Concept Of Innovation System Research Articles

Science parks and regional innovation performance in fiscal austerity era: Less is more?

European financial crisis has raised questions about the sustainability and the contribution of innovation anchors especially in Southern European countries such as Greece. This paper utilizes the concept of regional innovation systems (RISs) and introduces a methodological approach that allows for evaluating an Science and Technology Park’s (STP) contribution into the corresponding RIS performance, taking into consideration (1) the RIS idiosyncrasies, (2) the dominant role of government expenditures on R&D and (3) the underlying complexity of knowledge production and management, under alternative sets of restrictions imposed by fiscal consolidation on the preferences of authorities which design and implement Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) policies. Our framework relies on the estimation of a multi-input–multi-output latent knowledge production function approach and the corresponding efficiency indices. Data requirements are sourced from the Regional Innovation Scoreboard, for the four Greek regions and from a small-scale case study, with respect to the examined regional STP covering the period from 2000 to 2012. The main empirical findings highlight that the contribution of the examined STP in the corresponding RIS performance diminishes alongside with the decrease in GERD investment levels, with respect to all the efficiency indices. These findings are attributed to the structural characteristics of both the RIS and the STP under investigation, and capture their dependence on managing public financial resources for STI activities.

Entrepreneurial universities in the region: the force awakens?

Purpose – The growth in popularity of the regional innovation system approach has, in part, been driven by the need for economies to respond to the after shocks of the global financial crisis. At the same time, the author sees the term anchor institutions are used increasingly to describe organisations that have an important presence in the local community and make some strategic contribution to the local economy. The purpose of this paper is to consider the needs of the micro and small business (MSB) ecosystem through the lens of the entrepreneurial university as a regional anchor institution. Design/methodology/approach – Asheim et al. (2011) refers to regional innovation systems as, an emphasis on economic and social interaction between agents, spanning the public and private sectors to engender and diffuse innovation within regions embedded in wider national and global systems. According to Doloreux and Parto (2005) three dimensions underpin the use of the regional innovation systems concept, namely: the interactions between different actors in the innovation process, the role of institutions and the use of regional systems analysis to inform policy decisions. The author has drawn on contemporary literature on the entrepreneurial university, regional systems of innovation and institutions to explore some key qualities and problems around anchor Institutions, networks and national and local policy. Findings – Following the Chancellor’s Comprehensive Spending Review in November 2015 and post the changes in the Department of Business Innovation and Skills remit the author wants to highlight the way universities can take a lead role as an anchor institution within their region. The author argues that this role should include providing a wider range of formal and informal support, knowledge and resource for MSBs, alongside the usual SME suspects (Hart and Anyadike-Danes, 2014; Witty, 2013; Wilson, 2012). Based on my analysis and involvement in the the work of the eight Entrepreneurial Universities of the Year Award winners – during the author’s time as President of ISBE – He suggested four different ways in which collaboration might be enhanced to ensure MSBs make maximum use of the advice and support on offer from universities playing this anchor role. Originality/value – The results emerging from this work suggest a need for regional policy makers to embrace a innovation-supportive culture, which actually enables firms and systems to evolve over time would be far more effective than those proposed in the latest Comprehensive Spending Review. The outcomes of which will see some of the most robustly evaluated programmes, designed to support small firm growth, closed down and replaced by a commitment (by government) to secure a strong, growing economy, cutting of more red tape and extending small business rate relief for an extra year (Mole, 2015).

