Assessing Pharmaceutical Innovation in Tunisia: An Empirical Survey on Firms' Knowledge-Capital and an Analysis of the National Sectoral Innovation System

Abstract

The objective of this research was to assess pharmaceutical innovation in Tunisia. First, we examined the national sectoral innovation system (NSIS), focusing on the objectives and instruments of the industrial and innovation policy. Second, we adopted an empirical approach based on a qualitative survey of all of the 32 pharmaceutical firms in Tunisia. The objective of this survey was to assess their innovation potential and performances through an innovation index we have constructed and to determine the main vectors and obstacles to the development of a pharmaceutical innovation activity in Tunisia. The results show that despite a favourable innovation policy and an improving local innovation potential, the pharmaceutical innovation performances in Tunisia remain lower than the sought level, which translates as an ‘innovation gap’. According to our survey, this innovation gap is due to some persistent structural and organizational deficiencies within the Tunisian pharmaceutical innovation system.