Comparing approaches to systems of innovation: Confronting to the Chinese telecommunication sector

Abstract

This paper identifies and compares three approaches to study systems of innovation, namely, the national innovation system (NIS), the regional innovation system (RIS), and the sectoal innovation system/technological innovation system (TIS). Based on the descriptions of the common elements, namely actors, interactions and institutions, the differences and features of approaches are summarized. Furthermore, this paper also discusses the strengths of the three approaches while confronting them to the Chinese telecommunication sector. These three approaches map systems of innovation differently, provide a complimentary view, rather than substitutive ones, for constructing a complete configuration of an innovation system. Therefore, the choice of a methodology to analyze of the innovation systems mainly depends on the research purposes and research scopes.