Search

Southern European countries are widely considered a distinct type of capitalism, but they have experienced a varied growth performance, both over time and across countries. This paper investigates the growth drivers in southern Europe since the mid-1990s. We consider a broad set of potential growth drivers derived from the literature on Mediterranean capitalism and Comparative Political Economy more broadly. On the demand side, these include the role of house prices (as the main financial variable; highlighted in parts of the growth models approach); the 'financial curse' hypothesis (which posits that financial inflows caused house price booms and crowded out manufacturing activities); and Keynesian arguments on the impact of fiscal policy. On the supply side, these encompass the cost competitiveness argument (consistent with mainstream economics and the Varieties of Capitalism approach), research-led technological change; and neo-structuralist arguments regarding the productive capacity. We find strong evidence for the growth contributions of house prices and fiscal policy. While these findings are generally supportive of extant analysis of these economies as finance-led rather than export-led, they call for a more serious integration of house prices in growth model analysis and for a more systematic analysis of the growth impact of fiscal policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue addresses the influences of planning cultures and histories on the evolution of planning systems and spatial development. As well as providing an international comparative perspective on these issues, the collection of articles also engages in a search for new conceptual frameworks and alternative points of view to better understand and explain these differences. The articles focus on three main aspects: the change in planning systems and its impact on spatial development patterns; the interrelationship between planning cultures and histories from a path-dependency perspective; and the variations in physical development patterns resulting from different planning cultures and histories. Papers from different parts of the European continent present evidence at different scales to illustrate these aspects. In all cases, the specific combinations of political, ideological, social, economic and technological factors are important in determining urban and regional planning trajectories as well as spatial development patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industrial policies are currently the focus of resurgent interest, in particular in the context of seeking to stimulate innovation. This interest has developed alongside a gradual shift in industrial policy-making capabilities to regional and local governments, such that the corresponding policies require analysis on multiple geographical scales. This paper introduces a special issue on territorial industrial development policies that are directed towards stimulating innovation. The issue has its roots in the 11th annual conference of the European Network of Industrial Policy (EUNIP), an academic network with specific interests in the analysis of industrial development and public policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new information age and the phenomena of digitalization and automation make investments in research and development (R&D) indispensable for economic and social progress. Meanwhile, increased inequality within countries and its effects on advanced countries is one of the consequences of the recent turbulences in the global economy. These two dynamics open debates around the still-unresolved nature of the relationship between innovation and inequality. This paper contrasts postulates from the existing theory and relevant empirical evidence to argue that the analysis of the positive and complex co-evolution of inequality reduction and technological progress in Europe implies a recombination of factors that highlights institutions as the backbone of the relationship. The results of this analysis based on time series / cross-section regressions with panel data from a sample of 20 European countries for the period 1995–2017 show the relevance of structural and institutional aspects within the region, while two sets of countries evince a dissimilar European behavior in the relationship under study. According to our findings, it is plausible to argue the existence of a virtuous circle defined by the combination of social protection contributions with innovation policies that certainly help settle the controversial relationship between innovation and inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper addresses the rising criticism to innovation policies that have assumed a direct and massive impact of universities in regional economies. It integrates the literature in economics of innovation, higher education, economic geography and regional studies. The paper shows why research excellence is considered a necessary condition for regional impact, why it is not sufficient, and whether there are substitutes. The Additional Material section includes an analysis, based on original data, on research excellence in universities in European peripheral regions. The policy implications call for a new approach to the role of universities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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]

This paper explores a widely employed instrument of regional innovation policy: the innovation incubator. It proposes that incubation approaches are moving away from a 'traditional' approach strongly premised on physical infrastructure and high-technology, to a more interactive, participatory and social mode of innovation, in line with broader developments in innovation policy and theory. To practically illustrate this shift, we take two cases: a 'traditional' style of incubation in Wales, UK, and a 'next generation' incubation programme in Finland. This paper reflects on incubators as a mode of regional innovation policy, both past developments and future trends, to ensure that new policies and programmes learn from best (and indeed, worst) practice and build on, rather than replicate, past approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the pattern of knowledge flows as indicated by the patent citations in three areas: USA, Japan and Europe. In each economic area, we use information from United States Patent and Trademarks Office data to assess empirically the impact of the technological and geographical proximities for 530 international firms. In particular, the contribution to the existing literature is twofold: first, we use an international sample in such a way that we may compare the empirical results among different economic markets; second, we extend the analysis of the determinants of knowledge spillovers, taking into account the time dimension of the effects of the proximities. In order to compute the technological proximity, we follow the methodology developed by A.B. Jaffe (1986. Technological opportunity and spillovers of R&D: Evidence from firms' patents, profits and market value. American Economic Review 76, no. 5: 984-1001), where a technological vector is based on the distribution of patents of each firm across technology classes. As far as the geographic proximity is concerned, we use the latitude and the longitude coordinates of the city in which each firm is situated to obtain