Role Of Public Research Institutes Research Articles

More is better? Stakeholder participation in regulatory rule-setting towards green transition

Stakeholder participation and interactions in collaborative environmental policymaking are complex. We explore how stakeholder participation in rule-drafting and public comments lead to high-quality voluntary standards to promote green transition from a configurational perspective. Applying a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to China's 78 Industrial Cleaner Production Standards, we identify three paths resulting in superior standards. While using third-party experts is necessary in all paths, two paths emphasize the central role of public research institutes and the substitutive relationship between the participation of regulated firms and industry associations in the rule-drafting stage, especially in highly regulated industries. The third path emphasizes the importance of broad public comments when stakeholder participation in rule-drafting is insufficient, especially in lightly regulated industries. Our work enriches the theory of environmental regulation and collaborative governance, which is also instructive for governments designing regulatory standards to promote sustainable transformation.

Balancing multiple mandates: A case study of public research institutes in South Africa

AbstractThe role of public research institutes (PRIs) in innovation and development is typically researched as a linked couplet with universities, but there is little empirical research on PRIs specifically. The article investigates how PRIs in late-developing countries balance multiple mandates, shaped by disciplinary fields and historical trajectories, drawing on comparative case studies of five PRIs in South Africa. PRIs succeeded in articulating new and ambitious strategic policies but most struggled to give effect to expanded mandates. The article compares their ‘interactive capabilities’ by examining the internal and external interface structures and incentive mechanisms created to support and promote interaction with other knowledge producers and users and highlights misalignments at the macro level. National policy will need to promote the development of stronger interactive capabilities if PRIs are to balance their mandate to link to global knowledge flows, grow economic competitiveness, and address complex problems arising from high levels of poverty and inequality.

Technology Portfolio and Role of Public Research Institutions in Industry 4.0: A Case of South Korea

The 4th industrial revolution has been a hot topic in various societies for several overlapping reasons. It may be a huge wave for researchers to navigate through. In this context, research institutions are not different from major industrial sectors, in that both consider the 4th revolution a major turning point as well as a threat. Today’s industries and research institutions are knowledge-intensive in nature. Consequently, their potential for survival depends on scientific and technological aspects as well as their organizational dimension. This study analyzes 25 major public research institutions in South Korea, located in the DaeDuk area, based on their technological capability for organizational and expert evaluation. It also proposes a matching scheme between research institutions and research topics related to the 4th industrial revolution.

Promoting Australian industry: CSIRO 1949–79

This paper addresses the manner in which the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) transferred its technology to Australian industry during the period 1949 to 1979. The analysis is framed within the changing economic and political scene in Australia and the changing expectations for public research organisations such as CSIRO. During the 1950s and 1960s CSIRO gave little direct attention to the processes of technology transfer but instead, following the prevailing wisdom, focused on high quality science and relied on existing extension services and patenting to capture the benefits from its research. This ‘science-push’ approach proved successful for Australia’s rural industries but, with a few exceptions, less so for the country’s secondary industries. By the early 1970s CSIRO faced pressures for change, induced by a tougher economic climate and changing views on the role of public research institutions. A shift toward greater customer relevance in its research would also need to be matched by new thinking about technology transfer.

Role of public research institutes in national innovation systems in industrialized countries: The cases of Fraunhofer, NIST, CSIRO, AIST, and ITRI

Public Research Institutes (PRIs) were established for many reasons, such as to promote defence related research and health related research. Helping domestic industries remains one of the important missions for public research institutes even when the countries have industrialized and firms’ technological capabilities are high. PRIs aim to upgrade existing industries, especially SMEs, as well as spearheading new ones. They can conduct research to solve today’s problems of existing industries and those of next generation technologies which might lead to creation of new industries. Moreover, relationship between PRIs and firms and non-firm actors like universities became more intense, open, horizontal, international, and longer term. To reduce risk and uncertainty inherent in research mentioned above, intermediary roles of PRIs are increasingly important. The emphasis and the ways PRIs help industry change over time and vary across countries as they are integral part of national innovation systems. This makes generalization difficult, but the experiences of five leading PRIs in Germany, Taiwan, Japan, Australia, and the US shows that, the balances between contract research vs. longer term research with own initiative, mobility of researchers vs. retaining core researchers, and competitive grants and funds from industry vs. block grants from government are important to keep PRIs relevant to industry needs and maintain research standards. The governance of PRIs is of particular importance to maintain proper balances.

Transformation of Public Research Institutes’ Role in Indonesia: The Case of Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) and the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT)

The government of Indonesia has a changing strategy for Science and Technology (S&T) development. This condition has influenced institutional development, which in turn may have affected the transformational role of public research institutes. This study attempts to investigate the trajectory of Indonesian S&T development strategy from the colonial era through the Old Older, the New Order, and following the Asian Financial Crisis. In response to this changing of development strategy, it eventually analyzes how the role of public research institutes has transformed, by takings LIPI and BPPT as case studies. This study employs a historical approach by using interview and document analysis to investigate the trajectory of S&T development in Indonesia and the transformation of LIPI’s and BPPT’s role. The findings suggest that political transformation has much affected the government’s strategy on Indonesian S&T development. Moreover, LIPI and BPPT tend to transform their role following the government’s strategy by giving less consideration to either demand from society and industry or their strong point of early inception.

