“Stacking” and “picking” inventions: The patenting behavior of European inventors

By using a sample of 793 inventors drawn from the PatVal-EU dataset, this paper explores three aspects of patent production at the individual inventor level: (1) the number of EPO patents that the inventors produce; (2) the average value of their inventions; (3) the production of the most valuable patents. By jointly estimating the three equations we find that the inventors’ level of education, employment in a large firm, and involvement in large-scale research projects positively correlate with quantity. Yet, apart from the size of the research project, none of these factors directly influence the expected value of the inventions. They do, however, have an indirect influence, as we find that the number of patents explains the probability of producing a technological hit (the maximum value). Also, there is no regression to the mean in the invention process at an individual level, as the number of inventions that an inventor produces is not correlated with the average value.     

Comments on “Multi-dimensional filter banks and wavelets—A system theoretic perspective”

In [S. Basu, Multi-dimensional filter banks and wavelets—a system theoretic perspective, J. Franklin Inst. 335B(8) (1998) 1367-1409], the problems of constructing and parameterizing multi-dimensional (MD) filter banks (FB) and wavelets were studied extensively, especially in the situation of two-dimensional (2D) and quincunx-downsampled systems. Finding the other filter complementary to a given 2D filter for quincunx sampling and linear phase perfect reconstruction (LPPR) system is based on the fact that the construction is possible if and only if the polyphase components of the given filter do not share any common zero. The construction is elaborated in another book chapter [S. Basu, Multidimensional signals, circuits and systems, in: K. Galkowski, J. Wood (Eds.), On the Structure of Linear Phase Perfect Reconstruction Quincunx Filter Banks, Taylor & Francis, London, 2001, pp. 193-208 (Chapter 10)] by the same author. This approach further relies on the fact that the resultant of the polyphase components is monomial. In this comment, we show that both above mentioned facts are not necessarily true for the quincunx FB as well as for general MD FB.     

“农超对接”过程中的订单违约问题研究

在“农超对接”过程中，时常会出现订单违约问题。文章根据对宁夏回族自治区“农超对接”发展情况的调研结果，建立“农超对接”订单违约问题的多智能体仿真模型，揭示“农超对接”过程中订单违约问题的影响因素并回访验证。研究结果表明：（1）农户违约率与农产品价格增长百分比呈同向变化。（2）合作社和超市违约率与农产品合格率呈反向变化。（3）合作社可以通过信息传递向农户产生积极的引导作用，单个农户会受到其他农户“群体偏好”的影响而做出继续参加合作社或退出合作社的抉择。（4）政府对于“农超对接”的政策扶持可以在短期内可以提高“农超对接”的履约率；从长期的角度来说，组织农户科技水平的提高对于“农超对接”的促进效果要高于政府政策扶持水平对于“农超对接”的促进作用。     

“What is a good digital library?” – A quality model for digital libraries

In this article, we elaborate on the meaning of quality in digital libraries (DLs) by proposing a model that is deeply grounded in a formal framework for digital libraries: 5S (Streams, Structures, Spaces, Scenarios, and Societies). For each major DL concept in the framework we formally define a number of dimensions of quality and propose a set of numerical indicators for those quality dimensions. In particular, we consider key concepts of a minimal DL: catalog, collection, digital object, metadata specification, repository, and services. Regarding quality dimensions, we consider: accessibility, accuracy, completeness, composability, conformance, consistency, effectiveness, efficiency, extensibility, pertinence, preservability, relevance, reliability, reusability, significance, similarity, and timeliness. Regarding measurement, we consider characteristics like: response time (with regard to efficiency), cost of migration (with respect to preservability), and number of service failures (to assess reliability). For some key DL concepts, the (quality dimension, numerical indicator) pairs are illustrated through their application to a number of “real-world” digital libraries. We also discuss connections between the proposed dimensions of DL quality and an expanded version of a workshop’s consensus view of the life cycle of information in digital libraries. Such connections can be used to determine when and where quality issues can be measured, assessed, and improved – as well as how possible quality problems can be prevented, detected, and eliminated.     

国外“智慧专业化战略”研究述评

随着经济的发展和专业化分工日益精细,智慧专业化战略为区域科技政策和科技战略发展提供了一个全新思路。智慧专业化战略是一个充满活力和生机的概念,作为“欧盟2020”战略主要框架在欧洲地区得到广泛的宣传和实践。基于智慧专业化战略提出背景,分析智慧专业化战略的概念演进及其特征,探讨其对区域创新驱动发展的影响。从智慧专业化战略的内涵和逻辑结构分析智慧专业化战略的本质,从政策制定和步骤研究分析智慧专业化战略的实施,从评价内容、评价标准和评价模型分析智慧专业化战略的评价。通过介绍国外智慧专业化战略实施方面的案例,为我国区域创新驱动发展提供借鉴和参考。     