the distance, in miles, between the firms. The empirical results, in line with results from previous studies, indicate that there is a statistically significant relationship between the knowledge flows, proxied by the patent citations, and the proximities, but the effects are rather differentiated according to the proximity type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper concentrates on the role of research network infrastructure in fostering the dissemination of innovation-related knowledge. It examines the structure of collaborative networks and of knowledge transfer between research, innovation and deployment activities in the field of information and communication technology for the European Union as a whole and for several European regions. Research networks complement diffusion networks by providing additional links and by increasing the number of the organisations involved in sharing and exchanging knowledge. Two types of actors are key players in these networks: hubs and gatekeepers. Hubs maintain the bulk of ties in the networks also helping the smaller and more isolated members remain connected. Gatekeepers bridge research and diffusion networks. Such organisations naturally offer greater policy leverage in establishing a European knowledge infrastructure. Moreover, strengthened inter-network connectivity among research and diffusion activities (deployment) would raise the effectiveness of European research in terms of accelerating innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Regional Studies is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Recent studies suggest that firms may gain from global sourcing of innovative activities. Yet, only a small number of firms offshore their R&D, design, and engineering tasks. To explain this selection pattern, this paper examines the heterogeneity in total factor productivity among a large group of European firms. The results suggest that those firms that offshore their innovative activities tend to be more productive than domestic firms, exporters, and other multinational corporations. This finding implies that firms with superior productivity are more likely to exploit the global task distribution in innovative activities, which may provide an explanation for why such low participation is observed in the data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

TripplM. Islands of innovation as magnetic centres of star scientists? Empirical evidence on spatial concentration and mobility patterns,Regional Studies. Drawing on the results of a survey of 720 ‘star scientists’, this paper seeks to analyse the role of islands of innovation in the United States and Europe in providing educational and employment opportunities for such scientists and in attracting internationally mobile members of the scientific elite. It is shown that the American, and to a lesser extent European, islands of innovation are at the forefront when it comes to employing star scientists and exchanging them with other places. Furthermore, the paper provides evidence for the formation of a network among islands of innovation based on the international movements of top researchers. TripplM. ????????????????????????????????????? ???720???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????????????? TripplM. Les îlots d'innovation, sont-ils des pôles d'attraction des scientifiques de renommée? Des preuves empiriques de la concentration géographique et des tendances à la mobilité,Regional Studies. Puisant dans les résultats d'une enquête de 720 ‘scientifiques de renommée’, cet article cherche à analyser le rôle des îlots d'innovation aux États-Unis et en Europe en tant que fournisseurs des possibilités en matière de l'éducation et de l'emploi pour de tels scientifiques et comme pôles d'attraction des scientifiques de renommée qui sont mobiles sur le plan international. On montre que les îlots d'innovation américains, et dans une moindre mesure les îlots d'innovation européens, sont au premier plan quand il s'agit d'embaucher des scientifiques de renommée et de les échanger. Qui plus est, cet article fournit des preuves de l'établissement d'un réseau entre les îlots d'innovation fondé sur les déplacements internationaux des chercheurs de premier ordre. Îlots d'innovation?Localisation des scientifiques de renommée?Mobilité scientifique TripplM. Innovationsinseln als magnetische Zentren für Star-Wissenschaftler? Empirische Belege für räumliche Konzentration und Mobilitätsmuster,Regional Studies. Ausgehend von den Ergebnissen einer Erhebung unter 720 ‘Star-Wissenschaftlern’ wird in diesem Beitrag die Rolle von Innovationsinseln in den USA und Europa bei der Schaffung von Chancen auf dem Bildungs- und Arbeitsmarkt für solche Wissenschaftler und bei der Anwerbung von international mobilen Mitgliedern der wissenschaftlichen Elite analysiert. Es wird gezeigt, dass sich die amerikanischen - und in geringerem Umfang auch die europäischen - Innovationsinseln an vorderster Front befinden, wenn es darum geht, Star-Wissenschaftler einzustellen und mit anderen Orten auszutauschen. Darüber hinaus enthält dieser Beitrag Belege für die Bildung eines Netzwerks zwischen Innovationsinseln aufgrund der internationalen Bewegungen von führenden Wissenschaftlern. Innovationsinseln?Standorte von Star-Wissenschaftlern?Wissenschaftliche Mobilität TripplM. ¿Islas de innovación como centros magnéticos para científicos estrella? Evidencia empírica de la concentración espacial y los modelos de movilidad,Regional Studies. Basándonos en los resultados de un estudio con 720 ‘científicos estrella’, la finalidad de este artículo es analizar el papel de las islas de innovación en los Estados Unidos y Europa al ofrecer oportunidades educativas y de empleo a tales científicos y atraer a los miembros móviles a nivel internacional de la elite científica. Se ha demostrado que las islas de innovación de los Estados Unidos, y en menor medida las europeas, están a la vanguardia en lo que respecta a emplear a científicos estrella e intercambiarlos con otros lugares. Además, en este artículo mostramos evidencias de la formación de una red entre las islas de innovación basada en los movimientos internacionales de los investigadores más importantes. Islas de innovación?Lugar de los científicos estrella?Movilidad científica [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The concepts of creativity and innovation are often used interchangeably in the literature. However, some authors may discriminate between the two concepts. Such authors usually consider creativity as an internal and rational process of creating new ideas, while innovation refers to the implementation of such ideas. As the global forces become increasingly inevitable, many business experts are predicting that workforce creativity and innovation will be the most important factors in establishing and maintaining a competitive advantage. Because of its theoretical and practical significance, how to foster innovation in organizations has become a fast-growing research area in the field of management. According to the global innovation index Saudi Arabia was ranked at 41 ahead of Italy, Poland, Turkey and China. However, its innovation output index was low at '98' place. The purpose of this conceptual-paper is to examine the current efforts towards organizational creativity and innovation particularly in the context of Arab world especially Saudi industry. This