Sistemas de inovação: políticas e perspectivas

New policies for industrial and technological development are being designed and implemented as a response for the important transformations observed worldwide during the last decades . It is recognized the existence of new threats for defining and implementing national projects and policies. However, it is argued, that new opportunities are also presented; these opportunities have been better exploited by societies characterized by cohesion and that can devise appropriate strategies. Instead of losing importance, national policies are changing their objectives and instruments and are targeting the new requirements imposed by a set of factors associated to the new pattern of accumulation. Among the most important features of the new policies designed and implemented in advanced economies is the convergence among trade, industrial and technology policies. Also important is the emphasis on strengthening learning processes and on the generation and diffusion of knowledge to foster competitiveness of organizations and countries. As a result, the promotion of innovation processes and local and national systems of innovation characterize the new policies associated with the Knowledge Era.