Innovation and Competence Building in the Learning Economy: Implications for Innovation Policy

Bengt-Åke Lundvall and Edward Lorenz

Chapter 1 in Interactive Learning for Innovation, 2012, pp 33-71 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract The idea that knowledge matters for the economy is far from new. Adam Smith (1776) refers to the division of labor among specialized ‘men of speculation’ as an important source of innovation. Friedrich List (1841) argues that the most important form of capital is ‘mental capital’. Karl Marx (1868) pointed to science as an important productive force. In the twentieth century the British scholar Bernal (1936) proposed that raising investments in R&D from 0.2 to 2% in Great Britain would stimulate the economy and bring a new kind of economic growth, and a similar message was formulated in The Endless Frontier by Vannevar Bush (1945), which laid the foundation of post-war science policy in the United States.

Keywords: Social Capital; Welfare State; Innovation Performance; Vocational Training; Tacit Knowledge (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
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DOI: 10.1057/9780230362420_2

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