Инновационная политика: теория и практика

It is a well-established tradition of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of Russian Academy of Sciences (IMEMO) to study the world’s major social and economic trends while taking into full account the most actual problems of Russia. In 2000s the government announces the course on innovative modernization as the basis for the long-term development strategy of the Russian Federation. Accordingly, the task of monitoring and application of the world experience of regulating this sphere took a priority place among the directions of the Institute’s research activities. The previous article published by ““World Economy and International Relations” Journal in 2006 in connection with the 50-anniversary of IMEMO exposed the principal stages of the examination of the economic aspects of scientific and technological progress (NTP). The IMEMO researchers proposed a radical change in the conceptual approach to respective studies – from NTP to innovations. This ensured a new and highly productive vision of the science, the technology trends and the innovative entrepreneurship within the concept of national innovation systems (NIS). This article is a continuation of the topic while summarizing the results of theoretical and applied research conducted by the team of the Department of Science and Innovation of the IMEMO in the past 10 years during 2005-2015.

What is the social innovation system? A state-of-the-art review

The social innovation system concept in our study is an inter-connection of things or actors in developing, diffusing, and utilising innovation targeting social issues or needs. The impetus of our theoretical contribution is that little or no attention has been given to the topic of social innovation system even though social innovation and social economy are emerging topics of research. Our aim was to analyse the current scholarly contributions by performing a state-of-the-art review. This review will broaden our understanding of the emerging social innovation system concept. The state-of-the-art review of 15 peer-reviewed articles indicates that there are currently four themes of social innovation system. These are institutional, organisational and social-public good and quality of life. Our theoretical and initial study indicates that social innovation system studies have not yet been formalised in the innovation system milieu. Therefore we posit that social innovation system requires more research.

Innovation policies in the Mediterranean area: Towards a Mediterranean system of innovation

The contribution of this paper has both theoretical and policy relevance. It is one of the first exploratory studies of the Mediterranean system of innovation built on the concept of innovation systems. The paper provides a brief literature review and discussion of some data on innovation and research studies in the Mediterranean area. Our analysis suggests that a Mediterranean research and innovation community, capable of competing and integrating itself at a global level, still needs to be developed. Building successful knowledge networks across the region and a cooperative innovation system that could improve the competitiveness of the overall area have become important targets, since Mediterranean countries have to compete internationally. In this context, after exploring the situation of the area and the main theoretical approaches to the topic, this paper shows that the contribution of the European policies for the development of innovation networks in the Mediterranean moves toward a Mediterranean system of innovation.

Livestock Innovation System: Reinventing public research and extension system in India

Innovations in livestock sector are needed as in any other sector, thus, continuously generated globally to increase livestock productivity and improve food security. Most of the research results, research and development outcomes and recommended innovations concerning livestock sector, however, remained confined to the laboratories and libraries in many countries including India. Hence, for effective generation and transfer of innovations, there is a need to gear-up the linkages between technology generation (research), technology dissemination (extension), technology users (farmers') and support mechanisms (inputs supply, market credit etc) and form a networking system among all the stakeholders leading to innovation system, which is dynamic in nature. To this end, the authors have focused on the concept of Livestock Innovation System (LIS) on the lines of Agricultural Innovation System (AIS), emphasizing on the idea that innovations come from multi-stakeholders like researchers, practitioners, innovative farmers etc. Among various multi-stakeholders, public research and extension system is a major policy instrument for promoting generation and transfer of innovations in majority of the countries in the world including India. This paper has reviewed public research and extension system in India in an effort to make a case for LIS with lessons drawn from select developed countries. It highlights the existing livestock research and extension system, challenges faced and future strategies for improving livestock productivity in India.

A Study on Mongolia's National Innovation System: ICT as a Pilot Sector for the Innovation System Development

Innovation system is a framework concept that can be classified in many ways, namely-national, regional, sectoral and technological. Regardless of classification, all these systems have some common features and characteristics as a system. Before the innovation system concept, Mongolia developed and implemented a system to maintain nation's capacity to acquire, absorb and disseminate technologies like other countries. There were two important practices in the system development. Firstly, Mongolia modified and implemented a system "ShBOS" (meant "Invention and Innovative Idea System") that met its unique features to create innovative culture in the nation. Secondly, newly emerged ICT sector was quickly scaled up to be able to export technological products. The main objective of this article is to study modern experience of developing the national innovation system in Mongolia, assess current state of the system, innovation awareness and readiness, and carry out recommendations on its improvement with particular focus on the capacity of ICT sector as a pilot sector. The paper suggests that the above mentioned two achievements can be applied for developing the national innovation system through technological innovation system approach.

