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This article seeks to advance knowledge of social innovation through understanding how public policy frameworks can both support and constrain its efficacy in an ever-changing world. In doing so, this article contributes to the framework for studying interventions related to innovation models that emerge from a multidisciplinary approach to interpreting ecosystems. The question this paper attempts to answer: how can we best mitigate and overcome challenges and obstacles posed to social innovation in growing ecosystems? To answer this, we examined empirical data from actors involved in social innovation projects from two distinct, growth-stage ecosystems: Guadalajara, Mexico and Barcelona, Spain. The analysis yields three key constraining factors that obstruct social innovation: 1) Lack of critical mass for social innovation. 2) Fragmentation of actors' efforts in the innovation ecosystem. 3) Lack of citizen participation. By synthesising both the existing literature and this paper's findings, we'll propose three strategies that address issues that growing ecosystems face in their efforts to implement social innovation. The first strategy refers to mechanisms that connect citizens to scientific knowledge. The second pertains to the construction of common frameworks of action by different actors. Finally, the third strategy highlights the importance of citizen participation in social innovation projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regional innovation systems in Central and Eastern Europe suffer from many handicaps connected with generally lower levels of business activity and unfavourable positions of firms within global value chains. In this paper, results of business coaching programmes implemented in South Moravia (Czechia) are evaluated. The success of support is assessed (1) in terms of turnover, value added and employment growth (using a counterfactual analysis), and (2) according to the maturity of companies. Average annual growth of the treated companies was higher compared to a control group of non-supported firms. Apart from the initial dynamic growth, the supported start-ups underwent the fastest growth between 2 and 3 years after entering the programme, when the impact of the support on their performance was fully expressed. The findings bring new insights into the effects of targeted support of companies, using unique company data combined with qualitative information on the results of evaluated measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper takes smart specialisation strategies as the point of departure and frame of reference for the discussion of innovation policies and regional innovation systems. It aims to demonstrate that the regional innovation systems approach, representing a dynamic perspective on innovation and learning in the promotion of international competitiveness and economic growth, is an instrumental policy tool for the design and implementation of smart specialisation strategies. Moreover, the paper discusses different types of new path development, especially emphasising development paths that represent transformative activities in the form of path diversification based on unrelated knowledge combinations and new path creation, and how such path development can be achieved. The paper argues that such new path development, implying increased complexity of technology and knowhow but low relatedness, does not constitute a "casino strategy" as argued by Balland et al. (Balland, P.-A., et al. 2017. "Smart Specialisation in the EU: Relatedness, Knowledge Complexity and Regional Diversification." Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography, Utrecht University.), but a transformative activity or long jumps with the potential of "generating new options for subsequent structural transformation" (Hidalgo, C. A., B. Klinger, A.-L. Barabási, and R. Hausmann. 2007. "The Product Space Conditions the Development of Nations." Science 317: 482-487). As such these radical forms of new path development should be in the scope of policy makers even if they represent "high risk/high benefit" alternatives. The analytical framework is applied on a moderate innovative, Eastern European region (Mazovia) of the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European Union (EU) policies and initiatives have played an increasingly crucial role in the strategic development of bioeconomy across Europe, albeit in a widely uneven manner. This paper provides an overview of the system and policy changes that allowed some countries to become bioeconomy frontrunners in the EU and derives potential lessons for latecomers from the Central and Eastern European (CEE) region. Theoretically, we rely on the conceptual ideas of sustainability transitions and transformative innovation policy to highlight the nature and challenges of a transition towards bioeconomy. Our results show that the requirements of systemic and policy-supported transitions towards bioeconomy are threefold: stable and long timeframes in policy-making and dynamic change agents (fitting particular systems); participatory processes in policy co-design to co-develop visions; and the societal legitimacy of and commitment to bioeconomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this conceptual paper is to explore the business ecosystem concept in innovation policy context, and question whether it has something new to bring to the innovation policy field compared to previous theoretical discussions. A comparative study was conducted where three widely utilized policy approaches were examined together with the business ecosystem concept. The ecosystem concept differs from the three approaches, for example, in its evolving around innovation, and its self-organizing and self-renewing nature. This paper sets a conceptual basis for further empirical research concerning the innovation policy implications of the business ecosystem concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides empirical evidence on the innovation performance in the European countries in the years of recovery from the global economic and financial crisis by using the CDM model of simultaneous equations. The model directly links R&D engagement and intensity to innovation outcomes measured either as process or as product innovation, and then estimates