Showing papers in "Journal of Technology Transfer in 2017"
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on regional entrepreneurial ecosystems and offer a complex model of start-ups, Regional Entrepreneurship and Development Index (REDI) and six domains of the entrepreneurial ecosystem (culture, formal institutions, infrastructure and amenities, IT, Melting Pot and demand).
Abstract: This study focuses on regional entrepreneurial ecosystems and offers a complex model of start-ups, Regional Entrepreneurship and Development Index (REDI) and six domains of the entrepreneurial ecosystem (culture, formal institutions, infrastructure and amenities, IT, Melting Pot and demand). Altogether they capture the contextual features of socioeconomic, institutional and information environment in cities. To explain variations in entrepreneurship in a cross-section of 70 European cities, we utilize exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modelling for regional systems of entrepreneurship using individual perception surveys by Eurostat and the REDI. This study supports policymakers and scholars in development of new policies conducive to regional systems of innovation and entrepreneurship and serves as a basis for future research on urban entrepreneurial ecosystems.
480 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the relationship between organizational ambidexterity and firm performance in knowledge-intensive firms, using a quantitative methodology involving a structural equation model to investigate whether external knowledge sourcing enhances the impact of ambideXterity on firm performance.
Abstract: The paper investigates the relationship between organizational ambidexterity and firm performance in knowledge-intensive firms. In particular, using a quantitative methodology involving a structural equation model, the research investigates whether external knowledge sourcing enhances the impact of ambidexterity on firm performance. The results show that organizational ambidexterity in knowledge-intensive firms does not, in fact, have a significant impact on firm performance, but it does have a positive and significant mediating effect considering external knowledge sourcing. The findings are presented along with interesting and significant implications for both theory and practice, largely stemming from the still much neglected relationship between organizational ambidexterity and external knowledge sourcing in the open innovation context.
235 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the role of social networking sites in relation to innovation and knowledge in small-to medium enterprises has been investigated, and recommendations are proffered as to what small-medium enterprises should do in order to enhance their innovativeness.
Abstract: The combination of knowledge and innovation has become a cornerstone among knowledge and labour intensive enterprises. A growing number of enterprises are defined as knowledge intensive entrepreneurship ventures that have been widely studied in relation to their eco-system. However only few research have addressed this phenomenon to enterprises digital eco-system by adopting mainly a qualitatively approach. We point out that the relevance of the digital eco-system focusing on the role of social networking sites in relationship to innovation and knowledge. The use of social networking sites can provide a wealth of information about individuals and their networks, which can be utilised for various business purposes. It enables enterprises to create online communities and share user-created content. Within this context, enterprises actively interact with external actors such as customers, public institutions, and other businesses to acquire and absorb external knowledge, and then generate innovation. To gain insights from the global economy, 215 small to medium enterprises from different sets of global enterprises, both knowledge-intensive (e.g. management consulting, marketing and advertising, ICT and related services, legal and technical services) and labour-intensive (such as high tech and electronics, food and beverage, and consumer durables), were analysed. Via the Partial Least Square-Path Modelling the relationships between social networking sites, absorptive capacity, and innovation performance were measured. Therefore, recommendations are proffered as to what small-medium enterprises should do in order to enhance their innovativeness. The research ends with conclusions and implications to both scholars and practitioners.
204 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors develop a framework to understand the ecosystem required to enable students to launch successful startups, including university mechanisms to facilitate student entrepreneurship, along with a continuum of involvement from pre-accelerators through to accelerators; the involvement of a variety of entrepreneurs, support actors and investors.
Abstract: New initiatives in student entrepreneurship programs are moving rapidly beyond traditional classroom teaching to experiential learning, which is associated with improved employment outcomes for students (Gosen and Washbush in Simul Gaming, 35:270–293, 2004). Unfortunately, we lack a framework to understand the ecosystem required to enable our students to launch successful startups. In this article, we develop such a framework. The elements of this framework include university mechanisms to facilitate student entrepreneurship, along with a continuum of involvement from pre-accelerators through to accelerators; the involvement of a variety of entrepreneurs, support actors and investors; the particular nature of the university environment and the external context; and their evolution over time. We also consider the important issue of funding mechanisms.
