Incentives For Collaboration Research Articles

An Economic Analysis of Interconnection Arrangements Between Internet Backbone Providers

Transit and peering arrangements among Internet backbone providers (IBPs) are essential for the global delivery of communication services on the Internet. In addition, to support delay-sensitive applications (e.g., streaming and multimedia applications) it is important for IBPs to maintain high service quality even if the network is congested. One promising approach is to establish interconnection agreements among providers to dynamically trade network capacity. To make such interconnections possible in a competitive setting, we propose a pricing scheme that considers factors such as network utilization, link capacity, and the cost structure of the interconnecting participants. Our analyses show that the common sender keeps all (SKA) mode of settlement does not provide adequate incentives for collaboration; rather, the provider that delivers the packets should be suitably compensated at an equilibrium price. Two price equilibria are identified: The first favors slower IBPs, whereas the other is congestion based and can be more beneficial for faster IBPs. When cost asymmetries exist, the lower cost IBP needs to offer a price discount to induce participation. We show that a usage-based, utilization-adjusted interconnection agreement could align the costs and revenues of the providers while allowing them to meet more stringent quality of service requirements.

DEFENSE INNOVATION, TECHNOLOGY TRANSFERS AND PUBLIC POLICY

The role of defense in national innovation systems is highly topical, because of the complexity of defense systems and the desire to get value‐for‐money from R&D investment, especially through the commercialization of defense‐funded technology. In practice, external transfer has proved to be a difficult, labor‐intensive process, which requires a strong commitment from both parties. Here, intellectual property rights (IPR) appear as a strong incentive for collaboration. Analyzing the lack of IPR culture in defense industries elucidates the difficulties and failures in spin‐off attempts. We finally propose strategies leading to a market for defense‐born technology.

Landscape Planning and Conservation Biology: Systems Thinking Revisited

Both conservation biology and landscape planning are fields enriched by their solid grounding in professional practice and the real world. Practicing conservation biologists know that landscape planning processes affect biodiversity on the ground, and practicing landscape planners know that biodiversity issues can decisively influence acceptance of planned change. Such pragmatic recognition, however, is not enough to advance the fields. Enormous ecological and public benefits could accrue if the two fields were to actively inform and change each other. Their similar aspirations to affect landscape change are shared with very few disciplines, and that should be a powerful incentive for collaboration, but their roots and cultural imperatives are sufficiently different to distract them from each other. Whereas conservation biology starts with inquiry into the relationships between species and habitats, landscape planning starts with questions about human occupancy of places and regions. While conservation biology depends on the cultures of basic and applied sciences, landscape planning depends on the cultures of professions: design, planning, real estate, and law. Whereas conservation biology is accountable to habitat as an outcome, landscape planning is accountable to human quality of life as an outcome. That habitats and quality of life rest on the same substrate of ecological quality is rather obvious to those who begin planning for places by inquiring into their ecological foundations. Even in this time of burgeoning approaches to sustainable design, however, the systemic, multiscale character of ecological functions clashes with the more piecemeal character of professional, political, and market mechanisms for landscape change. Conservation biology and landscape planning could be engaged in a dynamic exchange beyond these differences, in which each refines the definition and effect of the

