Conceptualising the heterogeneity of research-based spin-offs: A multi-dimensional taxonomy

Research-based spin-offs (RBSOs) have become an important aspect of the technology transfer process. Emanating from what is conventionally a non-commercial environment, RBSOs pose major challenges if they are to realise their potential to meet the objectives of their founders and the parent research organisations (PROs) from which they emerge. An important issue is to understand the heterogeneity of RBSOs. This paper reviews the literature on RBSO typologies to develop a taxonomy of RBSOs. We identify common themes in relation to these typologies in relation to (1) spin-off creation and (2) spin-off development. The dimensions that differentiate between firms are the type of resources, the business model and the institutional link. We identify gaps in current typologies in order to propose avenues for future conceptual and empirical research.     

The use of reverse engineering to analyse student computer programs

In this paper, an explanatory program understander that can analyse student solutions for programming assignments is described. The approach uses a number of reverse engineering techniques and is grounded on a cognitive model of procedural programming knowledge. It will be shown that, through the use of reverse engineering techniques, a lot of feedback (e.g. on errors) can be generated without having to use any prior knowledge on what the program is supposed to do. When such information is available, problem-specific feedback can also be generated. Furthermore, the use of the cognitive programming concepts allows one to specify the errors in an understandable way using exactly the same words and concepts as human programmers. This opens interesting possibilities for other uses of the proposed program understanding technique described in this article.     

Behavioural additionality of R&D subsidies: A learning perspective

The use of R&D grants as a policy instrument has been motivated by economic arguments of market failure. Neo-classical econometric studies have analysed the additionality of one Euro of subsidies on both the investments of companies in the R&D process and the output of that R&D process. More recently, behavioural additionality has been launched as a third form of additionality. In contrast to input and output additionality, behavioural additionality is related to changes in the processes that take place within the firm. In this paper, we analyse the determinants of the behavioural additionality of R&D grants. To explain the mechanism through which behavioural additionality is obtained, we use organizational learning theory as a guide to formulate our hypotheses. Hypotheses are tested using a telephone survey of 192 recipients of R&D grants provided by the IWT in Flanders in 2001–2004, matched to a sample of 84 firms that undertake innovation activities but which had never had a grant bid accepted. We find that congenital learning and interorganizational learning lead to increased behavioural additionality. However, these learning effects decrease with the number of subsidized projects that are undertaken by the company.     

Turning Groups Inside Out: A Social Network Perspective

Most research related to learning in groups focuses on the unit of the group and/or group members. However, students may benefit from crossing the boundaries of their own group, as students in different groups may provide access to new, nonredundant knowledge and opportunities for learning. Whether boundary crossing between groups is beneficial for learning and academic performance has received limited conceptual and empirical attention. Using social network analysis and structural equation modeling, we contrasted pre/post network developments among 693 students (132 groups) across 4 modules at a UK business school. We examined whether it is better for students to invest in social relations in groups to learn and enhance academic performance or to (continue to) invest in social relations outside groups. Our findings indicated that students seemed to learn more from learning relations outside their group than from their own group members. Students with more intergroup relative to intragroup learning relations performed better on module assessments and throughout the academic year than students with more intragroup learning relations. Boundary crossing and intergroup learning deserves more empirical attention and experimentation on how to balance boundary crossing and effective group learning strategies.     

Creating value in ecosystems: Crossing the chasm between knowledge and business ecosystems

Policy makers take initiatives to stimulate knowledge ecosystems in technology hotspots. It is implicitly assumed that these ecosystems will lead to value networks through which the participating companies can realize a competitive advantage. Value networks refer to business ecosystems where the value proposition is offered by a group of companies which are mutually complementary. The strategy literature suggests that business ecosystems lead to competitive advantages for each of the partners in the ecosystem. Based on a unique hand-collected database of 138 innovative start-ups in the region of Flanders, we analyze the knowledge and business ecosystem and the financial support network. We find that the knowledge ecosystem is well structured and concentrated around a number of central actors while the business ecosystem is almost non-existent at the local level. Further, we find that the financial support network is almost 100% publicly backed and fails to bridge the knowledge and business ecosystem. The implications for policy makers who tend to focus on the development of local ecosystems are discussed.     

