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The concept “innovations” as a political instrument:
from the linear innovation model to the knowledge triangle

Konnov V.I.,

MGIMO University, Moscow, Russia, v.konnov@inno.mgimo.ru

elibrary_id: 178080 | ORCID: 0000-0001-7292-8850 | RESEARCHER_ID: R-2075-2016

Talagayeva D.A.,

MGIMO University, Moscow, Russia, d.talagaeva@mail.ru

elibrary_id: 810473 | ORCID: 0000-0001-7959-0741 |

Article received: 2023.02.08. Accepted: 2023.06.05


DOI: 10.17976/jpps/2023.05.03
EDN: ICNSVF

Rubric: Theme of the issue: concepts “the innovation” and “the tradition” in political discourse

For citation:

Konnov V.I., Talagayeva D.A. The concept “innovations” as a political instrument: from the linear innovation model to the knowledge triangle. – Polis. Political Studies. 2023. No. 5. https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2023.05.03. EDN: ICNSVF

The article was prepared with financial support from the Russian Science Foundation, project No. 18-78-10123.

Abstract

The article considers the history of the political promotion of the concept of “innovation”. To study the changes that took place in the content of this term, two approaches are used – intellectual history in the version of the Cambridge School and international political economy. The first approach aims to establish the role of this concept in promoting the intellectual interests of scholars who developed the theory of innovation, the second – to determine the role of the concept in the context of the mutual influence of politics and economics in international relations. The study is carried out in three stages. The first is an examination of the background and an attempt to interpret the concept of “innovation” as it is used today. The second is a review of the evolution of this concept in the circulation of the OECD, which played a determining role in the creation of innovation policy as a special area of state regulation. This review allows us to observe how the promotion of the concept of “innovation” unfolded in the context of two tension lines: between the economic and scientific divisions of the organization and between economists of the Keynesian and neoliberal schools. An examination of OECD documents on science and innovation policy shows how the concept of “innovation” has expanded to reflect the OECD countries’ search for opportunities to achieve sustainable economic growth. Finally, the third stage of the study is to analyze the use of the concept of “innovation” in the theory of the knowledge triangle, which shows that since the 1990s the concept has served to advance the part of the university community closely linked by common interests to transnational corporations. In the political economy sense, the modern concept of “innovation” works in favor of a group of corporations that form the core of the knowledge economy and aim to expand the transnational economic field. The world’s leading universities may be considered as participants of this particular interest group. 

Keywords

innovations, knowledge economy, knowledge triangle, intellectual history, international political economy.

 Full Text

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