Knowledge-intensive Activities Research Articles

Finiq rebirth through digital transformation and “digital nomads”

The topic of shrinking cities is multifaceted and affects cities, regions of cities, or entire metropolitan areas that have seen a rapid decline in their economic and social foundations. Therefore, urban shrinking is frequently a problem for metropolitan regions on a large scale and necessitates that policymakers rethink conventional regional government models. Also, Albania's population overall decreased yearly. This problem is very known in the case of Finiq municipality, which is part of Vlora city. Most of the settlements that are part of the municipality of Finiq present a social framework consisting of a shrinking and always aging population. For various reasons, mainly economic, unemployment and lack of services, the young population of these areas has mostly migrated to Greece. In order to restructure rural areas in response to shrinkage, information and communication technology (ICT), digitaliza- tion, and knowledge intensive activities are essential. It is important to understand the differ- ent aspects of the digital revolution, since the situation is evolving into a new normal where "digital" is not only a response to an emergency but also an ongoing investment against risk. Studies has shown that digital nomads often prefer settlements outside urban areas so they can be a significant contributor to the recovery of the economy in Finiq, which largely depends on ICT infrastructure level of municipality. A lot of researches for digital nomads concluded that digital nomads could be crucial in promoting entrepreneurship and the development of technology clusters all over the world. So, the research question is: how can digital nomads be developed as a new market segment in Finiq and how can digital nomads be utilized in the local digital ecosystem? This study focuses on digital nomads as an emerging market group and the possible knowledge transfer function they might play in the local digital environment.

Automated generation of digital models for manufacturing systems: The event-centric process mining approach

Digital and simulation models support the design and management of complex systems. However, system modelling is a time-demanding and knowledge-intensive activity. Moreover, modern manufacturing systems are subjected to frequent changes in production plans and subsequent reconfigurations. Therefore, the quick regeneration of the digital models is necessary to align digital twins and cyber-physical systems. This paper proposes a novel event-centric process mining paradigm, a process discovery algorithm, and a set of Key Performance Indicators for the fast and automated generation of digital models and their benchmarking. The discovery algorithm is based on the Event Relationship Graph of the conceptual model of the physical line. The algorithm is tested in four realistic systems of increasing complexity to verify the accuracy in modelling multi-product systems with re-entrant flows and random reworks in the presence of the assembly, disassembly, and split processes beyond the processing operations, and multi-operation workstations. The Event Relationship Graphs of the four systems are presented through the equivalent Petri nets models. The proposed approach is suitable for systems where the sensor positions are known and meaningful, like manufacturing systems, and it is effective for the quick automated generation of digital models for the activities of production planning and control as it requires a few seconds of computation time and a few hours of system observation.

Intellectual capital and sustainability performance: the mediating role of digitalization

PurposeAs a highly knowledge-intensive activity, digitalization is changing the construction industry landscape and is encouraging construction firms to explore the transformation. This study establishes a new theoretical model aimed at examining the impact of three types of intellectual capital (IC) on digitalization through the lens of knowledge-based view and explores how IC and digitalization influence sustainability performance from the triple bottom line principles.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire survey was conducted to collect data from Chinese construction firms using convenience sampling. A total of 181 valid responses were obtained. Then, a partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) technique was executed through Smart PLS 3.0 software. The measurement model was assessed to ensure reliability and validity, and the structural model was analysed to test the proposed hypotheses.FindingsThe empirical results confirm the positive impact of IC on digitalization and digitalization on sustainability performance. Moreover, digitalization plays a significant mediating role in the relationship between IC and sustainability performance.Originality/valueThe results provide empirical evidence supporting the different roles of IC and digitalization in improving sustainability. The findings contribute to enhancing the understanding of digitalization practices from the perspective of IC and provide theoretical and managerial implications for sustainability issues in the context of the construction industry.

Is collaborative consumption the new gamble to speed digital knowledge up in the accommodation sector?

