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This study supports the labour-friendly nature of product innovation among developers of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. GMM-SYS estimates on a worldwide longitudinal dataset covering 3,500 companies that patented inventions related to AI technologies over the period 2000-2016 show a positive and significant impact of AI patent families on employment. The effect is small in magnitude and limited to service sectors and younger firms, which are front-runners of the AI revolution. We also detect some evidence of increasing returns suggesting that innovative companies more focused on AI technologies are those obtaining larger impacts in terms of job creation. ispartof: FEB Research Report MSI_2306 pages:1-36 status: published

Changing climates are altering the structural and functional components of forest ecosystems at an unprecedented rate. Simultaneously, we are seeing a diversification of public expectations on the broader sustainable use of forest resources beyond timber production. As a result, the science and art of silviculture needs to adapt to these changing realities. In this piece, we argue that silviculturists are gradually shifting from the application of empirically derived silvicultural scenarios to new sets of approaches, methods and practices, a process that calls for broadening our conception of silviculture as a scientific discipline. We propose a holistic view of silviculture revolving around three key themes: observe, anticipate and adapt. In observe, we present how recent advances in remote sensing now enable silviculturists to observe forest structural, compositional and functional attributes in near-real-time, which in turn facilitates the deployment of efficient, targeted silvicultural measures in practice that are adapted to rapidly changing constraints. In anticipate, we highlight the importance of developing state-of-the-art models designed to take into account the effects of changing environmental conditions on forest growth and dynamics. In adapt, we discuss the need to provide spatially explicit guidance for the implementation of adaptive silvicultural actions that are efficient, cost-effective and socially acceptable. We conclude by presenting key steps towards the development of new tools and practical knowledge that will ensure meeting societal demands in rapidly changing environmental conditions. We classify these actions into three main categories: re-examining existing silvicultural trials to identify key stand attributes associated with the resistance and resilience of forests to multiple stressors, developing technological workflows and infrastructures to allow for continuous forest inventory updating frameworks, and implementing bold, innovative silvicultural trials in consultation with the relevant communities where a range of adaptive silvicultural strategies are tested. In this holistic perspective, silviculture can be defined as the science of observing forest condition and anticipating its development to apply tending and regeneration treatments adapted to a multiplicity of desired outcomes in rapidly changing realities.

De récents travaux menés par des chercheurs de l’Institut de Chimie Organique et Analytique (UMR 7311 CNRS/Université d’Orléans) ont abouti à la découverte d’un nouveau médicament potentiel dans la lutte contre un large spectre de virus à ADN.

We examine to what extent domestic firms reap differential productivity gains from the presence of manufacturing affiliates of multinational firms in the home country (FDI spillovers), in the context of simultaneous participation in international trade through exporting and importing. FDI spillovers can occur within the industry (horizontal) and across industries due to client (forward) or supplier (backward) linkages of multinational firms, but the mechanisms underlying spillover effects may be attenuated if local firms are less reliant on inputs, clients, and competition in the domestic market. Fixed effects panel analyses on a sample of 4594 domestic Belgian firms during 2000-2007 reveal positive effects from horizontal, backward, and forward FDI spillovers on the productivity levels of domestic firms, as long as these firms do not engage in international trade. Horizontal spillovers from FDI are weaker for firms engaging in trade, while forward FDI spillovers do not benefit importing firms. Two-way traders benefit least from FDI spillovers. Forward and backward spillovers, are enhanced by human capital levels in local firms, while horizontal spillovers are reduced. The findings are broadly consistent with the notion that trade engagement and inward FDI can be substitutes in their effects on domestic firms’ productivity. ispartof: FEB Research Report MSI_2011 pages:1-36 status: published

Cancer research has considerably progressed with the improvement of in vitro study models, helping to understand the key role of the tumor microenvironment in cancer development and progression. Over the last few years, complex 3D human cell culture systems have gained much popularity over in vivo models, as they accurately mimic the tumor microenvironment and allow high-throughput drug screening. Of particular interest, in vitrohuman 3D tissue constructs, produced by the self-assembly method of tissue engineering, have been successfully used to model the tumor microenvironment and now represent a very promising approach to further develop diverse cancer models. In this review, we describe the importance of the tumor microenvironment and present the existing in vitro cancer models generated through the self-assembly method of tissue engineering. Lastly, we highlight the relevance of this approach to mimic various and complex tumors, including basal cell carcinoma, cutaneous neurofibroma, skin melanoma, bladder cancer, and uveal melanoma.

