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The emergence of the sectoral systems of innovation (SSI) framework for analysing shifts in technological trajectory and economic growth has evoked a great deal of interest. Many researchers working on the National Systems of Innovation (NSI) concept have welcomed the approach and shown interest in the interplay between national and sectoral frameworks and related policy prescriptions. This paper attempts to analyse emerging and missing linkages between SSI and NSI in the biopharmaceutical sector in India. It does so in the light of major expansion in the Indian pharmaceutical industry and the new efforts to incorporate strategies targeting biotechnology innovation. The paper studies the policy regime facilitating this new era and discusses the future growth prospects of the Indian biopharmaceutical industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents recent insights from the ongoing FORLEARN project, which aims to develop Foresight theory and practise by supporting the sharing of experience ('mutual learning') in Europe. Six functions of Foresight for policy-making are elaborated on: (1) Informing policy: generating insights regarding the dynamics of change, future challenges and options, along with new ideas, and transmitting them to policymakers as an input to policy conceptualisation and design. (2) Facilitating policy implementation: enhancing the capacity for change within a given policy field by building a common awareness of the current situation and future challenges, as well as new networks and visions among stakeholders. (3) Embedding participation in policy-making: facilitating the participation of civil society in the policy-making process, thereby improving its transparency and legitimacy. (4) Supporting policy definition: jointly translating outcomes from the collective process into specific options for policy definition and implementation. (5) Reconfiguring the policy system: in a way that makes it more apt to address long-term challenges. (6) Symbolic function: indicating to the public that policy is based on rational information. The relationship between these functions and the tensions that can arise when a Foresight exercise attempts to address more than one function are discussed. Possible approaches for Foresight practice to better achieve the targeted impact on policy-making are outlined and emerging guidelines for improving Foresight practice are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decades we have witnessed a tremendous growth in the number of strategic technology alliances and a growing importance of interfirm collaboration in the high-tech sectors. The literature on these topics has grown accordingly. In this respect, our paper serves two aims. One is to provide an overview of the consensus on key issues in this vast body of literature. Second is to identify some major gaps in this literature that may inform future research. In serving these aims, we first discuss the dominant structuralist perspective that stresses the role of embeddedness, but which also reflects a deterministic stance as if firms are subject to an exogenous structure. In contrast, we also explore a more voluntaristic view of how firms may possibly shape their network in view of achieving their strategic aims. This view also seems better able to capture change and network dynamics, an issue that has been largely ignored by the structuralist view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]