PurposeThe present article aims to examine the development of the theoretical framework surrounding collaborative consumption (CC) standards in recent years regarding European short-stay accommodation booking platforms. The sharing economy has significantly impacted the tourist accommodation market in recent years. Starting with the use of experimental data on CCs published on Eurostat in 2019, this article analyzes the correlation between choices of CCs for short-stay accommodation, employment and the economic crisis.Design/methodology/approachA vector autoregressive panel approach was applied to investigate the correlation between CC short-stay accommodation choices using panel organization data from 561 EU regions between 2018 and 2021.FindingsAnalyzing the connection between the main data panel variables, a positive correlation was found, followed by an increasing trend in CC use. A self-multiplying effect is generated; that is, the more people use CC, the more electronic captures occur. Consequently, the improvement of CC use and knowledge-intensive activities in short-stay accommodation is strongly linked with employment and GDP.Originality/valueThe originality of the investigation is to examine with a cross-sectional panel data overview the reasons that can push stakeholders to adopt CC and to clearly define a new perimeter of research in terms of the endpoint of CC in short-stay accommodation. Furthermore, the study seeks to assess the end-point congruence to utilize CC as a new gamble to accelerate digital knowledge in the hospitality sector.

FUNCTIONING OF BUSINESS ENTITIES IN UKRAINE IN THE CONTEXT OF PERFORMING SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITIES AND PROVIDING SCIENTIFIC SERVICES

The article analyzes the peculiarities of the functioning of economic entities in Ukraine in the context of the implementation of knowledge-intensive activities and the provision of knowledge-intensive services, which allows to substantiate the essence of the innovation process as the main factor in the development of modern production. The domestic statistical materials were used, in particular the Classification of types of economic activity from 2010, as well as indicators of business entities, grouped according to special aggregations provided for in Regulation (of the European Union - hereinafter EU) № 2020 / 1197 of 30.07.2020 regarding structural statistics of enterprises in 2010-2022 with the aim of forming approaches to the use of the concepts «science-intensive activity» and «science-intensive services». The expediency of dividing knowledge-intensive services into such types as knowledge-intensive high-tech services, knowledge-intensive market services, knowledge-intensive financial services and other knowledge-intensive services is substantiated, which made it possible to reveal the relationship between knowledge-intensive services and knowledge-intensive scientific activities in general, as well as in the business industry in particular. A correlation-regression analysis of the influence of knowledge-intensive services on knowledge-intensive activities in Ukraine, including knowledge-intensive activities in the business industry, was carried out, which allowed to reveal a high density of communication, and the growing straight-line function indicates the need to increase the provision of knowledge-intensive services for the growth of knowledge-intensive activities. Based on the analysis of the normative legal acts, the given laws of Ukraine regulating the use of knowledge-intensive services determine the directions of their implementation in the context of compliance with existing processes and connection with the types of knowledge-intensive activities. The method of analyzing the operating environment was used in order to identify the efficiency between types of knowledge-intensive services and knowledge-intensive activities, which made it possible to justify the need to increase the volume of knowledge-intensive market services, other knowledge-intensive services, knowledge-intensive activities and business industry.

Beyond the Narrative on Marginalisation: The Potential of Knowledge-Intensive Activities to Stimulate Development of a Third Tier City. The Case of Radom

Beyond the Narrative on Marginalisation: The Potential of Knowledge-Intensive Activities to Stimulate Development of a Third Tier City. The Case of Radom

ПРОБЛЕМЫ И ПЕРСПЕКТИВЫ ФОРМИРОВАНИЯ ОТРАСЛЕВОЙ СТРУКТУРЫ ЭКОНОМИКИ ГОРОДА ШУША РЕСПУБЛИКИ АЗЕРБАЙДЖАН

The article considers the problems and prospects for the formation of the sectoral structure of the economy of Shusha in Azerbaijan. For this purpose, the goals and potential of the revival of the city of Shusha in the context of the restoration of post-conflict areas were analyzed. The main characteristics of the socio-economic development of the city are considered. The essence of the problems of ensuring the economic development of a city with complex terrain is explained. Along with accelerating the development of traditional sectors of the economy, attention was focused on the prospects for knowledge-intensive activities. A number of proposals have been prepared in Shusha to ensure the intensive development of tourist and recreational complexes and service sectors.