the effectiveness of the innovative efforts leading to productivity gains. The difference between the drivers of innovation systems and its influence over the productivity growth is analyzed between two different institutional settings in Europe. For that purpose a company-level dataset is used from the 2012 round of the Comunity Innovation Survey. Тhe results indicated that the recent financial crisis had negative influence on the companies' willingness to innovate. The effect of the crisis led to further divergence in the innovation systems of these two institutional settings. Identifying the characteristics of the innovation systems and drivers of innovation during the turmoil shows that policy instruments on EU level should be oriented towards creation of competitive business environment, encouragement to adopt the best management techniques and organizational structures and improvement of well-functioning capital, product and labor markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public procurement of innovation (PPI) is a demand-side innovation policy tool. The use of PPI to foster innovation and regional development is not a trivial task, due to the combination of different goals that may be contradictory. The role of PPI to promote regional development may be more relevant in peripheral regions, due to the institutional thinness and the lack of technological capabilities. The main aim of this paper is to assess the potential role of PPI to contribute to regional development. It analyses the empirical evidence of the use of PPI in the Spanish regions, focusing on the main characteristics of the enterprises. Special attention is given to the healthcare sector, due to its relevance in public procurement. In this sense, the pioneer experience of Galicia (Spain) is illustrative of its use in a peripheral region. The results suggest that the effects on regional development depend on several features, such as the productive structure and the innovation capabilities of the region. The coordination of supply and demand-side policies seems crucial to obtain better results regarding innovation performance and regional development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It cannot be assumed that technological innovations and social innovations are desirable per se. An innovation usually has positive as well as negative impacts on people, making its normative assessment a major research challenge. This has become increasingly recognized in the innovation literature. At the same time, subjective well-being (SWB) research has developed and matured largely independently of innovation studies. This paper puts forward a general conceptual framework of the (social) innovation - SWB nexus as a step towards the development of a unified normative “well-being theory of innovation” that applies to all types of innovation, e.g. social as well as technological innovation. Its main feature is the inclusion of multiple direct and indirect SWB impacts of processes as well as of outcomes. The framework can act as a focussing device that raises awareness of the many potential SWB impacts of innovation. SWB impacts should be used as an additional metric in the assessment of innovation, complementing other assessment approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the importance of openness for innovation in European regions. Openness is understood from a double angle: intercultural and scientific & technological. Our hypothesis is that each type of openness brings different kinds of knowledge into the regions and results on a different innovation output. S&T openness brings analytical forms of knowledge whilst intercultural openness brings tacit ones. Our results confirm this relationship as S&T openness shows a significant impact on patent activity, but not when a broader innovation indicator is used. Intercultural openness is highly significant when measuring innovation by a broader index and much less when measured by patents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main aim of the paper is to question the viability of measuring social innovation with the current state of knowledge on the one hand, and to make suggestions for better measurement of it on the other. To reach this aim, the literature on the traditional measures of technological innovation and the previous attempts of measuring social innovation is surveyed. Despite relatively narrow scope of the literature mainly originated from the very recent and pioneer experiments, one may argue that the first findings do not present a promising picture for future studies. Therefore, existing trials to measure social innovation have to be critically screened to ascertain problematic areas, and hence, to provide plausible solutions. The problems with social innovation metrics are not only limited with obtaining concrete and trustworthy results, but also extended to statistical, methodological and even conceptual spheres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to analyze how learning happens at regional innovation policies in a multilevel governance framework. We explore the case of Galicia, a region with competencies on innovation policies also affected by two other government levels. Our methodology consisted of in-depth interviews with the persons who bore the major responsibility for innovation policies during last decades. Our findings suggest that the interactions with other government levels are a key channel for policy learning. Sometimes learning is associated with simple imitation of the national level, which might lead to questionable results because neither the previous policy-making trajectory nor the region particularities are taken into account. Other times learning is needed because a new political rationality is imposed. This has been the case of the Smart Specialization strategy in Galicia, which nevertheless was key to enhance social and political participation, a channel for policy learning not used before. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses the relations between policy studies and public policy. It traces how they are constitutively entangled. Conceptually, this builds on a notion of performativity that has been developed in science studies. The performativity of policy studies is explored in a case study of the innovation journey of “transition management” as a model for governing sociotechnical change. The paper shows how practices of knowledge production and policy-making take shape in interaction with the model and how a specialized research field coevolves with political alliances and policy programs. They interact in the process of realizing transition management, both by establishing the model as collective knowledge and by materially enacting it. In this interweaving with public policy, policy studies contribute to creating the reality that they describe. The conclusions discuss “realizing” as a mode of governance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Innovations in emerging technologies have an impact on privacy and fundamental rights. For example, emerging technologies include future biometric systems for crime prevention. In contrast to large-scale biometric systems for migration control, these systems promise to track down terrorists and organized criminals but also entail novel risks for society. One can govern science and technology by means of privacy impact assessments (which are currently being researched). Alternatively there is the approach – used in this paper – that primarily builds on the assumption that technology design can render the violation of a legal norm impossible. Using German and European constitutional law as an example, this paper will present proposals for technology design derived from the law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human tissues and cells, and tissue engineered (TE) therapies, have been the object of attempts at regulatory regime-building in Europe since the late 1990s. As a sector-in-the-making, or technological zone, TE has been beset by multiple uncertainties. The 2007 Regulation on Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products, expands the legal scope of EU pharmaceutical jurisdiction to cover tissue engineering as “unconventional medicine”. This paper outlines the regulatory pathway taken by TE, explaining how the eventual pharmaceutical designation hides contentious, continuing stakeholder debates about the substantive definition of TE, its modes of production, tissue bank–hospital–industry relationships, the position of the medical device sector, and the appropriate type and institutional form of regulatory controls. In spite of the aim of providing “legal certainty”, the new regime has strategically built-in scope for future “technical” developments, and recent institutional innovations made by the key EU regulatory body respond to the continuing stakeholder tensions. The conclusion is that the EU Regulation provides some “regulatory ordering” of the TE zone while providing an open-ended flexibility, and inter-sectoral industry tensions continue given the shape of the recent EU legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a review of the current state of academic and policy-level debates on 'open innovation' by elaborating on the relevance of the concept of open innovation for innovation policy-making in catching-up economies. The paper shows that paradoxes and contradictions exist between the 'mainstream' innovation discourse and the development challenges of the catching-up countries that have lead to 'de-contextualization' of the innovation policy discourse. The paper argues that applying the concept of open innovation in its ideal-type form to the catching-up context is likely to reinforce these de-contextualization tendencies. This problem can be remedied by more conscious attention to the basic contradictions and paradoxes, which requires a more comprehensive and systemic analytical focus on innovation and technological development at the levels of firm, industry and policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses, estimates, and compares four prototypic models of innovation, from a simple technological model to an elaborated institutional model that includes financial, organizational and technological variables. The comparison of the four models shows that institutions, in particular the national system of innovation, and organizations matter. Networks and information flows from different economic actors add to the explanatory power and give the best model fit. The empirical analysis is based on the second Community Innovation Survey Studies (CIS II) of the European Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with environmental innovation in practices of water and electricity provision and consumption in an era of rapid change in the regulation of water and electricity systems and patterns of consumption. Liberalization of former utility sectors offers windows of opportunity to differentiate former uniform water and electricity provision in green services for consumers. The roles of consumers towards water and electricity providers will therefore differentiate from captive consumers towards customers, co-providers and citizen-consumers. The argument is supported with recent examples of (green) differentiation in water and electricity sectors in The Netherlands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This paper provides an overview of the sociology of technology. It reviews different arguments about the sociology of technology and examines the path to social change. After reviewing those classical and contemporary theories which define the impact of technological processes, this paper explores the effects of society on technology and suggests that technological change derives from different societal traditions and as such accumulates and reflects social processes and cultures. It is argued that these views could build the basis for the analysis of social conflicts in industrialized countries. Most traditional theories on the nature and relationship between technology and society, and subsequently, innovation, are divided into two classic approaches, namely technological determinism mad social determinism. However, in both cases there have been significant advances over the years in the direction of integrating relevant factors from both the 'social' and the 'material' realm. The only partial consideration of relevant factors in research and the still not clear or direct connection between theoretical and empirical investigations or the macro and micro level of analysis still remain problematic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovation has been at the forefront of procurement