Additional thoughts arrived from the publisher:

Dear Caroline,

Many thanks for your message, and for sending on the link to your blog, which looks a very immediate and interesting approach to discussing the idea with potential contributors and other interested individuals. I have now opened this up and would like to look through this carefully before coming back to you with our thoughts. In the meantime, I thought I would get back to you on the other points in your email below.

I attach a copy of the Table of Contents for the book you mention - The Theory and Practice of Innovation Policy: An International Research Handbook. I do hope that this helps you to see how a volume such as we have been discussing would not be compromised or overlap, but would rather complement each other. We do see that there is room in the market for both and that the volume we have been discussing would be quite different. We do look forward to hopefully seeing your ideas, in due course and when you are ready to perhaps discuss your ideas with us.

In the meantime, I do hope that the sample handbooks I arranged will reach you fairly shortly, so you can look through these and compare the approaches taken.

As regards the other handbooks we have published, these are tailored to international markets and we have found them to be very successful volumes. A number of the volumes that are linked or in your area of interest are doing very well including;

Handbook of Innovation Systems and Developing Countries
Lundvall, B.-Å.   Joseph, K.J.   Chaminade, C.   Vang, J.
978 1 84720 609 1/ 978 1 84980 276 5

The Handbook of Innovation and Services
Gallouj, F.   Djellal, F.
978 1 84720 504 9/ 978 1 84980 374 8

Handbook of Regional Innovation and Growth
Cooke, P.   Asheim, B.   Boschma, R.   Martin, R.   Schwartz, D.   Tödtling, F.
978 1 84844 417 1

Of course we have very strong lists in economics, business and law (both practitioner and academic) and our handbooks in these areas are also extremely successful. It is therefore difficult for us to compare these as the markets are so very different.

I am afraid that I am on holiday now but will be back in the office next Thursday, when I will be in touch again, having been able to read through the blog more fully.

With all good wishes,

Alex

Defining innovation-what would you add?

—New to market – as novelty

—New to world – as change

—New to solving a specific problem – as ingenuity

—New to sector – as advantage

Could be said to be change that adds to the comfort, convenience, and efficiency; largely a study of interaction of capital, labor, technology; and involves the study of complex change over time.

What else would we add to the definition?

A handbook that policymakers could actually use?

Kieron's article is excellent! It points up so many of the problems facing the policymaking process that the article could serve as a set of key starting points for additional thinking for a book on responsible innovation policy.

One of the ideas that Kieron critiques is the problem of decisionmaking at various levels of governance. There is so little guidance out there for the local level policymakers that they mostly have to operate on their own. This is at least one area where a real handbook with real policy choices could be helpful.

If I could flame for a little bit, my own experience is that policymakers do not read the scholarly literature and thus there is very very little diffusion of knowledge between academics studying and theorizing on policy and the practice of good policymaking. Thus they remain unaided by the scholars who are in the field, scholars who, apparently, want to help improve policy.

What would a handbook look like that would actually be used by and help policymakers? (Should we ask a few of them?)

Too many handbooks?

Yes there are definitely already too many handbooks but perhaps there is still a gap to be filled… 

As far as I can see the existing handbooks cover either the dynamics of innovation (i.e. innovation studies) or are prescriptive handbooks of "what should be in innovation policies in an ideal world". Such books have not nearly enough in them about innovation policy problems/challenges in the world we all actually live in, the difficulty of making, implementing and evaluating innovation policies in the real world, and the politics with a small "p" that all this involves. I would particularly like to see some honest discussion about the limitations of innovation policy which in turn would encourage us to look at where innovation policy analysis can actually be usefully focused in the real world. I've written a bit about this myself (with colleagues):

https://www.escholar.manchester.ac.uk/uk-ac-man-scw:119191

If you want to join this discussion, please email Caroline Wagner, carolineswagner@gmail.com

One idea for the handbook would be to focus it on innovation policy for sustainability and inclusion. This would certainly fill a gap in the literature. What do you think of this idea? Who would be good contributors?

Further references

Adding two cents to the list of references:

A classic in the economics of innovation is the multi-author "The pace and direction of inventive activity" (1962) and the revisiting of this influential book 50 years later (2012, NBER)--with some of the same authors (Arrow, Nelson, etc). Important to complement this work are the reports of the Yale (1987) and Carnegie (1994) surveys on industrial R&D (see Cohen, Nelson, and Walsh, 2000, NBER).

Also worth considering is the acerbic criticism of Philip Mirowski to mainstream economics of innovation. The response to classic essays published in "Science bought and sold" (2001, U. of Chicago Press), was followed by two important books "The effortless economy of science?" (2004, Duke U. Press) and "ScienceMart: Privatizing American science" (2011, Harvard U. Press).

a note from the publishers

I received an email today from Edward Elgar about the project partly in response to the questions I have sent. Here is part of the email. I will post separately the reviews that they sent about other books.

from EE:Our strategy would be to sell a paperback priced ebook (c£25) of the book at Google ebooks, from the date of publication. Google ebooks are accessed through the Google ebookstore and can be purchased only by individuals rather than institutions. In this way we can service the individual and student market from the outset. An institutionally priced ebook version of the book would also be sold through all the major ebook aggregators.

If time is a pressure for such authors, it may be another idea that you give them the option to write a relatively short chapter. We would trust your judgement as to whether fewer longer chapters or a greater number of shorter chapters (or indeed a combination of the two) is the best structure to cover the subject matter.

I fully appreciate that time pressures may also be an issue for you as editor. As we discussed, it is not uncommon for editors to recruit a junior colleague as a co-editor who is willing to undertake much of the administrative work in return for the prestige of having their name associated with a volume such as this. We would simply ask that your name appear first as lead editor.