Knowledge-based economic development of Iran: Mitigating sanctions and enhancing national competitiveness

The knowledge economy is an economic system in which the production of goods and services is based principally on knowledge-intensive activities that contribute to advancement in technical and scientific innovation. A knowledge-based economy is a kind of economy without limitations. This study studies the prospects of Knowledge Economy in Iran. In recent years, the scope of innovative activity and the necessity of a knowledge economy in Iran has grown. However, this study shows that knowledge development alone is not efficient: it is useful only when knowledge is being generated and applied in a real business environment. Iran would probably benefit as well in the case the expertise of national academia and business community is used more intensively; otherwise, it would grow vulnerable if the foreign innovative technologies were only used. Under the current circumstances, Iran, dealing with ever-expanding sanctions, should be seeking opportunities to commercialize its domestic researches and developments.

Migration, Informality, and Unequal Exchange in the Context of the Mexico–US Regional Integration Process

This paper analyzes the complex relationship between migration and informality in the context of the Mexico–US asymmetric and subordinated regional integration process under neoliberalism. It argues that one of the main drivers of contemporary Mexican migration is the uneven distribution of the informal sector—and more precisely, the industrial reserve army of labor—among both countries. In this regard, Mexico operates as a strategic zone of reserve and social reproduction of workforce to satisfy the growing labor demand in the United States through migration. This reveals that the reproduction of the reserve labor army is essentially transnational in nature. The main link between migration and informality from below is through remittances: they serve as a fundamental component for family reproduction and for the procreation of a transnational core labor force that exerts pressure on wages on both sides of the border. Within the framework of the dynamics of informality from above, a growing flow of skilled and highly skilled Mexican migration to the United States has been unleashed, accompanied by aggressive government policies to attract talent in synchronization with the strengthening of innovation and knowledge-intensive activities in that country. We conclude that a critical aspect of informality from above, which reinforces informality from below, is the dismantling and disarticulation of Mexico’s productive apparatus in order to rearticulate it to the United States economy through the installation of export-oriented platforms that operate under an enclave logic, with imported components and under tax exemption regimes.

VSCode-Antimony: a source editor for building, analyzing, and translating antimony models.

Developing biochemical models in systems biology is a complex, knowledge-intensive activity. Some modelers (especially novices) benefit from model development tools with a graphical user interface. However, as with the development of complex software, text-based representations of models provide many benefits for advanced model development. At present, the tools for text-based model development are limited, typically just a textual editor that provides features such as copy, paste, find, and replace. Since these tools are not "model aware," they do not provide features for: (i) model building such as autocompletion of species names; (ii) model analysis such as hover messages that provide information about chemical species; and (iii) model translation to convert between model representations. We refer to these as BAT features. We present VSCode-Antimony, a tool for building, analyzing, and translating models written in the Antimony modeling language, a human readable representation of Systems Biology Markup Language (SBML) models. VSCode-Antimony is a source editor, a tool with language-aware features. For example, there is autocompletion of variable names to assist with model building, hover messages that aid in model analysis, and translation between XML and Antimony representations of SBML models. These features result from making VSCode-Antimony model-aware by incorporating several sophisticated capabilities: analysis of the Antimony grammar (e.g. to identify model symbols and their types); a query system for accessing knowledge sources for chemical species and reactions; and automatic conversion between different model representations (e.g. between Antimony and SBML). VSCode-Antimony is available as an open source extension in the VSCode Marketplace https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=stevem.vscode-antimony. Source code can be found at https://github.com/sys-bio/vscode-antimony.