theoretical paper also aims to identify and comprehend the barriers towards creativity and innovation in terms of organizational effectiveness. This paper has found that Saudi Arabia is doing well in attracting and retaining innovation factors (such as human skills, government support and investment in R&D, and increasingly knowledge through education-industry linkages). Still, there is a need for combination of right policies and good human capital to improve 'creative outcomes'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study provides an insight into the difficulties companies encounter in transposing basic science into commercially viable healthcare technologies, focusing on the issue of establishing a dominant supply model within a highly regulated market. The core issue is how to scale-up customised scientific processes into products able to supply wider and possibly mass markets. In tracing the development of approaches to scaling-up, the paper highlights the influence regulatory regimes have on high technology regulated products and services. The paper details the implications of two contrasting supply initiatives towards operationalising tissue engineering, based on differences in regulatory regimes between Europe and the USA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Territorial, economic and social cohesion in European Union (EU) regions are major challenges that regional policies are aimed at. These policies have a strong focus on innovation-driven models as key processes for reducing disparities and promoting regional development. Since the 1980s, innovation and technology policies have gained momentum and legitimacy to stimulate multiple development patterns and growth models, mainly from national economic dynamics to well performing regional systems. Theories of knowledge and learning have been developed in more successful places, producing concepts that seem unattainable for less successful ones. Given that less developed regions have been overlooked in innovation studies, this paper reviews the literature on territorial innovation models in Europe in order to understand theoretical and practical gaps for these regions and to identify trends that support the need to redirect conceptual, political and instrumental attention of territorial innovation systems. It debates the different forms of innovation in regions, the variety and role of actors, the quest for geographical and place-based resources, the determinants for innovation and the 'how' and 'for what' demands of regional development. The discussion anticipates critical questions that try to promote a 'normative turn' in innovation policy, propose research avenues and discuss policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smart technologies with higher degrees of autonomy will be essential to achieve the next breakthrough in both agility and productivity in future manufacturing systems, often referred to as Industry 4.0. However, the technologies will also bring substantial design and integration challenges and novelty risks to manufacturing businesses. The aim of this paper is to analyse the current landscape and to identify the challenges for introducing smart technologies into manufacturing systems in Europe. Expert knowledge from both industrial and academic practitioners in the field was extracted using an online survey. A workshop was used to triangulate and extend the survey results. The findings indicate three main challenges for the ubiquitous implementation of smart technologies in manufacturing are: i) the perceived risk of novel technologies, ii) the complexity of integration, and iii) the consideration of human factors. Recommendations are made based on these findings to transform the landscape for smart manufacturing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sanz‐Menéndez L. and Cruz‐Castro L. (2005) Explaining the science and technology policies of regional governments, Regional Studies 39 , There is a simultaneous trend for regionalization and decentralization in Europe, a trend that has also affected the science and technology policy domain, with an open debate on the functioning of the multilevel governance system. Regional authorities have become directly involved in the design and implementation of regional science and technology (S&T) policies. However, the interventions of sub‐national governments are much more diverse than the prevailing view about the convergence of regional policies towards innovation policies might imply. This paper describes science, technology and innovation policies adopted by five Spanish regional governments between the mid‐1980s and the beginning of the 21st century from a comparative perspective. The paper first describes the policy approaches (academic versus industrial) adopted by the regional authorities. Second, it analyses the explanatory factors in order to reach certain conclusions about the circumstances under which regional governments can implement policies of one or the other approach. Despite the influence of some structural factors, especially as regards initial political preferences, the analysis highlights the relevance of the mobilized interests when they are concentrated in the region, showing that changes in policy orientation are particularly difficult when those interests play a role in the administration of such policies. Preferences towards a policy reorientation are more likely to succeed with the aid of appropriate administrative arrangements, especially along with significant budget increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human capital is supposed to be an important factor for innovation and economic development. However, the long-run impact of human capital on current innovation and economic development is still a black box, in particular at the regional level. Therefore, this paper makes the link between the past and the present. Using a large new dataset on regional human capital and other factors in the 19th and 20th century, we find that past regional human capital is a key factor explaining current regional disparities in innovation and economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reflects on the implementation of the RIS3 policy agenda. Based on two surveys and various phone interviews, it underlines that Europe's diverse pattern of institutional arrangements poses locally contingent policy challenges in which regional governance capacities are at least as important an issue as techno-economic potentials. In detail, it demonstrates how Southern Europe profited from novel practices while Eastern Europe had to invest substantially to change existing routines. Concluding, it argues that the main merit of RIS3 processes may, in fact, lie in their contribution to changing routines and practices of governance even if those, for now, remain without measurable effect on policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information about the papers discussed at European Academy of Management(EURAM) conference held in 2010 and 2011 on the topic of innovation in China is presented. It discusses on the debate on whether Chinese firms are innovative or imitative. They focus on such topics as indigenous shanzhai innovation, and cost-driven strategic innovation in large privately-owned and publicly-owned enterprises. Goxe considers the notion of Chinese values based on Confucianism serving indigenous innovation .

