The conditions for the development of a biotechnology industry in Portugal: the impact of country specific factors

The innovation style of a country is dependent upon its distinctive capabilities and its government' policies. Three basic factors are involved: its scientific capabilities, its infrasturcture for transferring research from the public domain into industry, and its manufacturing base and industrial know-how. Most research looks at these three factors in relation to advanced economies, Asian Newly Industrialized Countries (NICs) and 'third world' countries. This paper addresses these issues from the perspective of a European late-industrializing country (Portugal). It uses the twin ideas of National Innovation Systems and 'technological systems' to analyze the development of biotechnology in Portugal. In so doing it illustrates the impact of country specific factors on this development, and the problems assoicated with 'imitation'. The focus of the research is on Dedicated Biotechnology Firms (DBFs), as they are seen as intermediaries between the public science base and the productive sector. It examines the evolution of the biotechnology industry in Portugal, provides an overview of govermment policies, and finally discusses the implications for the creation and development of DBFs in Portugal. The research shows that there was a government effort to create a science base in this field, but there was no parallel strategy to develop a biotechnology industry. There was (and still is) little incentive to use the results of biotechnological research, and little match between technological and market opportunities. In conclusion, the paper argues that policies should be developed to bridge the gap between public research and industry. This will require mechanisms that, going beyond the notion of 'technology transfer', promote an effective transformation of advanced knowledge intergrated into products and services,a nd facilitate the dialogue and exchange between groups with diverse capabilities, objectives and languages.     

European Agricultural Biotechnology Preferences and Policy: Growth and Trade Implications

European Union policies effectively prohibit the production and consumption of genetically modified agricultural products. This paper examines the prohibition's effects on research and development, innovation, trade flows, and economic growth using a Heckscher–Ohlin–Samuelson trade model with a neo‐ Schumpeterian approach. Restrictive European Union policies on biotechnology production and consumption result in: an effective export subsidy of capital to the South; changing trade flows; North America being the dominant producer of biotechnology research and development; the South being a dominant producer of biotechnology products; and the European Union being the dominant producer of traditional agricultural products.     

什么样的数字创新生态系统能提高区域创新绩效——基于NCA与QCA的研究

什么样的数字创新生态系统有助于提高区域创新绩效是亟待解决的热点问题。采用必要条件分析（NCA）和模糊集定性比较分析（fsQCA）两种方法,对我国内地31个省（区、市）进行实证分析。研究发现：①数字企业、政府、高校及科研机构、数字创新基础设施、数字人才和金融服务是数字创新生态系统的关键构成,但单个要素并不是提高区域创新绩效的必要条件;②4种数字创新生态系统要素组态有助于提高区域创新绩效,构成的数字创新生态系统分别是政府引导的智力聚集型、企业开拓的环境支撑型、主体多元的综合发展型和企业主导的资本驱动型;③各地应因地制宜,选择合适的数字创新生态系统,培育区域创新新动能,助推“数字中国”新发展。     

Developing Usability and Utility: A Comparative Study of the Users of New IT

The paper, based on a major comparative study of the introduction of management information systems in retailing, health and higher education, argues for a broader and more differentiated account of users in studies of technological innovation. End-users must incorporate new systems into their working lives and in so doing play a crucial and active part in embedding new systems into organizations. The particular focus of this paper is the interplay of two key aspects of the varied and developing relationships between users and new systems-usability and utility. By classifying discussions of usability into six distinct components, the paper recasts it as a multifaceted phenomenon that is as much social as it is technological. The development of utility is explored through a discussion of three different groups of users-one drawn from each research site. Each group is taken to exemplify different locations in and stances towards processes of techno-organizational change.     

Developing Usability and Utility: A Comparative Study of the Users of New IT

The paper, based on a major comparative study of the introduction of management information systems in retailing, health and higher education, argues for a broader and more differentiated account of users in studies of technological innovation. End-users must incorporate new systems into their working lives and in so doing play a crucial and active part in embedding new systems into organizations. The particular focus of this paper is the interplay of two key aspects of the varied and developing relationships between users and new systems-usability and utility. By classifying discussions of usability into six distinct components, the paper recasts it as a multifaceted phenomenon that is as much social as it is technological. The development of utility is explored through a discussion of three different groups of users-one drawn from each research site. Each group is taken to exemplify different locations in and stances towards processes of techno-organizational change.     