Entrepreneurial Absorptive Capacity As Enabler of Knowledge Intensive Entrepreneurship: An Empirical Investigation

This paper builds on Qian and Acs (Small Business Economics, 40, 185–197, 2013) concept of entrepreneurial absorptive capacity and empirically investigates its role in the context of new knowledge intensive entrepreneurship. When it comes to the business formation phase and especially to the creation of knowledge intensive entrepreneurial ventures, knowledge inheritance of new firms seems to be more related to individual attributes. The knowledge intensity of these ventures is very much dependent on the founders’ capability to understand new knowledge, combine their knowledge with external knowledge sources, and exploit it in the context of opportunities they can recognise; that is, their absorptive capacity. This study provides new insights into the concept of absorptive capacity by studying it at the individual level enhancing the way of measuring it. Based on quantitative data from a large-scale survey, we conducted a partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) application, which verified the role of entrepreneurial absorptive capacity in triggering knowledge intensive entrepreneurship. Furthermore, the results imply a weaker but positive indirect effect of absorptive capacity to new venture performance. There is also a statistically significant negative influence of competition intensity and a positive influence of equity funding on the formation of knowledge intensive entrepreneurship. At the policy level this analysis reveals the importance of micro-determinants in fostering knowledge intensive entrepreneurial activities.

Aging and regional productivity growth in Germany

We investigate the effects of aging on regional productivity growth, the mechanisms and the strength of which are not well-understood. We focus on two different manifestations of population aging—workforce aging and an increasing share of retirees—and investigate channels through which aging may impact on regional productivity growth for a panel of German counties 2000–2019. We find that workforce aging is more negatively associated with productivity growth in urban than in nonurban regions. A likely reason is that aging is detrimental to innovative and knowledge-intensive activities, which are heavily concentrated in cities. We also find a negative association between the share of the retired population and productivity growth in regions with a small household services sector. A likely reason is that older people’s disproportionate demand for local household services (including health care, recreation) requires a re-allocation of resources from more productive manufacturing or business services to less productive household services. Regions specialized more in highly productive industries have more to lose in this process.

Income Segregation and the Rise of the Knowledge Economy

We analyze the effect of an increase in knowledge-intensive activities on spatial inequality in US cities. We leverage a predetermined network of patent citations to instrument for local innovation trends. Between 1990 and 2010, a one-standard-deviation increase in patent growth increases income segregation by 0.65 Gini points, corresponding to 0.31 standard deviations of the over-time change in income segregation. This effect mainly arises from the sorting of residents by income, occupation, and education. Local shocks to innovation induce a clustering of knowledge-intensive jobs and residents, amplified by the response of rents and amenities. (JEL D31, O31, O33, O34, R23, R32)

The Impact of Foreign Direct Investment from the Nordic Countries on the Structure of Lithuania’s Economy

Foreign direct investment is considered a driving force for economic growth, boosting trade and reducing unemployment. The recipient country benefits from technology transfer. The host economy develops and changes its economic structure. The Baltic states, including Lithuania, attracted high volumes of Nordic FDI. The aim of the study is to evaluate the impact of inwards Nordic FDI on the economic structure of Lithuania. The research employed descriptive statistics, correlation regression and the Granger causality test. The stationarity of the data was checked by the augmented Dickey–Fuller test to evaluate the impact on the structural changes. The sectors were divided into primary, secondary and tertiary. The data have been structured according to the economic activities corresponding to the Nomenclature statistique des activités économiques dans la Communauté européenne (NACE) classification of economic activities in the European Union. The primary sector includes agriculture, forestry and mining. The secondary factors included manufacturing, construction, water and electricity supply, tertiary cover services and trade. Furthermore, for our research, we chose GDP per capita and gross value added (GVA). The GVA was chosen to evaluate the impact of each Nordic country’s FDI on different sectors. The sectoral contribution to the economy is expressed as GVA. This research was performed from three perspectives. The first is focused on the analysis of the flows and distribution of FDI in Lithuania by economic sector in the Nordic countries. Furthermore, we have analysed the impact of foreign direct investment in the Nordic countries on Lithuania’s economic growth. The final subsection is devoted to estimating the causal link between the distribution of FDI by economic sector in the Nordic European countries and the causal link between economic indicators in these sectors. Our study contributes to internationalization theory by extending it from a sectoral angle. In particular, the need to understand the impact of FDI from a single country on the host economy and its economic structure should be emphasized. We claim that inwards FDI might change the economic structure of the host economy in a positive or negative way. In addition, FDI should contribute to the economic advancement of host countries, which means that the tertiary sector should expand. The results of our study might be useful for improving FDI promotion policy in Lithuania while seeking long-term results in the expansion of the tertiary sector, especially knowledge-intensive activities. Main conclusion. We can conclude that Lithuania has the potential to benefit from inwards Nordic FDI; however, it still does not take all the advantages of these opportunities, as some FDI has no impact on the expansion of the tertiary sector or any sector at all.

