What indicators do (or do not) tell us about Regional Innovation Systems

22 pages, 5 tables, 2 figures.-- This paper is an elaboration of the paper presented at the "I Jornadas Españolas de Indicadores para la Evaluación de la Ciencia y la Tecnología" conference held in Madrid (Spain) the 14th and 15th April 2005.This paper analyses some of the methodologies and R&D and innovation indicators used to measure Regional Innovative Capacity in Spain for the period 1996-2000. The results suggest that the approaches examined are not sufficiently rigorous; they vary depending on the methodology and indicators employed. Therefore, we would suggest that the right balance between quantitative and qualitative approaches could produce a better evaluation of innovation system performance which would be more useful to policy makers and other stakeholders.This paper is the outcome of a project funded by the “Alto Consejo Consultivo de la Generalitat Valenciana”. Jon Mikel Zabala-Iturriagagoitia’s work was funded by the Programme for the Researchers Formation, Department of Education, Universities and Research of the Basque Country.Peer reviewe