A Critical Review of the of National Innovation System Approach: from Conceptual Dimensions to the Policymaking Process

The background of policymaking and decision making in systems is interwoven with the history science of management. Early approaches and theories in this field of study are mainly based on engineering and quantitative approaches, and are occupied by methods developed in the discourse of "scientific management". Yet, recent approaches in this field are taken from emerging subdivisions of management discipline containing futurology and science and technology policymaking qualitative, contain descriptive and explanatory aspects. This research is intended to have a review study of the approach of the innovation system, its discourse (and perhaps its paradigm), its elements and components, and to briefly introduce the theories developed within it, and to focus on the conceptual or policymaking dimensions, and decision-making process in this type of system. As a new approach, the innovation system contains a background of less than three decades in the history of science and technology. Hence, this study tries to investigate theoretical deficiencies in both the conceptual, scientific and technological policymaking processes, and to highlight its weaknesses. This review shows that the approach involves serious weaknesses in some of its components such as institution, disregarding strategic policies and lack of appropriate system tools. Moreover, the innovation system approach does not offer novel causal and analytical (rather than descriptive) theories for the policymaking process of science and technology.