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This year marks the tenth anniversary of Innovation and Development. This special anniversary issue brings together a set of reflective articles by key scholars in our field. Each article contributes in a different way to advance the agenda on innovation and its relations to sustainable and inclusive development. Several of the papers take a step back and reflect on overall developments in the field, and in this way, propose future directions. In this introductory article, we recollect the journey of the journal, bring out the insights emerging from the anniversary issue and chart and an agenda for the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When we quote Chris Freeman, or when we explain Chris Freeman to our students, we refer to a way to looking into problems that helps understanding them in context. This Special Section will bring to the fore the way in which Chris Freeman's ideas, reflections and proposals are integrated by young researchers of the Global South when addressing issues of innovation and development. [Extracted from the article]

This paper presents an analysis of the determinants of innovation activities, and its effect on output and productivity across manufacturing and services firms in Mexico. We build on the theoretical framework of synthesis approach and contribute to identify the main differences of innovation intensity and its effects across four sectoral groups with different learning modes. Based on data from the 2010 Mexican innovation survey, our results show important differences across sectors and indicate that more dynamic services firms have similar innovation patterns to those in manufacturing. In terms of policy implications, this study highlights the importance of promoting innovation as the basis for improved productivity of firms in Mexico differentiating by sectors. More specifically, policy interventions need to enhance both the number of firms that perform innovation, and the intensity of those innovation activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diabetes Mellitus has become an urgent national health problem in Mexico. We would expect knowledge production, particularly when is publicly funded, to be oriented towards the generation of useful applications and to collaborate in the solution of this disease. In this paper, we aim at analysing knowledge production for diabetes in terms of the Pasteur's quadrant, which consist of two axes: (i) 'consideration of knowledge use' and (ii) 'search for fundamental knowledge'. We organized 303 diabetes projects supported by CONACYT funds to operationalize a structural equation modelling (SEM) that frames diabetes research in Mexico. We found that most of research funds are not devoted to projects with high levels of 'consideration of knowledge use'; we believe that this is caused by the context of scientific funding in Mexico, which have incentives for basic research and does not count with sufficient mechanisms to orient the use of new scientific knowledge. We outline some policy recommendations. First, incentives should be focused on reorienting the research system towards a greater consideration of knowledge use. Second, the project approval process could also be modified to be more democratic, which the scientific community could discuss and find consensus with other social actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is about knowledge production and its application to healthcare solutions oriented towards underprivileged people. Based on the existing literature, we use a different lens to approach the agents, interactions and policies related to the creation, adoption and diffusion of inclusive innovation. We propose a theoretical causal model with which conceptual and practical problems with regard to innovative and inclusive healthcare solutions could be analyzed and assessed, and discuss how public policy could contribute to stimulate processes of creation, adoption and diffusion of this kind of solutions. This paper is based on a qualitative analysis of three exemplary case studies of different developing countries. This brings elements for understandings the major influences on innovative and inclusive healthcare solutions, which are presented as a theoretical model in the form of a causal graph. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at discussing the dimensions, conditions, and challenges of dialogue processes between different communities in order to contribute to STI policy-making within innovation systems in Latin America and the Caribbean. The evidence is based on fifteen cases. An analytical framework is proposed to analyse these dialogue processes, based on three dimensions: object, space, and temporality; each dimension is made up of various attributes. We outline three major policy recommendations: (i) it is crucial to understand the object of the dialogue and who are the communities and actors participating in it; (ii) it is important to clearly identify the three dimensions of the dialogue process and the specific attributes of each one; and (iii) it is advisable to identify differences in the conditions of each dialogue: capabilities between the participating communities and any asymmetries of power, in order to take corrective action and encourage the generation of agreements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to discuss the tensions that are created between Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) communities during the dialogue process. The main argument revolves around the idea that public participation in STI is a complex process where communities with different expectations, logics, language codes, and dynamics of power relations participate. As a result, diverse tensions emerge during the dialogue process. To deal with these tensions, it is necessary to identify them, and appropriate and contextualize the methods of public participation in a flexible way to have instruments that allow overcoming such tensions and reaching better results. This article draws on and expands current empirical efforts to discuss public participation methods. It is based on a case study of a public dialogue experience between knowledge-based entrepreneurs with policymakers to identify the most important challenges that they face and the implications for STI policy in Mexico. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Barriers to innovation are heterogeneous, of financial and non-financial nature. The importance of barriers to innovation and their actual influence on innovation depend on firms’ characteristics such as sectoral affiliation, technological behavior and their response to perceived obstacles to innovation. Firms either continue to engage in innovation, or they avoid the activity altogether. This paper explored the nature and perceived importance of the obstacles to innovation that firms confront, in a developing-country context; we build on survey data about firms in Mexico. Our findings suggest that two kinds of policy interventions should help offset a firm’s perception of barriers to innovation. On the one hand, policies should enhance the innovation capacity of firms interested in innovation; on the other hand, policies need to tackle factors that reduce the interest of firms in innovation. Policies that boost demand for locally generated innovations would assist in achieving both these goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses whether geographic proximity favours specific channels of university-industry interaction when firms collaborate with universities and with government research centres. Our study also provides insights regarding the relationship between the associated channel and the role of firms' absorptive capacities. Our results show that firms with higher levels of absorptive capacities tend to interact more independently of their location. Additionally, interaction with non-local universities generally