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National systems of innovation have been serving as the conceptual framework and vehicle to address poverty and national competitiveness in developing countries. Zambia has been building its NSI since 1964, but the existing system suffers from serious shortcomings related to an insufficient conceptually inclusive framework and the absence of direct and concrete pro-poor innovation policy instruments. The system lacks strong interactive dynamics and suffers from weak governance. Zambia has also followed an export-driven industrial economy, but the expected knowledge spill-over gains from large mining operations have not been realised. The paper examines national innovation strategies by emphasising the importance of the informal sector and the potential for innovation at grass-roots level. It examines the evolution of science and technology policies by highlighting how the excluded areas can be included. The absence of pro-poor innovation and lack of inclusive policies are highlighted as factors contributing to low productivity and socioeconomic imbalances.

This paper considers the role of interactive learning for sectoral innovation systems and policies. The vehicle of this discussion is the emergence of Brazilian pulp and paper industry during the 20th century, and we explore its development as a network learning phenomenon, and highlight how dynamics of technological learning shifted as the organization of industry and its sectoral innovation system expanded and changed in tandem with the advance of strategic knowledge frontiers. Right balance of coordination and competition in the system fostered demand-led innovation system, allowed Brazilian firms to integrate efficiently in global learning networks, and nurtured entrepreneurial culture that eventually leveraged industrial change. The subsequent expansion and success of Brazilian pulp and paper industry can to a great extent be credited to the sectoral innovation system and its dual strategy, which has established a clear division of labor between fundamental innovation and knowledge transfer. Both private firms and the public sectoral innovation system have focused Brazilian cutting edge research, development, and innovation efforts on the improvement of eucalyptus, the primary source of superior competitive advantage for the Brazilian pulp and paper industry, and in other science and technology areas created efficient mechanisms to transfer the best available scientific and technological solutions from abroad to Brazil.