The role of industrial design in technological innovation

This paper identifies a means of increasing the likelihood of success in technological innovation. Collated evidence is drawn from a study of nine science-based products which have received Design Council Awards. Even in this small design-conscious sample, there is enough evidence to suggest that opposition by engineers to the employment of industrial designers is fairly widespread.     

Technological infrastructure and international competitiveness

The paper is probably the first written paper using the conceptof ‘the national innovation system’ and it analyseshow technological infrastructure differs between countries andhow such differences are reflected in international competitiveness.It makes a critical review of new (in the 1980s) developmentsin the theory of international trade and confronts them withrecent empirical results. It shows how competitiveness cannotbe explained by wage rates/prices/currency rates. Technologicalleadership gives absolute rather than comparative advantageand technological leadership will reflect institutions supportingcoupling, creating, clustering comprehending and coping in connectionwith technology. The analysis is rooted in historical contextthrough references to Friedrich List and his criticism of AdamSmith and laissez-faire. Special emphasis is put on List's conceptof mental capital. Finally, the analytical arguments are illustratedby the catching-up and forging ahead of first Germany and laterJapan. The paper concludes that disequilibria in internationaltrade will be persistent and that for laggard economy the freetrade doctrine may be unduly restrictive. Another conclusionis that public investment in technological infrastructure andintellectual capital is crucial for successful economic development.It is pointed out that there is a need to couple education,science, trade and industry policy in order to build competitiveness.     

Technological innovation and Western values

This paper provides some explanations as to why modern technology originated in the West, and why firms in the United States and Western Europe lead in technological innovation. In the paper technology is viewed as a subsystem of a cultural system, including ideas and norms. The values identified as underpinning the West's preeminence in technology are the desire to control and bend nature to serve human needs; reliance on reason as the sole means of understanding the world as well as for the solution of problems relating to the material universe; emphasis on individualism and change; and acceptance of happiness as the supreme good. The historical development of these values and their inter-relationships with technology and other related parameters, notably science and the economic system, are discussed.     

Technology cluster coupling and invulnerability of industrial innovation networks: the role of centralized structure and technological turbulence

Scientometrics - The high failure rate of industrial innovation networks restrains organizations and industries from successfully developing innovation capacity and competitiveness. Given the trend...     

Scientific capabilities and technological performance of national innovation systems: An exploration of emerging industrial relevant research domains

Today's theories and models on innovation stress the importance of scientific capabilities and science-technology proximity, especially in new emerging fields of economic activity. Inthis contribution we examine the relationship between national scientific capabilities, the science intensity of technology and technological performance within six emergent industrial fields. Our findings reveal that national technological performance is positively associated with scientific capabilities. Countries performing better on a technological level are characterized both by larger numbers of publications and by numbers of involved institutions that exceed average expected values. The latter observation holds for both companies and knowledge generating institutes actively involved in scientific activities. As such, our findings seem to suggest beneficial effects of scientific capabilities shouldered by a multitude of organizations. In addition, higher numbers of patent activity coincide with higher levels of science intensity pointing out the relevance of science 'proximity' when developing technology in newer, emerging fields. Limitations and directions for further research are discussed.     

Academic contribution to industrial innovation by funding type

Scientometrics - Universities are an important actor for innovation. Their contributions to technological and scientific knowledge development have been supported by various types of funding. The...     

Approach to the identification of an alternative technological innovation index

Scientometrics - There is a strong interest in identifying and designing standardized indicators to measure and visualize the progress made by countries in terms of science, technology, and...     

Reverse innovation,international patenting and economic inertia: Constraints to appropriating the benefits of technological innovation

In this paper we compare the role of outward-bound international patenting in “reverse innovation” and in conventional international modes of innovation. Through analysis of panel data from 148 countries over 18 years we reveal that, while all countries may in principle appropriate economic benefits from endogenous technological innovation by increasing their level of outward-bound international patenting, the ability of a country to do so may be hampered by the pre-existing level of its economy. We classify countries in to four strategic innovation quadrants—Slow Movers, Traders, Inventors and Cosmopolitans—based on the relative change over time in their competitiveness in international patenting and their per capita wealth. The mix of wealthy countries and less wealthy countries varies greatly between quadrants, with the wealthy countries dominating the Cosmopolitans quadrant and the less wealthy countries dominating the Slow Movers quadrant. We conclude that, for lower income countries to improve their success in appropriating the benefits of reverse innovation, innovators and would-be innovators based in those countries need to develop sophistication and prowess in international patenting strategy and intellectual property management tailored to the unique conditions of each country.     

An approach to improve the indicator weights of scientific and technological competitiveness evaluation of Chinese universities

As indicator weights obtaining is often difficult in all types of evaluation, this paper describes an approach to improve the indicator weights of scientific and technological competitiveness evaluation of Chinese universities. As a public institution funded by Chinese government, the research center for Chinese science evaluation of Wuhan University has completed five annual evaluations for the scientific and technological competitiveness of Chinese universities since 2005, whose abundant and reliable data motivated us to try to improve the weights obtained by the AHP (analytical hierarchy process). Based on these data, we calculated the objective weights of the indicator using the representative mathematical methods of the least square and the variation coefficient. As the weights of AHP can be influenced by the knowledge, experience and preference of experts and the calculated objective weights neglect the subjective judgement information, we integrated the subjective and objective weights by respectively using the additive and multiplicative model to reflect both the subjective considerations of experts and the objective information, and obtained three kinds of integrative weights. Finally, we selected the integrative weights of multiplicative model as the best weights by comparing and analyzing the evaluation results in 2005 and 2009 of each kind of weights. The results show that the evaluation effect of the weights of multiplicative model is indeed the best for all types of Chinese universities among these kinds of weights, and the experts and university principals enquired also basically reached a consensus on the university rankings of the integrative weights of multiplicative model.     