policy in Denmark in recent years. The policy incentives emphasize public procurement of innovation as a way to accelerate the development and application of environmental and health technologies, but also as a way to achieve a competitive advantage, growth and job creation. This paper uses a single case study to illustrate the procurement of a chemical-free cleaning system by the local government in Denmark. It describes the public procurement of innovation project in the response to an unsolicited bid from the supplier, and highlights the importance of innovation-friendly procurement practice for supporting innovation. The study identified indirect innovation effects of public procurement and number of conditions that have supported success of public procurement of innovation project such as close and early engagement with supplier; role of supplier acting as a technology champion; competence for applying functional specification; political support; sufficient resource allocation and institutional match between involved organizations. These findings lend support to the idea that public procurement of innovation may have occurred as a result of innovation-friendly procurement practice regardless of the lack of an explicit intention to promote innovation and challenge assumptions on which emerging policy initiatives are based on. These findings also suggest that the local government procurement may have a role to play in supporting innovation that goes beyond current definition of public procurement as a mission-oriented instrument to be exploited for resolving social challenges. These understandings could contribute to further policy development that may lead to a situation where public procurement of innovation is utilized to a greater extent than it is today in Denmark. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Introduces a series of articles on the role of end-users in technological innovations.

This paper explores the role and significance of independent inventors within the national innovation system. By using a case study based on interviews with 22 independent inventors, it examines the types of social capital facilitating independent inventors' access to relevant knowledge and information. The findings show that, in line with their marginalization in the national innovation system, independent inventors have very limited access to the services and assistance of supportive organizations of the national innovation system. They primarily rely on the social capital residing in civil society organizations as well as the social capital of their family and friends. Professional and interdisciplinary linkages can thus be regarded as their weak point hindering their access to relevant knowledge and information. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The objective of this paper is to investigate the role of social entrepreneurship as driver of exaptation. Exaptation is defined as the redeployment of an existing body of knowledge into a new and previously unrelated domain of application and as major source of disruptive innovation and firms' dynamic capabilities. Exaptation takes place in two phases. In the first phase, the accumulation of knowledge takes place without any anticipation of its future use. In the second phase, the knowledge accumulated is explicitly and consciously leveraged and exploited to build up and take advantage of the opportunity in an emerging market niche. We contribute to extant literature by showing how social entrepreneurship may help firms to discover new potential and innovative field of application for their existing know-how and exploiting it into such a field. Our results are based on a case study of exaptation led by social entrepreneurship in the industrial district of Lumezzane. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The need to adapt to economic globalization and “wicked” problems such as climate change and poverty presents enormous challenges to modern developed societies. These challenges call for new solutions, not only in the form of technological or business innovations, but also through society-wide reform and renewal. In this paper, we outline a societal innovation framework to better understand the stage on which these societal challenges are being played out. Our approach builds on the classical view that considers innovation, an (radical or incremental) improvement that is both novel in its context and deployed by people. These societal innovations change the interface of the state and civil society for stakeholder benefit. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper identifies conditions for the rapid diffusion of what may be part of the solution for global sustainable energy – hydrogen – by drawing a comparison with the contemporary history of the Internet. The Cold War drove the take-off of the Internet and state regulation ensured that the market on which its rapid diffusion came to depend was not controlled by corporations. To take-off and start to diffuse, hydrogen energy could similarly have to be considered a “public good”. However, the comparison with the Internet reveals differences too. The Internet diffused rapidly among the public at low cost to individual users, starting in the mid 1980s and kicking off in the 1990s. To achieve affordable hydrogen transport in the long term, many drivers might have to forgo cars for public transport. Moreover, global sustainable energy demands cooperation between nations rather than the conflict that spurred the Internet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the Community Innovation Survey, this paper suggests new indicators of innovation adoption. The magnitude of innovation adoption is assessed for 22 EU countries and different industries. The most striking feature is the correlation between the innovation activities and the adoption rate. Countries with strong R&D and human resources and high innovation output exhibit the highest adoption rates. This supports the idea that innovation adoption requires an absorption capability. In addition, the specificities of each country regarding the prevailing types of innovation and adoption (product or process, cooperation-based adoption or internal adoption) allow us to draw up a typology of the EU countries, for which a specific geographical pattern is observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the