Evolution of the STIP literature: discovering the growing role of innovation governance concepts

Abstract The evolution of science, technology, and innovation Policy (STIP) studies has been marked by the emergence and decline of various intellectual streams regarding the innovation process and the role of government. These streams are known as STIP generations or paradigms and have undergone changes in perspective on innovation across different historical periods. This article aims to provide a clear understanding of how the themes explored in STIP studies have evolved over different STIP generations. To this end, a dataset of the most cited research documents from 1975 to 2022 was studied using a mix of bibliometric and thematic analyses. The result reveals that the STIP literature has undergone three distinct but interrelated dimensions of evolution: the nature and process of innovation have shifted from a simple linear process to an interactive and complex one; the innovation agenda has expanded to include economic, social, and environmental goals; and perspectives on the governance of innovation have shifted from a centralized mode to a participatory and reflexive one. The conceptual framework developed in this research compares STIP generations in terms of the aforementioned three dimensions and shows that recent intellectual generations have a broader perspective than early generations across all three dimensions.