Pre-empted patents,infringed patents and firms’ participation in markets for technology

In recent years, firms have increasingly contributed to and been confronted with a patent landscape characterized by numerous but marginal inventions, overlapping claims and patent fences. As a result, firms risk their patent applications to be pre-empted or to be infringed upon by rivals. While both aspects constitute major challenges for the appropriation of returns to inventive activity, extant literature suggests that participation in the market for technology might actually resolve or at least alleviate these problems. In this paper, we investigate the effect of pre-empted and infringed patents on firms’ engagement in in- and cross-licensing. Based on a sample of more than 1100 German manufacturing firms our results show that firms engage in in-licensing as a reaction to pre-empted patents and in cross-licensing if their protected IP was infringed upon. However, these effects vary depending on the fragmentation of technology fields and whether the firm operates in a discrete or complex product industry.     

Quality of geometry instruction and its short-term impact on students' understanding of the Pythagorean Theorem

This article presents findings from a German–Swiss video-based classroom study. The research examines how three basic dimensions of instructional quality impact the development of students' understanding of the Pythagorean Theorem. The study sample comprised 19 German and 19 Swiss mathematics classes. A three-lesson introductory unit on the Pythagorean Theorem was videotaped in all classes. Multilevel analyses revealed both classroom management and cognitive activation to have positive effects on mathematics achievement. The results also provide empirical evidence that cognitive activation and a supportive climate moderate the relationship between mathematics-related interest and mathematics achievement.     

Innovation in times of financialization: Do future-oriented innovation strategies suffer? Examples from German industry

Shareholder value, short-term strategies, quarterly financial reports, and performance-based remuneration are strong indicators of a financial market-oriented company. It is questionable whether innovativeness and sustainable innovation capabilities can be maintained in times of financialization focused on short-term efficiency instead of free space for creativity and learning. Using the example of established German industrial companies, I examined the extent to which financialization and financial market actors steer innovation strategies and practices. In-depth interviews with companies, cluster managers and banks and reviews of financing data do not reveal a direct influence of financial investors on innovation activities. On the contrary, companies’ managements still have the power to decide how much financial control and standardization they allow for their companies’ innovation practices. The pressure on these German companies to innovate comes from their strong market orientation rather than from financialization.     

Nordic-Baltic cooperation in adult education: A collective story of Estonian adult educators

Adult Education has many values, including experiences and co-operation among people, and the fact that adult education is full of stories from adult educators, which can help to understand trends in the past and developments in the present. Established in 1991 as part of a more general regional cooperation among five Nordic and three Baltic countries (NB8), Nordic-Baltic cooperation in adult education has been mutually enriching and has resulted in the growth of a professional network. The cooperation has led participants through a time of new sources of values, knowledge and contacts, socialisation and transformation, inspiration and challenges, which has influenced their experiences and professional identities. This paper is based on the results of a study entitled “Nordic-Baltic cooperation in adult education: Experience and stories” and focuses on the experiences and professional identities of two generations of Estonian adult educators. The empirical data for the study were collected using narrative-biographical interviews. The paper discusses two research questions: (1) What is the perception and influence of experiences for adult educators? and (2) How have their experiences influenced the professional identity of adult educators?     

Competence development in the public sector: Development, or dismantling of professionalism?

For more than a decade, competence development has been a key concept of modern management in both the private and the public sector, but to some extent its meaning and practice have been different in the two sectors. In the public sector in particular, competence development has been closely related to a number of other buzzwords characterizing dominant Neo-Liberal political conceptions, such as Lifelong Learning, New Public Management, Market Orientation and Decentralization. From an idealistic point of view, competence development is intended to promote professionalism, understood as knowledge creation, self-management and the ethical commitment of civil servants. However, the development has increasingly involved elements of supervision, declining flexibility and time consuming evaluation, which may have contributed to the de-qualification and de-motivation of civil servants. It is therefore a basic question as to whether the learning activities normally labelled as competence development are part of a developing or a dismantling process in relation to professionalism in the public sector. This paper seeks to deal with this question in so far as it relates to the case of Denmark, which is usually regarded as a significant example of the so-called Nordic Welfare State Model, implying the strong, democratic and service-minded role of the public sector.     

Environmental education in a ‘green classroom’

The ‘Green Classroom’ in the Botanical Garden of Ulm is an experiential learning forum outside school. Its educational concept is based on experimental learning and is geared towards expanding biological knowledge and developing positive attitudes towards small animals such as invertebrates and insects. The attitudes of 68 school students towards small animals, before and after they visited the ‘Green Classroom’, were assessed and the answers they gave in their questionnaires were compared with those of 60 students froma control group that was not yet exposed to this learning environment. Although the students spent only one morning in the ‘Green Classroom’, some of their attitudes towards small animals improved after their visit. These studies underscore the necessity for direct observation and familiarization of the environment including small animals such as invertebrates and insects for appreciating issues related to biodiversity and conservation.     

Heterogeneity of patenting activity and its implications for scientific research

The increasing commercialization of university discoveries has initiated a controversy on the impact for scientific research. It has been argued that an increasing orientation towards commercialization may have a negative impact on more fundamental research efforts in science. Several scholars have therefore analyzed the relationship between publication and patenting activity of university researchers, and most articles report positive correlations between patenting and publishing activities of scientists. However, previous studies do not account for heterogeneity of patenting activities. This paper explores the incidence of patenting and publishing of scientists distinguishing between corporate patents and patents assigned to non-profit organizations for a large sample of professors active in Germany. While patents assigned to non-profit organizations (incl. individual ownership of the professors themselves) complement publication quantity and quality, patents assigned to corporations are negatively related to quantity and quality of publication output.     

Impact of Process Quality in Early Childhood Education and Care on Academic Outcomes: Longitudinal Meta-Analysis

This meta-analysis studies the association of pedagogical processes in early childhood care and education with outcomes in two academic domains: language and literacy as well as mathematics. It synthesizes evidence from 17 longitudinal studies in nine European countries with 16,461 children in regular center-based care spanning the period between ages 3 and 16. Results of a three-level meta-analysis provided small overall effect sizes for both global and domain-specific process quality, and indicated lasting associations with academic development over children’s school career (ES = .11, Cohen’s d = .22, and ES = .10, Cohen’s d = .20). Effects varied by outcome domain, type of process measure, and differences in adopted analyses, with important implications for pedagogical practice and future research.