This paper explores the specialisation of European Union (EU) regions in key enabling technologies (KETs) and assesses whether or not being specialised in these technological areas has an effect on regional growth. The evidence presented shows that regions specialised in KETs are concentrated in central Europe; however, over the period taken into account (1996–2011), less innovative and peripheral EU regions have been increasing their specialisation in these technological areas at the expense of the most advanced regions. There is also evidence that (spatial) diffusion of KETs often occurs across regions contiguous to each other. The results of the econometric estimations show that being specialised in KETs affects regional economic growth (per capita gross domestic product) and that this effect is stronger in the case of less innovative EU regions. Overall, these results hint at the pervasive nature and enabling role of KETs and demonstrate the importance for EU regions to target these technologies as part of their smart specialisation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes an innovation system approach to analysing the development of wind energy in three jurisdictions: the EU, USA and China. The paper builds on and extends previous innovation system studies on wind in two ways. First, it focuses on the interactions over time between policy and innovation system dynamics, in order to highlight lessons for low-carbon policymaking. Second, it extends the analysis from the formative and growth phases of the innovation system to the globalisation and transfer phase, in which mature technologies are transferred to new markets. The conclusions are: first, policies should go beyond ‘market pull’ and ‘technology push’ and should take into account the institutional frameworks through which they are delivered; second, policies have been more successful where they prioritised long-term learning-oriented deployment rather than short-term efficiency; third, system failures exist at the transfer stage of development as well as during formative and growth phases. [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]

Lecocq C., Leten B., Kusters J. and van Looy B. Do firms benefit from being present in multiple technology clusters? An assessment of the technological performance of biopharmaceutical firms, Regional Studies. Firms active in knowledge-intensive fields are increasingly organizing their research and development activities on an international scale. This paper investigates whether firms active in biotechnology can improve their technological performance by developing research and development activities in multiple technology clusters. Regions in Europe, Japan and the United States, characterized by a critical mass in terms of technological activity within biotechnology, are identified as clusters. Fixed-effect panel data analyses with fifty-nine biopharmaceutical firms (for the period 1995–2002) provide evidence for a positive, albeit diminishing (inverted ‘U’-shape) relationship between the number of technology clusters in which a firm is present and its overall technological performance. This effect is distinct from a mere multi-location effect. Lecocq C., Leten B., Kusters J. and van Looy B. 公司是否从其所参与的多技术集群中受益？对于生物制药公司技术性业绩的评价，区域研究。 知识密集型产业中的公司正试图在国际尺度上组织其研究与发展活动。本研究考察了生物制药产业公司能否通过在多重技术集群中发展研究与开发活动而提高其业绩。本研究将欧洲、日本以及美国地区内生物科技产业活动积聚的部分定义为集群。对59家生物制药公司进行的固定效应面板数据分析（时间跨度1995－2002）表明，公司业绩与其所在的技术集群数量之间存在着倒U形关系。这一结果与单纯的多区位效应有所不同。 集群 创新 生物科技 Lecocq C., Leten B., Kusters J. et van Looy B. Les entreprises, tirent-elles profit de leur présence au sein de multiples clusters à technologies? Une évaluation de la performance technologique des entreprises biopharmaceutiques, Regional Studies. Les entreprises qui travaillent dans les secteurs à la pointe de la technologie organisent de plus en plus leurs activités de recherche et de développement au niveau international. Cet article examine si les entreprises actives dans le secteur de la biotechnologie sont capables d'améliorer leurs performances technologiques en développant des activités de recherche et de développement au sein de multiples clusters à technologies. Sont considérées comme clusters, les régions situées en Europe, au Japon et aux Etats-Unis qui secaractérisent par une masse critique en termes d'activité technologique au sein de la biotechnologie. Des analyses (effects fixes) à base de données de cinquante-neuf entreprises biopharmaceutiques (de 1995 à 2002) fournissent des preuves d'un rapport positif, bien qu'en baisse (à savoir, courbe en U inversée), entre le nombre des clusters technologiques au sein desquels une entreprise est présente et sa performance technologique globale. Cet effet se distingue d'un simple effet d'emplacements multiples. Cluster Innovation Biotechnologie Lecocq C., Leten B., Kusters J. und van Looy B. Profitieren Unternehmen von einer Präsenz in mehreren Technologie-Clustern? Eine Bewertung der technologischen Leistung von biopharmazeutischen Unternehmen, Regional Studies. Firmen, die in wissensintensiven Gebieten aktiv sind, organisieren ihre Forschungs- und Entwicklungsarbeit zunehmend auf internationaler Ebene. In diesem Beitrag wird untersucht, ob Firmen im Bereich der Biotechnologie ihre technologische Leistung durch den Ausbau ihrer Forschungs- und Entwicklungsarbeit in mehreren technologischen Clustern verbessern können. Als Cluster werden Regionen in Europa, Japan und den USA identifiziert, die sich durch eine kritische Masse an technologischer Aktivität im Bereich der Biotechnologie auszeichnen. Die (Fix Effekt) analyses der panel daten von 59 biopharmazeutischen Unternehmen (im Zeitraum von 1995 bis 2002) liefern Anhaltspunkte für eine positive, wenn auch nachlassende (Form eines umgekehrten U) Beziehung zwischen der Anzahl der Technologie-Cluster, in denen ein Unternehmen vertreten ist, und der generellen technologischen Leistung dieses Unternehmens. Dieser Effekt unterscheidet sich von einem einfachen Mehrfachstandort-Effekt. Cluster Innovation Biotechnologie Lecocq C., Leten B., Kusters J. y van Looy B. ¿Se benefician las empresas de estar presentes en varias aglomeraciones de tecnología? Una valoración del rendimiento tecnológico de empresas biofarmacéuticas, Regional Studies. Las empresas que son activas en campos que requieren un alto nivel de conocimientos específicos organizan sus actividades de investigación y desarrollo cada vez más a nivel internacional. En este artículo investigamos si las empresas activas en biotecnología pueden mejorar su rendimiento tecnológico al fomentar actividades de investigación y desarrollo en varias aglomeraciones de tecnología. Identificamos como aglomeraciones las regiones en Europa, Japón y los Estados Unidos que se caracterizan por una masa crítica en términos de actividad tecnológica