One of the key priorities of the European Commission’s Coordinated Plan on AI is to encourage Member States to develop their national AI strategies by the end of 2019, outlining investments levels and implementation measures. The objective of this report is to present and gather information on all EU Member States' national AI strategies in a structured and comprehensive way. It aims to help Member States to compare their strategy and to identify areas for strengthening synergies and collaboration. Published national AI strategies are analysed to identify the most relevant policy areas and to develop a common AI Policy Framework that can be used for the presentation of policy initiatives. In this sense, this report follows a similar approach as used in the AI strategies, by presenting policy initiatives from a holistic perspective. To highlight the numerous economic and policy outlooks from which the transformative nature of AI can be explored, this report presents policy initiatives across various policy areas, including human capital (i.e. educational development), from the lab to the market (i.e. research & development, innovation, business and public sector development), networking (i.e. collaboration and dissemination), regulation (i.e. ethical guidelines, legislation and standardisation) and infrastructure (i.e. data and telecommunication infrastructure). In this endeavour, the European Commission notably collaborated with the OECD on collecting and analysing national strategies on Artificial Intelligence in the EU Member States. This report will be updated and released on an annual basis., JRC.B.6-Digital Economy

This report presents key findings of the Innovation Radar Project Coordinators Survey in Framework Programme Research and Innovation projects, a purposeful sample of European Framework Programme (FP) Project Coordinators (PC). The objective is to identify the practices and activities of PCs leading EU FP projects and to understand their impact on innovation outcomes. The survey findings confirm the lynchpin role of PCs in the European FP R&I projects. Their role clearly extends significantly beyond that identified in the Horizon 2020 User Guide which sees the PC as “the main contact point between the consortium and the Commission for a particular grant”. The PC is far more than simply “the proposal initiator in the submission phase” but taking account of their prime role in project conceptualisation and consortia formation, the PC is in effect the principal translator of the EC funded research programme and responsible for how the majority of the European research budget is invested. Identifying the PC as a scientific entrepreneur significantly changes how the PC role is viewed. From an EC perspective, recognising the PC as a scientific entrepreneur means their engagement with the PC during the project should be less about monitoring and oversight during project implementation, and more about providing the entrepreneur with support., JRC.B.6-Digital Economy

International audience

International audience; The convenient preparation of three imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine-2-carboxamide intermediates is reported through known Strecker-Ugi type multicomponent reactions, Tschitschibabin type condensations and further synthetic sequences. The derivatives were then efficiently converted to novel 4-chloro-2-(trifluoromethyl)pyrido[1,2-e]purines by way of their original reactions with 2,2,2-trifluoroacetamide, followed by subsequent dehydroxychlorination reactions. These compounds were cross-coupled under microwave irradiation through Suzuki-Miyaura and Sonogashira palladium(0) catalysis to various aromatic and alkynyl reagents, thus providing the related C-4 substituted pyrido[1,2-e]purines of biological interest in good yields.

