As innovation becomes the main imperative of macroeconomic policy throughout the modern world, there is a growing tendency to isolate policies related to innovation issues. This logic suggests that modern socio-economic systems have become unable to meet ambitious social challenges and ensure economic competitiveness, because our societies, institutions, scientific activities or individual predispositions, according to some researchers, are not sufficiently focused on innovation. In this study, we analyze this so-called “innovation deficit” model, in which the lack of innovation is usually referred to as the main obstacle to social progress. Drawing parallels in the study with the concept of the deficit of social understanding of science, widely known in the world scientific community under the term “public understanding of science” (PUS), we will develop a theoretical framework that reflects the dynamics and regulatory aspects of the formation of the deficit. In doing so, we will highlight five main aspects: problem diagnosis, remedies, the role of expertise, implied social rules, and the measurement of success. We will apply this theoretical framework to three empirical case studies of recent innovation strategies: Luxembourg, Singapore and Denmark. We emphasize that attention to this deficit, which structures innovation, is important because it is an essential part of the mechanism by which innovation transforms societies in the twenty-first century: not only through new technological opportunities or economic growth, but also through the formation of public discourse, the narrowing of public policy options, and the legitimization of major institutional interventions. The implied Pro-innovation preference, as a rule, marginalizing other justifications, values and social functions, which are clearly not prone to innovation. The experience of history "deficit of public understanding of science" shows that without purposeful efforts to transform innovation policy into a more democratic, inclusive and clearly state political field, the current logic of deficit and its technocratic implication are fraught with serious social and economic shocks.
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