ABSTRACT
The innovation systems approach to societal development includes a critique of the common focus on high technologies in the development process—complex technologies that require high levels of knowledge and skill to develop and operate. Even in affluent economies, directing resources exclusively to high technologies neglects the broader innovative processes undertaken by doing, using, and interacting. In developing economies, with fewer resources, too strong a focus on high technologies is unlikely to produce as much benefit as a more inclusive concept of innovation.
