The Competitive and Comparative Advantages Effectively Fostered by National Innovation Systems

Abstract

The concept of National Innovation Systems (NIS) has extensively been applied to biotechnology and shaped the industry. This chapter aims to analyze and discuss the concept, its structure, configuration and prescriptive character, as well as the underlying competitive and comparative advantage assumptions. Its purpose is to provide a factual account of deployment efforts, and to highlight the challenges encountered with its implementation. To this end, an in-depth exploratory study of the berries sector in the Maule Region has been performed. Data were collected from NIS actors (academia, industry and government), inputs (funding R&D projects), outcomes of innovation activities (academic publications) and exports. The open source software VOSviewer version 1.5.4 was used to extract and analyze scientific publications on berries from Web of Science®. The relevance of links, interactions and implications are highlighted. Also, theoretical and prescriptive approaches to NIS implementation and deployment are bridged.