en biotecnología. Los análisis (efecto fijo) de los datos de un panel de 59 empresas biofarmacéuticas (para el periodo de 1995 a 2002) demuestran una relación positiva, aunque decreciente (en forma de ‘U’ invertida) entre el número de aglomeraciones tecnológicas en las que una empresa está presente y su rendimiento tecnológico general. Este efecto es distinto al de un simple efecto de varias ubicaciones. Aglomeración Innovación Biotecnología [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic research on service innovation has highlighted the distinct characteristics of services innovation, the knowledge complexes involved, and how services can be autonomous sites of innovation. It also highlights that successful services innovations are often not technology based but can depend on new organizational or managerial practices or marketing and distribution strategies. This paper makes an empirical and a conceptual contribution to this literature by focusing on one sub-sector of the services sector: digital media applications and services. Conceptually, this paper is interdisciplinary and draws upon a range of work on innovation and production in media and communication studies, innovation studies, evolutionary economics, and sociology. Empirically, this paper draws on ten years of qualitative case study research focused on innovation in the digital media sector in Ireland and, to a lesser extent, Europe. More specifically, we draw upon research on the internet, mobile, and games sectors. A key finding emerging from this research is that, despite the widespread popular and academic focus on technology and codified knowledge, a much broader knowledge base (particularly tacit, creative and non-technological knowledge) underpins successful innovative practices in digital media firms. This paper examines the combination of creative ideas and skills, social learning processes of content creators, management, market and business knowledge that underpin the development new digital media applications and services. It argues that a better understanding of the character of knowledge inputs and the innovative practices in digital media companies may contribute to a better understanding of innovation in the knowledge economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The labour productivity impact of innovation is investigated in this paper combining neo-Schumpeterian insights on the variety of innovation with the importance of industrial structures and firm size; two models are proposed for explaining productivity and export success in European manufacturing industries and firm-size classes. The empirical estimates are based on data from the European innovation survey (CIS 2), covering Austria, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and the UK, broken down by 22 sectors and for large, medium, and small firms. The econometric results, obtained adopting cross-sectional estimation methodologies able to account for unobserved industrial characteristics, show that productivity in Europe relies on product and process innovation, with the support of the efficiency gains provided by grouped business structures. Conversely, in Italy the introduction of new machinery linked to innovation appears as the key mechanism supporting domestic productivity. When export success is considered, all countries have to rely on an innovation-based model of competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we contribute to the longstanding discussion on the role of knowledge to economic growth in a spatial context. We observe that in adopting the European policy strategy towards a competitive knowledge economy, the Netherlands is—as most European countries—mainly oriented towards industrial, technological factors. The policy focus is on R&D specialized regions in their spatial economic strategies. We place the knowledge economy in a broader perspective. Based on the knowledge economy literature, we value complementary indicators: the successful introduction of new products and services to the market (“innovation”) and indicators of skills of employees (“knowledge workers”). Using econometric analysis, we relate the three factors “R&D”, “innovation” and “knowledge workers” to regional economic growth. We conclude that the factors “innovation” and “knowledge workers” are more profoundly related to urban employment and productivity growth than the R&D-factor. Preferably, urban research and policy-makers should therefore take all three knowledge factors into account when determining economic potentials of cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses different conceptualisations of the term globalisation of research. From this discussion five dimensions of globalisation of research are identified. Using three different type of data, the paper goes on to examine the extent, motivations and mechanism for the globalisation of research along these five dimensions among leading European and US pharmaceutical multinational companies (MNCs). The evidence for the period 1975–1998 shows that the general process of international expansion of research activities varied significantly between leading US and European MNCs. It is also clear that the development of the process of globalisation has proceeded unevenly along the five dimensions studied. The data also show the increasing concentration of both US and European research investment in the USA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multinational companies in the life science sector are heavily influenced by government policies and regulations and in turn attempt to influence these actors nationally and internationally. This paper focuses on recent and on-going research, principally on the agro-biotechnology and, to a lesser extent, on the pharmaceutical industries, covering the evolution of policy and regulation in Europe, how policies are influenced by stakeholder pressures and how policy in turn influences company strategies for product development. We focus particularly on new ‘governance’ agendas in Europe and consider the relative impacts of enabling, constraining, discriminating and indiscriminate policies on company strategies as part of our development of an integrated approach to policy and governance. We also consider changes in external operating environments for multinational companies and compare past histories and present pressures on agro-biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. The paper argues, with evidence, that a more enabling and discriminating policy and regulatory environment can achieve public goals more efficiently and effectively, taking account of impacts on innovation, than more blunt policy instruments. This type of environment takes into account the resources and capabilities available to firms and research laboratories rather than