European Commission, DG XII - TSER Program

This project starts from the recognition that sector-specific conditions are very important in innovation and production and that they influence the growth potential and the competitive advantages of each country and of Europe as a whole. In order to understand sectoral specificity it is necessary to move away from the traditional concept of "industry" towards the notion of "sectoral system", and from a static framework towards a dynamic perspective. In addition, it is crucial to examine the role of institutions and demand in the innovation process. The overall goal of the project is to analyse the salient features of some key European sectoral systems and to understand their differences and similarities, their dynamics and co-evolution, and their links to European growth and competitiveness. Sectoral systems are broader than industries because, in addition to firms, they encompass non-firm organisations (government, universities and financial organisations) and institutions (education, labour markets, intellectual property rights), networks of firms and vertical as well as horizontal linkages with related technologies, firms, suppliers and customers.

Franco Malerba - Centre for Research on Internationalisation, Università L. Bocconi, Milano, Italy

Contractors
Centre for Research in Industrial and International Economics, Paris, France
Centre for Research on Innovation and Competition, University of Manchester, UK
Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy
Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK
Department of Technology and Social Change, University of Linköping, Sweden
Social Science Research Centre, Berlin, Germany
Associated Contractors
Department of Business Studies, Aalborg University, Denmark
Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research, Karlruhe, Germany
Department of Economics and Management Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain

Third year of the project