Investing in Knowledge: Knowledge, Human Capital and Institutions for the Long Run Growth

Innovation in Africa: Why Institutions Matter

“…Premixed on the fact that institutions are capable of directing economic operations and relationships, it implies then that innovation – in order to achieve economic growth – will require relevant institutions (Oyelaran‐Oyeyinka and Sampath, ; Tebaldi and Elmslie, 2008a; 2008b; Tebaldi and Mohan, ; Schiliro, ). This postulation is expected to also apply to developing countries like Africa.…”

Knowledge-based economies and the institutional environment

“…Thus a KBE has been typically characterized by a scenario of structural transformations 1 . In this scenario, following a Schumpeterian view (Schilirò, 2009(Schilirò, , 2010, knowledge becomes the central source of innovation and, hence, of growth 2 . However, the current development of a KBE should be understood in the context of the globalization and the evolution of capitalism that has occurred since the changes in the 1990s, this is why it is so important to analyze the role of institutions and their changes to better understand the KBE.…”

“…The diffusion of ITC permits productivity gains in the processing, storage and exchange of information, which is an important area of the KBE. ITC favor the creation and growth of new industries (i.e., multimedia, software, 1 Schilirò (2010). 2 For Schumpeter (1942) the production and diffusion of knowledge are processes that have a strong influence on economic growth and development.…”

“…Thus governments play a crucial role, because knowledge creation and diffusion cannot simply depend on market mechanisms alone. An appropriate framework of economic incentives and institutional regimes is necessary for facilitating the interaction among different sectors in a knowledge-based economy (Schilirò, 2010).…”

“…The institutions that facilitate this task were especially those designed to protect and promote the competition within an industry, the existence of agencies that coordinate set the standards and the evolution of new techniques, the existence of military orders that reduce the uncertainty of demand for a new product or a new technique, the communication between the industries and organizations that specialize in generating new technological knowledge, such as the Universities and research institutes, the intellectual property (Mokyr, 2002, Schilirò, 2010.…”