Что такое устойчивое знание?

The paper investigates the problem of knowledge stability. The purpose of the article is to analyze the theoretical prerequisites for knowledge stability in the economy and society. The study considers the hypothesis about the existence and applicability of stable knowledge in the economy. There are several types of stability: stability in mechanical media, in complex nonlinear systems, asymptotic stability, stability based on the energy criterion, and stability in the institutional environment. “Mechanical approaches” to the stability of economic structures as well as data-driven approaches in management are not considered by the author as comprehensive enough to describe super-complex processes in nonlinear open systems. The article criticizes theories that do not give due regard to the explosive nature of knowledge, setbacks in development, and the existence of limits to growth. Methodologically, the study relies on the synthesis of systemic and synergistic approaches in economics. The research novelty stems from the fact that the study showcases the significance of chaos for knowledge-intensive activity and discusses threats to the stability of the economy and society. The study singles out two types of knowledge with unifying and separating properties. The author links these properties to the specifics of light in physics: civilizational knowledge is like a wave while competitive knowledge is like a particle. A particular emphasis is laid on those properties of knowledge that are based on its “quantum nature”. In this case, small things (knowledge) can control big things, they can completely transform the entire structure and disrupt the stability of the old institutional frameworks. The study puts forward the concept of knowledge genesis as a theoretical and practical transition of stable knowledge into practice. In conclusion, the dangers of reductionist tendencies in economic theory are outlined and avenues for further research are highlighted.

Who were the losers and winners during the Covid-19 pandemic? The rise of remote working in suburban areas

ABSTRACT The Covid-19 pandemic has rapidly altered the habits and lifestyles of every citizen worldwide and will have effects in the medium to long terms. The need for ‘social distancing’ has negatively affected urban areas and encouraged a rescheduling of working methods. Knowledge-intensive activities have been massively undertaken on a large scale in remote working, mainly carried out at home. Within this context, the paper explores the changes in working modalities towards remote working by focusing on the Lombardy region in north-west Italy. Specifically, it explores the renewed suitability of the municipalities outside the regional capital city of Milan with regard to remote workers during the pandemic and compares it with the period before the pandemic, and also it analyses which determinants play a role. The results show that municipalities closer to Milan with a strong broadband connection, a high concentration of knowledge workers and foreign immigrants are more suitable for hosting remote workers.

Design for manufacture and assembly (DfMA) in architectural design meetings: from a case study to knowledge-to-action framework

PurposeDesign for manufacture and assembly (DfMA) challenges architects in managing diverse knowledge across different professional domains. Little research, if any, has documented DfMA as a knowledge-intensive activity happening in real-life cases. This research aims to investigate DfMA knowledge acquisition, sharing and implementation in real-life practice and develop DfMA knowledge-to-action framework for architects.Design/methodology/approachIt does so by (1) conducting observations in design meetings, documentary analysis and interviews, (2) thematic analysis through knowledge management (KM) perspectives and (3) based on this profound understanding, enriching the prior understanding of design as a double diamond process.FindingsThrough the lens of KM, DfMA is not merely a double but multiple diamond process, involving the iteration of making absenting interdisciplinary knowledge available, deciphering tacit knowledge explicit and embedding the knowledge in a design that well considers various criteria, the downstream manufacturing, logistics and assembly in particular. To execute multi-faceted knowledge acquisitions and implementations in DfMA, architects should balance their roles as humble learners, team coordinators, creative leaders and democratic negotiators.Originality/valueThis research reveals the DfMA implementation process, activities and dilemmas from real-world design meetings. The DfMA knowledge-to-action framework developed in this study, along with practice examples and lessons learned, can facilitate architects to play new roles. Future research is recommended to fine-tune the framework by having other stakeholders’ perspectives, refining it with additional cases and developing assistive tools for designers based on the framework.

