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When steering an economy, governments can assume various roles, ranging from setting frameworks to providing targeted support to specific types of businesses. Although the debate on the necessity of industrial policy rarely subsides, it has recently reignited due to publications such as Mazzucato's 'The Entrepreneurial State'. This highlights the significant role governments have played in some innovation trajectories that have radically transformed the world over the past century. While it is often companies that experiment with new products and services, the pace and direction of such developments are certainly influenced by government policies.
The belief that governments can drive innovation is widespread. However, there is no consensus on the best way to do this. History shows that there is no guaranteed success when governments choose to support their strongest economies or when they try to identify new priority areas. It proves to be a challenge to formulate a strategy on who to support and in what way. As highlighted by Foray et al. when introducing their 'smart specialisation' concept: perspectives are needed that policymakers can use to shape industrial policy in an intelligent way.
In this report, we explore which knowledge areas can be identified as relevant crossovers. In this (exploratory) research, we focus on identifying crossover industries.