We would be very interested to learn more about your ideas for the scope and content of such a volume, if the idea continues to appeal to you.  We would be pleased to receive a draft outline for the handbook - a likely table of contents and a wish-list of contributors. We appreciate that such information is liable to change and will likely evolve over time, however this would be extremely helpful to us. We would then be able to discuss your plans for the handbook and come back to you with our thoughts and comments and a firm offer. We certainly would not ask you to complete a detailed proposal or proposal form. In our experience editors can find it easier securing contributions if they have a firm contract and guarantee of publication.

I very much look forward to hearing from you and do hope you will not hesitate to come back to me if you have any queries or questions I can help with. I do hope your conference trip went/is going well, and you have been able to discuss the idea with colleagues.

Here is the table of contents from the most recent book on innovation policy edited by Philip Shapira - surprisingly it is from Edward Elgar - this looks quite comprehensive already! What other aspects need to be covered?

Qty                                                                                                                        Hardback                                                                                                                         Paperback

Series: PRIME Series on Research and Innovation Policy in Europe This book is also available as an ebook  978 1 84980 442 4 from - www.EBSCOhost.com Description ‘This Handbook is a most helpful guide both for scholars and for experts in charge of innovation policy. It takes a systemic approach, recognising the importance of learning processes including policy learning. It documents the close interaction between analytical work on innovation and the formulation and implementation of innovation policy. The list of authors includes leading experts from Europe and the US, and the topics span from research policy and intellectual property rights to military innovation and technology assessment. The introduction and the final chapter bring together the contributions in a common framework and raise pertinent questions about the role of national innovation policy strategies in relation to globalisation and the current financial crisis.’ – Bengt-Åke Lundvall, Aalborg University, Denmark Contents Contributors: A. Bergek, K. Blind, P. Boekholt, B. Carlsson, C. Chaminade, S.E. Cozzens, B. Dankbaar, P. den Hertog, J. Edler, C. Edquist, L. Elg, S.J.H. Graham, D.H. Guston, M. Hekkert, S. Jacobsson, S. Kuhlmann, B.R. Martin, J. Molas-Gallart, D. Sarewitz, P. Shapira, K. Smith, R. Smits, M. Teubal, R. van Merkerk, G. Vissers Further information Full table of contents Contents: 1. Introduction. A Systemic Perspective: The Innovation Policy Dance Stefan Kuhlmann, Philip Shapira and Ruud Smits PART I: DRIVING FORCES OF INNOVATION PRACTICE, THEORY AND POLICY 2. Inside the Public Scientific System: Changing Modes of Knowledge Production Ben R. Martin 3. The Changing Role of the Firm Ben Dankbaar and Geert Vissers 4. Globalisation and Innovation Systems: Policy Issues Keith Smith PART II: EVOLUTION OF THE INNOVATION SYSTEMS PERSPECTIVE 5. Rationales for Public Policy Intervention in the Innovation Process: Systems of Innovation Approach Cristina Chaminade and Charles Edquist 6. Functionality of Innovation Systems as a Rationale for and Guide to Innovation Policy Anna Bergek, Staffan Jacobsson, Marko Hekkert and Keith Smith 7. Reflections on the Co-evolution of Innovation Theory, Policy and Practice: The Emergence of the Swedish Agency for Innovation Systems Bo Carlsson, Lennart Elg and Staffan Jacobsson PART III: ONGOING AND NEW ISSUES OF INNOVATION POLICY 8. Innovation and Small and Midsize Enterprises: Innovation Dynamics and Policy Strategies Philip Shapira 9. Co-evolution of Intellectual Property Protections and Innovation: The Case of ‘Continuation’ Patents in the United States Stuart J.H. Graham 10. The Use of the Regulatory Framework for Innovation Policy Knut Blind 11. Innovation, Defence and Security Jordi Molas-Gallart 12. Demand-Based Innovation Policy Jakob Edler 13. Managing the Soft Side of Innovation: How do Practitioners, Researchers and Policymakers Deal with Service Innovation? Pim den Hertog 14. The Evolution of Innovation Paradigms and their Influence on Research, Technological Development and Innovation Policy Instruments Patries Boekholt PART IV: NEW DYNAMICS IN THE INNOVATION POLICY DANCE 15. Innovation and Inequality Susan E. Cozzens 16. The Role of Technology Assessment in Systemic Innovation Policy Ruud Smits, Rutger van Merkerk, David H. Guston and Daniel Sarewitz 17. A System-Evolutionary Approach for Innovation Policy Ruud Smits, Stefan Kuhlmann and Morris Teubal 18. An Outlook on Innovation Policy, Theory and Practice Philip Shapira, Ruud Smits and Stefan Kuhlmann

Do we need a new handbook?

We have the following books already available. How would a new handbook fill a gap - if any?

The Theory and Practice of Innovation Policy: An International Research Handbook
Shapira, P. et al., 2012

Innovation Policy, A Guidebook for Developing Countries
The World Bank, 2010

The Oxford Handbook of Innovation
J. Fagerberg et al, editors, 2006

Handbook of Innovation Systems and Developing Countries
B. Lundvall, et al., eds, 2010

Open Innovation: Researching a New Paradigm,
H. Chesborough et al., 2006

The International Handbook on Innovation
L. Shivinina, 2003

Handbook of Research on entrepreneurship policy
D Audretsch, 2007

International handbook on industrial policy
D. Bianchi, 2006

Handbook of the Economics of Innovation
B. Hall, et al., eds, 2010