includes the transfer of codified forms of knowledge, while links with local universities includes more tacit forms of knowledge. Policy implications derived from this analysis focus on fostering interaction at local and non-local levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore new perspectives for analysing knowledge networks, arguing that knowledge networks can no longer be referred to as egalitarian, non-hierarchical, and neutral forms of social organization. Instead, networks reproduce tensions, asymmetries, and hierarchies linked to science, technology, and innovation policy incentives and incorporate dynamic and multi-situated nodes of power. This paper draws on evidence gathered from a case study on transnational and translocal knowledge networks in nanotechnology, which have central nodes at a public research center located in Chihuahua (Chihuahua) and its auxiliary branch in Monterrey (Nuevo Leon) in Northern Mexico. We propose that, in order to understand the production of asymmetries in knowledge networks, an incentive policy element must be added to the equation. The latter refer to monetary, symbolic, and material incentives stemming from all arenas where networks interact. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Innovation intermediary organizations ( IIOs) may build bridges between the demand and supply of knowledge. The understanding concerning the scope and functions of these intermediaries in the case of the agricultural sector is scarce, particularly for developing countries. The aim of this article is to discuss the functions played by IIOs operating in the segment of small farmers in the agricultural sector in the context of a developing country. The analysis allows extracting policy implications having in mind small farmers with different economic conditions and levels of innovativeness. This article uses a case study methodology. The main sources of information are interviews with members of the board and staff of the Produce Foundation, responsible for managing public resources to promote innovation processes in the agriculture sector in a specific state, Chiapas, as well as with farmers, technological suppliers, and researchers in this state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to contribute to a better understanding of the drivers and modes of university-industry interaction in latecomer firms. Based on a survey conducted in 2008 and using a sample of Mexican manufacturing firms, technological and innovative effort (TIE) related factors and structural characteristics have been introduced in a set of logistic models. The results confirm that there is a positive relationship between the TIE, measured as the intensity of in-house R&D and the innovative profile of the firm, and the firm's propensity to establish linkages with higher education institutes and public research centers. TIE was also found to be significant in determining the likelihood of specific channels of university-industry linkages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares the results of four country studies (Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica and Mexico) on the relative effectiveness of channels of interactions between public research organisations (PROs) and industry in driving specific types of benefits for researchers and firms. All studies used micro-datasets developed by a joint project using common questionnaires. Channels of interactions were classified into four groups (traditional, services, bi-directional and commercial) while benefits were classified into two groups for firms (short-term production and long-term innovation) and for researchers (economic and intellectual). It is found that the bi-directional (knowledge flows in both directions) and the services (knowledge flows mainly from PROs to firms) channels drive intellectual benefits for researchers. Firms tend to value the traditional channel (i.e. graduates, publications, conferences) more than any other channel. However, it is the bi-directional channel that drives the best benefits, especially those related to contributions to innovation activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process of knowledge transfer between public research organisations and industry occurs through multiple channels of interaction, however, there are differences in terms of the benefits that the agents perceive. Based on micro-data, this paper explores which channels are the most effective for triggering different benefits perceived by researchers and firms involved in such interactions in Mexico. The results suggest that researchers obtain intellectual benefits from the bi-directional and the traditional channels. Firms obtain benefits related to production activities and innovation strategies from the bidirectional and the services channels, while the traditional channel only provides production-related benefits. These results raise different policy issues. First, fostering the bi-directional channel could contribute to building virtuous circles. Secondly, it is necessary to align the incentives to foster other channels of interaction. Thirdly, a change in the researchers' incentives is required to induce new benefits from interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Competitive funds (CF) have become a preferred mechanism to allocate research funding, particularly in developing countries, to the point that they are the most important (and often unique) source of funds. Most analysis of CF assumes that they are an efficient instrument to allocate research funds, without realizing that other allocation mechanisms are available. The funding agency only has limited knowledge about the effectiveness of CF. This paper reviews the experience of the Mexican Produce Foundations with CF in the agriculture sector and discusses some benefits and limits of using CF as the main mechanism to fund research in a country with a relatively weak national innovation system, a relatively small research system, and some very innovative actors in the agricultural system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transition process from building a minimum knowledge base to deploying the first strategic capabilities is a neglected issue in the literature on technological accumulation in Latin American firms. This paper analyses three organisational processes that may affect this stage and discusses the role of an unstable firm's technology strategy in influencing such processes. Based on a detailed case study of Vitro S.A., one of the largest and most successful Mexican industrial groups, this paper argues that a context characterised by macroeconomic instability and distortions, and the lack of vision of the firm's top management about the role of technology in competitiveness, contribute to explaining the instability of the firm's technology strategy. This, in turn, is a major factor that negatively influences the conversion of individual into organisational learning, the coordination of different learning strategies, and the steadiness of the knowledge-creation process. The weaknesses in these processes make the deployment of strategic capabilities and the completion of the transition process more difficult. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This special issue discusses the relative effectiveness of different channels of interaction between public research organisations (PROs) and industry in driving specific types of benefits for researchers and firms in Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica and Mexico). The empirical evidence comes from original micro-data collected through similar questionnaires sent to the managers of firms and PRO researchers in each country. The richness of this special issue results from its origin: it emerges as a joint motivation to understand a key aspect of PRO--industry interactions through the relationship between channels and benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]