Development, production and use in policy initiated innovation

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore and describe the forces which promote or obstruct a policy-initiated innovation process in the context of a regional strategic network (RSN). Design/methodology/approach – An innovation requires that an invention survives in relevant developing, producing and using settings. This is analyzed as resource interaction in these three settings. Data are obtained from a case study of an innovation process undertaken from 2007 to 2011 where 24 respondents representing the involved actors in the development of a geographical information system technology platform were interviewed in separate meetings lasting 60-100 minutes. Primary sources of secondary data have also been analyzed. Findings – The strategy imposed by the RSN enabled knowledge to be exchanged between the involved actors, but problems remained regarding resource interaction of the relevant settings. The studied case showed that achieving resource interaction between the producing and using settings was particularly challenging when the innovation processes is policy-initiated and thus involves both the private sector and the public sector. This serves to explain why policy initiatives to turn scientific knowledge into commercialized innovation often fall short of their objectives. Originality/value – Research investigating policy-initiated innovation and regional economic growth often focuses on achieving information exchange between the actors that make up the innovation systems. This paper sheds light on the resource interaction between the members of RSN s and how this can facilitate the innovation processes.