三峡工程科技进步与创新

三峡工程在设计、建设和运行过程中,对我国水利水电工程建设、机电设备制造和生态环境保护等各个领域提出了巨大的挑战。针对三峡工程建设的关键技术和难题,国内各个领域的专家学者,进行联合科研攻关,取得了一系列重大创新成果,提高了我国相关领域的科技水平。简要列举了三峡工程建设和运行过程中形成的主要创新成果,对我国今后重大水利水电工程建设和水电清洁能源开发具有重要意义。     

标准必要专利申请行为新动向及其对我国的启示

标准必要专利是标准实施过程中必不可少的专利,对标准的制定、实施、市场竞争和产业结构均有显著的影响.本文在介绍标准必要专利内涵及其形成过程基础上,对"及时专利"这种标准必要专利申请行为的新动向进行了系统分析,总结了及时专利出现的原因、现象及结果,并针对此现象从标准制定组织、国家和区域政策以及企业标准战略等方面提出了对策建议.     

International collaboration and innovation in professional and technological knowledge-intensive services

Abstract

In this paper, we explore the impact of international collaboration on innovation in technological and professional knowledge-intensive business services. We propose that the benefits of international collaboration differ depending on the activity sector and the location of the foreign partner. Specifically, we argue that the nature of knowledge and innovation processes in professional and technological knowledge-intensive business services may explain different effects of international collaboration on innovation performance. Our empirical analysis is based on a large sample of knowledge-intensive business services for the period 2004–2007. We specify two bivariate probit models to test our hypotheses. The results confirm the hypotheses and show that proximity to international partners is more important for professional knowledge-intensive services, while diversity in international collaboration is more important for technological knowledge-intensive services.     

立足科技创新 光大防伪印刷

目前,中国印刷企业数以万计,特种防伪印刷厂也是多如牛毛,如何在激烈的竞争中立足并且不断发展壮大,创出自己鲜明的特点,是所有印刷人所追求的目标。北京宝旺印务有限公司董事长陈定旺先生引领公司十年发展之路,对探索企业的成功之道很有帮助。靠勤奋与实干成大业陈定旺先生曾是一个背包闯关东的印刷厂业务员。2000年,他在北京     

A Systemic Approach to Exploring an Essential Patent Linking Standard and Patent Maps: Application of Generative Topographic Mapping (GTM)

Abstract:

As the intense competition for the international standardization of technology has increased, many companies are concentrating their capabilities on securing essential patents that claim one or more inventions required to practice a given industry standard; however, despite the importance of developing essential patents, the approaches to exploring promising essential patent: have some limitations in terms of methodology and data. As a remedy, this article proposes a method that derives an essential patent through Generative Topographic Mapping (GTM)-based standard and patent maps. The suggested approach involves a systematic process that identifies vacuums on a standard map in a specific technology field and enables analysts to find candidate for promising essential patents instead of relying on the experts. By applying the proposed methodology, this research discovered the vacuums in an industrial standard document about fuel cell technology as well as the candidates of essential patents in this technology field.     

A methodology for identifying results and impacts in technological innovation projects

As investments in policies and projects in science, technology, and innovation (STI) grow, it becomes increasingly important to determine the benefits society receives in return for the public resources thus invested. However, existing methodologies are somewhat limited in scope as they do not possess mechanisms for correctly identifying non-measurable, indirect results and impacts. This study addresses these knowledge shortcomings, and it proposes and validates an alternative method to identify the social, environmental, and economic outcomes and indirect impacts of STI projects. Findings indicate that the proposed method helps fills the gaps in knowledge about ex-post methodologies used to evaluate indirect results and impacts in STI projects. One aspect that sets the proposed method apart from the existing approaches is that it contemplates a wide range of analytical categories of indirect impacts for assessing the effects of STI projects. The principal academic and practical contribution of this study is the development of an accessible artifact that can identify the results and indirect impacts of projects in diverse areas of STI. The study extends the understanding on the methodologies to identifying results and indirect impacts of STI projects.     

Technological change as a trade-off between social construction and technological paradigms

The theory of social construction of technology (SCOT) and the theory of technological paradigms (TTP) are normally regarded as competing or even incompatible perspectives on technological change. In this paper, we show how and when the perspectives are complementary by comparing how the theories conceptualise technology development, understand stakeholders, and determine driving forces for technological change. When stakeholders have different relations to the innovation process, and when the outcome of the innovation process is open, we argue that the two theories could be complementary tools for analysing the process. When using SCOT and TTP as complementary analytical tools, it becomes easier to understand and design innovation processes in which different stakeholders are attached to roles where they are able to contribute in the most productive ways.