The Concept of Innovative System of Enrollment in State Universities of Russia

The article offers new approach to distribution of the budgetary places between the higher education institutions subordinated to the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, and carrying out competition among entrants allowing to allocate the most popular higher education institutions, to provide optimum conditions for entrants enrollment. The theoretical and methodological analysis of the research of the experience of entrants reception in the countries with various type of economy has been carried out. The offered system of reception of entrants will allow to coordinate the market of educational services and labor market and will promote the emergence of synergetic effect from their interaction. Introduction of practice of allocation of the budgetary places on the basis of data on the entrants who presented originals of the aforecited certificates and documents on education to educational institution will finally allow to resolve an issue of what higher education institution is preferable more to entrants who will raise a rating of higher education institution, presenting to it the certificates. The article reveals the innovative system of reception of entrants offered by authors in higher education institutions in the Russian Federation. The offered system has the universal, unified character and can be used in various countries. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n5s1p149

Innovation and Knowledge in Creation of European Union Global Competitiveness and Social Security from Regional Perspective

<em>The main aim of the paper is analysis of the innovation and knowledge in creation of European Union global competitiveness and social security from regional perspective. To the particular goals of the research belong the presentation of the knowledge-based-growth (KBG) theory, the concept of innovation system, the innovation system and innovation process, constructed advantage, the Triple Helix model, Europe 2020 strategy and Innovation Union and Horizon 2020 as the financial instrument implementing the Innovation Union. The important results of the research is the conclusion that in the innovation process also in the European Union very important are the connection between science (universities), market (industry) and government at the regional level. There is positive dependence between innovation activity and effectiveness of the innovation process. The more interaction and cooperation also the creation of enterpreunership it can observe on the regional level than on the state. The new programme of the scientific and innovation research Europe 2020 and Innovation Union are very important factors of the economic growth, social security and global competitiveness of the European Union. The new economic narrative of the European Union is built around three main strands–boosting investments, pursuing structural reforms and fiscal responsibility. </em>

Bureaucratic Rationale and Use of an Academic Concept in Policy-Making: The Rise and Fall of the Regional Innovation System in South Korea

Sonn J. W. and Kang H. Bureaucratic rationale and use of an academic concept in policy-making: the rise and fall of the regional innovation system in South Korea, Regional Studies. This paper contributes to the understanding of the interface between academic research and regional policy. According to the literature on policy rationale, policy-makers select elements from existing academic research that fit their policy rationale. This paper further expands on this idea and argues that bureaucrats not only passively choose academic concepts but also actively reconstruct them. To show this, the paper theoretically distinguishes between three different levels of policy rationale – meta, intermediate and specific – and analyses the way the regional innovation system concept was used in regional policies under South Korea's Roh administration (2003–08).

Recasting ‘truisms’ of low carbon technology cooperation through innovation systems: insights from the developing world

A key challenge of approaches to low carbon technology transfer/cooperation is that too much attention is placed on outcomes, neglecting technology cooperation processes. An innovation systems (IS) analytical lens can help to understand dimensions of what makes low carbon technology cooperation more effective, as IS emphasizes the importance of these technology processes. In developing countries, IS analysis tends to focus on activities of firms, the public sector and universities (also coined the triple helix) aimed at improving the quality of ‘hardware’ while lowering the costs of production. While important, these aspects constitute partial segments of IS. This paper therefore advances the concept of IS within developing countries in the following ways. This paper questions the assumption that these IS are absent and that producer–user interaction is weak, through unpacking the notion regarding who is innovating and what is low carbon innovation. In doing so, we capture the roles of alternative actors (e.g. lay people versus only experts), and activities and products (e.g. ‘improvised’ goods and processes versus frontier, or second-tier, technologies) within these systems.