182 citations
TL;DR: In this article, an integrative research model was developed to assess the effect of different factors on social web knowledge sharing and its effect on innovation performance in manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Abstract: This paper develops an integrative research model to assess the effect of different factors on social web knowledge sharing and its effect on innovation performance in manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In addition, this study analyzes whether social web knowledge sharing may be a mediator in the relationship between human resource (HR) practices and innovation performance. The proposed research model and its associated hypotheses were tested by using partial least squares structural equation modeling on a dataset of manufacturing SMEs. This study contributes to research seeking to understand the factors affecting social web knowledge sharing by demonstrating that technological and organizational factors have greater impact than environmental factors on social web knowledge sharing. It also contributes to research by exploring the indirect effects of the social influence of HR practices on organizational innovation performance by offering evidence on the mediating effect of social web knowledge sharing in the relationship between HR practices and organizational innovation performance in manufacturing SMEs.
137 citations
TL;DR: In the management literature, when knowledge comes so deeply incorporated within a firm this has been usually reflected in a widely used concept: the knowledge-intensive enterprise, a term that has received significant attention from scholars and researchers, now expressing a category of organizations within academic scientific research as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Management scholars have widely acknowledged that we live a new era of economic development, the so-called knowledge economy, where knowledge appears to be the key foundation of value creation. During the recent years, it seems like knowledge has become an all-embracing term that has come to stand for all the magic that goes on within contemporary organizations, making them successful. Knowledge is then an immaterial and ubiquitous asset, embodied into individuals and embedded in their routines and artefacts. From this shadowy asset arises the main research purpose of several management scholars: to ascertain the underlying organizational alchemy and the mystery of knowledge. In the managerial literature, when knowledge comes so deeply incorporated within a firm this has been usually reflected in a widely used concept: the knowledge-intensive enterprise, a term that has received significant attention from scholars and researchers, now expressing a category of organizations within academic scientific research. Likewise, a growing debate is emerging among policy makers and scholars in technology transfer processes and tools for KIEs worldwide.
128 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors draw on the NSI framework, sets it in a larger context, examines the logic of the approach and introduces the special issue by summarizing the papers presented at the conference and selected for this special issue.
Abstract: The perhaps broadest approach to economic performance at the level of a country is the concept of national systems of innovation. Despite the emergence of a compelling literature identifying the persistence of innovative activities and country specific institutional effects, evidence on the nature of national systems of innovation is still missing and a number of crucial questions and answers remain unanswered. To shed light on these issues, as of leading scholars of entrepreneurship and innovation was assembled from around the world for a conference on “National Systems of Entrepreneurship and Innovation” at the ZEW Mannheim in November 2014. This article draws on the NSI framework, sets it in a larger context, examines the logic of the approach and introduces the special issue by summarizing the papers presented at the conference and selected for this special issue.
104 citations
TL;DR: This paper investigated the role of graduate students in early-stage university spinoff companies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and found that graduate students play role similar to that of individual faculty entrepreneurs in university spinoffs, both in terms of making the initial establishment decision and in reconfiguring the organization for marketable technology development.
Abstract: Academic entrepreneurship, the establishment of new companies based on technologies derived from university research, is a well-recognized driver of regional and national economic development. For more than a decade, scholars have conceptualized individual university faculty as the primary agents of academic entrepreneurship. Recent research suggests that graduate students also play a critical role in the establishment and early development of university spinoff companies, but the nature of their involvement through the entrepreneurial process is not yet fully understood. Employing a case study approach, this paper investigates the role of graduate students in early-stage university spinoff companies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. We find that graduate students play role similar to that of individual faculty entrepreneurs in university spinoffs, both in terms of making the initial establishment decision and in reconfiguring the organization for marketable technology development. We also find that student entrepreneurs face unique challenges involving conflicts with faculty advisors and other students.
103 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors use three management theories to structure the literature, improve the theoretical underpinning and develop an agenda for further research on network-based incubation, which leads to a fine-grained model of the mechanisms and impact of network based incubation that goes beyond taken for granted assumptions about the positive impact.
