The idea that innovation and technological change is important for economic growth and human development has long been recognized. This book explores this idea, providing an overview of current research on determinants of innovation of firms from the perspective of economics and management. It deals with the innovating firm's internal and external organization and how their mutual relationship affects innovative behaviour. Using several methods of analysis, the book reveals the specific determinants that are predominant in explaining firm performance on innovation. Several chapters in this book address the needs of both scientific economists and management scientists as well as practitioners.

With the economic problems facing Western economics during the last decade, theories about an alleged forty-five to sixty years' pulsation in economic life (the Kondratieff-Schumpeter cycle) have experienced a remarkable renaissance. Based on a new econometric test method, the author argues that long waves can be identified not only in price series but also in the aggregate output of a number of key industrialized countries. The author's own research corroborates Schumpeter's hypothesis that, far from being caused by a flash of genius, radical innovations occur in clusters, interacting with economic fluctuations and social change.

The emergence of new firm-level data, including the European Community Innovation Survey (CIS), has led to a surge of studies on innovation and firm behaviour. This book documents progress in four interrelated fields: investigation of the use of new indicators of innovation output; investigation of determinants of innovative behavior; the role of spillovers, the public knowledge infrastructure and research and development collaboration; and the impact of innovation on firm performance. Written by an international group of contributors, the studies are based on agriculture and the manufacturing and service industries in Europe and Canada and provide new insights into the driving forces behind innovation.

With the economic problems facing Western economics during the last decade, theories about an alleged forty-five to sixty years' pulsation in economic life (the Kondratieff-Schumpeter cycle) have experienced a remarkable renaissance. Based on a new econometric test method, the author argues that long waves can be identified not only in price series but also in the aggregate output of a number of key industrialized countries. The author's own research corroborates Schumpeter's hypothesis that, far from being caused by a flash of genius, radical innovations occur in clusters, interacting with economic fluctuations and social change.