Innovation in regions: What does really matter?

The literature on systems of innovation conceptualises innovation as an evolutionary and social process of collective learning. But three main questions remain open: is this learning process rather internal or external? What are the boundaries of this process? Is this social process voluntary or rather unintended? This paper strives to tackle those questions by analysing the determinants of regional innovative levels in French manufacturing industries. By estimating a knowledge production function we find that building external interactions is of greater importance than developing internal innovative competences. Second, unintended knowledge flows have less influence on regional innovative performance than deliberate ones. Lastly, the French innovation system looks regional rather than sectoral.     

A re-examination of relevance: toward a dynamic, situational definition*

Although relevance judgments are fundamental to the design and evaluation of all information retrieval systems, information scientists have not reached a consensus in defining the central concept of relevance. In this paper we ask two questions: What is the meaning of relevance? and What role does relevance play in information behavior? We attempt to address these questions by reviewing literature over the last 30 years that presents various views of relevance as topical, user-oriented, multidimensional, cognitive, and dynamic. We then discuss traditional assumptions on which most research in the field has been based and begin building a case for an approach to the problem of definition based on alternative assumptions. The dynamic, situational approach we suggest views the user — regardless of system — as the central and active determinant of the dimensions of relevance. We believe that relevance is a multidimensional concept; that it is dependent on both internal (cognitive) and external (situational) factors; that it is based on a dynamic human judgment process; and that it is a complex but systematic and measurable phenomenon.     

企业内部R&D和外部知识搜寻的交互关系——STI和DUI产业的创新战略分析

利用外部知识实现创新已经成为我国企业创新实践的常用策略。究竟内部R&D和外部知识搜寻之间存在怎样的关系,过多的外部知识搜寻是否会削弱企业内部R&D的战略性地位?本文基于209家中国创新型企业的问卷调查数据,对企业内部R&D活动和外部知识搜寻之间的关系进行了实证分析。研究结果表明外部知识搜寻对提升企业创新绩效有重要影响,但是不同类型的外部合作对象对创新绩效的重要性存在差异。研究发现,企业在创新实践中,内部R&D和纵向合作企业与横向合作企业知识搜寻之间存在互补协同的关系,但没有充分的证据表明内部R&D和大学/研究机构知识搜寻之间存在互补性。内部R&D和外部知识搜寻之间存在互补抑或替代的关系,主要受企业对外部知识吸收能力的影响。     

Memory objects in project environments: Storing, retrieving and adapting learning in project-based firms

This paper investigates the role of objects holding representations of knowledge in the transfer of learning across projects. On the basis of an in-depth case study, this paper shows that the way in which relatively simple artifacts, such as Excel workbooks, represent knowledge enables them to act as boundary objects across occupations and as memory devices across projects. It is the temporal capacity of these boundary objects that makes them points of juncture in a widely distributed memory system, enabling project-based firms to balance preservation and adaptation of knowledge. The mechanisms for the preservation of learning are not missing from project environments, rather they are less visible and less direct than in other settings, and therefore less docile in the face of managerial action.     

Shared inventions and the evolution of capabilities: Examining the biotechnology industry

Do capabilities evolve differently as a function of the firm's unique ties or through the cumulative exposure to specific types of knowledge? We view capability evolution with respect to a firm's accumulation of knowledge-derived assets—patents. This study proposes that capabilities evolve by way of a firm's solo and joint invention experiences, and contends that these capabilities are uniquely shaped by the firm's history of patenting with two specific types of ties, upstream and downstream partners. Using a sample of 11,593 patents produced by 256 biotechnology firms from 1985 to 2006, we find that prior joint invention experience diversifies the capabilities of the firm and broadens its strategic options. In uncovering an inverted ‘U’ relationship, we also find that capabilities evolve differently according to the firm's unique joint invention experiences. Moreover, firms that continue to engage in more joint invention experiences develop broader capabilities than firms that retreat from this strategy and pursue solo inventions, whereby more specialized capabilities develop. Focusing on how R&D strategies impact capability development, our findings extend research on capabilities by accounting for how the path dependent role of shared property rights influences the technological trajectory of the firm.     

