Abstract

Abstract. This paper discusses the current state of the ‘open innovation’ thinking in the context of core economic challenges faced by catching-up and developing countries. The main argument of the paper is that due to the paradoxes and contradictions between the ‘mainstream ’ innovation dis-course and practice and the peculiar challenges of the catching-up coun-tries, applying the concept of ‘open innovation ’ may have unintended or reverse effects on catching-up development. This problem can be remedied by more conscious attention to the basic contradictions and paradoxes that requires a more comprehensive analytical focus on innovation and techno-logical development at the levels of firm, industry and policy.