Comparative Case Study of Two Biomedical Research Collaboratories

BackgroundWorking together efficiently and effectively presents a significant challenge in large-scale, complex, interdisciplinary research projects. Collaboratories are a nascent method to help meet this challenge. However, formal collaboratories in biomedical research centers are the exception rather than the rule.ObjectiveThe main purpose of this paper is to compare and describe two collaboratories that used off-the-shelf tools and relatively modest resources to support the scientific activity of two biomedical research centers. The two centers were the Great Lakes Regional Center for AIDS Research (HIV/AIDS Center) and the New York University Oral Cancer Research for Adolescent and Adult Health Promotion Center (Oral Cancer Center).MethodsIn each collaboratory, we used semistructured interviews, surveys, and contextual inquiry to assess user needs and define the technology requirements. We evaluated and selected commercial software applications by comparing their feature sets with requirements and then pilot-testing the applications. Local and remote support staff cooperated in the implementation and end user training for the collaborative tools. Collaboratory staff evaluated each implementation by analyzing utilization data, administering user surveys, and functioning as participant observers.ResultsThe HIV/AIDS Center primarily required real-time interaction for developing projects and attracting new participants to the center; the Oral Cancer Center, on the other hand, mainly needed tools to support distributed and asynchronous work in small research groups. The HIV/AIDS Center’s collaboratory included a center-wide website that also served as the launch point for collaboratory applications, such as NetMeeting, Timbuktu Conference, PlaceWare Auditorium, and iVisit. The collaboratory of the Oral Cancer Center used Groove and Genesys Web conferencing. The HIV/AIDS Center was successful in attracting new scientists to HIV/AIDS research, and members used the collaboratory for developing and implementing new research studies. The Oral Cancer Center successfully supported highly distributed and asynchronous research, and the collaboratory facilitated real-time interaction for analyzing data and preparing publications.ConclusionsThe two collaboratory implementations demonstrated the feasibility of supporting biomedical research centers using off-the-shelf commercial tools, but they also identified several barriers to successful collaboration. These barriers included computing platform incompatibilities, network infrastructure complexity, variable availability of local versus remote IT support, low computer and collaborative software literacy, and insufficient maturity of available collaborative software. Factors enabling collaboratory use included collaboration incentives through funding mechanism, a collaborative versus competitive relationship of researchers, leadership by example, and tools well matched to tasks and technical progress. Integrating electronic collaborative tools into routine scientific practice can be successful but requires further research on the technical, social, and behavioral factors influencing the adoption and use of collaboratories.

Vertical Specialization Across Developed Countries

This article explains why a large part of vertical specialization in production takes place across developed countries. By introducing the concept “the Ideal Intermediate Good” it is shown that there are incentives for vertical collaboration between an intermediate good producer and a final good producer. The purpose of locating the intermediate good production in an identical host country is to come closer to the most suitable intermediate good. Thereby the variable costs in the final good production are reduced. When the final good production takes place in one company, we have a vertical integrated multinational enterprise, which splits its production across identical countries. By inclusion of internal economies of scale and transport costs the problem becomes much more complex, and a reallocation of welfare between the countries can be the result.

How to Help Reform Multilateral Institutions: An Eight-Step Program for More Effective Collective Action

Dissension over Iraq in 2003 challenged the legitimacy and effectiveness of the UN. It also highlighted long-standing problems that previous UN institutional reform efforts had failed to resolve. Kofi Annan has been a reforming secretary-general, but even he acknowledged in September 2003 that the core UN institutions needed radical (1) The High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change was the response: (2) wide-ranging, certainly; radical, up to a point; and with at least some of its core recommendations regarding peacebuilding and protection likely implemented at the UN summit in September 2005. However, other recommendations of the High-Level Panel have proved to be problematical. These include key ideas about the composition of the Security Council and about the reform of other UN bodies. This is not surprising. The key question on UN reform has always been not or what but how. (3) Indeed, there have been many previous reports and recommendations, by outside bodies and by the secretary-general. (4) The high principles and values are well established. They include peace, justice, freedom, equity, sustainability, and solidarity. Earlier reports have also made many specific proposals--for example, about membership of the Security Council, the need for stronger institutions to manage the world economy, and voting rights for developing countries on the boards of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Actual reform has often been slow, however, especially where changes to the core institutions are required. For example, Kofi Annan made wide-ranging recommendations when he first came to office, in a document called Renewing the UN: A Programme for Reform. (5) Some of the ideas, described in the document as Track 1 changes, could be pursued internally and included setting up cabinet-style decisionmaking and creating a UN Development Group of Funds and Programs. Others, described as Track 2, dealt with governance arrangements, such as relations with the UN specialized agencies, and made far less progress. (6) Why should this be? Research on collective action offers not only an explanation of why countries might or might not collaborate in particular reforms, but also a way of thinking about actions and processes that might provide a greater incentive for collaboration on UN reform. In fact, an eight-step program can be proposed. We need to start with the theory. (7) At the heart of this is the idea that successful cooperation happens only when certain conditions are met. Researchers in different disciplines have discussed the conditions and have studied cases as varied as villages in India, business associations in New York, and communities of guppy fish. There is also a tradition of analysis using game theory. Sometimes, in these various pieces of research, the actors are all equal--villagers, for example, cooperating in the management of shared forest or grazing land. More often, and more usefully, because of the parallels in the real world, there are disparities in power: there may be one rich landowner, acting as a local superpower, or a shark in the tank with the guppy fish. Some of the research conclusions are unsurprising. Trust turns out to be central--the medium within which exchange takes place, the key ingredient of social capital, and the means by which transaction costs are kept as low as possible. For example, among diamond traders in New York, social networks are so dense that legal contracts are simply unnecessary. There is an important corollary, however: the group has to be small enough that knowledge can be shared. Trust is harder to achieve in large groups and is more likely to require formal institutions for dispute settlement. More generally, the likelihood of cooperation increases when the prevailing culture provides strong reinforcement: noncooperators are simply frozen out. Why, for example, do people not steal the tea bags provided in the office kitchen? …

