The Center for Accelerating Innovation has been collaborating with ASTRA (The Alliance for Science & Technology Research in America) on a framework for describing the “national innovation ecosystem” and for guiding the development of an innovation measurement system we call Innovation Vital Signs (IVS). Download innovation_vital_signs_framework_report_v.2.8.pdf The purpose of such a system is to provide a tool to evaluate the nation’s innovation capabilities and performance, and better assess policy choices and potential impacts. [1] More information on the IVS project can be found at www.usinnovation.org.
The framework is based on a systematic review of 52 public indicator reports and 95 private sector sources. Our review generated an inventory of 3,126 indicators measuring multiple dimensions of innovative activity. We discovered during our review that no common framework for organizing and presenting such indicators exists. The framework we designed is comprehensive and approaches innovation as a complex and multi-faceted process and recognizes:
- both the innovation supply (inputs) and demand (outputs) and the process that connects inputs to outputs and ultimate national impacts.
- context in which innovation takes place including the macroeconomic environment, public policies, infrastructure and the national mindset for innovation.
- changes in the nature of innovation including globalization of innovative activity, new business models for managing innovation, types of innovation, service sector innovation, entrepreneurial activity and diffusion/adoption rates for innovation.
The framework organizes indicators in four broad domains as illustrated and into 14 specific factors that drive knowledge from original insight to economic impact. Based on a detailed evaluation of these indicators and a workshop we identified a set of baseline indicators from which to evolve innovation vital signs for the national innovation ecosystem. We conclude that currently available indicators and measurement methods do not adequately describe in a timely manner the dynamics of innovation today. Innovation cannot be approached as an isolated inventive activity and linear process. We need to move beyond indicators dominated by inputs such as R&D, scientific and engineering personnel, patents and number of publications. A comprehensive indicator framework is required that can link innovation inputs, processes and outcomes to better reflect the reality of innovation today. Innovation is best viewed an ecosystem of relationships, connections and diverse patterns interaction among individuals and organizations. It is a complex process in which new knowledge eventually becomes embedded into a new products, services, processes and business models that create value. This value creation process in turn generates national benefits and revenue and profit to entities who undertake the risk of being innovators.
Innovation is a process by which value is created for customers through public and private organizations that transform new knowledge and technologies into profitable products and services for national and global markets. A high rate of innovation in turn contributes to more intellectual capital, market creation, economic growth, job creation, wealth, and higher standard of living.
Innovation policy should be based on evidence. Timely, high quality relevant information is available in abundance to support fiscal, monetary and trade policies. Innovation policy for the 21st century will require new indicators, improved data collection and integration methods, and sophisticated visualization tools to understand the more subtle, qualitative and interactive elements of innovation and greater recognition of role innovation plays in the service sector. The framework offered in this report integrates the fundamental change in innovation practices from the previous closed, static, linear and individualistic perspective into a multidimensional, dynamic approach that is capable of staying abreast of the demands of a global economy.
The Innovation Vital Signs conceptual framework identifies 4 domains and 14 innovation factors that collectively interact to create the innovation capacity and performance of a nation. The innovation framework report summarizes the provisional set of indicators that emerged from our global assessment of innovation indicators. Download innovation_vital_signs_framework_report_v.2.8.pdf
[1]The framework builds on the innovation ecosystem concepts and recommendations prepared by Egils Milbergs, Center for Accelerating Innovation for the 21st Century Innovation Working Group of the National Innovation Initiative, Council on Competitiveness. PDF] 21st century innovation working group final report , Innovate America Final Report, December 2004. www.compete.org Additional information on the Innovation Vital Signs Project can be found at www.usinnovation.org
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