Technology parks and regional economic growth in China

China's technology parks have been growing rapidly in the decade that followed their establishment. I examine whether this is merely in response to the policy incentives or there have been external economies from the concentration of high-technology firms in the technology parks as policy makers had hoped. Using data on China's 53 national technology parks from 1992 to 2000 and data on the metropolises that host them, I find results that are consistent with the neoclassical growth mechanism—labor productivity across technology parks is converging and there is no evidence of geographical external economies. But the foreign direct investment the host city receives has robustly contributed to the productivity growth in the technology parks. Finally, I find evidence that in their early stage of development the technology parks have hampered the secular trend of increasing regional inequality in China.     

The determinants of regional innovation in Europe: A combined factorial and regression knowledge production function approach

The present paper studies the determinants of regional innovation in Europe through a knowledge production function approach that combines factorial analysis and regression. Our dependent variable are the patents while we used initially 21 explanatory variables that were converted—by a factor analysis—into five non-observable “hypothetical” variables reflecting five important aspects of the innovation systems: the National environment, the Regional environment, Innovating firms, Universities and the R&D done by Public Administration. Our results show that all factors have a statistically significant effect on the production of knowledge (patents), although they present very different impacts.     

From closed to open: Job role changes,individual predispositions,and the adoption of commercial open source software development

When trying to attain the benefits of open source software (OSS), proprietary closed source software (PCSS) firms are struggling to adopt this radically different practice of software development. We approach these adoption challenges as a problem of gaining support for organizational innovation. Through a mixed-method research design consisting of qualitative interviews and a survey of employees of a large telecommunications firm, we find that the organizational innovation to commercially engage in OSS has different impacts on technical and administrative dimensions of different job roles. Accordingly, individuals enacting different job roles are—on average—more or less well aligned with the OSS practice and OSS processes per se. We find that individual-level attributes can counterbalance the job role changes that weaken support for adopting OSS, while perceived organizational commitment has no effect. Suggestions for PCSS firms are presented and implications for innovation literature are discussed.     

“TimeFairy” Magic Scores

What is time? How istime measured? Whatare atomic time andcoordnated time? Where doesstandard time come from? Now youcan find the answers to such ques-tions at the time website (http://www.time.ac.cn) set up by theCAS National Time Service Center(NTSC).Using this science popular-ization platform, visitors can learnabout time-related science rang-ing from the concept of time todemonstrations of clock brands.With just a click, they can learnabout the historical developmentof the time scale…     

No inventor is an island: Social connectedness and the geography of knowledge flows in the US

Do informal social ties connecting inventors across distant places promote knowledge flows between them? To measure informal ties, we use a new and direct index of social connectedness of regions based on aggregate Facebook friendships. We use a well-established identification strategy that relies on matching inventor citations with citations from examiners. Moreover, we isolate the specific effect of informal connections, above and beyond formal professional ties (co-inventor networks) and geographic proximity. We identify a significant and robust effect of informal ties on patent citations. Further, we find that the effect of geographic proximity on knowledge flows is entirely explained by informal social ties and professional networks. We also show that the effect of informal social ties on knowledge flows is greater for new entrepreneurs or ‘garage inventors’, for older or ‘forgotten’ patents, and for flows across distant technology fields. It has also become increasingly important over the last two decades.     

Knowledge meaning and management in requirements engineering

It is traditionally assumed that requirements specification, as a product of requirements engineering, has a high impact on the ensuing software development stages. Therefore, the knowledge management used to construct the requirements specification should be performed in a structured manner to discover, analyze and understand the data–information–knowledge chain, both tacit and explicit, that the interested parties possess. In this article, the results of a literature review are presented, seeking to answer the following questions: (1) What is the meaning of knowledge in requirements engineering? (2) What approaches are proposed to manage knowledge in requirements engineering? (3) Can the efficiency and the efficacy of knowledge management models be evidenced in requirements engineering? Thirty-six works were chosen for analysis out of a total 83 found in our search. The analysis showed that (1) knowledge has a central significance at this stage, but the authors have yet to agree on the best methods to impart and apply that knowledge; (2) no general framework has emerged as a validated approach to manage knowledge for requirements engineering; and (3) the evaluation marks for model efficiency and efficacy are low, consisting mostly of personal interpretations.     