Abstract: The literature on how network-based incubation influences the performance of technology-based start-ups has recently grown considerably and provided valuable insights. However, at the same time this literature has become quite fragmented, inconsistently conceptualised, and theoretically underdeveloped. Therefore, this article uses three management theories to structure the literature, improve the theoretical underpinning and develop an agenda for further research. The management theories are the resource-based view, knowledge-based view, organisational learning, and social capital theory. We find that the network-based incubation literature has convincingly shown that network-based incubation provides start-ups with resources, capabilities, knowledge, learning and social capital. However, the influence of these intermediary benefits on start-up performance is ambiguous. There is a considerable opportunity to advance the network-based incubation literature with contemporary insights from management theories. We propose an agenda for further research on network-based incubation that leads to a fine-grained model of the mechanisms and impact of network-based incubation that goes beyond taken for granted assumptions about the positive impact of network-based incubation.
100 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a systematic literature review of five of the top journals in the field of technology transfer research, namely Journal of Technology Transfer, Research Policy, Science and Public Policy, R&D Management and Technovation, yielded 107 articles using the search terms: (1) case study, (2) case method, and (3) qualitative case method.
Abstract: The focus of this paper is to review the qualitative case methods that have been used in technology transfer research over the last 20 years from 1996 to 2015. Case methods allow for more in-depth analyses and provide the opportunity to place research into a certain context due to the selection of e.g. specific sectors, institutions, countries, etc. Using a systematic literature review of five of the top journals in the field of technology transfer research, namely Journal of Technology Transfer, Research Policy, Science and Public Policy, R&D Management and Technovation, it yielded 107 articles using the search terms: “Technology Transfer” AND (“Case Study” OR “Case Method” OR “Qualitative”). Our findings indicate a clustering of themes using qualitative case methods around technology transfer mechanisms and TTOs, academic entrepreneurship, university-industry collaboration, commercialization as well as R&D and firm knowledge transfer. We also identify trends in case method technology transfer research with respect to authorship, location of papers, sectoral contexts, data collection, numbers of cases and data analysis software. We conclude our paper discussing the implications of trends and themes and suggest that researchers need to reflect on used terminology and their utilization and postulate a need for more plurality of data collection methods.
87 citations
TL;DR: The authors summarizes the literature on science and technology parks in an effort to provide a foundation to stimulate additional research in this globally important topic and find that the current distribution of the country focus of this research is skewed toward China, the United Kingdom, Spain, and the United States.
Abstract: This paper summarizes the extant literature on science and technology parks in an effort to provide a foundation to stimulate additional research in this globally important topic. We find from our review of published scholarship over the past 30 years that attention to science and technology parks has indeed increased, but it has not yet exploded. We also find that the current distribution of the country focus of this research is skewed toward China, the United Kingdom, Spain, and the United States. Emphasis on studies related to UK and US parks has been primarily due to data availability; in China and Spain the emphasis has been primarily on case studies.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present three studies, empirically grounded within the specific and distinct policy contexts of Spain, Italy and the UK, that reveal new insights on the determinants of technology entrepreneurship.
Abstract: Over the last two decades, the phenomenon of technology entrepreneurship has attracted the interest of researchers and policy makers due to its significant impact upon economic progress. Several authors define technology entrepreneurship as the interface of two well-established, but related fields—entrepreneurship and technological innovation. In this vein, technological opportunities can be recognized and exploited by individuals through new venture creation yet equally can be pursued by individuals or groups within existing public or private organizations. This special section provides a more fine grained understanding of technology entrepreneurship by considering interactions across these individual and organizational levels. We present three studies, empirically grounded within the specific and distinct policy contexts of Spain, Italy and the UK, that reveal new insights on the determinants of technology entrepreneurship. In this introductory paper, we consider the themes and contributions of these papers and provide an agenda for further research outlining a greater use of multi-level approaches to further our understanding of technology entrepreneurship.
TL;DR: In this article, a theoretical model to investigate a sustainable competitive advantage (CA) by developing the absorptive capacity (AC), knowledge transfer (TR), organizational learning (OL) and in Taiwan's financial and high technology industries was proposed.
Abstract: This study proposes a theoretical model to investigate a sustainable competitive advantage (CA) by developing the absorptive capacity (AC), knowledge transfer (TR), organizational learning (OL) and in Taiwan’s financial and high technology industries. Structural equation modeling is employed to examine the influence between each variable and whether their relationships are varied in these two different industries. The study population comprises the top 100 financial and top 1000 high-technology enterprises in Taiwan published by Common Wealth Magazine in 2012. A total of 345 valid responses were collected. The research results indicate that OL serves as partial and full mediators between AC, TR and CA respectively. In addition, moderating effect exists in different industries on the theoretical model. Finally, discussion and implications are described for concluding research findings.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors identify and evaluate the mechanisms that European HEIs are using to nurture industry collaboration at strategic and operational level and assess their relationship with seven UBC activities.