relation between visions and real technology developments in the debate on converging technologies (CT). Based on the analysis of the main documents of the CT debate, a structuring of CT into eight application areas is advanced. The eight application and technology development areas are described in more detail. The analysis shows that convergence is actually happening in different technology fields but that research in most areas does not explicitly refer to the convergence concept. We also found that, within the respective fields, the distance between visions and real developments is quite different. In the field of brain enhancement, one of the most prominent within the CT debate, the gap between visions and the state of the art is greatest.2 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the capacity of our deliberative systems to comprehend and judge the practical implications of technological systems convergence (CT) against criteria ranging from ethics to the timely framing of prohibitive and/or regulatory mechanisms. Our established regulatory systems (which themselves require deliberation as part of their routine functioning) have become stressed in the face of technological advances - a notable example of which is the backlog of patent applications generated by new developments in bioinformatics. A much wider range of legal, ethical, environmental and relational concerns are likely to be similarly stressed by the sheer speed of CT scientific advances, their practical developments and social adaptations. The problems are likely to be much more fundamental than can be addressed by institutional streamlining, since there are limits to the rate at which any society can adapt to change on a coherent basis. The 'transformative' potential of CT needs to be understood from this perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Europe suffers a handicap in terms of competitiveness that is mostly related to innovation. Structural factors such as weak linkages between science and industry and unfavourable conditions for fast-growing SMEs explain the inadequate levels of knowledge creation. Only innovation policy measures that actively support the emergence of innovative firms and lead markets will be able to transform Europe into a leader in the knowledge economy. Cluster and open-innovation policies can foster innovation, responding better to individual needs, while national reform programmes should foster society-driven innovation, paying greater attention to the regional level. This paper outlines the key assumptions and premises of the European Union's contemporary innovation policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the conceptual and empirical underpinnings that characterize the EU approach to regional development policy. It shows how the systemic approach to innovation has been unanimously embraced in a context in which regional research and technology development and innovation strategies have been progressively promoted as the privileged way to promote competitiveness and growth both at regional and EU levels. There are, however, many grey areas, tacit underlying assumptions and unresolved contradictions that make it difficult to draw operational policy recommendations from this 'dominant' approach, which is, in fact, best used as an analytical notion rather than as a normative tool. The paper evokes some stylized facts from the experience of the Mid Term Review of the 2000-2006 Community Support Framework for Italian Objective 1 regions to illustrate the arguments put forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the approach adopted in a European research project concerning the relationships between science and industry. The analysis uses the notion of actors as vectors for the creation and diffusion of competences and knowledge throughout the innovation process. From this perspective, the article presents some results on the strategic behaviour of firms at the micro level in five countries. An analytical framework in terms of ‘conventions’ addresses the interplay between micro and macro levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper documents the conception and results of a research project on the changing roles of research organisations in Europe. Institutional settings and functional orientation of these organizations reflect the ongoing transformation of economies into service economies. Several analytical tools have been developed to study the dynamics of research organisations. These tools allow the positioning of research organisations in national systems of innovation and the interpretation of institutional reforms. They emphasise the service character of research activities and innovation policy and help to explain differences in the research landscapes across the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates whether EU research programmes have led to innovations in European social research. This is based on an assessment of a group of EU-funded projects on the changing nature of work in Europe. EU-funded projects have contributed to the creation of a European social space for European researchers, but at the cost of consolidating English as the lingua franca of European social research. Such projects tend to involve heterogeneous research actors and are oriented towards policy issues. To some extent they are therefore representative of a 'Mode 2' form of knowledge production. More clearly, they have ensured that social research about Europe is no longer simply comparative research. The new EU Sixth Framework Programme on RTD will undermine many of these achievements through its focus on conventional definitions of 'excellence' and the insistence on large-scale research instruments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A better understanding of the role of end-users in processes of technology innovation and diffusion could help to develop a broader range of policy instruments fostering the development of environmentally friendly and politically desirable technologies and products. Such insights could help to improve conditions for a more conscious, reflexive and inclusive learning process between designers, intermediaries and users in product-creation processes. This article builds on an empirical investigation of two technologies that may enhance the environmental