Fca Frank Veraart

National innovation systems and international knowledge flows: an exploratory investigation with the case of the Netherlands

Abstract Since the late 1980s, the literature on innovation systems has flourished, often tying these systems to nation-states. Technology, however, often flows across the borders of nations. In this paper, four cases are studied where foreign technology is imported and appropriated from abroad into Dutch companies. By doing so, the questions what a national system of innovation consists of and what such a system means for firms are explored. The cases studied provide a picture of international-sectoral systems, adding up to a loosely interacting innovation system at the national level.

How the Netherlands became a bicycle nation: Users, firms and intermediaries, 1860-1940

In 1925, the Netherlands was a country of cyclists and cycle producers, as all classes cycled and almost all cycles were produced domestically. The bicycle was not a Dutch invention and the country had an open economy, and this raises the question ‘how did the Netherlands become a bicycle nation?’ This article investigates the interactions of users, firms and intermediaries from 1860 to 1940 and how these impacted the bicycle, its production and its use. Furthermore, it analyses knowledge flows and the roles of intermediaries. It illustrates changes in activities and the relevance of interactions between users, firms and intermediaries, and the effects of World War I. It shows how user organisations created an infrastructure and culture which made cycling Dutch. Firms created a cartel which produced bicycles that were wanted and used by all Dutch, as they were made in the Netherlands.

Losing Meanings: Computer Games in Dutch Domestic Use, 1975–2000

Computer games were originally tools that let programmers demonstrate their craftsmanship, and firms used them to demystify computer operation and lure new individuals and groups. As computers became widespread, use and attitudes of actors toward games changed. With examples from the Netherlands, this article shows how games in domestic use lost their versatile meanings beyond entertainment.