Urban System of Innovation: Main Agents and Main Factors of Success

The paper that follows studies the concept of the “urban system of innovation” and its possible methodological framework of analysis. The paper is structured as follows: Section one is the introductory section, in which the main idea of a system of innovation and how the city became gradually its main point of interest is analyzed. Section two deals with the theoretical and empirical analysis of the concept of the urban system of innovation, reviewing this way related studies and reports. Section three focuses on some methodological issues. Section four describes the examples of four urban systems of innovation, namely those of San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and Boston. Section five is a section that synthesizes in an attempt to first identify the key factors associated with the rise of these areas as successful cases of urban system of innovation and second propose a methodological framework for their analysis. This implies, among other things, identifying its main and secondary actors- players, posing their main field of policy action and describing the necessary interactions between them. The “urban system of innovation” concept is an emerging one, which means that it is now shaped, structured and developed. Malfunctions and distortions are part of its initial formation. The existing concept of innovation system doesn’t deal with the unique societal aspects that tend to be formed upwards and downwards the urban environment. An innovation system of such a small scale has to pay attention not only to the economic actors but also to the whole spectrum of societal challenges. Therefore, now it is the ‘critical’ time to put the basis for future successful cases.

National innovation systems and the intermediary role of industry associations in building institutional capacities for innovation in developing countries: A critical review of the literature

Developed over the past three decades, the national innovation system concept (NIS) has been widely used by both scholars and policy makers to explain how interactions between a set of distinct, nationally bounded institutions supports and facilitates technological change and the emergence and diffusion of new innovations. This concept provides a framework by which developing countries can adopt for purposes of catching up. Initially conceived on structures and interactions identified in economically advanced countries, the application of the NIS concept to developing countries has been gradual and has coincided – in the NIS literature – with a move away from overly macro-interpretations to an emphasis on micro-level interactions and processes, with much of this work questioning the nation state as the most appropriate level of analysis, as well as the emergence of certain intermediary actors thought to facilitate knowledge exchange between actors and institutions. This paper reviews the NIS literature chronologically, showing how this shift in emphasis has diminished somewhat the importance of both institutions, particularly governments, and the political processes of institutional capacity building. In doing so, the paper suggests that more recent literature on intermediaries such as industry associations may offer valuable insights to how institutional capacity building occurs and how it might be directed, particularly in the context of developing countries where governance capacities are often lacking, contributing to less effective innovation systems, stagnant economies, and unequal development.

Innovation system of the seafood industry in Thailand

This paper explores convergence innovations in resource-based industries by conducting a case study of the Thai seafood industry. It adopts the concept of sectoral innovation system as its framework. Through in-depth interviews with representatives from firms and other actors in the system, as well as a technology foresight workshop, the study reveals that there were several product innovations, namely, branded ready-to-eat, ready-to-cook, and frozen products based on Thai, Oriental, Western, and fusion recipes. These innovations were the results of changing demand conditions as well as an integration of knowledge and expertise from science, social science, art, and the services industry. These innovations were achieved through R&D departments having personnel from various disciplines, in addition to interaction between R&D and other departments within firms. In several cases, firms leveraged external knowledge through collaboration with local universities and public research institutes. The study finds that in order for convergence innovation to occur, firms must be proactive in their approach to acquiring and creating new knowledge in their industry. Convergence innovation also requires a strong, coherent sectoral innovation system to be in place.