Abstract: Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have been placed at the core of regional innovation ecosystems and encouraged to contribute to the social and economic development of the communities where they operate. In response to this change in the environment, HEIs have faced the need to adapt their organisational culture, practices and structures. In spite of the acknowledged relevance of university-business cooperation (UBC) as a source of HEI competitive advantage, and the recognition that appropriate interventions or supporting mechanisms can effectively foster UBC, there is still little systematic understanding of organizational mechanisms in the HEI management of UBC. In order to fill this gap, this paper identifies and evaluates the mechanisms that European HEIs are using to nurture industry collaboration at strategic and operational level and assess their relationship with seven UBC activities. With a sample of 2.157 HEI managers in 33 countries, the main results highlight the importance of the combination of support at both strategic and operational levels and the core role of the management commitment for all UBC activities. The paper concludes with the contribution to theory and the relevant implications for UBC managers and policy makers.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed the determinants of the gender gap in academic entrepreneurship among UK-based academics from across a wide range of academic disciplines and found that female academics differ from the male academics in the sample in important ways.
Abstract: Our study analyses the determinants of the gender gap in academic entrepreneurship among UK-based academics from across a wide range of academic disciplines. We focus on spinout activity as a measure of academic entrepreneurship, and explore the relevance of the different explanations for the gender gap. Our analysis is based on a unique survey of UK academics conducted in 2008/2009. The survey provides micro-data on over 22,000 academics in the sciences, social sciences, arts and humanities, across all higher education institutions in the UK. Our results show that female academics differ from the male academics in the sample in important ways. Female academics are more likely to be involved in applied research, to hold more junior positions, to work in the health sciences, social sciences, humanities and education, to have less prior experience of running a business, and to feel more ambivalent about research commercialisation. All of these characteristics are correlated with lower rates of spinout activity. Using a non-parametric decomposition analysis, we show that certain combinations of characteristics of male academics have few or no matches to female academics, and these characteristics explain a large proportion of the gender gap.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the impact of science parks on growth and innovativeness of affiliated firms and found that both patenting activity and R&D investments are actively sustained by the presence and quantity of research centres within the park.
Abstract: This paper investigates the impact of Science Parks on growth and innovativeness of affiliated firms. Both the role and the effectiveness of these policy instruments in sustaining tenants’ performances are still open issues. We rely on unique Italian data and compare the performance of firms located within a park with a control sample of off-park firms. Firstly, we focus on the estimation of the treatment effect of being located within the park. Our results show a significant difference between on and off park firms with respect to their innovativeness and propensity to invest in RD to the contrary, firms’ growth appears unaffected by location effects. Secondly, we analyse what features of Science Parks drive the impact on the diverse measures of performance. Our main finding is that both patenting activity and R&D investments are actively sustained by the presence and quantity of research centres within the park. Growth remains a largely unexplained phenomenon and Gibrat law is found to hold robustly within the class of on-park firms.
TL;DR: In this paper, the benefits and potential threats of open innovation and foresight from different standpoints within innovation ecosystems and smart specialisation are investigated, the recent trend of shifting priority setting into technological and social dimensions with the aim of developing specialized clusters and regions is underlined.
Abstract: The paper touches upon the different sides of cutting-edge science, technology and innovation (STI) policy concepts such as clusters and smart specialization and STI management such as open innovation and foresight which are of great interest to researches, scientists and managers in course of building successful business and creating dynamic regions, identifying the priorities of future, coping with uncertainty and rising risks, heated by the global challenges. In particular, we explore the dynamics and interactions of intelligent clusters, research and innovation smart specialization strategies, targeted open innovation and foresight networks within the context of entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems. Having investigated the benefits and potential threats of open innovation and foresight from different standpoints within innovation ecosystems and smart specialisation, the recent trend of shifting priority setting into technological and social dimensions with the aim of developing specialized clusters and regions is underlined. The identified tight linkage between the fruits from cluster smart specialization, open innovation and foresight enables implementing simultaneously all of them at various stages of innovation process. Thereafter the analysis of innovative collaboration forms reveals that the holistic views of open innovators and rational application of foresight are becoming the central message of the strategy development and implementation process.
