Interactive Learning or Technology Transfer as a Way to Catch‐Up? Analysing the Wind Energy Industry in Denmark and India

This paper uses sectoral systems of innovation framework to examine the relationship between technology policy and industrial development by comparing the emergence of the wind energy industry in Denmark and India. Since the late 1970s Denmark has led the development of a global wind energy industry and in 2004 wind energy supplied 18.8 per cent of Denmark's electricity consumption. India was however a late entrant that managed in a few years to establish itself as the fifth largest producer of wind energy in the world. We suggest that India's unique policy of “interactive learning” with international and especially Danish actors, instead of imitation of foreign technology policies and institutions, was a substantial contributor to India's success in developing their wind energy industry.     

Green innovations for sustainable development of China: Analysis based on the nested spatial panel models

Improving green innovation efficiency (GIE) is crucial for attaining sustainability in China's stage of high-quality development. However, there is a paucity of research on the roles of and links among the government and market in GIE. This study bridges this research gap by unifying marketization, local government competition, and GIE into one empirical framework. First, we extend a super-efficiency Ray slacks-based measure model to evaluate provincial GIE in China during 1997–2018 and then analyze its evolution of spatial-temporal dynamics. Subsequently, marketization, local government competition, and GIE are incorporated into a nest of spatial panel models to address the endogeneity concerns resulting from model misspecification and omitted variables. The empirical results show that China's GIE at the national level is only 0.4813, and above 80% of provinces are far from reaching the green innovation frontier. Moreover, the observed imbalance in GIE between regions continues to worsen; notably, this coincides with the emergence of a pattern under which the gap between the north and south is widening. Furthermore, the seven spatial panel models assessed in this study reveal that local government competition not only has a direct inhibitory effect on GIE, but also indirectly impedes the corresponding promotional effect of marketization. This finding provides new evidence supporting the “grabbing hand of government” view and sheds light on the behaviors of the market and government in green innovation development.     

气象科技创新业务贡献评价标准研究

科技创新重在应用,重在产生效果。对于气象部门而言,创新的效果主要体现在气象业务能力和水平的提升上,然而如何判断科技创新是否对业务产生了贡献,或科技创新对业务产生的贡献大小,需要建立一个具备可比性的、不以评价人的主观意志为转移的客观标准来衡量。为此本研究设计了一个叫做“气象科技创新业务贡献度”的评价指标,试图通过“气象科技创新业务贡献指数”的客观计算,来建立一套客观评价和衡量气象科技创新业务贡献大小的评价标准,供评价项目、单位、区域或部门气象科技创新业务贡献大小时使用。该指标设计的特点是,以突破重大气象业务核心技术为重点,以满足气象业务服务质量和效率提高为指向,形成用于测量气象科技创新业务贡献的定量测量模型,以此为基础,可以开发出满足气象科技创新业务贡献评价需求的、供全国统一使用的气象科技创新业务贡献评价标准。     

校地融合视角下的双创街区空间设计研究

探究基于校园文化、地域文化的双创空间设计理论与方法,丰富双创街区的设计理论体系,更好地指导以创新、创业为核心的国家双创示范基地空间设计实践。从校地融合、双创街区的概念入手,以南京“紫金创谷”双创街区为研究对象,通过实地调研法和比较分析法对有关“双创”基地的优势因素与主要矛盾进行阐述,探讨了南京“紫金创谷”双创街区基于校地融合的空间设计策略。校地融合的双创文化空间模式是对国家创新创业体系建设的践行,既可重新激发高校与周边区域的活力使其良性健康发展,形成强大的创新资源集聚区,又能增强和提高各自及整体的创新能力,实现经济效益和社会效益的双赢。     

Personal and social proximity empowering collaborations: the glue of knowledge networks

The proximity framework serves to analyse and understand how collaborations form and develop over time, and how these affect innovation and learning. The framework has inspired and informed empirical studies in several contexts, contributing to our understanding of the dynamics of dyadic collaborations, industrial clusters and districts, and regional innovation systems, to name but a few. Recent conceptual and empirical advances have called attention to the role of personal proximity and social proximity in such collaborations. In addition to other forms of proximity, these two dimensions could make up the glue that holds knowledge networks together. In the introduction to this special issue, we elaborate upon this proposition, setting out a point-of-departure for the three empirical studies collected in this issue. We summarize the findings of these papers, and develop a research agenda from those findings that may guide proximity researchers to novel research problems and useful research designs.     

