Technology Partnerships Research Articles

Innovating Tecnologies for Oil Refining to Develop in Modern Times

PJSC Gazpromneft has established a R&D management structure to promote activities in the creation and development of oil refining technologies and catalysts based on the best research results obtained in Russia. The structure includes relevant R&D departments of the Oil refining Directorate, Omsk and Moscow Refineries, as well as the Engineering Council of the Downstream Unit. Since 2010, PJSC Gazpromneft has achieved a number of important steps to promote innovative activities in the area: innovative strategy has been developed; strategic technological partnerships have been arranged with the leading Russian developers (Boreskov Institute of Catalysis and Institute for Hydrocarbon Processing) of oil refining technologies and catalysts; a system for intellectual property control and protection has been created; a primary infrastructure for commercialization of the developed technologies and catalysts has been established on the basis of plants, engineering departments and laboratories of the Moscow and Omsk Refineries. The undertaken steps have allowed the Company to succeed in lab-scale studies and to go ahead with pilot and semicommercial testing of a number of key R&D projects.

Model Factory for Additive Manufacturing of Mechatronic Products: Interconnecting World-class Technology Partnerships with Leading AM Players

The additive manufacturing (AM) model factory's aim is to establish a leading-edge learning academy for the digital and generative production of innovative mechatronic products, where the complete value chain is integrated on a single site. Short courses and deep dives enable easier access to the state of the art technologies and increase the awareness for their potentials. Anchored in key industries such as automotive, aerospace, and medical by major OEMs and regional SMEs, the AM model factory cooperates with world-class partners and leading market players. This paper displays the model factory's setup, selected technologies, exemplary courses, and benefits.

Supply Chain Development – Model, Opportunities, and Challenges

Over recent years a few automobile manufacturers, that ca be OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer, have migrated or expanded their activities to non-traditional regions of Brazil seeking gains in productivity. With this geographic change of the industry, traditional tier one suppliers have also relocated or expanded their activities to new sites seeking better results of quality, costs and time. The dependency of tier one suppliers in transporting parts and components from distant places may result in unfavorable conditions due to production and logistics costs, which lead to non-optimized levels of quality and generally poor business results. This paper proposes a model for development of the supply chain in order to increase the competitiveness of potential local suppliers of tier one and OEM companies (tier 2+ suppliers). The model, applied to the automotive sector, encompasses the identification of demand, analysis of availability, identification of technological partners, and development of business plans. The described model is applicable to any industrial enterprise that seeks to improve quality, costs, and financial results while reinforcing the sustainability within a product's life cycle.

Celebrating COMET’s 25 Years of Providing Innovative Education and Training

Abstract The Cooperative Program for Operational Meteorology, Education, and Training (COMET)’s mission when it began in 1990 was to deliver professional development opportunities to U.S. government forecasters during the National Weather Service (NWS) modernization program. Since then, COMET has emerged as a worldwide leader in geoscience education. Its original objectives were to provide forecasters with classroom and distance learning training based on state-of-the-art science; support development and testing of new forecast methods; promote collaboration between the forecasting, research, and academic communities; and to advance forecasting and nowcasting by encouraging research. Over the years, COMET’s mission has expanded to disseminating and enhancing scientific knowledge in the environmental sciences, particularly meteorology, but also including diverse areas such as oceanography, hydrology, space weather, and emergency management. This paper reviews COMET’s evolution from a primary focus on educating U.S. forecasters on the application of new technologies (such as Doppler radar) to mesoscale meteorology problems into a program with a much broader scope. Those changes include offering learning opportunities that now cover a wider variety of topics and support the educational needs of diverse audiences worldwide. The history of COMET is a story of adaptation to technological changes, funding cycles, partner requirements, and service opportunities as well as taking on a more global mission. We will look at how COMET’s activities in geoscience education have changed, how its adaptability has contributed to the longevity of the program that was only supposed to exist until the NWS modernization was complete, and expectations and plans for the future.