L'objectif de ce travail était de confirmer que ces ressources profitent bien à l'ensemble des étudiants et qu'elles ne sont pas faites « que pour les meilleurs étudiants » Contexte : Depuis 2012, nous développons sur la plate-forme pédagogique UniversiTICE des contenus afin de faciliter l'apprentissage des neurosciences cognitives aux étudiants en L1 de Psychologie : diaporama des CM et de préparation aux TD, bibliographie, exercices d'entraînement (QCU, questions ouvertes, schéma à légender), fiches de révision… Méthodologie : Les données d'utilisation de l'espace de cours « Introduction aux neurosciences cognitives » ont été extraites de la plate-forme pédagogique pour 447 étudiants en L1 de psychologie lors de l'année universitaire 2016-2017. Ces données comprenaient notamment la consultation de ressources et la réalisation des activités mentionnées plus haut. Elles ont été mises en lien avec les notes obtenues par les étudiants à cet enseignement ainsi qu'à deux autres enseignements de la même UE : « Introduction à la psychologie cognitive » et « Introduction à la psychologie clinique », pour lesquels la plate-forme pédagogique n'était pas utilisée. - Classification des étudiants en deux classes : « meilleurs » et « moins bons », selon les notes obtenues en psychologie cognitive et en psychologie clinique au cours de la même année universitaire. - Seconde classification des étudiants, au sein des catégorie « meilleurs » et « moins bons », en fonction de leur niveau d'utilisation de la plate-forme pédagogique en neurosciences cognitives : des moins utilisateurs au plus utilisateurs. - Comparaison des moyennes des étudiants des différentes catégories d'utilisateurs de la plate-forme pédagogiques pour les notes de psychologie cognitive, psychologie clinique et neurosciences cognitives. Analyse des données : Les données ont été analysées à l'aide du logiciel R en combinant des analyses successives (Classification et Analyses en Composantes Principales) afin de tester les deux hypothèses suivantes : 1) À niveau comparable dans les deux autres disciplines, les étudiants qui utilisent plus la plate-forme pédagogique en neurosciences cognitives réussissent mieux que leurs homologues qui l'utilisent moins. 2) Cette première observation est valable aussi bien pour les « meilleurs » étudiants que pour « les moins bons ». Les étudiants considérés comme « les meilleurs » sur la base de leurs notes en psychologie clinique et en psychologie cognitive ne diffèrent que très peu pour leurs notes dans ces matières en fonction de leur utilisation de la plate-forme pédagogique en neurosciences cognitives (gauche). En neurosciences cognitives, on constate que les étudiants les plus utilisateurs des ressources de la plate-forme, en particulier ceux des catégories 3 et 4, obtiennent des notes sensiblement meilleures (droite).Parmi les étudiants « les moins bons », seuls ceux de la catégorie qui utilisent le moins la plate-forme pédagogique (1) se distinguent des autres par une moyenne plus faible en psychologie clinique et en psychologie cognitive (gauche). En neurosciences cognitives, on constate aussi chez les étudiants « les moins bons », que plus les étudiants utilisent les ressources de la plate-forme, meilleures sont leurs notes : progression au sein des catégories 2, 3, 4 et 5 (droite). Nos résultats montrent que l'utilisation de la plate-forme pédagogique est positive pour les étudiants « les meilleurs » mais aussi pour les étudiants « les moins bons ».

Economic activities based on the invention, production and distribution of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies have recently emerged worldwide. Yet, little is known about the innovative activities, location and growth performance of AI innovators. This chapter aims to map and analyse the global innovative landscape of AI by exploring 155,000 patents identified as AI-related by means of text-mining techniques. It highlights the emergence and evolution of AI technologies and identifies AI hotspots across the world. It explores the scale and pervasiveness of AI activities across sectors, and evaluates the economic performance of AI innovators using firm accounting information. Finally, it assesses recent trends in venture capital investments towards AI as financial support to promising AI startups. Findings of this chapter reveal a tremendous increase in AI patenting activities since 2013 with a significant boom in 2015-2016. While most of AI patenting activities remain concentrated in the sectors of software programming and manufacturing of electronic equipment and machinery, there are clear signs of cross-fertilisation towards (non-tech) sectors. The market of AI patenting firms is very vibrant and characterised by a large increase of new and small players with economic performances above industry average. This trend is also reflected by the recent increase in venture capital towards AI startups.

In this report we provide an assessment of the statistical methodology behind the Innovation Radar. In particular we analyse to what extent the Innovation potential index and the Innovator capacity index are analytically and statistically sound and transparent. The aim of this report is to evaluate to what extent variables that have been included in these composite indicators make sense from a statistical point of view. Overall, the Innovation potential index is found to be statistically sound with particularly room for improvement of the market potential dimension. The Innovator capacity index is conceptually sound but can be improved statistically., JRC.B.6-Digital Economy

