Rhetoric of Innovation Policy Making in Hong Kong Using the Innovation Systems Conceptual Approach

In: Science, technology, & human values: ST&HV, Band 35, Heft 3, S. 408-434

Abstract

Since its introduction in the 1980s, use of the innovation systems (IS) conceptual approach has been growing, particularly on the part of national governments including, recently, the Hong Kong Government. In 2004, the Hong Kong Government set forth a ''new strategy'' for innovation and technology policy making. Because it marked a significant break from the past (characterized by a laissez-faire Government attitude), it was necessary to convince a wider audience to accept this new strategy, a strategy that included the IS conceptual approach. Adopting a science and technology studies (S&TS) perspective, I show how the IS conceptual approach is being used as a rhetorical resource by the Hong Kong Government in its innovation and technology policy making in an effort to persuade its perceived audience of the efficacy of its new strategy for its policies—policies that are in fact unrelated to the basic precepts of the IS conceptual approach. The case provides a cautionary tale in the ways in which policy makers transform scholarly work and scientific discovery into rhetorical instruments in support of a political agenda.