ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the most important characteristics of post-communist dynamics of innovation in Central and Eastern Europe and to provide a basis for understanding the forces that shape the dynamics. It provides the general picture of the post-communist position in the world of innovation. The chapter explains the developments underlying the overall pattern introduced by outlining the historical heritage of post-socialist countries in terms of the innovative capabilities that they possessed in socialist times. It addresses issues the transformation of the socialist R&D complex from the late 1980s and onwards, the challenge of exploiting the inherited competencies from the socialist era. In terms of innovative outcomes, the difference between post-communist countries and the more advanced Western countries is even more dramatic – fact that signals the inefficiency of R&D for innovation. The dynamics of innovation in post-communist countries must not be thought of primarily as a 'transfer' of Western technologies, practices and structures to the East.