What Library 2.0 has taught libraries in Taiwan about e-learning

Purpose – This paper aims to review the four elements of Library 2.0, which represents a major innovation, and adopts several pedagogical concepts to investigate other innovations libraries in Taiwan could implement to become ideal libraries. Design/methodology/approach – This paper presents an overview of the essential principles of Library 2.0 and examines the current state of libraries in Taiwan. The authors then present a reciprocal feedback model of Library 2.0+. Findings – A Library 2.0+ model and a concept map of the mutualism between e-learning education and Library 2.0+ were proposed to diminish the gap between the status quo and Library 2.0. Two recommendations are provided: to develop a library learning platform to maximize the education value of the library, and to regard library development as part of the overall community’s development. Users can access library resources anytime/anywhere by visiting the library learning platform without visiting the library. Allowing an individual approach is necessary to realize the social educational value of the library. Moreover, a Library 2.0 library engages more in community development and invites participation with participation in community first. Universities in the community would be good technology partners when developing a Library 2.0 library. Originality/value – Although there has been extensive research of library development in view of Library 2.0, such a topic has never been explored with an educational perspective, especially an e-learning perspective. Given that the definition of Library 2.0 is abstract and fairly broad, the authors take the view of an e-learning platform to make Library 2.0 more figurative. Moreover, through interdisciplinary exploration, concrete suggestions regarding library development are provided to librarians, especially those with similar conditions as those in Taiwan.

To delegate or not to delegate: A review of control frameworks for autonomous cars

There have been significant advances in technology and automated systems that will eventually see the use of autonomous cars as commonplace on our roads. Various systems are already available that provide the driver with different levels of decision support. This paper highlights the key human factors issues associated with the interaction between the user and an autonomous system, including assistive decision support and the delegation of authority to the automobile. The level of support offered to the driver can range from traditional automated assistance, to system generated guidance that offers advice for the driver to act upon, and even more direct action that is initiated by the system itself without driver intervention. In many of these instances the role of the driver is slowly moving towards a supervisory role within a complex system rather than one of direct control of the vehicle. Different paradigms of interaction are considered and focus is placed on the partnership that takes place between the driver and the vehicle. Drawing on the wealth of knowledge that exists within the aviation domain and research literature that examines technology partnerships within the cockpit, this paper considers important factors that will assist the automotive community to understand the underlying issues of the human and their interaction within complex systems.

Environmental Demands and the Emergence of Social Structure

This study investigates the origins of variation in the structures of interorganizational networks across industries. We combine empirical analyses of existing interorganizational networks in six industries with an agent-based simulation model of network emergence. Using data on technology partnerships from 1983 to 1999 between firms in the automotive, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, chemicals, microelectronics, new materials, and telecommunications industries, we find that differences in technological dynamism across industries and the concomitant demands for value creation engender variations in firms’ collaborative behaviors. On average, firms in technologically dynamic industries pursue more-open ego networks, which fosters access to new and diverse resources that help sustain continuous innovation. In contrast, firms in technologically stable industries on average pursue more-closed ego networks, which fosters reliable collaboration and helps preserve existing resources. We show that because of the observed cross-industry differences in firms’ collaborative behaviors, the emergent industry-wide networks take on distinct structural forms. Technologically stable industries feature clan networks, characterized by low network connectedness and rather strong community structures. Technologically dynamic industries feature community networks, characterized by high network connectedness and medium-to-strong community structures. Convention networks, which feature high network connectedness and weak community structures, were not evident among the empirical networks we examined. Taken together, our findings advance an environmental contingency theory of network formation, which proposes a close association between the characteristics of actors’ environment and the processes of network formation among actors.

Korea and China boost future nuclear technology partnership

Korea and China boost future nuclear technology partnership

Corporate Venture Capital as an Ex-Ante Evaluation Mechanism in the Market for Technology

Despite the fact that one of the main goals of corporate venture capital (CVC) investments in high-tech industries is to gain a window on future technologies, the relationship between CVC investments and strategies used to acquire technologies in the markets, such as licensing, has not been adequately explored. To address this gap, we build on the real option literature suggesting that CVC investments can be used as real options in the markets for technology. Accordingly, we formulate hypotheses about key drivers of the option value of CVC investments and the decision to exercise the option. Using a longitudinal dataset based on 604 dyads formed by a sample of global pharmaceutical firms and their external technology partners, we find that corporate investors’ scientific capabilities, technological domains, research pipelines, and the resolution of exogenous uncertainty related to partner firms’ technologies impact investors’ decisions on CVC investments and ex post technology acquisition. In our research setting, the most common way to exercise the option post-CVC investment is via technology licensing.

