Innovation and Innovation Systems: relevance for the area of health

Abstract

In the final decades of the 20th century, renewed attention began to be paid to processes of generating, diffusing and using knowledge. Various analytical and normative approaches have been developed to try and understand and guide these processes. The aim of this article is to present and discuss the concept of innovation systems, and its advantages and challenges, and to examine the Brazilian experience with the usage and development of this concept. At the end, the article returns to its main analytical conclusions, stressing: (i) the priority of stimulating and developing production and innovation systems which can galvanize social development – such as those in the area of health; (ii) the urgent need to move forwards in the understanding of the possibilities for developing these areas, as well as in the formulation of policies which can guide and encourage this development in a systematic and sustainable way.