Nature-inspired innovation policy: Biomimicry as a pathway to leverage biodiversity for economic development

One of the most important challenges of the 21st century is the quest for economic development models that respect the planet's ecosystem. Rather than imposing our industrial systems on nature, why not let nature influence our industrial and innovation systems?From wind turbine blades to bullet trains and solar cells, many of the technologies we rely on today have been inspired by solutions found in nature. Although relatively widespread in the fields of architecture and engineering, biomimicry/biomimetics remains largely overlooked in economics, public policy, and development studies. This is paradoxical because the world's remaining biodiversity stock-a knowledge bank of solutions to both current and unknown challenges- is largely held in developing economies and can be leveraged as a source of inspiration for -and entry door to- industrial innovation. This paper, therefore, investigates the relevance of biomimicry in the formulation of sustainable development strategies in biodiverse developing countries and maps out the national policy landscapes that can advance it.Several findings arise from this study. First, despite the exponential growth of biomimicry as a field and our understanding of its economic impact, what drives nature-inspired innovation remains elusive. Second, the biomimicry innovation landscape is dominated by industrialised economies that have relied on proactive policy interventions, while virtually no developing country has adopted biomimicry as an innovation strategy, consolidating the exploitation of the biodiversity in the developing world by firms in high-income nations. Third, by drawing on empirical evidence from a selection of Latin American countries, this paper shows that while biomimicry presents tremendous opportunities to leapfrog towards high value-added knowledge-intensive activities by using local biodiversity and related expertise as factor endowments, policy, and institutional factors have led to the persistence of important coordination failures that hinder the expansion and commercialization of biomimicry-based R&D. This paper concludes by discussing the public policies needed to support the integration of developing nations at the innovation frontier through biomimicry.

A matter of life and death? Knowledge intensity of FDI activities and domestic enterprise

AbstractThere is no overall agreement on the relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) and domestic enterprise, this may reflect different effects from various types of FDI. A panel data regression approach is adopted to examine the impact of knowledge intensive FDI on both new firm formation and the deaths of enterprises. Jobs created by FDI are found to not influence firm births, but influence domestic enterprise through deaths. Renewal knowledge intensive activities reduce firm deaths, but routine or compliance knowledge intensive activities increase the death rate. This means policy seeking to attract FDI must distinguish even within different types of knowledge intensive activities.

The 15-minute city concept and new working spaces: a planning perspective from Oslo and Lisbon

ABSTRACT In the last few years, chrono-urbanism has welcomed a novel perspective, namely, that of the 15-minute city concept, which has recently emerged in the present planning debate. During the current pandemic, this has coincided with a drive to highlight the importance of merging more activities in the neighbourhood to improve urban vitality and reduce daily commuting. In addition, increasing digitalization and knowledge-intensive activities have transformed the nature of work itself, thus affecting the choice of the workplace with new working spaces (NWS) emerging for collaborative and flexible work environments. Therefore, within this context, this study discusses recent chrono-urbanism approaches applied to urban planning and the role of NWS. The phenomenon is empirically examined in Oslo and Lisbon through a qualitative analysis of planning documents and a spatial analysis. The results show that most NWS are fairly accessible by public transport to users in both cities; although the NWS neighbourhoods in Lisbon have a greater diversity of functions compared to Oslo. However, in both cities, the distribution of NWS is non-uniform. This may limit residents’ choice to live and work (outside home) in the same neighbourhood. The study contributes to the current planning debate on new urban models for sustainable neighbourhoods.