Analyzing and Comparing National Innovation System and Regional Innovation System literatures: A Bibliometric Study

For more than three decades, Innovation System (IS) approach has gained attention in the field of study, which is reflected in the evolution and growth of the scientific production of documents (literature) on the subject. Over time, variations of IS were formulated, such as National Innovation System (NIS) and Regional Innovation System (RIS), both taking as focal point a territorial unit and representing an important part of IS literature. Nevertheless, there are few works focused on the analysis of NIS and/or RIS literatures, and even more scarce those that aim to compare both. The purpose of this study is to analyze and compare the documents that constitute NIS and RIS literatures (published from 1990–2021), using bibliometrics, in order to stablish similarity and differences. Among the most relevant findings, it was noted that for the most part, authors, institutions and funding sources involved in NIS and RIS are not the same. In addition, regarding the topics addressed, there are three basic groups of keywords in common, however, for NIS some areas of knowledge and technologies take relevance, while for RIS, the territory (region) has a more preponderant role. This work may be useful specially for newcomers (as young academics/researchers or those getting into new research areas) in the field of study of NIS and RIS, two concepts that are related and can be appeared similar at first glance (often being the second, considered just a sublevel of the former) thus, selecting the most appropriate approach could be difficult.