The construction of unbalanced innovation policies in Catalonia (Spain)

The article analyses the evolution of innovation policies in Catalonia between the 1980s and 2016-2017. From a broad perspective, innovation policies include from research, technology and knowledge transfer policies, to industrial and competitiveness policies. The analysis examines at the micro level the main actors in the innovation policy, and at the macro level the institutional order related to government, business system, industrial structure and innovation-related public and private institutions. The analysis shows: the micro field has been dominated by few key actors, such as academic economists, large companies and university research groups; at the macro institutional order, regional government has displayed a quite centralised decision-making in contrast to a weak industrial civil society and low innovation-related public-private collaboration. The result has been a rather unbalanced policy evolution that has favoured science and research in detriment of innovation and industry, especially business and production related technological innovation.