relying on broad brush carrot and stick approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the empirical findings achieved through comparative research involving 40 innovation policy instruments from 11 European regions, this paper proposes a shift in rationale and in the broad orientations of innovation policy to focus on addressing SMEs in their regional context. The main role for innovation policy, which aims to increase the capacity of a region and the capabilities of its SMEs to innovate, is to foster interactive learning within the firms and within the region. This calls for an interactive mode of policy intervention. The paper deals also with the question of how to build a coherent portfolio of policy instruments, taking into account both regional situations and specific SMEs needs in terms of innovation. The key message is that there is no 'one-size-fits-all' policy portfolio. Regional differences in innovation capabilities call for a tailored mix of policy instruments. One salient element of the conclusion is the need for more 'policy intelligence' in this complex field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The competitive advantage of cities in the developed world is increasingly thought to lie in their superior access to the knowledge-base. The generation of new knowledge through investment in research and development leads to new products, services and processes which form the basis of the new economy. Attempts to correlate knowledge creation with economic growth have therefore tended to use R&D measures such as the numbers of research establishments in a rather narrow sense. This paper develops a much wider measure of the knowledge-base comprising tacit knowledge, codified knowledge and knowledge infrastructure for 19 European cities. With the exception of the two world cities, London and Paris, which significantly underperform, there is a broad relationship between the quality of the knowledge-base and economic change as measured by the competitive shift-share residual. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the findings of an ESRC funded study of innovation in five European cities. It is argued that the contemporary emphasis on local production clusters as the basis of economic growth provides only a limited explanation, in certain types of cities, of what drives growth. The argument developed here is that export base theory should be revisited as a more likely explanation of virtuous circles of growth. The evidence presented suggests that such circles are composed of innovation and trade in the context of the types of externalities found in core metropolitan international gateway cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper concerns the building of organizational networks for the diffusion of innovation across national boundaries. In particular, it reports on an investigation of the Specific Project Action Line (SPAL); an exploratory initiative within the SPRINT programme which sought to improve the understanding and operation of the diffusion of innovation across national boundaries in Europe. The paper draws upon social network theory and evaluations of earlier networking initiatives within the SPRINT programme in order to inform the analysis of three SPAL projects. An important aspect of the study was the development of the network graphic as an analytical tool for the representation and comparison of project networks over time and between project. It is concluded that network diversity, network configuration, and the management of the networking process are all key and inter-related network themes that influence the diffusion of innovation across national boundaries. However, the cases highlight the problem of prescribing a single 'best' network structure for diffusion. It was found, for example, that the more 'distant'the innovation was from the market place, the more constrained the network needed to be, both in terms of size and diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the contribution of tourism to regional economic resilience and questions the ways regional policymakers recognize the relevance of tourism and integrate it into their regional development strategies (and, in particular, in regional innovation strategies). An exploratory analysis was carried out with a focus on the 'smart specialization strategy' documents, issued in Europe as required by the new programming phase of the structural funds. After defining the potential relevance of tourism as factor of regional economic resilience, a list of emerging innovation policies involving tourism was identified and linked to one of the following three types of regional economic resilience: 'engineering resilience', 'ecological resilience' and 'evolutionary resilience'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the results of the 1993 Community Innovation Survey (CIS). Fifty per cent of European firms introduced a product or process innovation during 1990-92. The share of innovating firms varies between industrial sectors and firm size. The percentage of innovating firms is higher for large firms than for smaller ones. In high-tech sectors this share is two thirds and for traditional ones is one third. The largest part of firms' expenditure for innovation is linked to the adoption and diffusion of technologies through machinery and equipment, which absorbs 50% of firms' innovation expenditure. R&D activities represent, on average, 20% of total innovation expenditure while other innovative activities, such as design and trial production, account respectively for 10% and 11%. The mix of innovation inputs, especially R&D and investment, is strongly correlated with firm size, displays little change across countries and varies greatly across industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1987-8 a large attitudinal survey covering all twelve Member States of the European Community was carried out by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions in Dublin which focused on various aspects of participation by employee representatives in new information technology. This paper presents evidence on one of the central trade union concerns about technological change -- that of work organization. The paper first sets out an explanatory framework which is based on much of the literature, surveys and case-study evidence on the impact of new technology on work and employment. Second, the explanatory factors are used to explain the wide diversity in the levels of participation in work organization across the Community. The paper concludes that there is a significant North/South divide, with the northern EC Member States, particularly Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium having much higher levels of participation in work organization than their Mediterranean