Regional distribution of the National System of Innovation actors and economic development: an international comparison

ABSTRACT It is believed that actors of the National System of Innovation (NSI) influence and are influenced by regional aspects, like geographical allocation. Based on this perspective the scientific, technological and economical performances in sub-national divisions of nine developed and developing countries are analyzed in this paper. The aim is to evaluate the hypothesis on the existence of higher regional concentration of NSI actors in developing countries. The results suggest that this hypothesis may be correct, since S,T&I activities are more likely to be regionally concentrated in the richest regions in the developing countries analyzed, opposing what happens in developed countries.