Foresight and services: Closing the gap?

Service sectors of the economy are increasingly recognised as being important innovators. However, few studies of innovation systems have paid due attention to services' position in these systems. The UK's Foresight programme (originally the Technology Foresight programme) provides helpful insights into these matters. Foresight has been an ambitious attempt to establish priority areas for innovative efforts, and to build new networks between inventors, innovators, entrepreneurs and policymakers. In this programme there has been an explicit and pioneering effort to include service sectors. The article examines how far this was successful, and what it tells us about services' role in innovation systems. There is evidence that in general services remained less aware of, and involved in, Foresight than comparable manufacturing firms. Furthermore, some service industries experienced particular difficulty in participating in the process. The implication is that even though many service firms are innovative, there are still obstacles to overcome for many others before they can be as active as they might.