Innovation Policy in an Interacted World – The Critical Role of the Context Available to Purchase

Policies aimed at intensifying innovation, and how they relate to industrial activities, is the major theme of this chapter. We build on Industrial Marketing and Purchasing (IMP) studies of innovation, as well as relational approaches to policy studies, to examine the means and goals of innovation policy. From the IMP literature, we take the notion that interaction in business relationships implies continuous learning and adaptations. From this perspective, investments in innovation are marginal in relation to existing patterns of investment, including those in business relationships. From policy studies, we take the view that policymaking and implementation should be treated as sets of interactions, whose outcomes are the effects of multiple and heterogeneous relationships. Based on these principles, we pursue three arguments: (1) Innovations are not primarily effects of innovation policies; (2) Policy-initiated innovation systems, clusters and networks do not necessarily intensify innovation; and (3) Innovation policies and their instruments produce tangible effects, although often in unexpected or unintended ways. We conclude the chapter with suggestions for research and for innovation policymaking.