National innovation strategy: A brief contribution to its effectiveness from the perspective of technological capability accumulation

Abstract

Technological capability refers to knowledge-intensive skills and resources to change existing technologies or to create new ones. The accumulation of such capability by companies and industries has been part of governments’ and businesses’ agendas as it is vital for countries’ industrial development and increase of per capita income. However, the various public innovation policies implemented in Brazil over the last few decades and the different studies and debates on their limited outcomes failed to address the accumulation of technological capabilities by companies and industries as one of the primary sources for the increase in the rate of innovation and the sustained growth of the economy. This article presents an analytical framework to contribute to the effectiveness of a national innovation strategy centred on the accumulation of technological capability at the level of companies and industries. This analytical framework can contribute to assessing the return on public innovation policies regarding the accumulation of technological capability to develop significant innovations.