Innovation and Technological Catch-Up

''This book overturns the old paradigm ideas about natural-resource-based activities. It sheds light on the new opportunities for technological dynamism and catching-up by using science to open novel directions in traditional sectors. It should become a classic in what I expect will be a very important academic debate and a new trend in development policy.''
- Carlota Perez, Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia, Cambridge University and University of Sussex, UK

''This excellent book provides a deep understanding of why and how emerging countries are able to catch-up and enter international markets in an industry that once was considered as traditional, but which has now become a relatively articulated and science-based sectoral system.''
- Franco Malerba, KITeS, Bocconi University, Italy

''This excellent book demonstrates better than any other I know the strengths and limits of the concept of a national system of innovation for understanding economic development today. Any careful student of innovation or development will want to read it.''
- Charles Sabel, Columbia Law School, US

''In the New World, viticulture and wine production has had to develop with verve and enthusiasm, to be able to survive and to flourish. In countries like Chile and Argentina, the continuing decline of domestic wine consumption has forced technicians and entrepreneurs to conquer the world with innovation and technology, to produce wines of international taste and to attract potential buyers to these markets. This book is a very professional account of these phenomena, which have profoundly changed the marketing of wines in the past 20 years.''
- Aurelio Montes, President of Vina Montes, Chile

Since the beginning of the 1990s, the supremacy of ''Old World'' countries (France and Italy) in the international wine market has been challenged by new players, such as Australia, Argentina, Chile and South Africa, which are recording stunning performances in terms both of export volume and value. This book demonstrates that such a spectacular example of catch-up goes beyond simply copying new technologies; it entails creative adaptation and innovation, and introduces a new growth trajectory in which consistent investments in research and science play a key role.

Contributors: K. Anderson, L. Cassi, R.A. Corredoira, L. Cusmano, E. Giuliani, M. Kunc, J. Lorenzten, G.A. McDermott, A. Morrison, R. Rabellotti, S. Tiffin