National innovative capacity, a central driver of countries’ long-term economic growth, has been one of the focal points in innovation research for roughly thirty years. Initially proposed as an index to measure technologic invention over time, this concept has become the widely accepted standard for measuring the performance of (sub) national and sectoral innovation systems toward being an analytic tool attributed to innovation systems theory. Country comparison, knowledge flows, and R&D forecasting are in the center of analysis feeding the concrete practical use of innovation policy optimization. In this regard, a rich body of studies has contributed indispensable knowledge about the determinants of innovative capacity. However, the multi-dimensional interconnections have not been covered in depth. Thus, to gain a holistic understanding of the “DNA” behind national innovative capacity a new “comparative” view of these determinants is necessary. To this end, this dissertation proposes revisiting the focus, unit and parameters of analysis that predominate within current national innovative capacity studies and sets forth three interlinked academic articles that focus on different layers of innovative capacity in countries. Besides furthering academic discourse on the determinants of innovational outcome, this conceptual revision leads to a new approach on national innovation capacity research. Its intention is to make policy makers aware of certain pathways leading to the same outcome. This knowledge will enable them to pursue a dynamic approach of supporting the innovative processes in countries by defining appropriate innovation strategies that consider both the countries’ specific preconditions and the sub-systems perspective.:1. Introduction 2. The purpose of revisiting the NIC concept for innovation policy 3. The scientific contribution of this doctoral thesis 3.1 Article 1: Increasing the national innovative capacity: Identifying the pathways to success using a comparative method 3.2 Article 2: National Health Innovation Systems: Clustering the OECD countries by innovative output in healthcare using a multi-indicator approach 3.3 Article 3: Increasing the innovative capacity of European cities: Making use of proven concepts from the national level 4. References

Die kontrollierte Landwirtschaft (controlled-environment agriculture, kurz CEA) wird als potenzieller Beitrag zu einem Wandel hin zu widerstandsfähigen, ressourceneffizienten und lokalisierten Lebensmittelsystemen diskutiert. Obwohl CEA oft als inhärent ressourceneffizient, widerstandsfähig und lokalisiert dargestellt werden, bleibt der soziale und wirtschaftliche Kontext bei einer kritischen Analyse und Reflektion häufig unberücksichtigt. Ohne die Berücksichtigung des Kontextes bleiben die Richtung des Innovationsprozesses und die Vielfalt der möglichen Innovationen im Bereich von CEA unklar. Das Ziel dieser Dissertation ist es, ein umfassenderes Verständnis des Innovationsprozesses von CEA aus der Perspektive der Innovationssystemanalyse zu entwickeln, wobei der Schwerpunkt auf den zugrundeliegenden Dynamiken und Rahmenbedingungen liegt, die die Etablierung von CEA in städtischen Gebieten erleichtern oder behindern. Dabei dient die CUBES Circle Innovation als Ankerbeispiel. Insgesamt zeigt diese Dissertation, dass die Umsetzung und Anpassung von CEA in städtischen Gebieten stabile politische, soziale, infrastrukturelle und wirtschaftliche Rahmenbedingungen voraussetzt. Die Umsetzung von CEA erfordert daher vorzugsweise Standorte mit hinlänglichen finanziellen Ressourcen, an denen die traditionelle Landwirtschaft aufgrund der natürlichen Gegebenheiten nicht möglich ist und an denen die Verringerung der Importabhängigkeit als vorrangiges Ziel gilt und politisch gefördert wird. Die Einführung von CEA an Standorten mit anderen Merkmalen kann jedoch erleichtert werden, wenn geeignete und vorteilhafte Strukturen für CEA geschaffen werden. Dazu gehört die Entwicklung eines kohärenten Rechtsrahmens als grundlegende Voraussetzung für die institutionelle Legitimität von CEA. Um dies zu erreichen, ist es notwendig, klare politische Ziele festzulegen und CEA in lokale Strategien zu integrieren. / Controlled-environment agriculture (CEA) is broadly discussed as a key contributor to a transformation towards resilient, resource-efficient, and localised food systems. This dissertation seeks to develop an understanding of the development and diffusion of CEA innovations in urban settings through the lens of innovation system analysis, taking the CUBES Circle innovation as an anchorage example. CEA are often portrayed as inherently resource-efficient, resilient and localised without critical analysis and reflection of the social and economic context. However, without a recognisable context, the direction of the innovation process remains unclear, as CEA encompasses a range of different possible innovations. The objective of this dissertation is to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the innovation process of CEA in urban locations, focusing on the underlying dynamics and framework conditions that facilitate or impede CEA establishment in urban areas. This dissertation demonstrates that the implementation of CEA in urban areas requires stable political, social, infrastructural and economic conditions. The implementation of CEA is therefore most likely in locations with sufficient financial resources, where traditional agriculture is not viable due to the natural conditions and where the reduction of import dependency is considered a priority and is politically promoted. Nevertheless, in order to facilitate the implementation of CEA in locations with other characteristics, requires the establishment of appropriate and advantageous framework conditions for CEA. The implementation of a coherent legal framework that consider CEA and their environmental, economic, social, and political benefits is a prerequisite for creating institutional legitimacy for CEA as innovative food production systems. To achieve this, it is necessary to establish clear political goals and integrate CEA into local strategies.