PAR-4/LKB1 is maternally expressed and required for the asymmetrical distribution of early embryonic determinants and viability in C. elegans (Morton et al. 1992; Watts et al. 2000; Tenlen et al. 2008). It is also implicated in a variety of postembryonic processes, including germline stem cell quiescence (Narbonne and Roy 2006; Narbonne et al. 2017), neuronal growth and polarity (Kim et al. 2010; Teichmann and Shen 2011), cytoskeletal rearrangements (Narbonne et al. 2010; Chartier et al. 2011), and metabolism (Narbonne and Roy 2009). Its expression pattern and subcellular localization has been determined in fixed animals by antibody staining (Watts et al. 2000). Here, we used CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing to fluorescently label the two longest endogenous PAR-4 isoforms, PAR-4A and PAR-4C, with monomeric Neon Green (mNG) (Shaner et al. 2013), using the self-excising cassette (SEC) system (Dickinson et al. 2015) (Fig. 1A). We found ubiquitous mNG::par-4a & c expression and cytoplasmic and cortical enrichment of mNG::PAR-4A & C proteins in the germ line and early embryos (Fig. 1B-H), as previously described (Watts et al. 2000). Interestingly, we find that mNG::PAR-4A & C cortical enrichment is transiently lost in the pachytene area of the germ line (Fig. 1F), although it remains unclear whether this is functionally relevant. The intermediate strain that still contains the SEC (Dickinson et al. 2015) is predicted to be null for par-4a & c, potentially leaving the shorter par-4b isoform functional. To evaluate the requirement for par-4a & c we examined the embryonic lethality (at 25°C) of the generated SEC-containing and SEC-excised strains. We found that the self-progeny of homozygous SEC-containing (e.g. par-4a & c null) animals is viable (Fig. 1H). This suggests that par-4b alone is sufficient to establish embryonic polarity and sustain the essential function of par-4. Consistent with this, to our knowledge, all existing par-4 alleles that impair embryonic development disrupt par-4b (Morton et al. 1992; Watts et al. 2000).

The Innovation Radar (IR) is a European Commission (EC) initiative to identify high-potential innovations and innovators in EC-funded Framework Programme (FP) research and innovation projects and to guide project consortia in terms of the appropriate steps to reach the market. This report presents the process and results of linking the IR data with third-party databases to obtain performance information about the innovators in FP projects identified by the IR. In particular, IR participants identified between March 2014 and January 2018 are enriched with financial information from ORBIS, patent information from PATSTAT and private funding information from Dealroom. This enriched data warehouse aims to facilitate the profiling of IR participants in terms of performance, which can subsequently provide guidance for hands-on policy support initiatives. It creates foundation for future analysis of the determinants and barriers of innovation in EU-funded collaborative projects., JRC.B.6-Digital Economy

This research work was pursued to identify the perception of Nigerian students towards OBE enrolled in Bachelor of Science in Marine Transportation (BSMT) and Bachelor of Science in Marine Engineering (BSMarE), to determine the level of awareness of Nigerian students towards OBE and to propose action plan that can increase the level of awareness of every Nigerian student. The researchers used descriptive method of research and questionnaire as the primary data gathering tool. The respondents of the study were fifty (50) Nigerian students of Lyceum International Maritime Academy on the basis of random sampling. Results showed that the respondents have clear perception on OBE and aware to the implementation of OBE. The researchers recommended that Nigerian students may be required to take an assessment examination to measure their learning skills and how effective OBE is to them, Maritime schools like Lyceum International Maritime Academy may provide an OBE program for all their students so as to enhance their skills in studying their courses, Nigerian students who are unaware of the implementation of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) program may be provided seminar about OBE to increase their knowledge and skills in coping up with their courses, the university administrator may conduct trainings and orientations with the professors and students to increase the level of awareness regarding OBE, and faculty members may study more about the courses they are teaching so as to be more professional on their respective fields of studies as new methods of teachings are being applied.