PlantBottle™ Packaging program is continuing its journey to pursue bio-mono-ethylene glycol using agricultural waste

Since launching the PlantBottle™ Packaging program in 2009, The Coca-Cola Company has distributed more than 30 × 109 bottles in nearly 40 countries using its current PlantBottle packaging, which is made from up to 30% plant-based materials. It is estimated the use of PlantBottle packaging since launch has helped save the equivalent annual emissions of more than 315 000 metric tons of carbon dioxide. To expand the application of this innovative packaging material, a sustainable feedstock needs to be identified, and a new technology needs to be developed to allow its integration into PlantBottle technology, for using agriculture waste to produce bio-polyethylene terephthalate (bio-PET), and develop an economically viable supply chain of bio-PET in China. These breakthroughs can also be applied beyond packaging and have the potential to help companies around the world reach their own sustainability goals. Using renewable feedstock to produce bio-PET reduces dependence on petro-based resources, mitigates carbon emissions, and promotes sustainable development. Under the China-US EcoPartnership program, The Coca-Cola Company partners with the Yangtze River Delta Circular Economy Institute of Technologyto identify and advance commercial technologies for converting local agricultural residues or wastes (e.g., corn cob and stover) into the base ingredient, mono-ethylene glycol (MEG), for manufacturing polyester resin/fiber. The Coca-Cola Company is developing bio-MEG conversion technology with a technology and implementation partner, and finalizing the technical conversion process for commercial production. Yangtze River Delta Circular Economy Institute of Technology is exploring the related supply chain and feedstock logistics. Any advancement using agricultural wastes today are likely to have continued relevance to this second part of the journey toward realizing sustainably sourced and fully recyclable PET plastic product solutions.

The impact of innovation and the use of ICTs on human capital development in Spanish industry

Purpose: The analysis of the characteristics of the industrial companies that invest in the training of their human capital in comparison to the organizations that do not train their employees. This characterization is focused especially on the innovative capacity of firms and their technological applications. It also analyzes the factors that determine the likelihood that a company invests in personnel training. Design/methodology/approach: Descriptive characterization of those companies that invest in personnel training, comparing them against those who do not invest in improving its human capital. Furthermore, factors influencing the decision that a company invest in training are analyzed through a logistic regression. Among them we included the intensity of technological usage and the innovation capacity. This research is based on data from the Survey of Business Strategies (ESEE) in 2009, conducted annually. The sample is approximately 1,800 companies, being representative of the Spanish manufacturing sector. Findings and Originality/value: Companies with a higher likelihood of investing in training of their workers are those with a larger number of workers, a higher level of qualification of employees, more stable labor relations, greater participation foreign capital, and also, have a higher level of technological uses, carries more technological partnerships with other organizations and has a more intense innovative activity. Social implications: In the current situation of job destruction and lack of competitiveness of the Spanish industry in increasingly globalized markets, training of workers is seen as the main alternative to increase the productivity of the Spanish industry. This study shows that the industrial structure does not meet the basic conditions described in the scientific literature, in order the companies to train their workers with the risk of exclusion that entails. Originality/value: The study of the characteristics of Spanish companies that invest in training, and the factors that influence the likelihood of this investment, using recent data (2009) with high statistical consistency. There are still few studies that analyze the improvement of human capital in Spain in the current period of economic crisis.

Chronic related groups (CReG) program in Lombardy

With almost 10 million inhabitants, regione Lombardia represents 1/6 of the Italian population, with over 4.6 million chronic patients, most of them over 65 years and affected by 3 or more pathologies. Chronic diseases are a growing burden for the regional health and social economy and this, in 2011, prompted the regional government to launch an innovative program, called CReG (chronic related groups) with the objective to promote continuity of care for chronic patients. The CReG is like a territorial diagnosis related group (DRG): a group of predefined economic resources assigned to an institutional subject (CReG provider), to guarantee the delivery of an established treatment plan to the chronic patients it has in charge, in order to provide them with a comprehensive care outside of the hospital. The main pathologies involved are BPCO, hypertension, heart diseases and diabetes. The CReG pilot involved more than 60,000 patients, and several CReG providers were selected to manage this population. Many of the providers (for a total of more than 300 GPs involved) selected the same technological partner, having 60% of this population (approx. 37,000 patients) managed through the same IT platform, thus making this one of the largest European pilots for the care coordination and telemonitoring of chronic patients. The paper will describe this experience, the background, the new model for managing chronic patients proposed by the Lombardia region, the enabling technological platform, the services provided through the platform, and the population stratification method for the identification of the highest risk patients.

