Defence Procurement, Innovation and the National Innovation System

This paper is about the implications of a nation’s approach to defence procurement for its national innovation system and the innovation that occurs within it. Defence procurement involves choices over what is to be purchased (the product), from whom it should be bought (the producer), and how production should be contracted and managed to achieve best outcomes (incentives and arrangements for performance) (Hartley, 2007). Analysis of defence procurement often points to potential implications for innovation performance among the firms that supply Defence, or have the specialist capability to deal with Defence organizations and contract with them. But implications for the national innovation system usually receive only incidental treatment....