This STI sector or system is then commonly described as consisting of a combination of governance and funding bodies such as Colciencias, plus associated providers of STI support activities such as publicly funded research and technology centres or universities. In contrast, the flows of public funding intended directly to strengthen innovation capacities in enterprises were until recently very limited.2 While the reluctance of officials in a country that has historically been plagued by corruption to subsidise private industry is understandable, business is the driving force in innovation systems and business innovation has to be a central focus of policy. There is some risk of this conceptual boundary becoming a boundary in the real world.