This report attempts to summarise findings and conclusions of over 30 studies published within the EURIPIDIS project (European Innovation Policies for the Digital Shift). The objective of EURIPIDIS was to better understand how digital innovation and entrepreneurship work; to assess the EU's digital innovation and entrepreneurship performance; and to suggest how policy makers could make digital innovation and entrepreneurship in the EU work better. Because digital technologies facilitate the modernization of firms and economies, digital innovation and entrepreneurship requires a comprehensive policy response. The current report focuses on 7 issues. (1) Digital innovation and entrepreneurship require skills and capabilities ranging from technical, managerial and financial; entrepreneurial culture; failure acceptance; large funding and innovation-friendly regulatory environment. Capacity building and specific policies are needed in all those fields. (2) Resisting digital disruption and protecting the status quo is likely to be a short-term strategy. Negative social and economic effects need to be mitigated. (3) The ecosystem of digital innovation and entrepreneurship consists of a wide range of different players. Policy responses need to address this heterogeneity. (4) Digital innovation and entrepreneurship takes place through collaborative interactions between various players. To facilitate collaboration, knowledge flow and spillovers need to become a more central focus of public policies. (5) In addition to increasing funding for innovation, closer attention needs to be paid to the availability of funding for scaling-up of digital enterprises. (6) To guarantee technological interoperability and create technology-related network effects, coordination between various players to, for example, set technological standards is needed. (7) Technological complexity combined with the cumulativeness of digital innovation requires a balance between two conflicting goals: the provision of incentives to create new products and the stimulation of knowledge dissemination., JRC.B.6-Digital Economy

High-tech entrepreneurship is one of the main means by which new knowledge and technologies are converted into economic and social benefits. This report analyses the levels and determinants of high-tech entrepreneurship across European countries. To this end, it uses country-level data on high- and low-tech total early-stage entrepreneurial activity provided by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM). Panel data estimations for the period 2007-2014 reveal that EU Member States with better access to finance, less bureaucracy, more consistent policy regimes, favourable entrepreneurship education, and qualitative intellectual property rights that lower patent thicketing strategies exhibit a higher proportion of high-tech firm creation. In addition, greater technological density is associated with a higher rate of high-tech entrepreneurship creation, suggesting beneficial influences of path-dependency and agglomeration effects., JRC.B.6-Digital Economy

International audience

Certains philosophes affirment que les relations causales sont fondées sur les lois de la nature. Cette conception cadre mal avec la réalité des sciences biomédicales et des sciences humaines. Pour se rapprocher de la pratique réelle des diverses sciences, James Woodward propose une conception de la causalité et de l’explication causale fondée sur une relation beaucoup moins exigeante que celle de loi de la nature, qu’il appelle l’invariance. Le but de ce mémoire est de présenter le concept d’invariance et les autres concepts causaux qui s’y rattachent et, d’identifier certaines difficultés, dans le but de cerner l’usage approprié de cette famille de concepts. La conception causale de Woodward suppose que le but de la recherche des causes est pratique plutôt que simplement épistémique : il s’agit pour les agents de s’appuyer sur les causes pour modifier les phénomènes. Cette conception est également non-réductive; elle utilise des contrefactuels et reflète les méthodes expérimentales des diverses sciences. La cohérence de cette conception avec les généralisations causales réelles des sciences fait en sorte qu’elle abandonne l’objectif d’universalité rattaché à la notion de loi de la nature, en faveur d’un objectif de fiabilité temporaire. De plus, comme le critère d’invariance est peu exigeant, d’autres critères doivent lui être ajoutés pour identifier, parmi les relations causales (c’est-à-dire invariantes), les relations les plus susceptibles d’être employées pour modifier les phénomènes de façon fiable., Some philosophers claim that causal relations are based on the laws of nature. This view is not consistent with the actual causal relations found in the biomedical and social sciences. In order to better reflect the actual practice in the various sciences, James Woodward puts forward a view of causation and causal explanation based on a much less demanding relation than that of law of nature, which he calls ‘invariance’. This essay presents the concept of invariance and other related causal concepts, and identifies certain problems, in order to outline the proper use of this group of concepts. Woodward’s conception assumes that the goal of causal inquiry is practical rather than merely epistemic : agents use causal relationships to modify outcomes. The conception is also non reductive ; it uses counterfactuals and is a reflection of the experimental methods of the various sciences. The fact that this conception is consistent with the actual causal generalizations found in the various sciences implies that the goal of universal truth associated with the notion of law of nature is set aside and is replaced by an objective of temporary reliability. In addition, since the invariance criterion is not very demanding, other criteria must be added to identify, among causal (i.e. invariant) relations, those relations that can be relied upon to reliably modify outcomes.