Role of Public Research Institutes as an Innovation Platform

Role of Public Research Institutes as an Innovation Platform

The dynamic effect of knowledge capitals in the public research institute: insights from patenting analysis of ITRI (Taiwan) and ETRI (Korea)

This study aims what knowledge capital accumulated by the public research institutes (PRIs) of South Korea and Taiwan to facilitate process configurations of new industrial structure. The patenting trends of two PRIs, ETRI of South Korea and ITRI of Taiwan, are assessed to highlight the established knowledge structures for emergence of multi-agent structure since 1990s. To examine their dynamics and variations of knowledge capital, the data series are separated into two phases (catching-up phase from 1970s to 1990s, and post catching-up phase since the 2000s) in accordance to (1) number of patents, (2) number of sole owned and co-owned patents, (3) backward and forward citations, (4) science-linked patents, and (5) fields of patent. When the role of PRIs in the latecomer country is evolving from a facilitator in the catching-up phase to become a mediator in the post catching-up phase, this study demonstrated their influence and dynamic effect in reinforcing industrial strategies and national approaches to attain endogenous structural change in the national innovation system. Our results signal telecommunications is the promising technology targeted by Korea's chaebols while Taiwan's small-medium size enterprises are utilizing the aggregate knowledge capital accumulated and derived from semiconductor technologies to develop their niches onto a diverse range of product innovations.

The underestimated role of universities for the Brazilian system of innovation

Conventional wisdom usually underestimates the important role of public research institutes and universities in successful cases of Brazilian economy. History of science and technology institutions shows a long-term process of formation of these institutions and their interactions with industrial firms, agricultural producers or society. This paper investigates historical roots of successful cases of Brazil. First, we present the late onset of National Innovation System (NSI) institutions and waves of institutional formation in Brazil. Second, we describe the history of three selected successful cases, which spans from a low-tech sector (agriculture), a medium-tech sector (steel and special metal alloys), to a high-tech sector (aircraft). These findings present new challenges for present-day developmental policies.

Health amidst socially and geographically located limits and challenges

The proposal of our journal is, fundamentally, to help the reader who is looking for sound scientific information, but which, however, is contextualized in sociopolitical, historical, and ethically responsible reality. In this sense, faced with profound transformations in contemporary societies, the articles that form this issue of the RECIIS, centered around global and transnational issues, local realities, cross-sectional arrangements, human tragedy, theoretical concerns, educational and scientific research practices, and legal limits and risks, bring original and stimulating contributions. It is hoped that they will stimulate debate and reflection by all those who, in their way, are committed to facing the changing relationships and interrelationships between information, communications, and innovation in health. The authors try to offer some solutions, and clearly and rationally expose the meaning of the problems and difficulties involved in solving them, naturally without renouncing the development of a critical examination or taking a position. Starting with this issue, RECIIS will periodically publish supplements organized by professionals invited by the Scientific Editor to develop topics related to national and International research agendas in the health arena, thus offering readers a broader and deeper view of scientific knowledge regarding the featured theme. Thus, RECIIS plans to be increasingly committed to its time, to the role of public research institutes in societies, becoming an element for the construction of a reality that contributes to the improvement of democracy, facing the socially and geographically located limits and challenges to health. Also featured in this issue are book reviews of: Change of State. Information, Policy, and Power, by Sandra Braman, Alternative Pathways in Science and Industry: Activism, Innovation, and the Environment in an Era of Globalization by David Hess, and Memory Practices in the Sciences, by Geoffrey Bowker. Enjoy the reading.

Policy tools on the formation of new biotechnology firms in Taiwan

This research explores the contribution of policy tool toward the formation of Taiwanese biotechnology firms. The effect of technological policy for the formation of new biotechnology firms (NBFs) is complicated by the fact that biotechnology is new, and its development raises issues where there is a great deal of uncertainty. This research involved the evaluation of policy tools on the formation of NBFs and was based on a combination of fuzzy multiple criteria decision-making method (MCDM) and interviews with key actors in the field. The focus of this paper is how the users, biofirms, and venture capitalists perceive the contribution of policy tools toward the formation of NBFs. The evaluating hierarchy toward the formation of NBFs shows that two user groups perceive differently. Venture capitalists emphasize the importance of factors relating to technology and human resources, while biofirm groups emphasize those relating to market. The results of the evaluation reveal that: First, policy tools relating to technology and human capital are currently the main focus in Taiwan, a focus consistent with the perception of venture capitalists. However, from the perspective of biofirms, there are mismatches. Second, policy tools contribute to the formation of NBFs in different ways. Some contribute more widely across the criteria, while some are more specific. Third, the ranking of eight policy tools indicates that the role of public research institutes in economic development has become more sophisticated. Not only are they the source of initial capabilities of emerging firms, they are also important actors in industrial innovation, especially for a knowledge-intensive, industry-like biotechnology.

Convergence and differentiation in institutional change among European public research systems: the decreasing role of public research institutes

In the 1990s two main political objectives have become evident in European public research systems (PRS): a more flexible use of available resources; and strong government action to enhance collaborative networks between the public sector and the users of research results. There are similarities in problem identification from one country to another but problem-solving strategies differ. This paper offers a comparative analysis of this phenomenon for four European countries — France, the UK, Spain and Italy — seeking to ‘operationalise’ convergence and differentiation in trends towards flexibility and collaboration among PRSs. The data used are from the OECD statistics and national country reports that formed part of the European PSR Project. A brief discussion is developed about the dangers arising from the use of flexibility. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.

Enterprise-University Co-operation and the Role of Public Research Institutions in Regional Innovation Systems

The paper analyses the co-operative relationships that public research institutions in Germany have developed with manufacturing firms and with each other. We find that collaboration with firms is highly concentrated on regional partners. Research institutions contribute significantly to innovation processes in the respective regions by absorbing knowledge from beyond the region and making it available to local companies. In respect of co-operation between public research institutions themselves, we find that spatial proximity still matters, but to a lesser degree.