Integration Through Incentives Within Differentiated Organizations

Drawing on the concepts of organizational differentiation and integration, we present a formal analysis of the manner in which these two consequences of specialization shape the effectiveness of collaborative incentives in complex organizations. We show that ignoring the coordination challenges created by differentiation does not merely impede the achievement of gains from integration through incentives, but can lower organizational performance below the levels achieved when such gains are simply ignored. Thus, treating interunit collaboration purely as a problem of motivating cooperation can be counterproductive. We describe implications in the context of interdivisional relationships and postmerger integration.

Modelling incentives for collaboration in mobile ad hoc networks

This paper explores a model for the operation of an ad hoc mobile network. The model incorporates incentives for users to act as transit nodes on multi-hop paths and to be rewarded with their own ability to send traffic. The paper explores consequences of the model by means of fluid-level simulations of a network and illustrates the way in which network resources are allocated to users according to their geographical position.

Modelling incentives for collaboration in mobile ad hoc networks

Modelling incentives for collaboration in mobile ad hoc networks

The Relationship between R&D Collaboration, Subsidies and Patenting Activity: Empirical Evidence from Finland and Germany

This study focuses on the impact of innovation policies and R&D collaboration in Germany and Finland. We consider collaboration and subsidies as heterogeneous treatments, and perform an econometric matching to analyze patent activity at the firm level. In general, we find that collaboration has positive effects. In Germany, subsidies for individual research do not exhibit a significant impact on patent activity, but the innovative performance could be improved by additional incentives for collaboration. For Finnish companies, public funding is an important source of finance for R&D. Without subsidies, recipients would show less patenting activity, whilst those firms not receiving subsidies would perform significantly better if they were publicly funded.

Systems engineering aspects in theatre missile defense—design principles and a case study

AbstractTheatre missile defense systems are classified as systems‐of‐systems. System‐level design principles should therefore apply to this type of systems. These principles involve mainly balancing between independency and autonomy of the subsystems on the one hand, with strong incentives for collaboration on the other hand. A case study of a theatre missile defense boost‐phase interception system is studied in light of these principles. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Syst Eng 7: 186–194, 2004

Transnational Activist Networks and the Emergence of Labor Internationalism in the NAFTA Countries

Recent accounts of transnational activism have examined a variety of social movement organizations (SMOs) but have paid little attention to labor transnationalism. This article utilizes and adapts this new transnational social movements scholarship to understand contemporary labor activism in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) countries. Exploring the preexisting networks and intramovement cleavages that helped spawn labor opposition to NAFTA, it focuses on labor activists' complaints under the treaty's labor side accord. I explore how rising political opportunities associated with the treaty and its new institutions created new political arenas, targets for activists, and incentives for cross-border collaboration. The cross-border political exchanges that formed part of labor activists' strategies to utilize these new institutions helped activists create new movement frames, transnational identities, and coalitions. While these outcomes support the findings of literature on transnational SMOs, they point to the particular dilemmas labor activists faced in confronting these issues due to their vulnerability, the status of unions as formal organizations embedded in national institutional structures, and the difficulty of imagining policies and strategies that might be effective in this new transnational sphere.

Research Collaboration Between a Small Technology Company and Universities: Results, Opinions, and Conclusions

The incentives for research collaboration between industry and academia are discussed. The problems and the lessons learnt during several projects are analyzed, both from a university and an industry point of view. In the second part, the results of a big collaborations project between Solvias and several universities are shown, and the significant addition of know-how to the Solvias Toolbox will be addressed. Finally, the focus for the future catalysis research in Solvias is described.

