Probing the Austrian Innovation System: Twelve Case Studies of Knowledge Producing Institutions

Abstract: The paper attempts an answer to the question of why some knowledge creating institutions in Austria are innovative and others are not. To this end a sample of twelve institutions from the research and economic spheres is analyzed and compared. The variables for the analysis are drawn primarily from the notion of a mode 2 of knowledge production, based on the work of Michael Gibbons, Helga Nowotny and others (Gibbons et al. 1994). Finally, from the analysis of the case studies more general lessons for the understanding of innovative activities in institutions and innovation policies are drawn. Based on the concept of the knowledge system and a new theoretical approach to the study of such systems, developed by Karl Müller (Müller 1996), a project team at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Vienna set out in 1995 and 1996 to take part in an OECD initiated study program on a seven country comparison of national innovation systems. This paper is an output of work done for the project.;