This article argues that innovation in and from emerging economies is largely shaped by the challenges of sustained catching-up with the advanced economies. Just as firms and industries are constantly seeking to upgrade their technological and organizational capabilities, so too are their societies reconfiguring their institutions and networks to improve their knowledge resources. Such a co-evolutionary process requires IB scholars to draw on interdisciplinary work from the innovation and development literature in order to reconsider the key drivers of innovation at multiple levels within these economies. Innovation is not just limited to technological activities but includes organizational and transactional improvements, and is largely a process of recombination of local and imported knowledge, shared through multiple forms of collaboration. This can redefine the FSAs of local and foreign firms, often shaped by the strategies of domestic public and private actors. Simultaneously, policymakers need to develop the appropriate institutions needed to underpin R&D, training, standards, and knowledge coordination. MNEs play unique roles as instigators of innovation, as conduits for new knowledge, and as beneficiaries themselves, via their own recombination capabilities.

本文认为，新兴经济体的创新很大程度上取决于不断追赶发达经济体的挑战。正如企业和行业不断寻求提升其技术和组织能力一样，它们的社会也正在重新配置其机构和网络以改善其知识资源。这样的共同发展过程要求IB学者从创新与发展文献中借鉴跨学科工作，以便重新考虑这些经济体中多个层面的创新关键驱动力。创新不仅限于技术活动，还包括组织和交易方面的改进，在很大程度上是通过多种协作形式共享本地和进口知识的过程。这可以重新定义本地和外国公司的FSA，这些FSA通常受国内公共和私人行为者的策略影响。同时，政策制定者需要建立适当的机构，以支持研发，培训，标准和知识协调。跨国公司通过其自身的重组能力，扮演着创新的推动者，新知识的渠道以及受益者自身的独特角色。