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The “hierarchical and linear model of innovation” (HLMI) is often used to describe how innovations are produced. HLMI presents several shortcomings and one possible way of overcoming them is to consider innovations from a system perspective. In order to achieve this, this article uses Kline and Rosenberg’s chain-linked model (CLM, 1985) as a starting point and builds up on it, proposing an improvement rendering CLM more coherent with its systemic bases. The proposed improvement suggests conceiving innovation systems as associations of building blocks and using contemporary engineering diagram-based languages to display them. Nevertheless, this improvement does not challenge the dynamic features of innovation systems.JEL codes: O31