Exploration and exploitation in innovation systems: The case of pharmaceutical biotechnology

This paper develops a theoretical framework for an explanation of how exploitation and exploration build on each other, in a ‘cycle of discovery’, developed in earlier research. The framework is tested empirically, in the sense of seeing whether it can help to reconstruct and understand the emergence of the pharmaceutical industry. One of the conclusions is that whereas recent literature stresses the idiosyncratic nature of the biotechnological revolution, our analysis seems to reveal that this does not seem to be as unique as suggested. From this, we conclude that the theoretical framework we propose, serves its purpose of explanation. But there are also some lessons for improving it.     

Inspiring vanguards: the Woods Hole experience

Twice a year, the National Library of Medicine and Marine Biological Laboratory co-sponsor a fellowship in Biomedical Informatics for librarians, clinicians, and other health professionals in Woods Hole, MA. The fellowship is designed to inspire participants to become "agents of change" at their institution and to broaden their scope of knowledge for biomedical informatics. This paper discusses the field of biomedical informatics and explores the results of an informal survey from the librarians who participated in the fall session of 2005.     

Co-ownership of intellectual property: Exploring the value-appropriation and value-creation implications of co-patenting with different partners

Combining both interview data and empirical analyses at the patent and firm levels, we explore the value-appropriation and value-creation implications of R&D collaboration resulting in the co-ownership of intellectual property (i.e. co-patents). We make an explicit distinction between three different types of co-patenting partners: intra-industry partners, inter-industry partners, and universities. Our findings indicate that the value-appropriation challenges of IP sharing are clearly evident with intra-industry co-patenting, where partners are more likely to encounter overlapping exploitation domains. Co-patenting with universities is associated with higher market value, since appropriation challenges are unlikely to play a role and collaboration may signal novel technological opportunities. Although we find some evidence that co-patenting corresponds to higher (patent) value, patents co-owned with firms are significantly less likely to receive self-citations, indicating constraints on the future exploitation and development of co-owned technologies.     

Analysis and design for continuous-time string-connected Takagi–Sugeno systems

Distributed systems consist of interconnected, lower-dimensional subsystems. For such systems, distributed analysis and design present several advantages, such as modularity, easier analysis and design, and reduced computational complexity. A special case of distributed systems is when the subsystems are connected in a string. Applications include distributed process control, traffic and communication networks, irrigation systems, hydropower valleys, etc. By exploiting such a structure, in this paper, we propose conditions for the distributed stability analysis of Takagi–Sugeno fuzzy systems connected in a string. These conditions are also extended to observer and controller design and illustrated on numerical examples.     

The role of ethnic school segregation for adolescents’ religious salience

Public concerns over the possible effects of school segregation on immigrant and ethnic majority religiosity have been on the rise over the last few years. In this paper we focus on (1) the association between ethnic school composition and religious salience, (2) intergenerational differences in religious salience and (3) the role of ethnic school composition for intergenerational differences in religious salience. We perform analyses on religious salience, one five-point Likert scale item measuring religious salience among 3,612 16-year-old pupils in Belgian secondary schools. National origin was used as a proxy for ethnicity. Ethnic minority pupils in schools with a higher share of ethnic minorities tend to be more religious. This relation holds for Muslim as well as other religious and ethnic minorities. Ethnic school composition also moderates the relationship between migrant generation and religious salience: second generation migrants tend to be more religious in ethnic minority dominated schools. For ethnic Belgians the association is moderated by their religious affiliation: Catholics tend to be more religious, while non-affiliated ethnic Belgians are less religious in schools with a higher share of ethnic minority pupils.