技术经济安全评估的“三力”模型构建研究

党的十八大以来,国家安全被提到一个新的高度,随着新一轮科技革命和产业变革的推进以及全球化进入新阶段,技术因素对国家经济安全的影响越发突显,技术经济安全成为亟待研究的课题。文章借鉴了社会生态学领域的“韧性”思想,构建了以“控制力-发展力-保障力”为框架的技术经济安全评估模型,探讨了“三力”的内涵与相互作用机制。在此基础上提出了技术经济安全评估指标体系并采用EWGRP模型,对我国2006~2015年的技术经济安全状况进行测算。结果发现,我国整体技术经济安全状况与发展力呈现上升趋势,但控制力与保障力需要加强。     

"双创"驱动经济发展的效果评价研究

“双创”是经济发展的新动力。对于如何评价“双创”对经济发展的驱动作用，当前“双创”对经济发展的驱动效果如何等问题还缺乏理论关注与实证研究。研究结合“双创”发展特征，在修订波特的钻石模型基础上，构建了“双创”驱动经济发展要素模型并形成评价指标体系，基于324家企业的调查结果，分析了“双创”驱动经济发展的效果。研究结果表明，总体来看“双创”驱动经济发展效果明显，但仍有部分要素需要进一步关注与改善。     

“四链”融合提升创新生态系统能级的理论研究

在全球科技革命和产业变革交织浪潮下,加快产业链、创新链、资金链和服务链的融合建设已经成为世界各国促进产业创新的重要举措。在我国,怎样通过“四链”融合有效提升创新生态系统能级就成为当前亟待解决一个难题。本研究综合运用产业竞争优势理论、区域创新理论、产业链、产业集群等多学科理论,从科技创新视角阐明了“四链”的内涵与实质,诠释了“四链”与创新生态系统之间的内在关系,分析了“四链”促进创新生态系统能级提升的理论逻辑,并构建出“四链”融合框架模型。通过研究发现：“四链”融合的实质是不同创新主体之间的协同深化,正是通过“四链”势力壮大及“四链”之间相互融合、相互作用推动了创新生态系统能级的提升。最后,本文总结得出六条基本融合规律,并提出三条促进创新生态系统能级提升的理论路径,供决策参考。     

Understanding the emergence and deployment of “nano” S&T

As an introduction to the special issue on “emerging nanotechnologies”, this paper puts in perspective contemporary debates and challenges about nanotechnology. It presents an overview of diverse analyses and expectations about this presumably revolutionary set of technological, scientific and industrial developments. Three main lines of argument can then be delineated: first of all, the degree of cumulativeness of science and technologies and the respective roles of newcomers and incumbents in the industrial dynamics; second the knowledge dynamics in nanotechnologies, especially the linkages by science and technology and third the role of institutions (network, geographic agglomeration and job market). It finally discusses methodologies to delineate the field of nanotechnologies and to collect data.     

Exploring the duality between product and organizational architectures: A test of the “mirroring” hypothesis

A variety of academic studies argue that a relationship exists between the structure of an organization and the design of the products that this organization produces. Specifically, products tend to “mirror” the architectures of the organizations in which they are developed. This dynamic occurs because the organization's governance structures, problem solving routines and communication patterns constrain the space in which it searches for new solutions. Such a relationship is important, given that product architecture has been shown to be an important predictor of product performance, product variety, process flexibility and even the path of industry evolution.We explore this relationship in the software industry. Our research takes advantage of a natural experiment, in that we observe products that fulfill the same function being developed by very different organizational forms. At one extreme are commercial software firms, in which the organizational participants are tightly-coupled, with respect to their goals, structure and behavior. At the other, are open source software communities, in which the participants are much more loosely-coupled by comparison. The mirroring hypothesis predicts that these different organizational forms will produce products with distinctly different architectures. Specifically, loosely-coupled organizations will develop more modular designs than tightly-coupled organizations. We test this hypothesis, using a sample of matched-pair products.We find strong evidence to support the mirroring hypothesis. In all of the pairs we examine, the product developed by the loosely-coupled organization is significantly more modular than the product from the tightly-coupled organization. We measure modularity by capturing the level of coupling between a product's components. The magnitude of the differences is substantial—up to a factor of six, in terms of the potential for a design change in one component to propagate to others. Our results have significant managerial implications, in highlighting the impact of organizational design decisions on the technical structure of the artifacts that these organizations subsequently develop.     

The evolution of local production systems: the emergence of the “invisible mind” and the evolutionary pressures towards more visible “minds”

The aim of this paper is to propose an explanation of the changes of dynamic matching between systemic properties of local production systems (LPS) and characteristics of the competitive environment. An evolutionary sequence travelled during the last three decades by Italian LPS is identified and an explanation of long-term dynamics is based on how information flows and knowledge are structured within a local environment. The “traditional” pattern of interlocking behaviours of different agents is defined as cognitive architecture, which evolutionarily emerges as invisible mind. Evolutionary pressures lead new patterns of relationships and interlocking behaviours, which we define as a tendency for more visible “minds” to assert themselves.     