Unintended consequences on gender diversity of high-tech growth and labor market polarization

There has been considerable media coverage highlighting the lack of gender diversity in Silicon Valley, stressing the relatively low participation of women in the high-tech economy. Austin offers a unique case for testing whether similar gender issues characterized other high-tech regions because the city has historically benefited from the expansion of Silicon Valley’s large high-tech firms since the 1980s. The gender-biased business practices identified in Silicon Valley firms may have been transferred to their branch plants in Austin. Our analysis shows women’s losses in middle-skill occupation employment shares were concentrated in the low-tech industry and were partially offset by job share gains in high-skill occupations in the same sector between 1980 and 2015. Men’s losses in middle-skill occupation job share were also mainly concentrated in the low-tech sector but were partially offset by employment share gains in high-skill occupations only in the high-tech industry during this period. Women made large gains in relative real median wages only in high-skill occupations in the high-tech industry while their relative real median wages in other skill occupations and in the low-tech industry stagnated around zero during this period. Men’s gains in relative median wages were also concentrated only in the high-tech industry but were less than half of women’s and were negative (between ?10 and ?21 percent) in other occupations in the high-tech industry and across all occupations in the low-tech industry. As noted in previous studies, the impact of job polarization is not well understood across sectors and gender. This study finds the high-tech industry in Austin has had unintended consequences in terms of job polarization across gender, providing relatively fewer job opportunities in high-skill occupations to women than men but offering much higher gains in relative real median wages to women than men. Males also found relatively more job opportunities in high-skill occupations in the high-tech industry than women but experienced only half of women’s gains in relative median wages in this industry between 1980 and 2015.     

The problems of backward time travel

The so-called paradoxes of time travel have played a significant role in both the physics and philosophy literatures — but how much force do these alleged paradoxes really have?     

Have university knowledge flows narrowed?: Evidence from patent data

The rate of university patenting increased dramatically during the 1980s. Did the manner in which knowledge embedded in university patents was managed change during this period of rapid patenting growth? Using a Herfindahl-type measure of knowledge flow concentration and employing a difference-in-differences estimation to compare university-to-firm patent citations across two time periods, we find that the university diffusion premium (the degree to which university knowledge outflows are more widely distributed than those of firms) declined by more than half during the 1980s. In addition, we find that the university diversity premium (the degree to which knowledge inflows used by universities are drawn from a more widely distributed set of prior art holders than those used by firms) also declined by more than half. However, these changes are mostly limited to a narrow set of technology fields (i.e., biotechnology and pharmaceuticals in the outflows case and sub-fields of electronics in the inflows case). The social welfare implications are ambiguous.     

CEO学术经历与企业创新

我国改革开放以来的“下海潮”在公司高管团队中形成了学者型CEO的独特现象。本文从这一现实背景出发,基于高层梯队理论实证检验了CEO学术经历对企业创新的影响及其作用机理。研究发现,CEO学术经历能够提高企业创新约10%,该结论在控制内生性及其他稳健性检验之后仍然成立。进一步地,当CEO权力越大或来自内部晋升等CEO对创新决策的影响力越大时,其学术经历对企业创新的促进效应越强。作用机理的检验表明,当CEO从海外取得学术经历或具备高层次学术经历时,其所在企业的创新水平更高;同时,有学术经历CEO所在企业更有可能通过产学研结合的技术创新战略提升企业创新水平,从而为本文的“创新精神塑造假说”提供了较为充分的证据支持。本文在丰富企业创新和高层梯队理论领域文献的同时,对于上市公司制定科学合理的CEO聘任决策及推动企业创新具有重要的启示意义。     

跨学科输入知识对学科发展的影响力分析——以图书情报学科为例

【目的/意义】跨学科输入知识是指其他学科（跨学科）的知识被目标学科多次引用,并逐渐成为目标学科的研究内容,刺激知识创新与生长,进而促进学科发展。因此,识别跨学科输入知识,测量其对目标学科发展的影响力,有利于分析学科进步的跨学科来源及作用力大小,有利于把握学科创新发展的现状与趋势。【方法/过程】基于跨学科引用,从跨学科输入知识在目标学科的研究热度、研究广度、研究深度3个方面,构建跨学科输入知识对目标学科发展的影响力模型,测度影响力程度。并以图书情报学跨学科程度较高的6种期刊数据为研究对象进行实证研究。【结果/结论】通过影响力模型,测量跨学科输入知识对图书情报学的影响力大小,并根据趋势分析法将跨学科知识的影响力趋势分为上升型、稳定型和下降型。【创新/局限】本文构建跨学科知识对学科发展的影响力模型并验证其有效性,后续将进一步分析跨学科知识对目标学科的作用点,识别跨学科知识生长点。     