Alternate signs of life: The growth of biotechnology industries in Shanghai and Bangalore

This paper explores the emergence of biotechnology centers in Shanghai and Bangalore by comparing their development to best practices in the literature for biotechnology cluster growth and development. Interviews with over fifty biotech companies and related institutions in China and India indicate that these regions are developing alternate models of low cost manufacturing and services that build on the current local base of knowledge and expertise. The ability to convert research into successful commercial activity was identified in both regions. The strong research capacity, private sector funding, and entrepreneurial environment deemed critical best practices were limited. New growth theory is used to explain these alternate approaches to technological and social change.     

适用于发展中国家的创新范式:开放式颠覆创新理论框架

制造型企业的发展关系着国民经济的稳定与繁荣。中国制造型企业通过创新探索与实践,初步实现了关键技术与核心产品国产化,在技术创新过程中,自然会重点关注突破性创新方法。通过阐述突破性创新特征,说明其在发展中国家使用时遇到的障碍,并通过文献和案例研究讨论了一种新的技术创新策略——开放式颠覆创新。这一方法有助于企业成功获得创新性产品或服务,借助基于核心能力的技术和业务多元化战略适应市场变化,通过持续性创新保持企业竞争优势。开放式颠覆创新不仅是对中国企业30多年来创新实践的理论提炼,也是适用于其它发展中国家的创新新范式。     

Understanding innovation in practice: a discussion of the production and re-production of Nordic Walking

Building on the work of those who have highlighted the role of consumers and lead users we focus on innovations not in products but in what people do. In developing a method of conceptualising the emergence and reproduction of practice we argue that innovation is not a one-off moment but a continuous on-going process. Specifically, we suggest that innovations in practice involve changing combinations of symbolic and material ingredients and of competence or know-how. In addition, we argue that managers, manufacturers and consumers are all variously involved in making and sustaining connections between these defining elements. We illustrate and elaborate on these ideas with reference to Nordic Walking, a form of speed walking with two sticks. First practiced in 1997, it is now a regular pursuit for more than seven million people in over 30 countries and is reputed to be Europe's fastest growing form of exercise. In discussing this case we specify the constitutive ingredients of Nordic Walking and its location relative to other practices that already exist. Our analysis raises a number of general questions. For example, how can managers and manufacturers institutionalise practices that require consumption of the things they make? Is there any fundamental difference in the role of ‘lead’ and ‘ordinary’ users in generating and sustaining innovations in practice? Taking these questions forward, we develop a theoretical position that relativises the conventionally distinct roles of consumers and producers and that represents a novel hybridisation of innovation studies and sociological theories of practice.     

Health and Public Health Implications of COVID-19 in Asian Countries

This paper discusses the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on population health in Asian countries. Compared to European countries, Asian countries, in general, experienced much fewer COVID-19 cases and deaths. The underlying factors in this difference would include the earlier and more stringent nonpharmaceutical interventions, differences in the age structure, the geographical characteristics in Asia, and the experience of past outbreaks of emerging diseases, though further studies are needed to investigate the exact mechanisms. Still, regarding the aim of developing resilient health care systems, there remain several lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic experience in Asian countries that could inform more effective management of future pandemics.     

技术创新促进经济增长的动力研究

根据经济增长理论及影响变化因素,结合我国经济发展实际,本文论证了技术创新促进经济增长的不同模式,提出了发展中国家促进技术创新发展的框架,技术创新是企业发展的根本动力。提高区域经济的增长速度和转变经济增长的方式是发展中国家的必由之路。在区域经济视角下研究影响企业技术创新的因素,通过政府和企业联动改善这些因素作用的效率,非常必要。论文首先根据技术创新理论,分析了不同层面的企业技术创新发展的影响因素。最后提出了区域经济视角下提高企业技术创新能力的对策,强调了政府、企业在技术创新中的不同作用。     

Intellectual property rights and innovation in developing countries

This paper studies intellectual property rights (IPRs) and innovation in developing countries. A model is developed to illustrate the trade-off between imitating foreign technologies and encouraging domestic innovation in a developing country's choice of IPRs. It is shown that innovations in a developing country increase in its IPRs, and a country's IPRs can depend on its level of development non-monotonically, first decreasing and then increasing. Empirical analysis, with a panel of data for 64 developing countries, confirms both the positive impact of IPRs on innovations in developing countries and the presence of a U-shaped relationship between IPRs and economic development.     

Measuring innovation in long product development cycle industries: an insight in biotechnology

This paper examines and measures innovation in the context of biotechnology firms by analysing the link between R&D, innovation performance and organisational growth. We conceptualise innovation performance as a latent construct with two dimensions: innovation efficacy and innovation efficiency. We use structural equations modelling to test the hypotheses on a data set from the biotechnology industry. Results support our innovation performance conceptualisation which is found to be especially useful to measure innovation in industries with long product development cycles. Findings also underline the importance of R&D knowledge creation for biotechnology firms.     