Collaboration Patterns and Product Innovation in the Basque Country. Does a Firm's Nationality Matter?

More and more, the ability to innovate can be considered as an explanatory factor in determining the long-term potential of firms to be competitive. Therefore, it is of increasing importance to understand the critical success factors behind notably radical product innovations. The present paper explores the yields and results in terms of a series of competitiveness indicators that domestic and foreign firms in the Basque Country obtain from technological collaboration practices. In particular, the study seeks to assess differences in the way these two groups of firms organize their technological partnerships (in terms of the geographical spread of partners with whom they cooperate and the purposes for which they deploy collaboration: for commercial or science/knowledge generation), and the comparative differences that stem from their respective practices. The study uses firm level data from the Euskadi Innovation Survey 2011, for firms located in the Basque Country. The paper finds that (a) technological collaborations comprising different types of partners have the greatest positive impact on innovation novelty, and (b) when looking at the firm’s nationality, collaboration strategies developed by foreign firms have a higher impact on achieving novel innovation. We posit that the higher degree of product innovation we observe among foreign firms – as opposed to domestic firms in the Basque Country – relies on their ability to benefit from both inter-regional partnerships and commercial-based networks for the sake of innovation purposes.

Using live data and social amplification to drive fan engagement

2014 was IBM’s 25th year sponsoring the Wimbledon Tennis Championships. As the technology partner to the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, IBM wanted to support the Club’s ambition to extend the visitor experience across digital channels. This case study examines how a small group of marketers and sales and agency staff were convened in ‘The Punnet’ to create visitor personas, map the customer journey and support that journey end-to-end by applying real-time sports analytics data to deliver benchmark-beating results.

Convergence innovation in railway technology: how ERL of Malaysia attained its co-evolution structure for systemic development

By examining the co-evolution structure between two processes – accumulation and assimilation – of Express Rail Link Sdn Bhd's (ERL) system over the past decade, this paper explores the transformation of ERL of Malaysia; from a mere user of Siemens's technology, to Siemens's technology partner capable of attaining state-of-the-art operating systems for a high-speed rail (HSR) technological system. Both accumulation and assimilation processes of ERL are examined in detail to elucidate the dynamic process of the ‘multilateral model’ of a HSR system. The approaches have led ERL to witness convergence innovation between Siemens's technology and ERL's knowledge in operating systems. The convergence innovation between the two processes has enabled ERL to venture into engineering consulting services, exporting innovative operating solutions to other firms abroad. The strategic approaches discussed in this paper may thus provide policy lessons for other firms in developing countries aspiring to emulate the upgrading process of rail technology.

What’s in Your Pocket? Trends in Mobile Apps for Biosurveillance and Decision-Making

Mobile applications offer tremendous potential for collecting data for biosurveillance through participatory surveillance and the integration of new and traditional data streams. This panel features epidemiologists, data scientists, and technology partners who will address the full application lifecycle -- from the assessment of the specific demand, resource, and technology specifications, to implementation and evaluation-- of several innovative apps. Audience engagement using a new web app will gather input on other uses of mobile apps for data collection, visualization, and analyses. The panel and audience discussion will be compiled into guidance for future development of mobile apps for biosurveillance purposes to advance population health.

Entrepreneur-in-Residence Programs: One Size Does Not Fit All

Universities and state governments are increasingly looking towards their technology transfer offices to aid in the incubation of new innovations to create new ventures and promote economic development. For a new start-up company to succeed, a strong technology founder and partners with business experience are crucial. Many universities are utilizing entrepreneur-inresidence (EIR) programs to attract professionals with extensive industry or entrepreneurial expertise to act as mentors for university researchers interested in forming a company. In this review, we have surveyed 38 universities to determine common and best practices for active EIR programs, and we review those results in terms of the different decisions a TTO needs to make when designing their program. We dive deeper into specific details of some of the programs for several top performing offices in the United States, including Columbia University, the University of Washington, Boston University, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Michigan. We also describe in detail the newly formed EIR program of a smaller research university at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) which contrasts with the common status quo of the more established programs. We illustrate how the UWM EIR program may be another useful model for new technology transfer offices that are looking to stimulate the entrepreneurial ecosystem at the university in a bottom up fashion. Keywords: Entrepreneur, Entrepreneur-in-residence, Executive-in-residence, Incubator, Spin-out, Start-up, Technology transfer.

