Introduction

This chapter is about the tension between two ideal type modes of learning and innovation. One mode is based on the production and use of codified scientific and technical knowledge namely Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) mode, while the other one is an experience-based mode of learning through Doing, Using and Interacting (DUI-mode). At the level of the firm, this tension may be seen in the need to reconcile knowledge management strategies prescribing the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) as tools for codifying and sharing knowledge with strategies emphasizing the role played by informal communication and communities of practice in mobilizing tacit knowledge for problem solving and learning.

The tension between the STI-and DUI-modes corresponds to two different approaches to national innovation systems: One perspective focusing on the role of formal processes of R&D that produce explicit and codified knowledge and another perspective focusing on the learning from informal interaction within and between organizations resulting in competence building often with tacit elements.

There is, of course, an important body of empirical and historical work showing that both these modes of learning and innovation play a role in most sectors, the role being different depending on the sector characteristics as well as the strategy of the firm (von Hippel 1976; Rothwell 1977; Rosenberg 1982; Pavitt 1984). Recent models of innovation emphasize that innovation is an interactive process in which firms interact both with customers and suppliers and with knowledge institutions (Freeman 1986; Kline and Rosenberg 1986; Lundvall 1988; Vinding 2002).

Despite the broad acceptance of this literature, there remains a bias among scholars and policymakers to consider innovation processes largely as aspects connected to formal processes of R&D, especially in the science-based industries. At the policy level, this can be seen in the emphasis on benchmarking variables related to STI and in the focus on instruments such as tax subsidies to R&D, the training of scientists in high-tech fields such as ICT, bio and nanotechnology and strengthening the linkages between firms and universities in these specific fields. At the level of scholarly research, there is a tendency to expect that the increasing reliance on science and technology in the ‘knowledge-based economy’ will enhance the role played by formal processes of R&D requiring personnel with formal science and technology qualifications.