Innovation systems and knowledge communities in the agriculture and agrifood sector: a literature review

This article examines how research on the agriculture and agrifood systems mobilizes the concept of Innovation System (IS). A literature review on the IS provides an analytical framework for determining its theoretical frame of reference, its area of application and its uses. Based on this framework, a bibliometric analysis of international journals on innovation and agriculture reveals the existence of four knowledge communities, each of which addresses a specific angle of how the IS concept is applied to deal with the specific dimensions of innovation in the agricultural / agrifood sector. The current challenge is to promote exchanges between these communities, particularly between the one that applies an evolutionary approach and the epistemic community, which seeks to build its own concepts originating from the farming system approach and rural sociology.JEL Codes: O31, O39, Q10, Q16

Knowledge spillovers via patent citations across the regions of the Russian Federation - evidence from European patent data

The transmission of knowledge between different entities is a central part of the concept of the national innovation system introduced by Lundvall. As knowledge in general is a statistically rather intangible concept, alternative concepts need to be implemented to account for it. This study uses patent citations to account for codified knowledge flows across the regions of the Russian Federation and is thus the first study focusing on patent citation in the Russian Federation. These flows are quantified and it is shown that basic economic indicators like the quality of the regional research system and the regional income levels are suitable in describing the intensity of knowledge flows.

Regional innovation systems in peripheral regions: insights from western Greece

Despite the widespread popularity of the regional innovation system (RIS) concept, its details remain relatively underspecified, while most studies focus on the attributes of a handful of ‘ideal type regions’. This makes it difficult to explore how economically weak regions are succeeding in developing their potentially missing RIS elements. By investigating a peripheral region in Greece, this paper argues for deeper interaction among innovation actors and develops a five-dimension conceptual framework useful in analysing bottlenecks to regional innovation.

Cognition-Based Networks: A New Perspective on Network Optimization Using Learning and Distributed Intelligence

In response to the new challenges in the design and operation of communication networks, and taking inspiration from how living beings deal with complexity and scalability, in this paper we introduce an innovative system concept called COgnition-BAsed NETworkS (COBANETS). The proposed approach develops around the systematic application of advanced machine learning techniques and, in particular, unsupervised deep learning and probabilistic generative models for system-wide learning, modeling, optimization, and data representation. Moreover, in COBANETS, we propose to combine this learning architecture with the emerging network virtualization paradigms, which make it possible to actuate automatic optimization and reconfiguration strategies at the system level, thus fully unleashing the potential of the learning approach. Compared with the past and current research efforts in this area, the technical approach outlined in this paper is deeply interdisciplinary and more comprehensive, calling for the synergic combination of expertise of computer scientists, communications and networking engineers, and cognitive scientists, with the ultimate aim of breaking new ground through a profound rethinking of how the modern understanding of cognition can be used in the management and optimization of telecommunication networks.

Characterizing and comparing innovation systems by different ‘modes’ of knowledge production: A proximity approach

Though the concept of innovation systems has become influential in both academia and policy-making, an analytical approach to understanding innovation systems is still lacking. In particular, there is no analytical framework to measure 'Mode 1' and 'Mode 2' knowledge production. We propose a framework based on the proximity concept. Mode 1 and Mode 2 knowledge production are characterized by collaborations with cognitive, organizational, social, institutional and geographical proximity, and distance, respectively. Using a gravity model approach we apply our framework to the case of type 2 diabetes research and provide a characterization of the global innovation system and a comparative analysis of the North American and European innovation systems. Our main results hold that although collaborative research on type 2 diabetes generally follows a logic of proximity and hence is not characterized as Mode 2, important differences and similarities exist between the North American and European innovation systems. (Less)

ESOS® – emergency Sanitation Operation System

This paper presents the innovative emergency Sanitation Operation System (eSOS) concept created to improve the entire emergency sanitation chain and provide decent sanitation to people in need. The eSOS kit is described including its components: eSOS smart toilets, an intelligent excreta collection vehicle-tracking system, a decentralized excreta treatment facility, an emergency sanitation coordination center, and an integrated eSOS communication and management system. The paper further deals with costs and the eSOS business model, its challenges, applicability and relevance. The first application, currently taking place in the Philippines will bring valuable insights on the future of the eSOS smart toilet. It is expected that eSOS will bring changes to traditional disaster relief management.