Catching up to the technology frontier: the dichotomy between innovation and imitation

Abstract Using data for 55 developing and developed countries, this research examines the roles of technology transfer, research intensity, educational attainment, and the ability to absorb foreign technology in explaining cross‐country differences in productivity growth. The results show that innovation is an important factor for growth in OECD countries, whereas growth in developing countries is driven by imitation. Furthermore, the interaction between educational attainment and the distance to the frontier is a significant determinant of growth in the overall sample.     

Using resources in R&D policy planning: Brazil, the Amazon and biotechnology

Brazil's research and development (R&D) policies are examined in light of changes in economic direction especially as it pertains to competition. In a competitive environment, regions should develop industrial applications and expertise in areas that coincide with their resources. These could be human resources but could, as in the focus of this paper, be useful resources that differentiate the region from others in the world. This differentiation provides an advantage to the region. Brazil and its Amazon region has the large majority of the world's rare genes. In biotechnology, genes are “green gold,” and Brazil is slowly developing a biotechnology industry and beginning to tap into the Brazilian Amazon region's economic biotech potential. This region has enormous potential for the development of biotech-related technologies and products. This paper discusses the relationship between resources and an R&D strategy using as an example the recent developments in biotechnology research in Brazil and the role of the Amazon region in the development of a Brazilian biotechnology industry. It recommends a number of policy initiatives that will enhance Brazil's focus on biotechnology.     

用户参与企业产品创新的系统管理机制

用户参与是技术创新理论中一个非常重要的研究领域,在新产品开发过程中,用户作为价值创造者的作用已经受到学者和企业家的重视.用户参与产品创新,可以拓展企业创新源、为企业赢得持续竞争优势和提高新产品开发效率.如何有效地获取用户资源,将这一资源充分整合在新产品的开发过程中,且能够成功将产品推向市场,这是用户参与产品创新的关键.本文研究了如何系统管理用户参与新产品开发的过程,认为企业需要进行相应的组织安排和制度设计;需要构建用户参与产品创新的支持系统;需要控制用户参与新产品开发的过程.     

Automated feature extraction from social media for systematic lead user identification

Manufacturers strive to rapidly develop novel products and offer solutions that meet the emerging customer needs. The Lead User Method, emerging from studies on sources of innovation by the scientific community, offers a validated approach to identify users with innovation ideas to support rapid and successful new product development process. The approach has been more recently applied on online communities, where collection and analysis of rich user data are performed by expert practitioners. In this paper, feature extraction techniques are outlined, that enable automated classification and identification of lead users that are present in online communities. The authors describe two case studies to construct a classification model that is then used to identify online lead users for confectionery products, and to evaluate the outlined feature extraction techniques. The presented research points to opportunities in automated identification within the lead user approach that further reduce the resource and time costs.     

Metering motorbike mobility: informal transport in transition?

Vast numbers of people in rapidly growing cities throughout the developing world depend on informal transport services for their mobility needs. Thus far the field of transition studies has addressed the dynamics of socio-technical change in situations where regimes of automobility and sanctioned public transport constitute the dominant order, but not in contexts of cities in the developing world, where informal transit thrives. In this paper we enquire about stability and prospects for change in these kinds of socio-technical systems. To this end, we trace the evolution of Bangkok's motorcycle taxi industry including recent efforts to introduce a potentially radical innovation: an information and communications technology (ICT) platform used as a taximeter. The paper concludes that innovations in informal urban transport are opening up alternative mobility pathways for the developing world, which might even spread far beyond their original confines into the West; and that the persistence of informal transport systems and the proliferation of innovations within those systems in developing countries prove to be relevant phenomena for defining prominent topics on the agenda of (sustainability) transitions research.     

美国、欧盟和日本生物技术产业政策研究

文章分析研究了美国、欧盟和日本的生物技术产业发展进程、所取得的成就,特别是三国为鼓励和推动其生物技术产业发展所制定和实施的产业政策。其研究可为我国政府制定相关产业发展政策提供借鉴和参考依据。     

市场化进程、数字化转型与区域创新能力——理论分析与经验证据

结合区域创新能力相关理论,探究市场化进程、数字化转型与区域创新能力的内在联系。研究发现,市场化进程能通过缓解创新主体的外部融资约束、激发创新主体内在创新动力,进而间接提升区域创新能力;市场化进程对区域创新能力的影响存在异质性,数字化程度较高地区的市场化进程对区域创新能力提升效果更显著。结论可为政府加速市场化改革与数字化转型、加快实施创新驱动发展战略提供经验证据及政策启示。