The nanotech versus the biotech revolution: Sources of productivity in incumbent firm research

Does the adaptation of incumbent firms to new methods of inventing follow similar patterns across industries and inventions? We investigate this question in the context of the revolutionary scientific advances enabling biotechnology and nanotechnology, both of which represent inventions of methods of inventing for incumbent firms. We hypothesize that an incumbent firm's ability to exploit these new methods of invention depends initially on access to tacit knowledge on how to employ the new methods. Over time, however, as firms learn and/or the knowledge becomes codified in routine procedures or commercially available equipment, inventive output is more highly dependent on traditional R&D investments. We empirically test these hypotheses on two longitudinal samples over the 21-year time period between 1980 and 2000: 80 incumbent pharmaceutical firms generating 15,607 biotechnology patents, and 249 firms across a diverse set of industries that were granted a total of 3236 nanotechnology patents. We find broad support for our conjectures.     

Innovation and inter-city knowledge spillovers: Social,geographical, and technological connectedness and psychological openness

Knowledge spillovers across economic agents are central to the process of technological innovation. Yet, the mechanisms by which spillovers travel and manifest as innovation are poorly understood. To fill that gap, we study how knowledge spillovers emanating from other cities (knowledge pools) diffuse and get absorbed. We refine the notion of connectedness by comparing three mechanisms through which knowledge spillovers occur between cities (geographically, technologically, and socially via social media links). We also examine how local psychological openness facilitates this diffusion and absorption process. Using 360 U.S. cities as our empirical context, we find geographically mediated and socially mediated (but not technologically mediated) knowledge spillovers to show positive relationships with the rate of patenting. Moreover, results confirm a positive moderation effect of psychological openness on the relationship between socially mediated knowledge spillovers and the rate of patenting. By providing a more comprehensive test of knowledge spillover mechanisms, our study indicates that the often-quoted physical proximity to knowledge pools remains a robust driver. However, a city's virtual connection to knowledge pools (e.g., via social media links between people) also matter, particularly if that city is psychologically more open. This catalyst of local openness might occur because open populations better absorb inflowing knowledge and utilize it more effectively via key innovators. We discuss implications for research and policy with a particular focus on virtual human (vs. geographically bounded) connectedness and psychological openness as intertwined key areas of a new human geography of innovation.     

An international comparison of sectoral knowledge bases: persistence and integration in the pharmaceutical industry

This paper builds upon and extends existing studies of scientific and technological specialisation by proposing an analytical framework to compare sectoral knowledge bases across countries. It develops the concepts of knowledge persistence and knowledge integration as the relevant dimensions along which knowledge bases can be compared. Persistence is studied by analysing the evolution of specialisation over time. It hints at the cumulative, path dependent nature of learning processes. Integration is studied by analysing the evolution of specialisation across different typologies of research. It hints at the complex, non-linear interdependencies that link the scientific and technological domains. On the strength of an original database encompassing 630,000 peer-reviewed papers published between 1989 and 1996 in 11 chemistry and pharmacology-related fields across three types of research (i.e. basic, applied and development), it is argued that countries with high degrees of both persistence and integration (e.g. the US in pharmacology) are the most likely sources of useful research results for EU firms’ innovative efforts in the pharmaceutical sector. Also, some doubts are cast on the existence of a European paradox in pharmaceuticals.     

An institutional theory investigation of U.S. technology development trends since the mid-19th century

Drawing on institutional theory, we examine how institutions have influenced technology development trends in the U.S. since the mid-19th century. Based on an inductive analysis of the history of technology development and corporate R&D, we show that both formal and informal institutional rules and constraints played a role in the initial rise of markets for technology, their decline during the early-20th century, and their eventual return at the end of the 20th century. We also find that formal and informal institutions influenced the widespread adoption of in-house R&D labs during the mid-20th century. Our study integrates insights from both the economics and sociology branches of institutional theory. This perspective is particularly useful to analyze historical phenomenon and shifts in trends across long time periods.