This article seeks to draw connections between Fernando Fajnzylber’s approach and certain elements of the neo-Schumpeterian systemic approach to innovation, to show that there is longstanding discussion of many of the ideas underlying the development of both approaches in a variety of contexts. The results of the analysis revealed six similar features: the historical determinants of technological development; the similarity between the elements that sustain long-term technical progress; the relationship between technological development and the “non-economic spheres”; the relationship between technological development and the idiosyncrasies of each sociopolitical context; the proactive nature of government action; and the sector-level aspects of technical progress.