事理学在概念产品设计定位中的应用

目的强调进行目标系统外部因素的研究,从方法论层面有望突破传统主要考虑内部因素的局限性,对于概念产品创新设计有重要意义。方法将事理学引入概念产品设计定位,在"事"的结构基础上,提出概念产品设计定位研究框架;基于"事""理"之间的联系,对外部因素研究的有序组织的具体研究方法进行探讨;具体阐述事理学中外部因素在概念产品设计定位中的实际应用。结论以主要面向"95后"人群的概念汽车内饰设计项目为案例,提出部分具体的设计定位研究方法,经过整合分析后得出设计定位阐释,为概念产品创新提供研究思路。     

Nascent Innovation Systems in Developing Countries: University Responses to Regional Needs in Thailand

Universities are playing a major role in regional innovation by interacting directly with regional stakeholders. Up to now there is little evidence on responses of universities to regional needs in developing countries. This paper applies an adopted framework of nascent regional innovation systems in developing countries to a study of the potential impacts of five universities in three regions in Thailand. The empirical evidence suggests that more systematic approaches toward regional university-industry knowledge transfer are still limited by centralized national policies, a low sophistication of regional technological needs, and institutional barriers within the higher education system. University responses to regional needs differ markedly between the Bangkok region and two peripheral regional innovation systems.     

Die Anfänge der neuzeitlichen Chemie in der Pharmazie und Metallurgie. Zu E.F. Geoffroys tabelle stofflicher Beziehungen

E.F. Geoffroy's table of different relations (“rapports”) between different chemical substances is mainly based on empirical knowledge accumulated in 16th and 17th century metallurgy and pharmacy. The substances listed in the left half of the table were basic for the formation of salts which were produced for medical ends in the chemical-pharmaceutical practice of the 17th century. The right half of the table refers to substances and operations of metallurgy which had already been described in the metallurgical writings of the 16th century. Even Geoffroy's ordering of the substances within the columns of his table has its origin in metallurgical and pharmaceutical practice. The key concept of the conceptual framework underlying the table and its commentary is the concept of chemical compound which emerged at the end of the 17th century. Geoffroy extends the range of application of this concept, which was first limited to chemical artefacts, to include natural bodies. Eliminating the peripatetical distinction between natural bodies and chemical artefacts he formulates a new research program, consisting in the determination of the “laws” of the relations (“rapports”) between different chemical substances.     

区域民族文化在产品创新设计中的运用研究

目的研究区域民族文化元素在产品创新设计中的应用目标和应用方法。方法从分析区域民族文化融入产品创新设计的必然性和重要性出发,总结当今区域民族文化开发的现状与问题,探讨民族文化产品创新设计的新理念。结论在此基础上,提出包括产品创新设计中民族文化的形态升华和神韵再现;开发民族区域资源,注重产品多样化设计;既要突出区域民族文化个性,又要体现时代认同的共性等创新设计的应用建议,以期为当今民族文化产品的创新设计提供新思路。     

Firm Innovation Systems: Perspectives of Researches on State-owned Key Enterprises

Based on the origin of the innovation theory and the technological innovation models of Rothwell, this paper puts forward four-generations of evolutionary models using the firm innovation system: “Internal R&D-Oriented Innovation System”, “Internal and External Collaborative Innovation System”, “Highly Strategic-Oriented Innovation System” and “Ecological Innovation System”. This paper dwells on the characteristics and relationship between each innovation system, and the role in the enterprise innovation especially the State-owned Key Enterprises innovation, so as to provide a theoretical and practical basis for the design and improvement of the State-owned Key Enterprises innovation system.     

