This handbook looks to provide academics and students with a comprehensive and holistic understanding of the phenomenon of innovation. Innovation spans a number of fields within the social sciences and humanities: Management, Economics, Geography, Sociology, Politics, Psychology, and History. Consequently, the rapidly increasing body of literature on innovation is characterized by a multitude of perspectives based on, or cutting across, existing disciplines and specializations. Scholars of innovation can come from such diverse starting points that much of this literature can be missed, and so constructive dialogues missed. The editors of The Oxford Handbook of Innovation have carefully selected and designed twenty-one contributions from leading academic experts within their particular field, each focusing on a specific aspect of innovation. These have been organized into four main sections, the first of which looks at the creation of innovations, with particular focus on firms and networks. Section Two provides an account of the wider systematic setting influencing innovation and the role of institutions and organizations in this context. Section Three explores some of the diversity in the working of innovation over time and across different sectors of the economy, and Section Four focuses on the consequences of innovation with respect to economic growth, international competitiveness, and employment. An introductory overview, concluding remarks, and guide to further reading for each chapter, make this handbook a key introduction and vital reference work for researchers, academics, and advanced students of innovation. Contributors to this volume - Jan Fagerberg, University of Oslo William Lazonick, INSEAD Walter W. Powell, Stanford University Keith Pavitt, SPRU Alice Lam, Brunel University Keith Smith, INTECH Charles Edquist, Linkoping David Mowery, University of California, Berkeley Mary O'Sullivan, INSEAD Ove Granstrand, Chalmers Bjorn Asheim, University of Lund Rajneesh Narula, Copenhagen Business School Antonello Zanfei, Urbino Kristine Bruland, University of Oslo Franco Malerba, University of Bocconi Nick Von Tunzelmann, SPRU Ian Miles, University of Manchester Bronwyn Hall, University of California, Berkeley Bart Verspagen , ECIS Francisco Louca, ISEG Manuel M. Godinho, ISEG Richard R. Nelson, Mario Pianta, Urbino Bengt-Ake Lundvall, Aalborg

The Oxford Handbook of Innovation

Sustainability transitions: an emerging field of research and its prospects

https://www.transitiepraktijk.nl/files/Hekkert_et_al_2007_%20functions_of_%20innovation_systems.pdf

Functions of innovation systems: A new approach for analysing technological change

http://www.diva-portal.se/smash/get/diva2:267496/FULLTEXT01.pdf

Analyzing the functional dynamics of technological innovation systems: A scheme of analysis

A considerable body of work highlights the relevance of collaborative research, contract research, consulting and informal relationships for university-industry knowledge transfer. We present a systematic review of research on academic scientists’ involvement in these activities to which we refer as ‘academic engagement’. Apart from extracting findings that are generalisable across studies, we ask how academic engagement differs from commercialization, defined as intellectual property creation and academic entrepreneurship. We identify the individual, organizational and institutional antecedents and consequences of academic engagement, and then compare these findings with the antecedents and consequences of commercialization. Apart from being more widely practiced, academic engagement is distinct from commercialization in that it is closely aligned with traditional academic research activities, and pursued by academics to access resources supporting their research agendas. We conclude by identifying future research needs, opportunities for methodological improvement and policy interventions. (Published version available via open access)

Academic Engagement and Commercialisation: A Review of the Literature on University-Industry Relations

http://xcsc.xoc.uam.mx/apymes/webftp/documentos/biblioteca/Innovation%20systems,analytical%20and%20methodological%20issues.pdf

Innovation systems: analytical and methodological issues

The purpose of this paper is to analyse some of the ways in which new tcchnology-bascd firms (NTBFs), started after 1975, have contributed to the process of industrial renewal in Sweden. For this purpose, we have developed a novel way of operationalizing the concept of NTBFs and of identifying the population of such companies in Sweden. The method relies heavily on unique data on the educational background of the firm's staff. We found that NTBFs constitute a relatively small but growing phenomenon in Sweden. Although small in magnitude, the firms have contributed to industrial renewal by increasing the knowledge-intensity and science base of Swedish industry and industry-related services. They have also contributed somewhat to the redirection of the knowledge base in Sweden in favour of skills which are central to the innovation process in growth sectors, primarily computer science skills.

