More is not always better: Effects of collaboration breadth and depth on radical and incremental innovation performance at the project level

This study investigates the effect of project-level collaboration breadth (i.e., the number of collaboration partner types) and collaboration depth (i.e., the intensity of the interactions with these partners) on the incremental and radical innovation performance of innovation projects. The econometric analyses, based on a Community Innovation Study sample of 218 innovation projects conducted in German manufacturing companies, reveal inverted U-shaped relationships between collaboration breadth and radical innovation performance and between collaboration depth and incremental innovation performance. These curvilinear effects speak to the high sensitivity of innovation projects to the extent of collaborative activity, which implies that practitioners should exert caution in managing collaborative innovation projects. This study contributes to the understanding of project-level open innovation and to the overall understanding of the performance effects of innovation collaboration, which, following recent assertions in the literature, could be flawed by analyses conducted at the organizational level.     

Technological collaboration in product innovation: The role of market competition and sectoral technological intensity

Drawing on the strategic alliances and innovation literature, this study proposes that the impact of technological collaboration on product innovation is contingent on market competition and sectoral technology characteristics. Specifically, it argues that the generally observed positive effect of technological collaboration on product innovation may be diluted in highly competitive markets, and the interactive effect of technological collaboration and market competition on product innovation will be further moderated by sectoral technological intensity. Data on the product innovation and technological collaboration of 944 Chinese firms across five manufacturing sectors provide robust support for the contingent effects of technological collaboration on product innovation.     

Innovation paths and the innovation performance of low-technology firms—An empirical analysis of German industry

This paper analyses innovation paths and the innovation performance of low-technology firms in comparison to medium- and high-technology firms. Firstly, it shows that low-, medium- and high-technology sectors consist of a considerable mix of low-, medium- and high-technology firms. Thus, it is necessary to look at the firm level when analysing how innovation patterns differ depending on the level of R&D intensity. Secondly, the product and process innovation performance of low-technology firms in German industry is analysed based on data from 1663 firms in the German Manufacturing Survey 2006, applying a set of both product and process related innovation output indicators. The empirical results show that low-technology manufacturing firms lag behind their medium- and high-tech counterparts regarding their product and service innovation performance, to a large degree on purely definitional grounds, but that they seem to perform equally well and in some respects even better at process innovation.     

Abandoning innovation activities and performance: The moderating role of openness

Firms are encouraged to continually initiate innovation activities as part of their new product development processes and to be open to the use of external knowledge sources. Yet, many are abandoned. Openness to external knowledge sources and the experience of abandoning innovation activities are, therefore, becoming a part of an organization’s reality and innovation strategy. In this paper, we aim to explore how the experience of having abandoned an innovation activity can affect innovation performance and the role two key dimensions of openness, external search breadth and formal innovation collaboration breadth, play. Using data from the UK Innovation Survey, we find that the experience of having abandoned an innovation activity leads to improved innovation performance and that this is negatively moderated by the two dimensions of openness. When external search breadth is high, i.e. when an organization engages with a higher number of different types of knowledge sources, the link between abandoning innovation activities and innovation performance weakens. Similarly, when formal innovation collaboration breadth is high, i.e. the breadth of a firm’s formal collaboration relationships is high, the link between abandoning innovation activities and innovation performance also weakens. We conclude by discussing the theoretical and practical implications of our findings.     

Policies to promote user innovation: Makerspaces and clinician innovation in Swedish hospitals

As it becomes apparent that users are an important source in innovation in society and in organizations, scholars are realizing that user-directed innovation policy might contribute to improving social welfare. How such policy might be designed, however, is uncertain, as are the costs and benefits of such policies. It is also not clear whether there is a problem for user-directed policy to solve, or what that problem is.As a first empirical step to answering these questions, we report the results of providing hospital clinicians with access to ‘makerspaces’, i.e. staffed facilities with prototyping tools and the expertise in using them.Findings suggest that almost all innovations developed in the makerspaces are user innovations; that the potential returns from the innovations developed in the makerspaces’ first year of operation are more than tenfold the required investment; and that most of the innovations would not have been developed without access to makerspaces. Due to lack of diffusion, only a limited share of potential returns is realized.This suggests not only that there are problems of non-development and under-development that policy can solve and that doing so supports social welfare. It also suggests makerspaces as an effective form of user-supporting innovation policy.     

