforms; ETPs）、以及瑪麗亞凱利人力網絡系統（Marie Curie Networks）的組織架構、資金來源等，期能提供我國相關單位實際執行創新科學技術之規劃產生、產出技術之經營與技轉等，可茲借鏡之制度與作法。 / Innovation is the commercialization of the invention itself. Innovation is the process of translating an idea or invention into a good or service that creates value or for which customers will pay. Innovation brings the introduction of new goods, new methods of production, the opening of new markets, the conquest of new sources of supply, and the carrying out of a new organization of any industry. The final object of innovation is to create economic benefits. “Science and Technology Act” of Taiwan referring to the Bayh-Dole Act of U.S.A. was enacted in 1999. During the past ten years, the universities and research institutions in Taiwan worked with limited results in the field of research and development. The effectiveness through technology transfer and off-shore technology transfer was quite limited in Taiwan. Obviously, the U.S.A. experiences are not totally fit to Taiwan, because of different cultural and environmental factors. National Science Council of Taiwan was corrected by Control Yuan of Taiwan because of their low effectiveness to carry out the National Science and Technology Projects. National Science Council of Taiwan spent 84.1 billions NT dollars on seven National Science and Technology Projects, but there are only 2.176 billions NT dollars feedback through technology transfer, only 4.03% of the investment. Europe and Taiwan are quite similar in industrial and cultural environments, such as the proportion of small and medium enterprises in the industry, the heavy pressure of Industrial upgrading and transformation, the dependence of the stability and security of the cultural traditions, and the relative alienation between R & D system and industry. In fact, in order to strengthen the links between the scientific and technological R & D and innovation, European Union took a serious of useful measures. Under those measures, the universities and research institutes in European Union have come from behind the trend, whether in the patent application, the technology transfer, and the patent licensing. The aim of this study is to provide Taiwanese government the actual implementation of the innovation of science and technology planning by analyzing the innovative strategies, the industry-university cooperation mode of operation, the organizational structure of innovative R & D system, and the funding sources of innovation development in EU, including the Lisbon Strategy, the Europe 2020 Strategy, the Seventh Framework Programme, the European Investment Fund, the European Technology Platforms, and the Marie Curie Networks.

Recent years have witnessed many significant changes in the global technology landscape. An interesting change we have observed is that some traditional technology late-coming countries such as China and Korea have started to emerge as influential players in the international arena of technology innovation. Historically, developed countries, holding incomparable advantages in financial markets and technologically intensive industries, have naturally taken the lead in technology innovation; while severe deficiencies and challenges are normally faced for developing, or late-coming countries, in innovation. In the literature, strong support from the government has been proven to be crucial for late-coming countries to overcome the deficiencies and to catch up in technology innovation. Based on innovation system perspective, this dissertation aims to understand how the government intervention in technological innovation system (TIS) promotes technology innovation, especially that in the catching-up context. This dissertation examines two technology innovation cases in China, namely the TD-SCDMA and TD-LTE mobile system innovations. A theoretical framework is developed based on institutional theory to structure the case studies. Qualitative methods including documentary research and semi-structured interviews are applied for data collection. This research concludes that, in the stages of technology development and technology diffusion, different TIS functions need to be achieved and different challenges are faced, which require government intervention. The government could analyse how TIS functions are achieved and how challenges are formed in relation to the TIS structural components, in order to determine the intervention strategy. Government can take both direct intervention on TIS actors, and indirect intervention through impacting TIS institutional environment, with regulative, normative and cognitive instruments. In the catching-up context, government interventions contribute more to path-breaking type technology innovations than path-dependent ones in terms of ensuring the success of innovation. Practical implications for the government to effectively intervene in innovation initiatives are given.