This paper explores the possible job creation effect of innovation activity. We analyze a unique panel dataset covering almost 20,000 patenting firms from Europe over the period 2003-2012. The main outcome from the proposed GMM-SYS estimations is the labour-friendly nature of innovation, which we measure in terms of forward-citation weighted patents. However, this positive impact of innovation is statistically significant only for firms in the high-tech manufacturing sectors, while not significant in low-tech manufacturing and services. ispartof: FEB Research Report - MSI_1603 nrpages: 27 status: published

National audience

This report contributes to a better understanding of the framework conditions that are conducive to the emergence and the growth of entrepreneurial activities in Europe. It takes into account a broad variety of framework conditions, including entrepreneurial culture, access to human capital, support initiatives for knowledge creation and networking, market conditions, availability of sufficient and appropriate finance, prevailing business regulations and the quality of the supporting infrastructure. For each of these framework conditions, the underlying components that affect respectively the creation and growth of firms are identified in the prevailing entrepreneurial literature. A set of two composite indicators – i.e. the Entrepreneurship and Scale-up Indices (ESIS) –have been constructed to facilitate the comparison across Member States. As such, this report provides a working tool to monitor and benchmark EU Member States in the creation of a business-friendly environment that can foster both the creation and the growth trajectories of firms., JRC.B.6-Digital Economy

International audience

International audience; Access to fluoroalkylidene-oxetanes and-azetidines was realized from 3-oxetanone, 3-azetidinone, and fluorosulfones through the Julia-Kocienski reaction. This approach allows the preparation of new precursors of fluorinated four-membered rings that contain a nucleic base, an ester or aryl sulfone function, and a pyrrolidine ring. Benzothiazolyl-sulfonemediated aza-Michael addition reaction of nitrogen nucleophiles enables access to 3,3-disubstituted oxetanes.

International audience

This report explores the possible job creation effect of innovation activity. We analyze a unique panel dataset covering nearly 20,000 patenting firms from Europe over the period 2003-2012. The main outcome from the proposed GMM-SYS estimations is the labour-friendly nature of innovation, which we measure in terms of forward-citation-weighted patents. However, this positive impact of innovation is statistically significant only for firms in the high-tech manufacturing sectors, while not significant in low-tech manufacturing and services., JRC.DDG.01-Econometrics and applied statistics

International audience

This paper explores the possible job creation effect of innovation activity. We analyze a unique panel dataset covering almost 20,000 patenting firms from Europe over the period 2003-2012. The main outcome from the proposed GMM-SYS estimations is the labour-friendly nature of innovation, which we measure in terms of forward-citation weighted patents. However, this positive impact of innovation is statistically significant only for firms in the high-tech manufacturing sectors, while not significant in low-tech manufacturing and services.

This report aims to identify the scope for conceptual and empirical improvements to the EC Consumer Conditions Scoreboard by the Consumers Directorate of DG Justice and Consumers of the European Commission. For this purpose, we explore the economic theory of consumer decision making, the regulatory framework of consumer protection in the EU, the statistical properties of the Consumer Conditions Index included in the EC scoreboard (the 9th edition), and the structure and content of other (national) consumer surveys developed internationally. As a result we develop an updated framework to measure consumer conditions in EU countries, and we propose a revision of questionnaires for the EC surveys of consumers and retailers. The second part of the report presents an empirical investigation of the micro data from the revised EC surveys of consumers and retailers., JRC.DDG.01-Econometrics and applied statistics

International audience

Although an expanding literature on university-industry linkages has suggested that proximity to academia can increase the innovative performance of firms, the role of academic research in the R&D location choices by multinational firms has received surprisingly little attention. In this paper we analyze to what extent academic research in host regions of EU-15 countries attracts R&D investments by multinational firms. We analyze the determinants of the location of 394 multinational R&D projects in NUTS-1 regions of EU-15 countries during the period 2003-2008. We construct precise measures of the academic research strengths of regions by using annual WoS publication data. We count university publications at the level of regions and science fields, and measure relevant publications for investing firms by linking science fields to the industry that firms are active in. We find that the probability to locate R&D projects in a host region is positively affected by the host region’s academic strength - after controlling for industry agglomeration, the technological strength of the region, R&D tax incentives, and other characteristics of host locations. Our results further suggest that in addition to providing knowledge spillovers, a major mechanism through which academic research attracts foreign R&D is the supply of graduates with a PhD. ispartof: FEB Research Report MSI_1411 nrpages: 32 status: published