Collaboration Intensity and Regional Innovation Efficiency in Germany—A Conditional Efficiency Approach

Many case studies highlight a positive relationship between regions' innovation performance and the intensity of collaboration among regional organizations. However, few efforts have been made to analyze this relation with quantitative approaches. In addition to a theoretical discussion, the paper presents an empirical investigation on this issue utilizing conditional efficiency analysis and patent co-application data for the Electrics & Electronics industry in 270 German labor market regions. The results show that the relationship between regions' innovation performance and the intensities of regional as well as inter-regional collaboration take the form of an inverted-U shape. Regions with average regional and inter-regional collaboration intensities are found to outperform those characterized by extremely low, high or unbalanced collaboration behavior.     

设计置换股权的商业模式创新与实践

目的随着区域经济转型升级对品牌战略与产品创新的迫切需要,我国设计产业迎来高速发展的机遇。以设计费为主要盈利模式的现状导致我国设计机构普遍体量不大,规模难以复制。探索如何通过商业模式创新,突破传统经营模式的发展瓶颈,实现本土设计机构的跃迁式发展。方法提出"设计置换股权"的创新商业模式,从根本上改变商业设计机构与所服务企业间的合作关系。通过对一批"双创"项目的设计入股孵化,逐步优化该模式的方法与流程,成功实施若干案例。结论为产学研中的商业模式设计研究及实施国家创新驱动发展战略提供了新的设计策略和思路,为我国设计产业的商业模式突围,实现颠覆式的创新提供了实践案例基础。     

Sound Affects: Competing with Quality in the Swedish hi-fi Industry

Traditionally, literature on competitiveness has focused on innovation in networks and/or embedded in local/regional milieus. This paper examines the concept of quality and quality processes as an additional way of understanding the competitiveness of small and highly niched industries. In the theoretical framework, applied on the Swedish hi-fi industry, quality is identified as a promise and divided into three dimensions labelled “performance”, “projection” and “protection”. The quality framework provides a useful tool for analysing measurable and non-measurable aspects of quality sound and sound reproduction. Also, it is argued that competitiveness is stimulated when a product is associated with one of the quality dimensions and when a strong quality perception is inherent throughout the production network. Moreover, we find that quality processes are spatially embedded and that location facilitates both place-based branding and localised learning.     

Assessing the Potential of Cross-border regional innovation Systems:A case study of the Hong Kong -Shenzhen region

While technological transformations have redrawn the boundaries of regional innovation systems, the effect of such transformations on the development of cross-border regional innovation systems (CBRISs) – defined here as the innovation system spanning neighboring territories belonging to different nation-states – has not been well understood. The Hong Kong-Shenzhen region presents a unique opportunity to study the potential of CBRISs, as Hong Kong and Shenzhen are adjacent to each other though there is a border between them and the two cities have their own political and legal systems under the “one country, two systems” arrangement. In this research, we examine the development of the Hong Kong-Shenzhen region by focusing on cognitive proximity, innovation actors, collaboration, and global connectivity through an analysis of patent and publication data for the 2001–2015 period. Our findings point to a good potential given the growing convergence in scientific research among the two cities, steadily increasing collaboration output, and a complementarity among innovation actors. However, compared with other cross-border regions, the technological linkages between Hong Kong and Shenzhen remain limited.     

“The innovation governance dilemma: Alternatives to the precautionary principle”

This article reviews the four innovation governance approaches (the precautionary principle, responsible innovation, permissionless innovation, and the innovation principle), including definitions, important attributes, and weaknesses found in each approach, and when utilizing an affinity diagram as a tool of analysis, identifies their distinctive characteristics and common relationships. A discussion section summarizes the paper’s findings and offers insights into where there is common relationships for further possible convergence between two innovation governance approaches – responsible innovation and permissionless innovation – that conceptually share substantially more in common than they contrast with each other. For addressing this challenge, the study recommends the following policy proposals: embrace artificial intelligence/machine learning/data analytics for risk management and regulatory adaptability; consider “soft law”as an option to public regulation; and substitute corporate citizenship for corporate social responsibility.     