performance of buildings: balanced ventilation systems with heat recovery and 'smart home' technologies. Both technologies are in an early phase of diffusion, but are still in a process of change and adaptation. The interaction of users, producers and intermediary actors is of crucial importance for the learning processes taking place at this stage. The paper will focus on three levels of product development where the actions and expectations of diverse actors meet: extending actor networks, appropriating technologies by users and translating discourses and visions into technical practice. An improvement of these interactions and learning processes could have a high potential to better adapt technologies to the needs and practices of diverse groups of users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While direct user involvement has started to find its way into commercial product development, most companies still rely on more traditional ways to investigate and represent users. This paper is a case study of the methods and means employed by small high-tech companies in their effort to learn about the users of their emerging new technology through the use of market surveys, user interviews, design studies and pilot use. Theoretically, the discussion focuses on how users' anticipation of their future needs co-evolves in relation to the changing social and technical environment. The gradual emergence of user needs sheds light on some of the shortcomings of the methods representing the users employed in the case studied. It may also help us to explain some of the success of participatory design methods and adjust the existing methodologies for studying user requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Morality is as much in the things we use as in the minds of people. Therefore, this paper argues that we can only establish a sustainable society if we redesign the material landscape we live in. Our daily practices, and the technology on which they rest, should be revised such that environmentally friendly behaviour becomes the rule instead of the exception that costs extra effort. For such redesign to be achieved we need alternative design approaches that are able to accommodate the needs of consumers, producers and the environment as represented by politics. This implies that we have to rethink the role of users in relation to the current debate on user involvement in design. This rethinking is carried out within the framework of developing an experimental approach for design of 'moralizing' technology that stimulates users towards eco-friendly behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is essential to take a longer term view if sustainable mobility is to become a reality. This paper takes a perspective to 2020 and constructs Images of the future which conform to the principles of sustainable mobility. Set at the EU level, clear environmental, regional development and efficiency targets are set, within which strategies are developed, based on different combinations of technological innovation and the decoupling of economic growth from transport growth. The external political situation is taken as given with either a move towards greater co-operation (and extension) or towards greater fragmentation (and regionalisaization) in Europe. The three Images of the future (2020) demonstrate that challenging targets for sustainable mobility can be achieved through a range of different policy actions within the transport sector and more widely. Immediate action is required and even more difficult choices will have to be made in the EU 15, if large-scale extension of the EU takes place. Improvements in vehicle technology alone will not achieve the targets. More fundamental changes have to take place in the way in which people make travel choices and in the means by which freight is transported. All of these measures must involve less travel, more efficient and cleaner travel modes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The paper reviews some innovative pilot projects for promoting environmental management among small- and medium-size companies. These projects leave much room for optimism insofar as they suggest that 'cleaner production' is both ecologically and economically efficient. Significantly they also show that much can be gained through organizational changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Green technological innovation is the subject of much current research because it is expected to serve 'competitiveness' and 'ecological modernization'. Research needs to be extended to cover institutional innovation and the combined socio-political impacts of the new environmentalism. One entry into this area is to examine the links between science, environmental protection, innovation, and the distribution of political power. It is argued that institutionalized science -- or the research-cum-consultancy enterprise -- thrives on the claim that it is able to solve 'fashionable' problems, especially future ones, by technological progress. There is little historical reason to reject such claims. However, these claims make science, and especially the environmental sciences, of immediate interest to those seeking new powers or defending existing privileges or markets. Proposed solutions tend to be threats to vested interests and distributions of wealth and influence. But the power of science reaches beyond responding to the concerns of the day, it strives to select those problems for society which create markets for planned research agendas and technologies still on the computer screen. The research enterprise, at the root of much technological and technical innovation, is not likely to succeed in imposing its choices on society without support in the marketplace or from government. It therefore becomes an important, if neglected, political actor, influencing and persuading not only with appeals to rationality, but also with promises of enhanced security, health and wealth. Having identified and selected problems, these are presented to society with pleas for remedial or preventive action. This paper reflects on the impact of these pleas on contemporary world politics. It is concluded that political systems must learn to evaluate and judge scientific claims more cautiously because research networks and the informal influence of science entrepreneurs on 'the public' tend to turn environmental change into policy problems. Once technological 'fixes' are offered simultaneously, potential implementor and enforcers form alliances demanding state intervention to resolve the alleged problems. How real is the global environmental problem -- the allegedly ever-growing ökologische Problemdruck? Does the seeking of green competitiveness in the 'North' in the name of preventing catastrophe, whilst de facto opposing industrialization and resource developments in the 'South' in the name of 'sustainable development', represent the essence of global politics of the 1990s? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This framework is then applied to the case of innovation policy in Finland in order to show how the landscape of innovation policy implementation has changed, as well as to provide suggestions about emerging ideas and directions that structure current innovation policy 3.0. In recent years, policies for transformative change have found fertile ground in Europe, also thanks to the strong emphasis that the European Union (EU) puts on the notion of national innovation policy in a context of transformative change. A paradigm-shift is thus expected, and it requires a radical change of policy direction from short-term economic growth towards a new form of system-change-oriented policy-making and a holistic approach to innovation policy - now definable as "innovation policy 3.0" (Karo and Kattel [14]). [Extracted from the article]

The aim of the study is to identify the effect of European Union funds for innovation activities on the cooperation of enterprises as well as to assess the impact of cluster and out of cluster innovation cooperation on the innovation performance of Polish enterprises. Possible indirect policy outcome is connected with the concept of behavioural additionality used to measure the changes in the processes within firms resulting from public support. This article proposes the concept of cluster cooperation additionality, defined as the influence of policy instruments on enhanced innovation cooperation in and between clusters. Path analysis was used to verify the occurrence of these variables in Polish economy, with sample covering data from a Community Innovation Survey for 2008–2010, including 7783 medium and large manufacturing firms, from which n = 2795 enterprises declaring the introduction of product or/and process innovation were extracted to the final study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses changes in the Finnish innovation policy from the early 2000s to 2016. The contribution is twofold. First, we propose a framework to understand and characterise changes in and different approaches to innovation policy implementation. The framework highlights the evolutive nature of innovation policies and sheds light on often very conflicting trade-offs and tensions within and between various approaches to innovation policy. Second, drawing upon the Finnish case, we elaborate the complexity of contemporary innovation policy implementation and show how the focus has changed since the early 2000s. Based on these findings, we discuss emerging ideas framing the "new innovation policy" and implications to policy-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public sector procurement is increasingly seen as an important instrument for inducing innovation in the private sector. Yet, a broad range of different concepts, each with their own associated rationales, and approaches, are used in literature and practice to describe the stimulation of innovation through public procurement. Due to a lack of an overview on the use of concepts, rationales and approaches to stimulate innovation through public procurement in literature and practice, it remains difficult for public organisations to decide why, how, and to what extent they will stimulate innovation in the private sector through public procurement. The contributions of this article to mitigate this problem are threefold. First, it provides a review of the different streams of literature, dichotomies and typologies on public procurement with respect to inducing innovation. Second, it discusses various approaches to stimulate innovation through public procurement individually and compares them in a structured overview. Finally, it provides guidance on the suitability of the use of these approaches in different situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Africa today there is a real startup explosion of remarkable value. There are several research and innovation hubs in the African continent, such as Silicon Cape, South Africa, and Silicon Savannah, Kenya. How are these initiatives autonomous and how can the more globally famous valley of innovation, Silicon Valley, inspire them? Above all, which paradigms are driving, and will continue to drive in the foreseeable future, the African continent in its development, moving from a continent with some areas still lacking electricity to another which is innovative and overcomes its barriers and internal obstacles? In response to these questions, this article aims to bring useful reflections and provide two parallel paths for innovation: one, a cultural roadmap, based on the development and the diffusion of knowledge and the other, a technological track, consequent to the first and based on technology. Statistical analysis complements the proposed reflections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following democratisation, many post-socialist countries in Central and Eastern Europe adjusted their wolf policies to accommodate a more positive discourse on the species and the need to sustain and expand its populations. However, Belarus continues an approach informed by a discourse on wolf as a dangerous pest that should be reduced to the most possible extent through unrestricted hunting. Based on data from desk research covering the last 150 years and from semi-structured interviews we explored the reasons for the long-term stability of the policy path and identified potential sources of policy innovations. We argue that the persistence of potentially unsustainable practices has been connected with a strong dominance of hunters in the policy field and the lack of actors representing alternative discourses and policy options. This has changed recently when wildlife biologists and