Preconditions For Innovation Research Articles

Unitary system of patent protection as an element of innovation policy of the European Union

The article analyzes the process of establishing a unitary system of patent protection in the European Union as an alternative to national and regional systems and its importance for enhancing the innovation potential and economic development of the EU. It examines the preconditions for the transition from national patents to regional (and subsequently unitary) patents, which are based on the intention of the EU Member States to overcome the territorial principle of patent rights by extending the patent owner’s exclusive rights beyond the territorial borders of one state.It is noted that the transformation of the economy into an innovative one, in which a key role is assigned to intellectual property rights (as a precondition for innovation), has actualized the issue of effective intellectual property legal protection, in particular, concerning patent rights. Since 1997, the European Commission has been highlighting the importance of patents as one of the tools available for protecting innovation and the need to reform the European patent system to increase Europe’s innovation potential and competitiveness. Subsequent decisions of the EU Council were taken to fulfill this task, resulting in the introduction of a unitary system, which includes the European Patent with Unitary Effect (the Unitary Patent) and the Unified Patent Court, as of June 1, 2023. As a result, inventors can obtain unitary patent protection based on the Unitary Patent in all EU Member States participating in the enhanced cooperation mechanism.It is concluded that the unitary patent protection system extends the territoriality principle beyond the national borders of the State within the EU borders, but does not destroy the basic principles of intellectual property rights. In contrast, the article examines the US case law, which demonstrates its own approaches to understanding the principle of territoriality and the presumption against extraterritoriality of patent rights, allowing in certain cases the US patent holder to extend its monopoly to foreign markets.

Antonio Negri and the discourse on poverty – on two motifs in Kairòs, Alma Venus, Multitudo

ABSTRACT In opposition to any notion of poverty as privation, or ‘bare life’, Negrian discourse poses the problem of poverty as a precondition for innovation and self-constitution, that is, for the critical appropriation of the immeasurable. This appropriation, as depicted in Kairòs, Alma Venus, and Multitudo, occurs in the event of adequation, when the monstrous store of potentia (immanent to poverty) exposes itself to the void in the projection of the ‘to-come’. This essay seeks in turn to resolve a series of vexing questions and problems concerning the function of poverty, love, and the monstrous in the Negrian constitution of reality.

Axiomatic Design as an innovation framework

Innovation can be defined as a set of processes for altering human activity, with economic or social relevance. Innovation has been the economic driver of several companies and countries. This article presents laws with preconditions for innovation, and it proposes a framework for innovation based on Axiomatic Design (AD) theory. There are three laws which set out necessary preconditions to initiate and maintain innovation. Research, financing, and companies that can carry out an innovation project, must be available for a project. AD can be a tool for innovation. Three main elements to AD are: Suh’s axioms, to maintain functional independence and minimize information content; a structure, domains and hierarchies in which solutions develop; and a process, decomposing from abstract to detailed components and physically integrating components into a complete solution. Suh’s axioms ensure that design solutions are adjustable, controllable, and robust. These are essential elements in innovation. Design matrices for functional–physical relationships select for independence, then information content is used to select the best solution. Design structures are completed by zigzagging between functional, physical, and process domains, creating the hierarchical decompositions of abstraction while applying Suh’s axioms at each level.

A novel approach to managing uncertainty for innovation

The management literature recognizes that uncertainty is a precondition for innovation but has little to say about situations where organizations create uncertainty, by design, to foster innovative...

How do collaborative practices contribute to innovation in large organisations? The case of hackathons

ABSTRACTHackathons are breaking into the corporate world as collaborative practices that promise endless possibilities for innovation. Nevertheless, how these practices contribute to innovation in organisations remains implicit or is not stated directly in the literature. Additionally, most of the research on this topic is not framed in innovation literature and studies have mainly been conducted in the fields of medicine and software. In this regard, this article presents an inductive study on how hackathons contribute to innovation in large organisations. Drawing on a single case of a large company from a creative sector (mobile games), and based on analytical interviews and non-participant observation, the results suggest that hackathons contribute by promoting exploration activities, such as new external solutions, and by enhancing some preconditions for innovation, such as attracting talent or building a community of experts. This article aims to contribute to the existing research by positioning the results in the literature and by explaining contextual and relational factors not previously described. In addition, it presents insights on how hackathons may enhance innovation in corporations.

