Building up the innovation potential of an enterprise depends as much on its strategies as on State intervention. Today, budgetary cuts in public R&D expenditures reflect the increased reorientation of scientific activities toward the needs of the market. For economists who subscribe to the evolutionist approach, this change in public policies may eventually slow down technical progress and curb economic growth. This change is now reflected in the growing appropriation of scientific and technical information by the largest enterprises, a process that drives innovation.