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The aim of this paper is to present the theoretical literature dedicated to the analysis of the motivations and the determinants of firms’ technological innovations. To this end, we follow a strategy of presentation that starts with the simplest possible framework in which the innovation can occur (Robinson Crusoe economy), and that encompasses gradually richer economic contexts. The discussion is hence organized in a progressive logic, ranging from purely individual motivations and conditions of innovations (in the case of Robinson, alone on his island), towards the more complex case where the innovative activities take place in an international framework, under particular institutional configurations, depending on the considered countries. The intermediate stages successively introduce the following economic phenomena : demand, sectoral dimensions, competition, public authorities, and finally, international competition.
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