Experimental methods in innovation research

This paper discusses the possible applications of different types of experiment methods in innovation research. The paper argues that the experiment as a research method has been a largely missed opportunity in innovation research, in particular for creating applicable knowledge for businesses and organisations in the shape of new innovation tools and methods. The paper applies an analytically based limitation of the experiment method which includes an array of both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The use of experiments for such purposes is illustrated through a comparative study of four experiments concerning open innovation in service businesses and organisations. The case studies show how different experiment methods provide new opportunities for innovation research and how they can create new and applicable knowledge about open innovation. Thus the paper argues for applying experiments as an addition to other research methods in innovation research.     

A theory of grand innovation prizes

The past decade has witnessed a resurgence in innovation awards, in particular of grand innovation prizes (GIPs) which are rewards to innovators developing technologies reaching performance goals and requiring breakthrough solutions. GIPs typically do not preclude the winner also obtaining patent rights. This is in stark contrast with mainstream economics of innovation theories where prizes and patents are substitute ways to generate revenue and encourage innovation. Building on the management of innovation literature which stresses the difficulty to specify ex-ante all the technical features of the winning technologies, we develop a model in which innovative effort is multi-dimensional and only a subset of innovation tasks can be measured and contracted upon. We show that in this environment patent rights and cash rewards are complements, and that GIPs are often preferable to patent races or prizes requiring technologies to be placed in the public domain. Moreover, our model uncovers a tendency for patent races to encourage speed of discovery over quality of innovation, which can be corrected by GIPs. We explore robustness to endogenous entry, costly public funds, and incomplete information by GIP organizers on the surplus created by the technology.     

网络环境下合作技术创新界面与信息状态研究

借鉴流体力学与热力学的研究成果,对企业合作技术创新过程中的界面问题产生的成因及其对信息流动状态的影响进行模拟分析,构造出信息流动判数Jm,对界面以及信息流动状态的定量研究提供新的思路。     

开放式服务创新协同机制研究——以D公司阅读基地为例

随着服务业在国民经济中所占比重的不断上升,服务产业开放式创新中的协同受到越来越多的关注。本文基于开放式服务创新理论,以D公司数字阅读基地作为研究对象,从支持平台、互动网络和业务模式等角度,重点探讨和研究在开放式服务创新模式下,不同创新主体和要素之间的协同创新机制,尝试探索和构建服务产业的协同创新理论,以期为中国服务业特别是现代服务业创新实践提供一定的借鉴。     

The evolving nature of Taiwan's national innovation system: The case of biotechnology innovation networks

The dynamics of national innovation systems (NISs) are a source of considerable academic and policy interest, especially when to address new competitive challenges they involve changing institutions and relationships within successful systems. This paper examines the case of Taiwan which is embarking on a new phase in its approach to building its national innovative capacity through creating the infrastructure for a biotechnology industry. By examining the process and mechanisms by which new biotechnology innovation networks are being created, and contrasting their development with existing networks, we analyse the dynamics of Taiwan's NIS. The paper reviews the prospects for this new phase in Taiwan's transition from ‘imitation’ to ‘innovation’. The paper aims to add to the understanding of how innovation systems evolve. It is concerned with the contributors, processes and challenges of NIS evolution and the form and meaning of its dynamic changes.     

企业技术创新项目评价与中止机理研究

评价技术创新项目的方法有很多,其中实物期权是最合适的方法,但实物期权只适合于单个项目的评价,不适合于同时评价多个项目。针对实物期权方法评价多个项目时存在的不足,建立了实物期权与项目费用最佳投资相结合的技术创新项目评价与中止综合模型框架,认为应该用该理论模型对我国企业技术创新作出投资决策有很大的现实意义和可操作性。     

为什么技术领先企业会缺失创新能力--以索尼公司为例

以索尼为代表的一批技术领先企业在新时期逐渐失去了以往的创新能力和优势地位.这既有领先企业自身的原因,也与时代的变化密切相关.回顾了以往的研究成果,即技术领先两难悖论,创新者的两难,以及开放式创新理论.分析了近年来经济技术环境的变化,提出从内外技术合作,市场反应能力和内部管理能力三个方面对领先企业进行改革的必要性,并以索尼困境为例进行了案例分析.提出对技术领先企业进行调整的建议.     

