A Novel Approach to Explore the Efficiency of National Innovation Systems: Lessons from the Wine Industry

The multiplicity of factors that characterize the innovation process make the evaluation of the efficiency of an innovation system a complex issue. In this paper we propose a new approach to measure and decompose the inefficiency of national innovative systems in the wine industry considering the relationship between the innovation process, the ownership of intellectual property rights and the economic performances. The analysis is based on a two-step DEA approach to calculate the relative efficiency of each national system, using as input 9 indices describing the innovative environment and as output 3 indices referring to the international market. Results reveal the main sources of inefficiency, identifying those national systems in which the national innovation structure is overstated, wasting resources, and those in which the economic importance of wine is not supported by R&D policy and structure. Moreover, the paper suggests country-level strategies and opportunities, describing the roles of the private network and public funding in relation to systems efficiency.