The understanding, diffusion and absorption of technologies are fundamental in the knowledge-based economy, in contrast to neoclassical theory (Solow, 1956, 1957), endogenous theories (Romer, 1987, 1990; Grossman and Helpmann, 1991) and evolutionary (Nelson and Winter, 1982; Fagerberg, 1994) identify knowledge flows as a key factor in explaining economic growth. In this sense, it is essential to have a broad and committed innovative context that considers innovation as a long-term strategic investment to improve the competitiveness of companies instead of a short-term cost. Only in this way can a country or region generate innovation and productive systems capable of generating synergies based on learning in the form of overflow effects between companies where everyone wins in the long term. This thesis considers two main aspects of the literature. On the one hand, it focuses on the impact evaluation of public policies, analyzing the arguments that justify them and their effectiveness as a determinant of companies’ effort in Research and Development (R&D). On the other hand, the concepts of learning and capacity building are incorporated into the analysis with particular attention to the role of cognitive and geographical proximity (Boschma, 2005). The thesis’s main objective and the most significant challenge is the joint analysis of these two aspects, exploring how they interact and determine each other…