The Politics of Interaction in Innovation Systems

Brazil is considered to be one of the future economic and political global powers. Despite its recent economic success, Brazil's innovative capacity is rather low, compared to other world regions. This study argues that the performance of an innovation system crucially depends on negotiation between different levels of the political system and their inclusion in policy-making. The underperformance of the Brazilian innovation system points to obstacles to effective policy-making that inhibit better coordination among actors and levels and improving innovative capacities. The political dimension and the institutionalized governance and power relations between the national and the subnational level have seldom been incorporated in the analysis of innovation systems and up to now no study has captured the dynamics of multi-level governance and innovation policies in Brazil. This study closes this gap and presents a detailed descriptive analysis of the Brazilian multi-actor innovation policy arena and multi-level governance structures and continues to present evidence of two regional innovation systems (Rio Grande do Sul and Espírito Santo).