Promotion of Innovation in Developing Countries: Study of Economic Development Plans of Iran

Innovation is considered the path towards the knowledge society. The most popular approach to promoting innovation, is investment in research and development of high technologies. However, the sum of contributions of low and medium technology-based firms to the total production and economic growth in the developing countries is much higher than the contributions of the high technology sectors. The inadequate attention of policymakers to the technological development of the low and medium technology-based firms could cause more underdevelopment, and as a result the technology gap in developing countries will become wider. In this study, given the need to promote innovation in all economic sectors, according to the dominant industrial structure of each country, with the review of theoretical perspectives and empirical studies, innovation strategies in developing countries especially in sectors with medium and low technology are categorized. By extracting the appropriate policy framework, policies of Iran's economic development plans have been reviewed and suggestions for improving innovation policy are presented. The results of content analysis of plans indicate the bias of supply-driven approach and lack of sufficient attention to the low and medium technology sectors in Iran's innovation policies.