New Technology-Based Firms In Sweden - A Study Of Their Direct Impact On Industrial Renewal

The aim of this thesis is to enhance the understanding of the relationship between industrial dynamics and new technology-based firms (henceforth NTBFs). For a population of biomaterials NTBFs in Sweden, Ohio and Massachusetts, we have analyzed two facets of this issue. First, we addressed the process of a firm's establishment, development and performance in relation to the technological system of which the firm is a part. In particular we analyzed (a) pre-firm activities as related to firm development, (b) firm development through network exchanges, and (c) performance as related to connectivity and system functionality. Second, we set out to conceptualize the mechanisms by which new technology-based firms influence the process of industrial dynamics. We found that pre-firm activities pervasively influenced not only the initial formation of a new firm, but to some extent, its further evolution as well. Analyzing the pattern of networking and the associated resource flows (i.e. the connectivity) confirmed the proposition that innovative activity is a collective process, taking place at the interface between the NTBF and its partners. Many of the connections are regional in character, as networks were established in a path-dependent manner. Further, an NTBF develops in the context of three evolutionary co-selective processes: technology evolution, actor functionality and network evolution. As regards firm performance, we found that it was significantly influenced by a number of dimensions of connectivity. In particular, technology-related connectivity proved important. Our analysis also showed that the functionality of a region is influential for the performance of our groups of biomaterials NTBFs. Turning to the second facet, that of the role of NTBFs in industrial dynamics, the analysis clearly showed that the NTBF is one important actor in the evolution of a technological system and in industrial dynamics. It may influence the workings of specific actors and of the technological system as a whole, through a set of interrelated mechanisms. We have contributed to the analytical framework of technological systems through the discussion of functionality, through an elaboration on the concept of connectivity, and by improving the methodology for identifying and delineating a technological system. Implications for management concern three themes: (1) innovation and firm development as collective processes, (2) being embedded versus locked-in, and (3) the need to invest in the system. The two general policy implications are that focus should be on functionality rather than on actors, and that policy initiatives should have a holistic view of functionality. Based on the weaknesses of each region, we pointed to some specific policy measures regarding the provision of input of technological resources, networking and facilitated financing.

New Technology-Based Firms and Industrial Dynamics Evidence from the Technological System of Biomaterials in Sweden, Ohio and Massachusetts

In this study, we respond to calls for further investigation on why and how scientists choose to commercialize their research. Mowery (University entrepreneurship and technology transfer: process design, and intellectual property, Elsevier, Oxford 2005), in his criticism of the US-system, emphasizes the need for multiple channels between university and industry. His argument makes the case of Sweden interesting, where the researchers own the intellectual property of their research. Sweden thus constitutes a unique case where data can be found on which choices researchers make in a setting where a variety of channels for transfer are available. Our empirical data, collected through case studies, allowed for the expansion of the typology for mechanisms for transfer of academic research as well as the development of a typology for determinants for researchers’ choice to engage in transfer of research. Apart from those contributions to the theoretic discussion, the data also provided policy implications.

/pdf/transfer-of-academic-research-uncovering-the-grey-zone-7mai4ybnmz.pdf

Annika Rickne

Papers

Analyzing the functional dynamics of technological innovation systems: A scheme of analysis

Innovation systems: analytical and methodological issues

New Technology-Based Firms In Sweden - A Study Of Their Direct Impact On Industrial Renewal

New Technology-Based Firms and Industrial Dynamics Evidence from the Technological System of Biomaterials in Sweden, Ohio and Massachusetts

Transfer of academic research: uncovering the grey zone