The main underlining conviction, throughout the book, is the importance of dynamical and systemic approaches to innovation policies. The first part of the book provides the theoretical background for the subsequent more empirical contributions. In the second part, a series of three papers analyse each the development or diffusion of a specific technology developed in the frame of a procurement policy. They explain the success of mission-oriented policies (the development of digital switching systems in the telecom sector, the development of high-speed trains in Germany and the diffusion of military technologies). The three papers contained in the third part explore the impact of incentive tools (R&D tax credits, R&D cooperative agreements and university-industry relations) on the innovation potentialities of firms and of economic systems (regions). The chapters in the last part of the book are all based around the question of how is it possible to design an innovation policy, applicable throughout Europe, bearing in mind the diversity of innovation behaviours and strategies.
