National Innovation System and Its Role in Improving Science, Technology and Innovation Policies

It has been about three decades since the formation of the concept of national innovation system and today it has become widely spread among policy makers as well as among scholars in science, technology and innovation all over the world. During its rapid growth and widespread, some disagreements about its basic and fundamental issues have been created. What is a national system of innovation? How has it developed? What is the theoretical core of the concept? Who makes use of it? Why is it useful for policy making? How can it be applied to developing countries? What are its main limitations? The present study tries to give a depth analysis of all these questions. Finally, in order to illustrate the application of the concept, Iran is selected for an analysis at national level. Keywords: National Innovation System, Innovation Policy, Innovation Models It has been about three decades since the formation of the concept of national innovation system and today it has become widely spread among policy makers as well as among scholars in science, technology and innovation all over the world. During its rapid growth and widespread, some disagreements about its basic and fundamental issues have been created. What is a national system of innovation? How has it developed? What is the theoretical core of the concept? Who makes use of it? Why is it useful for policy making? How can it be applied to developing countries? What are its main limitations? The present study tries to give a depth analysis of all these questions. Finally, in order to illustrate the application of the concept, Iran is selected for an analysis at national level.