TL;DR: In this paper, a taxonomy of technology platforms is proposed that may be useful for policy-makers in designing the R&D support measures through assessing a platform's risk level.
Abstract: The paper analyses technology platforms (TPs) that are seen as a valuable policy instrument to assist a multi-stakeholder formulation and implementation of long-term research and development (R&D) programs in specific technology areas. TP are predominantly initiated by policy-makers to support a wide range of priority technologies through direct funding and indirect support measures, information and technology transfer at economy or industry level. The authors propose a theoretical approach to TPs as a science, technology and innovation policy concept. A taxonomy of TPs is offered that may be useful for policy-makers in designing the R&D support measures through assessing a platform’s risk level. The paper clarifies the position of TPs in the science, technology and innovation policy mix. Through a case-study of Russia’s newly established Technology Platforms, designed after the European Technology Platforms, the authors demonstrate the policy adoption and policy learning approach to application of this tool.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors studied the collaborative behavior of all Italian inventors over the 1978-2007 period and found that U-I collaborations are less likely to happen when compared to collaborations involving exclusively university partners of business partners.
Abstract: This paper addresses a number of fundamental research questions on university–industry (U–I) collaborations. Are U–I collaborations intrinsically different from other forms of collaboration, such as inter-firm or inter-university collaborations? Are they more difficult to form? Is their output qualitatively different? What factors facilitate their development? By looking at the collaborative behavior of all Italian inventors over the 1978–2007 period, the empirical analysis shows that U–I collaborations are less likely to happen when compared to collaborations involving exclusively university partners of business partners, and suggests that they tend to generate patents of more general applicability in subsequent inventions—measured by forward-citations. As emphasized by the literature, geographical proximity plays an important role in facilitating all forms of collaboration. At the same time, it works as a possible substitute for institutional proximity, facilitating U–I collaborations. However, the involvement of ‘star inventors’ on both sides of the collaboration can play an equally important role in ‘bridging’ universities and industry.
TL;DR: In 2012, the National Science Foundation (NSF) launched the NSF I-Corps™ program, an innovative funding program that not only offered principle investigators (PIs) funding, but also exposed PIs to an innovation/entrepreneurship curriculum as well as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: In recent years, universities have seen an increasing amount of activity in entrepreneurship and commercialization, not only for students, but for faculty as well. Traditionally, these initiatives have been separate, such that programs and curriculum have been focused on supporting just students or just faculty. In 2012, the National Science Foundation (NSF) launched the NSF I-Corps™ program, an innovative funding program that not only offered principle investigators (PIs) funding, but also exposed PIs to an innovation/entrepreneurship curriculum as well. The University of Michigan (U-M) was one of the first two NSF I-Corps™ Nodes funded in 2012 and has leveraged the program to catalyze the entrepreneurial ecosystem. This paper describes the growth of this entrepreneurial ecosystem since 1983, the call of entrepreneurship in the U-M College of Engineering and describes the role the U-M NSF I-Corps™ program has played across the university. The paper concludes with lessons learned and recommendations to administrators and policy makers considering more active promotion of academic entrepreneurship and commercialization in universities.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on the role of a country's culture in influencing the entrepreneurial attitudes of Principal Investigators, in shaping their ability to combine knowledge theory and business practice, in determining their capacity to strengthen the cooperation between the two domains of research and business, and in supporting research spin-off creation in entrepreneurial universities.
Abstract: The paper focuses on the role of a country’s culture in influencing the entrepreneurial attitudes of Principal Investigators, in shaping their ability to combine knowledge theory and business practice, in determining their capacity to strengthen the cooperation between the two domains of research and business, and in supporting research spin-off creation in entrepreneurial universities. To make Principal Investigators’ orientation match Entrepreneurial Universities’ goals of the marketing of innovation and entrepreneurship is not an easy task. A research-oriented approach, rather than an explorative entrepreneurial orientation, is still predominant in Principal Investigators. Among the factors influencing the strategic orientation towards entrepreneurship of Principal Investigators, the paper argues that the country’s culture could be key. Evaluating the influence of the entrepreneurial culture on a Principal Investigator’s activity is critical in predicting his performance and comparing it with that of Principal Investigators in other countries.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors introduce the special section on university-industry linkages and academic engagement: Individual behaviours and firms' barriers, and summarize the individual contributions along these dimensions.
