Towards a coherent and inclusive NSI: building network alignment through strengthening dynamic interactive capabilities

This chapter focuses on a dimension that has been relatively neglected in the policy space thus far: how can coordination, interaction and collaboration between different types of actors and components be strengthened in systems of innovation at the regional, sectoral and local levels, in addition to the national level? Drawing on over five years of empirical research conducted at the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), we focus on a specific set of actors, subsystems and processes: knowledge producers in higher education and research institutes that play a key role in transferring and co-producing knowledge with users in the private sector, government and civil society (and other knowledge producers).