Knowledge context,learning and innovation: an integrating framework

Abstract

In this conceptual paper, we develop a framework which identifies those elements of firms’ knowledge context which are important for innovation, and the mechanisms through which that knowledge impacts on firms’ innovation performance. We make four main contributions to the existing literature. First, our characterisation of knowledge context provides the basis for a more specific identification of which elements of firms’ knowledge environment are important for innovation, discriminating between spatial, sectoral and network influences. Second, we reflect the role of innovation ambition in shaping firms’ knowledge search strategies. Third, we differentiate between firms’ interactive and non-interactive knowledge search activities and recognise that these may be complemented by unanticipated and serendipitous knowledge spillovers. Finally, we employ the notion of encoding capacity to reflect firms’ internal ability to assimilate and apply external knowledge, and clarify its distinctiveness from the more general concept of absorptive capacity. Our framework provides an integrating mechanism for existing empirical studies, and suggests a number of new research directions related to the determinants of innovation performance and the heterogeneity of innovation outcomes.     

Marketing in the material construction of artifacts: A case study of a Portuguese navigation systems company

This article examines the social construction of technological innovations, focusing on how marketers of an information and communication technology (ICT) product interact with engineers in the creation of that product. The main purpose is to develop in empirical terms the concept of “material semiotics' rhetoric”. To this end it takes an in-depth look at a medium-sized Portuguese firm, in which we have over a period of five years observed how a GPS navigation device is generated and developed. We use the notions of “rhetoric” and “frames of reference” in adopting “material semiotics” as the theoretical background for observing the behaviors and interactions of the different actors involved in the construction of this technological artifact. The results show how the rhetorical framework shapes the technology, and also reveals the roles of different professionals when negotiating technical possibilities within the communicational strategies of a firm. The paper highlights the specific role of symbolic aspects in the material development of technology, stressing a relation between rhetoric and material semiotics.     

Business model-network interactions: Comparative case studies from Zhongguancun and Silicon Valley

This paper explores the firm's business model-network relationship in two regional innovation systems of China and the USA. A longitudinal analysis was used for this research. Four cases of high-tech enterprises from Zhongguancun (China) and Silicon Valley (USA) were investigated, focusing on how a business model and its ties with the stakeholders in the network interact and evolve over time. Applying Granovetter's network theory, we show that the companies' business model's development depends on the strength of network ties that differ between the two geographical regions. Results reveal that the influence of stakeholders' ties on the business model can vary depending on the regional context. It also shows the network impact value proposition, value capture, and value creation and delivery.     

Innovation and Social Capital: A Cross-Country Investigation

This study explores the impact of social capital on innovation by constructing a more general measure of social capital, which consists of generalized and institutional trust, associational activities and civic norms. We test the hypothesis that social capital has a positive impact on innovation at the national level. After controlling for research and development expenditure and human capital, we find that there is a positive relationship between social capital and innovation. Social capital interacts with entrepreneurship; the strongest relationship is between associated activities and entrepreneurship. This study supports the need to build strong social relationships in today's networked economy.     

ICT-driven disruptive innovation nurtures un-captured GDP – Harnessing women's potential as untapped resources

The harnessing of untapped resources has become essential for inclusive growth in digital economies particularly as developed economies continue to age demographically. The harnessing of women's potential is an urgent subject in this context, and successive initiatives have been flourishing in many countries.However, given the institutional complexity of the issue, as well as considerable variety across nations, uniformed non-systematic approaches are hardly satisfactory in achieving a timely solution.Against this back drop, this paper analyzed a new information communication technology (ICT)-driven disruptive innovation that may nurture un-captured GDP by harnessing untapped resources such as women's economic potential.Using a unique dataset representing the state of gender balance improvement, an empirical numerical analysis of 44 countries was attempted. These countries were classified as emerging, industrialized, and with a specific culture based particularly on the traditions of a male-dominated society.It was found that while industrialized countries, typically Finland, have achieved high performance in co-evolution between “econo-cultural development,” ICT advancement, and gender balance improvement, emerging countries have been constrained by low ICT advancement. In addition, notwithstanding their high economic level, countries with a specific culture have been constrained by a traditional male-dominated culture, Japan being a typical case.Based on these findings, lessons from industrialized countries for both emerging countries and countries with a specific culture were analyzed.It was suggested that ICT should be strategically advanced depending on the state of what we are calling “econo-cultural development” for constructing co-evolution of gender balance improvement along with techno-economic development.A new practical approach for harnessing untapped resources for sustainable growth was thus explored.