Abstract: The article introduces the special section on “University–industry linkages and academic engagements: Individual behaviours and firms’ barriers”. We first revisit the latest developments of the literature and policy interest on university–industry research. We then build upon the extant literature and unpack the concept of academic engagement by further exploring the heterogeneity of UI linkages along a set of dimensions and actors involved. These are: (1) Incentives and behaviours of individual academic entrepreneurs; (2) Firms’ barriers to cooperation with public research institutions; (3) Individual behaviours, incentives and organizational bottlenecks in late developing countries. We summarize the individual contributions along these dimensions. There are overlooked individual characteristics that affect the degree of engagement of academics and scholars in cooperating with other organizations, of which gender and the non-academic background of individuals are most crucial. The notion of academic engagement should be enlarged to aspects that go beyond the commercialization or patenting of innovation, but embrace social and economic impact more at large. From the perspective of the firm, barriers to innovation might exert an effect on the likelihood to cooperate with universities and public research institutes, most especially to cope with lack of finance or access to frontier knowledge. We finally propose a research agenda that addresses the challenges ahead.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the effects of technology business incubator (TBI)s funding, technical support and entrepreneurial mentoring on the graduation performance of new technology-based firms in China's three tier cities.
Abstract: This study examines the effects of technology business incubator (TBI)’s funding, technical support and entrepreneurial mentoring on the graduation performance of new technology-based firms in China’s three tier cities. Using new dataset on all TBIs and incubated new technology-based firms from government surveys conducted over five consecutive years from 2009 to 2013 combined with archival and hand-collected data, we find the effects of incubator services on the early growth of new technology-based firms vary according to the local context. Technical support facilities and entrepreneurial mentoring from TBIs are found to have significantly and positively influenced the early development of the firms in the four most affluent tier 1 cities, whilst these effects become less pronounced for the tier 2 and tier 3 cities. These two services are also found to influence graduation performance in the government and university types of TBI respectively. Results support the notion that the effectiveness of an incubators services is shaped by the level of a city’s socio-economic development and that the city location of a TBI does impact the graduation performance of its incubatees.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigate the influence of both types of entrepreneurship on country-level innovation, and furthermore, pay particular attention to the interaction between opportunity entrepreneurship and the amount of opportunities available.
Abstract: Since the work of Schumpeter, entrepreneurship has been regarded as a concept that is in close relation to innovation. However, recent country level investigations show that technology innovation and new business creation can be regarded as two separate phenomena. In this paper we provide an explanation for the above contradiction through the distinguishing between two types of entrepreneurship, necessity and opportunity entrepreneurship. Building on opportunity theory and rational choice theory, we investigate the influence of both types of entrepreneurship on country-level innovation, and furthermore, pay particular attention to the interaction between opportunity entrepreneurship and the amount of opportunities available. We find that necessity entrepreneurship is inversely related to country-level innovation, whereas opportunity entrepreneurship is positively linked to technological progress. The positive effect of opportunity entrepreneurship, however, diminishes with an increased amount of entrepreneurial opportunities. This interaction indicates that opportunity availability is an important element of a country’s entrepreneurship environment.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigate trends in an immature national system of innovation in a late developing economy context, South Africa, and conclude that the incentives that drive academics and that block university-industry interaction are strongly related to universities' differentiated nature as reputationally controlled work organisations, and to the ways in which they balance and prioritise their roles in national development.
Abstract: Firms and economic policy makers need an enhanced understanding of universities, in terms of what academics value and how they interact, if they are to enhance collaboration around the generation and transfer of knowledge and technology between universities and industry. The literature increasingly focuses on identifying incentives and barriers within universities, but is largely limited to contexts in Europe and the USA, and favours individual over institutional determinants. The paper contributes by situating university–industry linkages within the total pattern of academic interaction with external actors, in diverse types of institutions. Empirically, it extends the literature to investigate trends in an immature national system of innovation in a late developing economy context, South Africa. The analysis maps the heterogeneity of academic engagement, focusing on firms, through principal component analysis of an original dataset derived from a survey of individual academics. It concludes that the incentives that drive academics and that block university–industry interaction in contexts like South Africa, are strongly related to universities’ differentiated nature as reputationally controlled work organisations, and to the ways in which they balance and prioritise their roles in national development.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors highlight recent developments of open innovation in companies and show that open innovation is actually a paradigm long practised but the main efforts are targeted to continuously developing the organization and managerial model of companies to meet the new innovation challenges.
