Abstract :The main hypothesis of this research relies on the discrepancy between the evolution of the state and that of the other components of the socio-economic system as a factor of nations competitiveness.By adopting an evolutionist and historical perspective, the state is analyzed as an actor of the nations' evolution in their ability to absorb technological progress. The framework relies on the northian distinction between organizations and institutions, focusing on innovation's dynamics within public institutions and organizations. Both are analyzed as adaptive systems co-evolving in two temporal dimensions: the braudelian long-term since the Renaissance, and the present short-term of the information technologies revolution. The first part focuses on innovation as a socio-economic process stepping from disruption to continuities. Chapter I put in perspective the evolution of the state and of the technology. Chapter II analyzes what is at stake with the information technologies revolution. Chapter III assesses the role of the state and its evolution in the history of Great Britain and the US.The second part studies what are the possibilities for the state to get transformed (chapter I) drawing on an assessment on the New Public Management movement. The analyze goes on organizations (chapter II) through a comparison between cases of organizational transformation in France and in the US. A compared analysis between the ongoing institutional change in the budgetary framework in France and Canada allows to assess how to link institutional and organizational transformation. As a conclusion, the steering of such a reform appear to be socially feasible and technically mature, but suffers from a lag of evolution at the institutional level where politicians and mainstreams ideas dally in integrating the parameters of the third industrial revolution paradigm.