environmental activists proposed policy adjustments modelled on the approaches used in the EU. However, these have not translated into meaningful changes because of hierarchical, top-down governance, dominance of the ministry responsible for hunting, and the lack of external stimuli for policy innovation. We propose activities to strengthen the co-ordination of wolf policy between Belarus and its EU neighbours and to ensure sustainable wolf management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of public procurement as a means to stimulate innovation has been increasingly emphasized during the last few years. The general argument is that, by applying intelligent demand, public agencies can stimulate private sector innovation that will eventually sustain competitive advantage in a global economy. The emphasis on public procurement used as an innovation policy instrument challenges current institutional practices and skills. The article is based on the assumption that the innovation research community could inform this policy discourse, in particular by drawing on institutional theory, but in order to fully utilize this potential, further revision of the research perspectives seen is needed. The article therefore discusses an institutional approach based on three modes: “multilevel institutional analysis”, “endogenous and exogenous institutions” and “institutions as rationalities”, arguing that such an approach would help to increase innovation research quality and policy relevance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the past 25 years there have been extensive changes to the organization and structure of public-sector research (PSR), with convergence between the functions of each sector of PSR. Common trends for managing research include the demand that PSR support industrial innovation, but the unintended side-effects of policies may in fact damage innovation. A review of various theories to explain the transformation of PSR and its impacts suggests we are witnessing part of a continuing pattern of adaptation that is aided by European diversity and policy flexibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the rise of South Korea's webtoon industry and the fan–translators who are contributing to the transformation of this entrepreneurial digital comics format. By analyzing the creator-owned thriller series Bastard (2014 –) and its various foreign-language versions, the authors demonstrate how cultural intermediaries are localizing content and cultivating new audiences through a process of 'collective innovation'. The characteristics of this crowd-sourced activity offer new understanding of the dynamics and potential impacts of this digital comics industry, which is rapidly transforming with only limited policy intervention. The study illustrates how the French digital comics platform Delitoon is attempting to compete in this Korean-dominated domain, raising questions for enterprises seeking to join this popular wave of digital media. In doing so, this study fosters debate for business managers, policymakers, and practitioners in Europe's creative industries who are developing and promoting creator-owned content while challenging protectionist boundaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the relevance of human capital and social capital as antecedents of innovation, quantitative evidence at the national level is scarce. This study aims to examine the influence of human capital and social capital on national innovation performance, using secondary data of the OECD countries. Our findings indicate that both human capital and social capital have a significant effect on national innovation performance. We also found significant differences between clusters of countries in terms of human capital, social capital, and national innovation performance. The implications of the study contribute to research and practice particularly in policy decision making for business and society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the multi-dimensional framework of Damanpour and Schneider [2006. "Phases of the Adoption of Innovation in Organizations: Effects of Environment, Organization and Top Managers 1." British Journal of Management 17 (3): 215–236], the purpose of this study is to identify the managerial, organizational and environmental determinants of social innovation, depicted in terms of the amount of special initiatives initiated for specific target groups. while considering the initiative's type (i.e. administrative versus technical). A lognormal double hurdle model, on a sample of approximately 5000 voluntary sports clubs (VSCs) from 9 different European countries, indicates significant effects for each level. In particular, positive managerial attitudes and public support through both financial and infrastructural resources are important predictors for a VSC to adopt special initiatives towards a target group. Furthermore, differences between determinants of administrative and technical initiatives are found. These results call for measures in terms of resource support from sports policy-makers at European, national and regional levels, along with the need for VSCs to meet the demands from neglected target groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses mechanisms and policy that stimulate regional economic restructuring. Economic restructuring is conceptualised through the notion of path development. The article distinguishes four types of path development: the extension and upgrading of existing regional industries are two types, diversification of existing industries and the creation of new industry paths are the two others and more substantial path developments. A main idea in the article is that new path development requires industry actors who initiate new firms or innovation activities in existing firms, i.e. firm level agency, but that restructuring also requires action by actors operating in the regional support system, i.e. system level agency. System level agency, understood as actions or intervention to transform regional innovation systems to better support economic restructuring, is particularly important for the two most 'radical' types of restructuring, i.e. path diversification and creation, and in regions with thin and specialised knowledge and industrial structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]