partners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rail freight is one of the most important pillars for the decarbonising of the transport system in Europe. To ensure the decarbonisation effect of rail freight, a substantial modal split on rail freight is needed, with the aim of strengthening the competitiveness of rail freight and improving the quality of service on the rail freight corridors (RFCs). With the aim of monitoring and evaluating the development of RFC performance, the Data Envelopment Analysis model (DEA) was applied in this study. The evaluation of efficiency was carried out for eight RFCs in 2020 and 2021 using performance indicators considered with Pearson correlation analysis. The results of the efficiency of the RFCs showed that seven of the studied corridors are not operated efficiently, while the correlation analysis showed a significant dependency between the selected indicators. Nevertheless, the efficiency of the corridors and the overall performance of rail freight can be improved by integrating innovative technologies. Therefore, this study also investigated how digital automatic couplers (DACs) and intelligent video gates (IVGs) affect the efficiency of RFCs. The results show that the inclusion of indicators related to DAC and IVG tasks has a positive impact on improving the efficiency of RFCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) is one of the most dynamic pedagogic trends in language teaching in Europe, and yet, the enthusiasm with which this innovation is implemented by stakeholders and ‘made a success’ is not fully understood. In this paper we argue for an investigation of CLIL implementation as a form of extended language policy, which relates language management, practice and beliefs, and so expands the notion of policy well beyond a top-down legislation. In this contribution, the suggested centrality of beliefs to CLIL policy analysis will be shown by a detailed investigation into the lay theories of teachers and learners involved in CLIL instruction in Austrian upper secondary colleges of technology, which traditionally attract students considered as relatively unsuccessful foreign language learners. The data consist of 48 in-depth interviews with teachers and students in this setting, covering a range of teacher specialisations and of student abilities. The discursive and content analysis of these interviews shows clear clusters of beliefs relating to language learning, the effects and benefits of CLIL and to the construction of success regarding CLIL. Findings suggest that the strength of beliefs and the relative absence of language management result in a construction of CLIL and of CLIL success that is partly at odds with those of experts or policy-makers, but which is linked directly to local CLIL practices. Issues arising of these mismatches are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The leading international standards for information security management, ISO/IEC 27001 and ISO/IEC 27002 originate from the UK, but are applied worldwide. This paper explores whether the processes of selection, implementation and use of these interrelated standards differ between China and Europe by studying cases of Chinese and European companies. Chinese companies face some additional problems with the standards but manage to get them successfully implemented in a short period of time. Main differences relate to governance and management of standard adoption. This study is innovative in the method used for standardisation research (comparative multi-case study), and the topic: implementation and impact of information security management standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the current internationalisation of innovation activities and identifies the main drivers for the countries of the European Union (EU). We employ patent applications at the European Patent Office covering the period 2000-2005. Our results show that the internationalisation of innovation is mainly due to an intensified co-operation between EU member states, as well as stronger ties between Europe and the USA. Innovative activity of EU enterprises is hardly globalised in the sense of being equally distributed around the world. Multivariate analysis reveals that cross-border patents between two countries increase with absolute market size of the host country, with rising levels of research and development in the home and host country and with a stronger protection of intellectual property rights in the host country. Distance between home and host country is negatively related to the number of cross-border patents. A common language between two countries and joint membership in the EU are also factors that considerably spur overseas innovation activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OVERVIEW: In today's competitive environment, the ability of an organization to innovate is paramount. While most organizations have flashes or spurts of innovation, only a handful have been able to innovate on a continuous and sustained basis. This paper surveys the challenges faced by firms when trying to build sustainable innovation programs. These findings have been derived from an examination of innovation programs in over 30 organizations in North America, Europe and Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rodríguez-Pose A. and Crescenzi R. Research and development, spillovers, innovation systems, and the genesis of regional growth in Europe. Regional Studies. Research on the impact of innovation on regional economic performance in Europe has fundamentally followed three approaches: (1) the analysis of the link between investment in research and development (R&D), patents, and economic growth; (2) the study of the existence and efficiency of regional innovation systems; and (3) the examination of the geographical diffusion of regional knowledge spillovers. These complementary approaches have, however, rarely been combined. Important operational and methodological barriers have thwarted any potential cross-fertilization. This paper tries to fill this gap in the literature by combining in one model R&D, spillovers, and innovation systems approaches. A multiple regression analysis is conducted for all regions of the group of 25 European Union countries (EU-25), including measures of R&D investment, proxies for regional innovation systems, and knowledge and socio-economic spillovers. This approach allows the discrimination between the influence of internal factors and external knowledge and institutional flows on regional economic growth... