Conclusions and perspectives: adapting old policy institutions to new challenges

Innovation has climbed higher on policy agendas everywhere, not only in
developed countries but also in emerging economies. As a relatively young
policy area, it is designed mainly as a trial and error process, with no simple
and universal model to follow. Moreover, innovation not only serves
economic purposes, but has invaded other policy agendas. As a possible
solution to a diversity of problems it has been included in the missions of
almost any traditional policy field, including science policy, competition
policy, environmental policy, foreign policy, regional development policy,
education policy, etc. Hence, the need for new conceptual frameworks and
policy intelligence tools to feed policy-making is expanding dramatically.
This book is about how to increase policy intelligence by combining
quantitative and qualitative assessments of Innovation Systems, and by taking
a forward-looking perspective on the conditions for an innovative Europe of
tomorrow. A number of new developments and new challenges have been
identified throughout the chapters, which, together, help pave the way
towards future innovation policies for Europe.