Mission- and challenge-oriented innovation policies and sustainable multi-level innovation synergy in China

The consolidated Innovation System (IS) framework is currently re-discussed with attention to 'levels' and 'missions' that generally respond to 'grand challenges' that affect mankind (e.g. climate change, global health, inclusive economy). Renovated frameworks are required to consider the dynamism of the global scenario where businesses, governmental bodies, other organisations, networks and consumers interact and innovate at quite different levels, from technological up to institutional and cultural. This debate is mostly applied to the case of competitive economies in Europe and elsewhere, while leaving a significant research gap on how catching-up economies can promote innovation across their firms, industries and regions. This paper introduces this debate within such context. Two RISs in China show how these dimensions can work in catching-up regional economies. Our findings show that a dynamic IS needs to be based on a Sustainable Multi-Level Innovation Synergy (SMLIS) between regional innovation systems (RIS) and the national innovation system (NIS), where the NIS identifies the national and global 'grand challenges' which are addressed through 'mission-oriented' and 'transformative' innovation policies, while each individual RIS determines the regional direction of this response by designing and directing specific and sustainable strategies and actions that address the related 'regional challenges'. This is important in catching-up economies, where the regions often lack adequate resources, skills, and capabilities, while having their institutional and industrial path-dependencies.