Spatial and Systemic Perspectives on Innovation

Innovation has been always in the public debate. Everybody agrees that without innovation there is no progress, companies are less competitive, productivity decreases, it is more difficult to give solutions for socio-economic and political problems. Innovation is not a linear process anymore. It involves organizational changes, strong relations between producers, suppliers and customers, proximity advantages which facilitate the knowledge transfer and sharing. In international comparisons regions and countries are analyzed based on their innovation systems. In this paper we discuss the elements of an innovation system and the role of universities as a main provider of research outputs and development solutions.