Electronic Commerce and Collaboration Between Competing Firms

Investments in electronic commerce technology typically require large sums of money and the realisation of possible benefits is often highly uncertain. Possible investors may also be confronted with the so-called free-rider-problem. Innovators have to bear all development costs. Once standards are established followers (free-riders) may easily imitate the investment. Hence, innovators may not be able to build up sustaining competitive advantages that make their investments worthwhile. As a result, available technology may not be used in an efficient way. A typical prisoner's dilemma scenario prevails. Pre-competitive collaboration may be a possible solution to this problem. The term ,,pre-competitive refers to the possibility of joint application development and/or sharing of information, knowledge and ability. It should not be confused with collusion which may be legally restricted or even forbidden. The goal of the paper is to analyse whether there are economic incentives for pre-competitive collaboration as sketched above. The analysis is carried out with the help of a microeconomic model and techniques from game theory.

Pluralism by the rules: conflict and cooperation in environmental regulation

Despite America's pluralistic, fragmented, and generally adversarial political culture, participants in pollution control politics have begun to collaborate to reduce the high costs of developing, implementing, and enforcing regulations. Edward P. Weber uses examples from this traditionally combative policy arena to propose a new model for regulation, pluralism by the rules, a structured collaborative format that can achieve more effective results at lower costs than typically come from antagonistic approaches. Weber cites the complexity and high implementation costs of environmental policy as strong but insufficient incentives for collaboration. He shows that cooperation becomes possible when opposing sides agree to follow specific rules that include formal binding agreements about enforcement, commitment to the process by political and bureaucratic leaders, and the ensured access and accountability of all parties involved. Such rules establish trust, create assurances that agreements will be enforced, and reduce the perceived risks of collaboration. Through case studies dealing with acid rain, reformulated gasoline, and oil refinery pollution control, Weber demonstrates the potential of collaboration for realizing a cleaner environment, lower compliance costs, and more effective enforcement. Challenging the prevailing view that endless conflict in policymaking is inevitable, Pluralism by the Rules establishes a theoretical framework for restructuring the regulatory process.

Assessment of health producing measures across different sectors

To date, economic evaluation of health producing measures has concentrated on health care treatments and technologies. However, it is increasingly being recognized that many health promoting measures are in other sectors, such as education, safety programmes, income maintenance and improvements to the physical environment. This paper examines the principles of assessing health promoting measures across different sectors and reviews current practice. Such assessments pose methodological challenges not often encountered in health care evaluations, in framing the evaluation, in identifying, measuring and valuing costs and benefits, and in interpreting results. It is concluded that intersectoral economic evaluation is unlikely to provide a complete technical solution to the problem of allocating resources within and between sectors of the economy, but that the application of an economic way of thinking could yield benefits. Five proposals are made for taking matters forward. These include undertaking more pilot studies, insisting on a minimum data set to justify spending plans and increasing the incentives for intersectoral collaboration.

Skewed incentives in our healthcare delivery system

Policymakers agree that cost-containment in healthcare delivery cannot be attained unless the incentives for providers, patients, and payers can be changed. The authors review the existing incentives that have led to escalating costs and conflicting interests for providers, patients, employers, third-party payers and taxpayers. They examine the current incentives for each group and explore the changing incentives that the new integrated healthcare systems and managed care present. They conclude that the new systems are not a simplistic solution to the "healthcare crisis" in cost, access, and quality, but they emphasize that these new systems have already introduced new incentives for provider collaboration and cooperation. The traditional ties of the osteopathic medical profession allow a quick response to creating new integrated systems, but require collaboration to add tertiary care to the profession's strong primary care and community hospital base.

Commercial use of university accelerators: Industrial perspectives

Revenue from unused medical cyclotron time offers an incentive for university collaboration with private industry. Conversely, private industry use of existing cyclotron capacity allows regional radionuclide production and distribution without prohibitive capital investment and liability. The collaboration, although it involves compromises which challenge both parties, should be mutually beneficial.

Auctioning Incentive Contracts

This paper draws a remarkably simple bridge between auction theory and incentive theory. It considers the auctioning of an indivisible project among several fi rms. The firms have private information about their future cost at th e bidding stage, and the selected firm ex post invests in cost reduct ion. The authors show that (1) the optimal auction can be implemented by a dominant strategy auction that uses information about both the first bid and the second bid; (2) the winner faces a (linear) incenti ve contract; (3) the fixed transfer to the winner decreases with his announced expected cost and increases with the second lowest announce d expected cost; and (4) the share of cost overruns borne by the winn er decreases with the winner's announced expected cost. Copyright 1987 by University of Chicago Press.