This collection of studies develops the concept of national systems of innovation, to understand the relationship between national policy objectives, public and private institutions within which innovation takes place, and their performance.

Introduction Technical and organizational change in Western enterprises and the policy environment, Jorge Niosi; Part 1 New technology policy in industrialized countries; Chapter 1 Britain's evolving technology policy: the end of defence domination, Pier Paolo Savio, Philip Gummett; Chapter 2 Science and technology policy in the United States: trading-in the 1950 model, Michael M. Crow; Chapter 3 Technical alliances in Canada: a transaction cost analysis of national and provincial policy interventions, Réjean Landry; Part 2 Technological alliances of industrial firms; Chapter 4 Technological alliances in Canadian industry, Jorge Niosi; Chapter 5 High-tech entrepreneurship and organizational choice, Weijian Shan; Chapter 6, Michel Delapierre; Chapter 7 Technical alliances of Japanese firms: an ‘industrial restructuring’ account of the latest phase of capitalist development, Terutomo Ozawa; Part III Adoption of new technologies and new productive organization; Chapter 8 * I wish to thank Nick Bacon of Loughborough University and Paul Blyton, Max Munday and Barry Wilkinson of Cardiff Business School for their joint contributions to the research cited in this Chapter., Jonathan Morris; Chapter 9 What about concurrent engineering?, Thomas Durand; Chapter 10 Rational calculations and information-gathering systems, Harland Prechel; Chapter 11 Information technologies and educational systems in France, Germany and Italy, Pierre Dubois; Chapter 12, Pierre-André Julien;