Book excerpt: Several attempts have been made since the 1970s to collect key scholarly papers and document the progress of the field of innovation studies. The collection of papers covered by this new research review, most of which were published after the turn of the millennium, stands on the shoulders of these earlier volumes and seeks to provide a broad overview of recent progress in research on innovation and economic change. In their choice of papers, the editors address the characteristics of the field of innovation studies and its relationship to other areas of (social) science: innovation in firms; factors influencing firms' innovation performance; innovation systems; innovation and economic catch-up and, finally, policy issues for innovation.