International audience

This thesis discusses the role of academic institutions in the vitality of the French-speaking community, in the metropolis of Moncton, over the past 20 years. Moncton is located in the Southeast of the province of New Brunswick in Canada. The three cities (Moncton, Dieppe and Riverview), which form this urban centre of Moncton, have a particular function in the linguistic balance of the area. The urbanization process has largely changed the social space in Moncton, which leads us to ask the following question: "Do French institutions play an important role on the geographical distribution of the French-speaking people in Moncton over the past 20 years?" By using the Census Data of the Statistic Canada of 1981 to 2001, we study the historical development of the principal French-speaking institutions compared to the significant transformation of the social space of Moncton, in particular the increased presence of the Acadians.

This paper first develops a framework for the analysis of national research systems, with particular focus on the excellence of scientific and technological research, a central topic for the current European research and innovation policy discourse. Next, after carefully considering measurement and data issues, it proposes a set of strong and weaker country-level indicators of research excellence, based on which a composite indicator of scientific and technological research excellence is proposed and tested for robustness and sensitivity. The research was conducted on behalf of DG-RTD within the framework of the 'Composites_4_IU' project., JRC.G.3-Econometrics and applied statistics

The main contribution of this project lies in the assessment of the efficiency of national research systems in achieving excellent research performances. The efficiency assessment is not only restricted to the production of research excellence in general, but is disentangled by type of research field, distinguishing between science and technology. This distinction provides a helpful tool for policy makers in assessing the discrepancy of efficiency in both science and technology excellence within and across countries. In our conceptual framework, a national research system’s efficiency can be defined as the extent to which a country is able to transform research assets into excellent research. We conducted efficiency analyses on three main model specifications in which we relate the amount of resource assets (public, private, total R&D expenditure) to the performance on excellent research. In our empirical analysis of efficiency, we report on two methodologies: output/input ratios (partial measures of efficiency) and robust production frontiers (complete and robust measures, order-m and order-alpha method, as developed by Daraio and Simar (2007a). Various conclusions are drawn based on these analyses., JRC.G.3-Econometrics and applied statistics

This report aims at assessing whether the economic structure of Europe is becoming more knowledge-intensive, in comparison with other countries (EU, EFTA and non-European benchmarks US, Japan, China). This entails the measurement of key dimension of structural change with a simple policy tool. The present work builds on and updates the results of the previous Feasibility Study on the development of composite indicators of structural change (Vertesy et al., 2012). It also builds on a previous study by Malerba et al. (2011) that identified indicators measuring changes in the actual sectoral composition of the economy. In this study we construct a composite indicator on structural change at the country level, including indicators on R&D, skills, sectoral specialization, international specialization and internationalization. This composite is a supply-oriented indicator that is largely based on past performance (the outcomes of past efforts that are already measurable in terms of actual value added and employment levels in knowledge-based activities, revealed competitive advantages, supply of skilled human resources, etc.). All these indicators are related to the overall structure of the economy and are slow to change. In order to capture short-term characteristics of structural change related to the dynamics of smaller and younger firms, future research should focus on the development of a longitudinal database collecting indicators on the share of gazelles and the share of high-growth firms in terms of employment and turnover., JRC.G.3-Econometrics and applied statistics

This paper uses Markov Chain Monte Carlo techniques to draw out insight in optimizing the visible light-driven hydrogen production process of Tolod et. al. by specifying which reactions to promote in order to increase the rate of hydrogen gas production from a water-based solution. The objective is to minimize the time it takes to form a new hydrogen gas molecule through controlling the initial concentration of the reactants. An agent-based program has been created to model and simulate the reactor setup. Gibbs sampling has been used to determine a unique and stationary distribution suggesting that reactions producing carbon dioxide and hydronium, when increased, will yield faster hydrogen production for the reactor under study.