СТРАТЕГІЧНІ НАПРЯМИ РОЗВИТКУ ІНФОРМАЦІЙНО-КОМУНІКАЦІЙНИХ ТЕХНОЛОГІЙ У ВИЩІЙ ЄВРОПЕЙСЬКІЙ ШКОЛІ НА ПОЧАТКУ ХХІ СТОЛІТТЯ

The article deals with the main strategic aspects of the development of information and communication technologies in the European higher education institutions. The Council of Europe documents on strategy issues have been analyzed. The ways of implementation of information and communication technologies at the national and international levels have been determined which will ensure the competitiveness of the knowledge and competences of prospective specialists who should contribute to innovation in order to successfully enter the European labor market. It has been emphasized that the basis of modern information environment of the University is the provision of all types of support (technical, software, informational, methodological, organizational) that promotes learners’ interaction, implementation of pedagogical technologies and algorithms for managing the educational process, preconditions for innovation and research activities. The strategic trends of ICT implementation in Slovenian universities have been defined: the development and testing of innovative pedagogical approaches, models and strategies of training; creation of ICT open platform, electronic content, services, pedagogical concepts and approaches, models of motivational mechanisms, cloud technologies in educational space, updating of educational network, creation of synergistic and interdisciplinary environment for partnership of all interested parties; ensuring a high level of digital competence and the use of ICTs within the entire education system; promoting the enhancement of the key competencies in general, higher education and adult education: the introduction of e-learning in higher education as a way of achieving the objectives of formal education, expanding e-learning in non-formal education; ensuring the efficiency of the ICT implementation strategy on the basis of regular measurement and evaluation, analysis of indicators of the impact of ICT on education at the national level, and its comparative analysis at the international level, ensuring the implementation of international standards of quality and comparability of ICT indicators in education.

Organizational culture and climate as the requirements of innovation in organizations

Organizational innovation is a popular field of study in various disciplines including business, economics, engineering, psychology, public administration and sociology because it is seen as a key concept of economic growth and new industries. It creates competitive advantage and impact of the company, contributing to organizational effectiveness and competitiveness. Organizational innovation is often defined by two similar and related concepts: creativity and change. Even though the literature on innovation is fruitful, there has been a lack of connection with its predecessor - the organizational creativity, as well as an apparent lack of scientific studies conducted in organizational context. In order to introduce organizational innovations, as a result of organizational changes, the duty of a leader is to persuade employees to accept risk, to motivate them. Furthemore, they have to gain their trust which is consistent with transformational leadership - a kind of leadership that aims to create a climate for innovation and has been recognized in literature as an important factor. Therefore, organizational culture and climate are preconditions for innovation within organizations in the same manner as risk-taking, experimentation, openness, trust and autonomy are part of the organizational support which provides the basis for innovation. That is the reason why organizational culture and climate promote creativity and innovation in companies and organizations.

Strategic risk management in innovative metallurgical investment

Recommendations are made regarding risk reduction when investing in intellectual property. The low level of investment by metallurgical enterprises in intellectual property is explained. Methods of logical research, analysis, synthesis, and planning are employed. Approaches to strategic risk management in innovative metallurgical investment are outlined. The preconditions for innovation in metallurgical development worldwide are discussed, and corresponding innovative development strategies are formulated. Methods of risk reduction are formulated, and practical examples of investments in intellectual property that might be more attractive to metallurgical enterprises are presented.

European Diversity: Regional Innovation Potential in Transportation

Transportation is essential for European competitiveness. While the transportation system guarantees location quality for the economy and citizens, the transportation industry provides jobs and strengthens the economy in general. Recently the transportation sector has had to face challenges coming up with new developments. Investments had to be limited due to the financial and economic crisis, new competitors are arising on the global market, climate change requires action affecting transportation and European regional disparities need to be overcome – also and especially when it comes to transportation. The change requires new strategies to adapt to and also to actively shape the process. The European Commission aims to support the transportation sector by promoting innovation on a regional level. To ensure successful effects of funding, financial support should not be spread but focus on regions of highest innovation potential in transportation. The European FP7-funded project METRIC has developed a method to measure innovation potential in transportation applying it to the regions in Europe. The results should serve as a basis for funding distribution and should also identify certain types of regional innovation patterns. This paper describes the analytical approach to measuring the innovation potential in the transportation sector, also showing first results. While the methodological approach has been developed the results have to be considered preliminary. The project will run until March 2015; the work is still in progress. Already at this stage certain patterns and types of regional innovation can be distinguished showing that enabling factors, including funding, are not always connected with innovation output and at the same time are not preconditions for innovation. Besides this, some regions show a connection between funding and innovation in transportation allowing the authors to identify the success factors for innovation in a later step.

European diversity : regional innovation potential in transportation

Transportation is essential for European competitiveness. While the transportation system guarantees location quality for the economy and citizens, the transportation industry provides jobs and strengthens the economy in general. Recently the transportation sector has had to face challenges coming up with new developments. Investments had to be limited due to the financial and economic crisis, new competitors are arising on the global market, climate change requires action affecting transportation and European regional disparities need to be overcome – also and especially when it comes to transportation. The change requires new strategies to adapt to and also to actively shape the process. The European Commission aims to support the transportation sector by promoting innovation on a regional level. To ensure successful effects of funding, financial support should not be spread but focus on regions of highest innovation potential in transportation. The European FP7-funded project METRIC has developed a method to measure innovation potential in transportation applying it to the regions in Europe. The results should serve as a basis for funding distribution and should also identify certain types of regional innovation patterns. This paper describes the analytical approach to measuring the innovation potential in the transportation sector, also showing first results. While the methodological approach has been developed the results have to be considered preliminary. The project will run until March 2015; the work is still in progress. Already at this stage certain patterns and types of regional innovation can be distinguished showing that enabling factors, including funding, are not always connected with innovation output and at the same time are not preconditions for innovation. Besides this, some regions show a connection between funding and innovation in transportation allowing the authors to identify the success factors for innovation in a later step.