Abstract: In line with the growing number and type of innovation sources and partners, companies’ institutional set up to manage the potential problems of multiple sources and partners for innovation is increasingly challenged to develop and maintain effective and efficient corporate innovation activities. The paper highlights recent developments of open innovation in companies. Findings are based on company case studies involving companies from different industries and company representatives. It shows that open innovation is actually a paradigm long practised but the main efforts are targeted to continuously developing the organization and managerial model of companies to meet the new innovation challenges.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyzed the relationship between the perception of barriers to innovation and the firm's propensity to cooperate to mitigate their effect and found that having to cope with different barriers is a deterrent to establishing cooperation agreements, especially when firms lack finance, adequate skills and information on technology or markets.
Abstract: The paper analyses the relationship between the perception of barriers to innovation and the firm’s propensity to cooperate to mitigate their effect. First, we look at whether cooperation with research organizations or private firms is associated with experiencing different types of barriers, for example, financial constraints, lack of human capital or uncertain market demand. Second, we test whether experiencing several types of barriers simultaneously has a super-modular effect on the propensity to cooperate tout court, and the choice of cooperation partner. We find that having to face a single, specific constraint leads to firms ‘sharing the pain’ with cooperation partners—both research organization and other firms. However, the results of a super-modularity test show that having to cope with different barriers is a deterrent to establishing cooperation agreements, especially when firms lack finance, adequate skills and information on technology or markets. The paper adds to the innovation literature by identifying the factors associated with firms’ coping with different barriers by applying a selective cooperation strategy.
TL;DR: In this paper, the importance of corporate venture capital (CVC) programs has grown around the world, and the authors present evidence from the US context described in this paper supports this intuition.
Abstract: Since the 1990s, the importance of corporate venture capital (CVC) programs has grown around the world. CVCs are investments that established firms make in entrepreneurial companies. At the most basic level, CVC describes an equity investment made by a corporation or its investment entity in a high growth, high potential, privately held business. There is no systematic evidence that corporate venture capital investments create value for the investing firms. Firm value, however, can be created as a result of other benefits from investing (e.g., accessing a new technology). These considerations can explain why many firms currently choose to operate venture units: They have recognized the importance of CVC for strategic innovation in addition to its potential to generate financial returns. Some evidence from the US context described in this paper supports this intuition.
TL;DR: This article analyzed the relationship between socio-cultural factors and the freedom-innovation relationship using a hand collected data set of 57 countries and the 50 U.S. states over a 3-year period.
Abstract: Research underlines the importance of socio-cultural factors when establishing a supportive environment for innovation and entrepreneurship growth. Scholars discuss different aspects, ranging from cultural attitudes and religious norms, to aspects of tolerance and social freedom. Following on research tradition, this paper analyzes the freedom-innovation relationship using a hand collected data set of 57 countries and the 50 U.S. states over a 3 year period. We argue and test whether the slope of the freedom-innovation link is shaped by and trades-off the costs and benefits of either weak or strong social ties within a country. Our empirical findings support a positive relationship between the freedom-innovativeness-slope, but not a negative or inverted U-shaped relationship.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors consider the changes in the concept of innovation during recent decades and the degree to which such changes have been of significance to innovation policy, and observe that the notion of innovation in research, statistics, and policy is becoming increasingly broad, which makes it difficult to gain a clear, unambiguous picture of innovation activity.
Abstract: This paper considers the changes in the concept of innovation during recent decades and the degree to which such changes have been of significance to innovation policy. We observe that: (1) the notion of innovation in research, statistics, and policy is becoming increasingly broad; (2) while this broader notion is conceptually more adequate for understanding the complexity of innovation activity, it also makes it increasingly difficult to gain a clear, unambiguous picture of innovation activity; (3) policy concepts built upon this extended understanding of innovation are becoming more complex in terms of governance capacities, coordination capabilities, and evidence-based policy formulation. The broad perception of innovation will, in fact, require substantial innovations in political and administrative systems to apply.