Determinant of external sourcing for SMEs in Korea: analysing the effect of sub-constructs of entrepreneurial orientation on outside technological partnership from the multi-dimensional perspective

This research examines the effect of each entrepreneurial orientation (EO) sub-constructs on outside technological partnership (OTP) from the multi-rather than single-dimensional perspective. Our examination of 1,358 Korean SMEs reveals that each sub-constructs of EO affect on OTP in difference: EOI (innovativeness) has positive association with OTP, while EOP (pro-activeness) is negatively related to OTP and EOR (risk taking) has no significant relationship with OTP, providing different results from existing studies considering EO sub-constructs as to be positively correlated. In addition, meanwhile EOI significantly affects the upstream-partnership (basic and early technology), EOP has strong negative association with the horizontal-partnership (early commercialisation stage) due to the nature of EOP underlining the concept of 'first mover'. In summary, enterprise-level strategies designed to double a company's innovation capability through the procurement of external resources seem to be implemented according to the degree of each EO sub-constructs in difference: EOI, EOP and EOR.

Making University-Industry Technological Partnerships Work: a Case Study in the Brazilian Oil Innovation System

This paper approaches the research topic ‘university-industry interaction’ based on a case study in the Brazilian oil innovation system (OIS). It discourses on the management of cooperative R&D projects, by the state-owned Operator, Petrobras, involving two Brazilian universities and one medium-sized locally owned supplier firm in the scope of the Thematic Network for Integration of Science and Technology-Industry at the National Productive Process (NISTI). The NISTI is a network of scientific and technological partnerships created by the Operator to foster competitive local content and innovation in the Brazilian OIS. The case study showed the learning processes generated by the actors’ interactions were crucial to the effectiveness of the technological solutions developed by the partners. Despite the management challenges inherent in the institutional differences between academia and industry, this initiative reinforced the prominence of universities as sources of technological opportunities in science-based sectors. In addition, the adopted partnership model provided useful recommendations to the reassessment of the R&D portfolio’s formation.

Unpad – Ibu Popon Collaboration; A Best Practice in Sustainable Assistance Model for Social Entrepreneurship in Agro-industrial Based SME's

Abstract Ibu Popon is an Agro-industrial based small and medium-scale enterprises in Majalengka West-Java Indonesia. This enterprise began to be assisted by Unpad for seven years since its establishment in 2007 and initially built as supporting unit of a Pesantren (Islamic Boarding School) and was not projected as a professionally conducted commercial enterprise. Since conducting the assistance process, Ibu Popon has been able to prove that the persistent assistance to small and medium enterprises had generated value added processes through various sequences including created many benefits in various dimensions. The University assistance process had significantly exaggerated the business development and its community through the years. The persistent and sustainable process had significantly affect to the gradual improvement of its business and surrounding community such as in social life quality, women-based empowerment, involving students in entrepreneurship athsmosfer, appropriate technology utilization, partnerships and networks elaboration and becoming the locomotive of local fruits commodity. These processes were capable in forming Ibu Popon's social enterprise to have valuable social entrepreneur characteristics such as high empathy, focus on the community, bridging social problems, community transformation mediator, able to develop systematic approach in improving its business, high passion in its business activities, comprehend problems as opportunities, able to provide creative solutions and generate suitable business logic which leads to the ability in creating benefits and continuous innovation process. Some stages in developing Ibu Popon's business were started in increasing self and surrounding community awareness, business development, knowledge transfer, technology transfer, triple helix network elaboration, product development and generate various business based on Ibu Popon's social entrepreneurship capability. At this time Ibu Popon has succeeded in involving various parties which linking upstream and downstream in fruits commodities stakeholders which leads Ibu Popon to be able raise added value to the local fruit commodities. From this sustainable assistance practice can be concluded as a best practice model for the improvement of the agro-based social entrepreneurship.