Mobility and innovation: A cross-country comparison in the video games industry

Open labour markets are often seen as a precondition for innovation, particularly for new industries. However, this view ignores two core findings of the economic systems literature: first, that mobility patterns are institutional microsystems that need to be complementary to other institutions in the labour market; and second, that new industries may be characterised by incremental and complex innovation. Based on these considerations, we ask how mobility affects innovation in the video games industry in the US and Japan. We find that inter-firm mobility is beneficial for innovation in the US, but has negative effects in Japan. We further find that inter-functional mobility is beneficial for innovation in both countries. Our analysis is based on career histories from the video games industry in the US and Japan. We present an empirical study based on the game development of 815 video games and the careers of 28,426 video game developers who were involved in the development of games released between 1999 and 2009.

Green city logistics: Systems of Innovation to assess the potential of E-vehicles

Urban freight vehicles significantly impact the urban environment due mainly to traffic congestion, reduction in road capacity and pollutant emissions. Introducing low emission vehicles is one of the major measures foreseen in alleviating negative externalities. In this context, city logistics may represent a market niche for the deployment of electric vehicles.This paper introduces a methodology based on the Systems of Innovation approach to examine the process by which electric vehicles may be introduced in city logistics. The proposed methodology considers the complex interactions between actors and institutions and proposes a Systems' of Innovation Framework, which combines in a matrix the actors, the mechanisms and market conditions providing an instrument by which to qualitatively assess the current status and estimate future requirements and pre-conditions for innovation uptake.Applied to the case of electric vehicles in city logistics, the proposed framework is used to examine “who” should act, “how to act”, “what to act upon” and “when” to intervene. Findings indicate the need to transfer leadership from central authorities to municipal authorities in order to move from the initiation stage to the implementation stage. The importance of strong networks between innovation actors and respective building of capacities is considered of importance.

Building an Innovation Economy: Public Policy Lessons from Israel

This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of those factors that were most important in the emergence of Israel’s innovation economy from 1990-2000. It contains a thorough survey of the leading academic ideas regarding preconditions for innovation (generally) and the preconditions for Israeli innovation over a 30 year period (specifically), including: public R&D grants, human capital acquisition, intellectual property rights, financial reforms, venture capital policy and cultural factors. In addition, this paper lends fresh empirical support to the notion that R&D grants and venture capital policies played an important role in Israel’s narrative, and distinguishes those factors which can be emulated by other governments and organizations (ie. deliberate policy-making or responses to market indicators) from those which resulted from historical chance (ie. luck). Finally, this paper draws from Israel’s experience to spell out some key public policy lessons and limitations of innovation policy.

Institutions as facilities for change?

Abstract Political regulation has traditionally been regarded as antagonistic to innovation, whereas the removal of regulations has been perceived as a precondition for innovations. This paper proposes an alternative position and claim that regulations can have various connections with the innovation process. Regulations can obviously restrict innovations, but they can also facilitate such processes. Systematic empirical research on the relation between political-administrative regulation and innovation has been moderate, and the debate has been highly anecdotal. This article presents an empirical study on how political-administrative regulation within the pelagic fisheries sector in Norway affects innovation. The study confirms that regulations had varied influences on the innovation process, and documents that actor's appraisals of regulations were affected by whether a given regulation is beneficial for the firms and their competitive position or not. Finally, the paper corroborate that the implementation of regulations can promote innovation in firms by providing them with deeper insights into their production processes and to encourage a more intense focus on development and improvement. Implementation of regulations also implies learning, which can increase the firms’ abilities to innovate as well as their insight into the necessity of such practices. The analysis is based on survey data from processors and vessels in the pelagic sector.

A participatory approach in regional sustainable development of the Slovak Republic: a case study of the Spis region

In the target region Spis, we see tensions between incentives of social actors for the nature protection and market interest in the face of growing importance of tourism in biodiversity area as the source of income for local population. There is a need for cooperation, communication and forming of partnerships as an important precondition for innovations in agriculture, and also for inventing alternatives for previous management (top-down approach). This is also necessary for creation of social trust among involved groups of actors and social capital evolution. This paper describes the role of a participatory approach in creation of social capital, with a view to the social trust that leads directly to the rural development of the region.

One size fits all?: Towards a differentiated regional innovation policy approach

Innovation has moved to the foreground in regional policy in the last decade. Concrete policies were shaped by “best practice models” derived from high-tech areas and well performing regions. These are often applied in a similar way across many types of regions. Here an attempt is made to show that there is no “ideal model” for innovation policy as innovation activities differ strongly between central, peripheral and old industrial areas. In this paper we analyse different types of regions with respect to their preconditions for innovation, networking and innovation barriers. Based on this classification different policy options and strategies are developed.