Is 'Open Innovation' Re-Inventing Innovation Policy for Catching-up Economies?

This paper discusses the current state of the .open innovationÿ thinking in the context of core economic challenges faced by catching-up and developing countries. The main argument of the paper is that due to the paradoxes and contradictions between the .mainstreamÿ innovation discourse and practice and the peculiar challenges of the catching-up countries, applying the concept of .open innovationÿ may have unintended or reverse effects on catching-up development. This problem can be remedied by more conscious attention to the basic contradictions and paradoxes that requires a more comprehensive analytical focus on innovation and technological development at the levels of firm, industry and policy.