Services and innovation systems: European models of Technology Centres

The distinct innovative capacities of each territory are, in turn, the result of specific learning trajectories that are incorporated into their respective institutional systems (Isaksen and Hauge 2002). Given the complex and interactive nature of innovation (Lundvall and Johnson 1994) and as learning is a localized process (Asheim and Isaksen 2000), the capacity for innovation can be favoured by the proximity (in a multidimensional sense) of innovation system components.

This might have been the case of the Spanish toy industry when, in the second half of the 1980s and upon entrance into the European Union, the use of the CE mark was introduced as a guarantee of safety. The provision of laboratory testing and certification by the Toy Technological Institute meant a starting point for the development of complementary services. The introduction of the CE mark was designed to enhance the role of packaging and product presentation as competitive elements. The toy industry became connected with other industries that were facing stringent requirements in this area (e.g. the wood and card industries as providers of packaging products, and the food industry, with huge demands on packaging and labelling). An increase in technological activities regarding packaging gave birth to a specialized centre, ITENE, focusing initially on packaging and later expanding its activities to transportation and logistics.