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article draws on a thematic evaluation of Research Technological Development and Innovation (RTDI) related actions supported by the Structural Funds to assist declining industrial areas or Objective 2 regions, during the period between 1989 and 1999. Over the 10 year period, three main approaches were identified in Objective 2 regions, the last two becoming predominant during the latter part of the period: technology push with funding of large projects such as science parks and research facilities; technology transfer with measures to disseminate technology; and demand pull with clearly identified and self contained RTDI priorities. While drawing lessons from the last decade, the paper also integrates some preliminary observations on structural funds investments for innovation during the current 2000-2006 programming period and concludes with a review of possible scenarios for the further development of RTDI in lagging regions in the framework of the Lisbon Strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, regional capabilities and knowledge domain theses are proposed and global biotechnology dynamics are analysed. Detailed research on Europe's leading bioeconomy, the UK, is presented. Global network analysis is performed based on research into collaborations between ‘star’ scientists and their institutes in bioregions at a global scale. This is with regard to joint publication of bioscientific articles in US and EU Science Citation Index representative and leading cited journals. New evidence lies in identifying the hierarchical structure and main network axes in the global bioscientific research system. The results show that the strongest bioregions are in North America, particularly around Boston, San Diego and San Francisco. For collaboration, using this measure, the UK is revealed as a strong European research base, as is Sweden. New bioregions are found rising in Asia, but many ‘global cities’ fail to appear in the bioregional ranking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to the analysis of the process of spatial agglomeration of innovative activities by investigating directly its determinants. Our main purpose is to identify the extent to which the degree of specialization or diversity in a region may affect the innovative activities in a particular local industry. Other local factors are also tested such as home market effect and other agglomeration phenomena. In other words, we pursue to identify to which extent the organization of innovation is either concentrated or alternatively consists of diverse but complementary innovative activities, and how this composition influences innovative output. Moreover the use of spatial econometric techniques should allow the nature other than the spatial scope of the diffusion of technological spillovers to be analysed. The analysis is based on a databank set up by CRENoS on regional patenting at the European Patent Office classified by ISIC sectors (23 manufacturing sectors), which considers 175 regions of 17 countries in Europe. The possibility to have a rich database, furthermore, allows replicating the analysis for two periods, 1994–1996 and 1999–2001, in order to check the robustness of some results along the time dimension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The US has been a world leader in innovation and knowledge activities since World War II. Because the US has become accustomed to a position of leadership, there is widespread insecurity—maybe even paranoia—regarding threats to its dominance in technology, beginning with Sputnik in 1956. This paper provides some details of US decline relative, in particular, to European countries over the past two decades, when both strengths and the weaknesses are evident in US innovation and technology. The US has moved from a position of dominance to a position of first among equals, in line with a more widely distributed pattern of science and technological capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper outlines a model for the development of dynamic and innovative research environments in national innovation systems. The development model is based on an in-depth study and analysis of fifteen research environments selected by the Danish Council for Research Policy as examples of dynamic and innovative public research environments. According to the model, research environments follow certain stages with respect to epistemological, organizational and socio-cultural development that either enable them to advance from one stage to the next in the model or impede this advance. The consequence of the latter is either a static state or dissolution. In the long run only dynamic and innovative research environments survive. The analysis of the cases studied identifies several preconditions that have to be present in such research environments in order for them to emerge, develop and finally reach excellence. The results presented here may well be a valid tool for policy-makers, particularly in Europe where the framework conditions for public R&D are comparable to the Danish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents information on a study which examined the development of ideas concerning regional clustering of small and medium sized enterprises in Europe. Details on how firms and regions develop competences and new knowledge as the basis for successful innovation; Elaboration on the innovation processes; Conclusions.

The automotive industry faces the challenge of digital transformation at present, especially the autonomous vehicle. To explore the innovation links between different regional innovation systems, this study proposed a theoretical framework combining actor network, regional innovation and open innovation systems. Through the social network analysis and non-parametric test of patent data, the research findings show many significant differences between Europe and China. Finally, some suggestions are provided for strategy planning and policy implementation of open innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patents in information and communication technologies (ICTs) are important instruments for protecting companies' inventions and to appropriate the value of the related inventions. However, the increasing dynamics and complexity in ICTs are challenging the effectiveness of patents. Based on a review of the literature and interviews with relevant stakeholders in Europe, we have identified the most relevant challenges for patents in ICT and possible solutions. These insights have been used as input in framing our broad survey among European stakeholders. The results reveal on the one hand the differences between the patent owners and stakeholders owning no patents, in particular with regards to the various challenges the patent system is facing. On the other hand, the differences disappear in the assessment of the effectiveness of the various solutions. Finally, we conclude with a summary of our main findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]