基于“天、地、人”视阈的创业企业案例研究

现有的创业过程模型是基于西方背景的,无法同时实现多悖论、多维度、多层级间的协同。面对中国复杂多变的创业环境和特有的文化内涵,迫切需要从哲学高度重新思考创业过程并进行本土化研究。该文采用多案例研究方法,从"天、地、人"思维框架入手,基于"阴阳平衡"理论整合现有创业理论的对立逻辑,探索出创新生态环境下创业过程模型。结论:创新供给与创新需求的动态不平衡是创业机会的源泉,柔性知识资源和伦理型领导对发现创业机会有重要意义;随着企业刚性知识资源的沉淀,创业企业需要加大创新投入并继续深化伦理型领导;企业创业过程是因果逻辑和效果逻辑相互依存动态变化的过程。     

User-innovators and “local” information: The case of mountain biking

In a study of innovations developed by mountain bikers, we find that user-innovators almost always utilize “local” information - information already in their possession or generated by themselves - both to determine the need for and to develop the solutions for their innovations. We argue that this finding fits the economic incentives operating on users. Local need information will in general be the most relevant to user-innovators, since the bulk of their innovation-related rewards typically come from in-house use. User-innovators will increasingly tend to rely on local solution information as the stickiness of non-local solution information rises. When user-innovators do rely on local information, it may be possible to predict the general nature of the innovations they might develop.     

双积分政策下新能源汽车产业研发补贴研究

双积分政策意在以市场机制引导新能源汽车产业发展，但缺乏对企业技术创新的激励，需要与研发补贴政策组合使用。基于此，本文构建了一个带有研发补贴的双积分政策下新能源汽车供应商制造商决定研发投入水平、供应商产量竞争及制造商产量竞争的三阶段博弈模型，阐释了正积分价格、市场规模对研发投入的影响以及研发补贴的作用机理与效果。研究表明：不考虑研发补贴时，当纵向研发溢出率超过阈值，企业研发投入将随正积分价格、市场规模增加而减少；其次，研发补贴对企业研发投入有激励效果，但应随纵向研发溢出率增加而减少，以规避“挤出效应”。为此提出，“逆溢出率变化”的研发补贴政策与双积分政策组合使用更能完善市场机制，推进技术创新，实现产业健康发展。     

Towards “meta-innovation” in Brazil: The evolution of the incubator and the emergence of a triple helix

A “meta-innovation system” has emerged in Brazil, comprising multiple sources of initiative: top-down, bottom-up and lateral. Meta-innovation explains why the same organizational mechanism, successful in one context, may be relatively ineffective or even a blockage to innovation in another. An incubator movement arose in the transition from the large-scale technology projects of the former military regime. The incubator was reconfigured from its original high-tech focus to a broader set of purposes by University-industry-government actors. Business and social goals were aligned in a development model that has potential for transfer to other countries.     

“融合式研究”的新范式及其评估框架研究

在科技创新驱动经济社会发展的大趋势下,融合式研究成为以解决重大经济社会问题为目标的科研创新新范式。基于文献调研和中科院试点评估实践,本文对这种新范式的特点进行了分析,研究提出了融合式研究的评估逻辑模型,并在此基础上构建了包含四个关键方面的融合式研究评估框架：解决问题的效果评估、学科发展的融合程度评估、创新活动的融合程度评估、权益相关方的融合程度评估。对此四项关键内容,本文提出了一些评估的具体思路和方法,为进一步探索融合式研究的评估理论和实践提供了重要的研究基础。     

秉志论“科学家之精神”及其现代价值

秉志是科学救国的先驱和中国动物学界的开山大师,在科学救国和科研人才培育过程中,尤其注重建构和倡导作为科学家精神品质和行为规范的价值共识--“科学家之精神”的作用,在深入分析二十世纪三四十年代中国科学家精神面貌的基础上,提出并系统阐述了以“公而忘私、忠于所事、信实不欺、勤苦奋励、持久不懈、仁爱之心”为主要内容的“科学家之精神”,对于弘扬新时代科学家精神具有可资借鉴的价值。     

“Follow the Water”: Steve Squyres and the Mars Exploration Rovers

Steve Squyres was responsible for assembling the team of scientists, engineers and instruments that formed the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER). Squyres developed a vision that small-scale observations made by a robotic geologist on Mars would be the key for resolving the mystery of water on Mars. Prior to the MER missions, planetary scientists were divided between groups holding that ancient fluvial-like surface features on Mars were formed by water and those holding that the erosive and depositional forces were tied to liquid and gaseous CO₂. At issue was a fundamental understanding not only of early Martian geological processes and early solar luminosity, but also the possibility of life on Mars. To resolve these questions, Squyres and his team developed a new breed of rovers that were capable of identifying minerals and collecting textural observations. The resulting twin rovers, Opportunity and Spirit, have successfully resolved the single most important question about Mars that scientists have been debating for the past 30 years, providing compelling evidence for the action of water on the Martian surface. Squyres and the MER team have also initiated a new era in planetary exploration and inspired a new generation of students to become scientists and explorers. Steve Squyres and the MER team produced fundamental insights into the geology and climatology of Mars. These have resulted in major advances in our understanding of the potential for life on other planets and of life’s evolution on Earth. For the discovery and elucidation of water on Mars through the “robotic geologists” of the Mars Exploration Rovers, Steve Squyres was awarded the 2007 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Earth and Environmental Science.