Leveraging electronic collaboration to promote interorganizational learning

By combining research on interorganizational learning (IOL) with that on IT-enabled collaboration, this study examines the role of electronic collaboration (e-collaboration) enabled through the use of interorganizational information systems in the development of a firm's capabilities such as IOL. Moreover, this study examines IOL as a capability posited between electronic collaboration and firm performance. Finally, we conceptualize IOL as a multidimensional construct composed of information sharing, relationship-specific knowledge memory, and the development of shared meaning and verify the relationships between them. The study provides an empirical analysis of the proposed model and hypotheses by considering data from various industries. The results indicate that e-collaboration was positively related to all three components of IOL. In terms of the relationships between these components, information sharing had a positive effect on relationship-specific knowledge memory, which in turn facilitated the development of shared meaning. Only the development of shared meaning had a significant effect on firm performance. Discussions and implications of the results are provided.     

应用与发展研究国际合作绩效评价系统

本文运用定量与定性相结合的方法，探讨应用与发展研究国际合和绩效评价指标体系，并经广泛调查统计，建立绩效评价的等经标准及含有评价专家权重的综合评价模型，运用效益－－费用比原因，可对绩效进行分析。     

关于首都创新发展的思考--以北京实施\"首都二四八重大创新工程\"为例

\"首都二四八重大创新工程\"是北京市委依据创新发展的思路,完善区域创新体系,打造首都创新发展引擎的战略规划。本文在概括\"首都二四八重大创新工程\"实施经验基础上,从科学发展观的角度,审视了新时期首都进一步完善创新发展模式的战略重点和加速创新发展的战略行动计划。     

大学-企业合作创新的成功要素构成模式研究

大学与企业，是社会经济系统中具有不同价值观念和文化的子系统，它们之间的合作存在一定障碍和困难。通过对大学－企业成功合作的标准和影响因素进行了分析，并对影响因素根据合作创新不同过程加以分类，从而提出大学－企业合作创新的成功要素构成模式，为管理者提供理论依据。     

新时期高职院校图书馆服务创新探讨

首先探讨了服务创新的必要性,信息技术时代,图书馆服务必须适应时代发展。其次讨论了图书馆服务创新的几个方面,包括服务观念、内容、手段等。然后提出了一些创新的手段,图书馆综合功能中心的建设,结合高职院校学生的共性特点开展多层次互动服务,设置会议展览空间利于学生开展课外活动,专业化的馆员服务,个性化服务等。最后给出了创新是否成功的标准,读者是否满意,读者的利用率是否高。     

Self-employment and innovation. Exploring the determinants of innovative behavior in small businesses

This paper explores the determinants of innovation in small businesses from a survey of more than 700 self-employed workers in Andalusia (Spain). Self-employed people running businesses with and without employees were included in the study and two types of innovation - product and process innovation - were differentiated.The theoretical framework adopted distinguishes between three levels of factors affecting the innovative activities of the self-employed: (1) the personal characteristics of the self-employed - such as their motivations and their educational and professional background. (2) The organization characteristics - such as the sector, the number of employees, the dependence on suppliers or clients and the management styles. (3) The characteristics of the external environment.Education appears as a key factor whose impact on innovation comes through two main sources: its effect on self-employed motivations and its influence on the management style of small businesses. Also previous experience as an employee and the comparative level of income in the area where the business is located are shown to be influential factors explaining innovation. Though firm size favors innovation, it does not play a determining role. Furthermore, results show significant differences between the factors explaining product and process innovation. The determinants for innovation in small businesses also vary substantially across sectors.     

河南职院创新创业优化战略及创新机制研究

首先对创新创业人才涵义进行科学分析,进而剖析河南职业院校学生创新创业困境的共性因素,其次创建新型复合实用人才培养模式,提出政府企业社会三位一体创业支持体系和适应社会发展人才培养模式评价机制,最后对我省创新创业职业教育的战略发展进行思考。     

Defining and measuring innovation in all sectors of the economy

This paper combines general definitions of innovation applicable in all economic sectors with a systems approach, to develop a conceptual framework for the statistical measurement of innovation. The resulting indicators can be used for monitoring and evaluation of innovation policies that have been implemented, as well as for international comparisons. The extension of harmonised innovation measurement to all economic sectors has implications for innovation research and for policy learning.