A framework for implementing information and communication technologies in agricultural development in India

Knowledge is an increasingly significant factor of production in modern agriculture. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) can accelerate agricultural development by facilitating knowledge management. Based on an evaluation of several ICT initiatives in rural India, a framework to guide policy and implementation of ICTs in Indian agriculture is proposed. In this framework, agricultural development is visualized from two perspectives, a rural incomes and livelihoods perspective at the farm level, and a sustainability perspective at the regional level. The implementation of ICTs is proposed in three unique institutional environments: (i) closed vertical supply chain network for agribusiness enterprises, (ii) an open chain network with dynamically evolving partners and supply chain situations for the public, non-governmental and multilateral organizations, and (iii) a spatial data services network to address natural resources management and sustainability concerns. Each environment is assessed to identify its appropriate business models centered around ICTs, required technologies, scope for up-scaling the models, and required institutional and policy initiatives. In the future, as ICT infrastructure grows and connectivity and hardware costs decline, the critical constraints are likely to be the development of appropriate policy and institutional environments for the creation and delivery of information and knowledge to the end users. Significant policy, institutional networking and capacity building initiatives will be required at various levels to overcome the constraints and effectively integrate ICTs into the agricultural development process in India.     

俄罗斯科技型初创企业:值得关注的中俄科技合作伙伴

在实施以创新为核心的国家发展战略的背景下,俄罗斯涌现出一批致力于前沿科技研发及高科技产品的科技型初创企业。这些科技型初创企业发展的主要原因在于俄罗斯政府的作用:出台法律法规,鼓励科研单位和高校创办企业;搭建平台,推动重点领域科技研发;拓展资助渠道,为创新项目提供定制化金融服务;实施专项计划,重点支持应用研究的发展;启动知识产权私有化,推动智力成果的实际应用;等等。该类企业大多具有2个突出特点:在创始人或项目参与者中,年轻人比重较大;主要从事信息通讯、生物医药、节能和能源、航天技术等战略性技术领域的研发。通过研究俄罗斯科技型初创企业的发展原因及突出特点,对中俄在高技术和创新领域的合作提出了具体建议。     

我国参与欧盟研发框架计划的总体情况

欧盟研发框架计划是世界上规模最大的、综合性的官方研发计划,具有研发领域广、投资规模大、延续时间长、参与的机构和人员多等特点。自欧盟第四研发框架计划正式对欧盟以外的国家开放以来,其开放的领域不断扩大,包括信息通讯技术、纳米技术、能源、环境等众多领域。从我国参与欧盟第四至第七框架计划的情况来看,参与项目的数量增长较快,但经费增长缓慢;合作领域由以传统领域为主向高技术领域扩展;参与主体以大学和科研机构为主。目前,欧盟已开始实施"地平线2020"计划,并将推行对等开放、双向合作的国际科技合作方式。我国应认真总结前期参与欧盟框架计划的经验,积极应对新的挑战。     

中国ICT行业创新网络弹性——基于专利数据的实证研究

基于复杂网络弹性的视角,运用专利数据分析了中国ICT行业创新网络的弹性。结论如下:整体来看,中国ICT行业的创新网络具有无标度网络结构特征,少数网络主体间存在技术知识的非对称性依赖,局部网络锁定效应降低了创新网络弹性,网络关系瓦解导致创新网络弹性下降;随着行业创新主体的不断增加,创新网络的均衡性和异质性增强,创新网络弹性整体呈上升趋势,中国ICT行业的创新网络抵抗外部不确定性因素冲击的适应性增强。     

两类工业研究院协同创新项目治理比较

工业技术研究院（简称“工研院”）包括由传统科研单位转型和由多主体直接组建两种类型。工研院是项目型组织，合适的治理机制是项目成功的基础。针对不同工研院项目治理特征，设定合适的治理机制是当前研究亟待解决的问题。鉴于利益相关方通过契约关系和信息关系形成项目治理网络且其能够反映治理特征，可借助该网络对两类工研院项目治理进行比较。基于社会网络分析（SNA）方法，从网络整体和网络关键节点两个方面设计网络评价指标，选取两类工研院典型项目构建相应的治理网络，通过量化比较，分析项目治理特征和问题，最终提出针对性建议。     

Catch-up in ICT standards: Policy,implementation and standards-setting in South Korea

Korea is home to the world-first introductions of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) and subsequent third generation (3 G) mobile technologies. In addition to increased contributions to global ICT standards, Korean players gained prominence recently by proposing standards for homegrown systems. This paper takes stock of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) policy design, implementations of projects and standards-settings during the Korean catch-up in ICT sectors and attempts at highlighting their commonalities during three different phases: Implementation, Participation, and Definition of standards. The co-evolution of two types of policies and implementations – ‘generic’ and ‘targeted’³ – affect the rate, direction and processes of catch-up. The patterns of raising standards-setting capabilities are generally in line with traditional technological catch-up. However, the evidence implies latecomers must address a few issues related to standards in order to sustain their rates of learning and continued growth in the ICT industry, namely: 1) Clarity of focus on over-arching industry and standards policy and their timely integration, 2) managing the balance between targeted and generic projects to gain both technological and non-technological capabilities for standards-settings, especially implementation, and finally 3) embedding necessary institutional flexibility within a national system catering to multiple standards-setting strategies and processes.     

The Diaries of a Cabinet Minister,Volume One,Minister of Housing 1964–66

While John R. Commons often referred to third sector organizations, such as associations, cooperatives, and trade unions, it is unclear how these organizations can be fitted into his transactional typology. This paper clarifies this problem by identifying two dimensions of bargaining, managerial, and rationing transactions: 1) the extent of legal equality of transactional participants, and 2) the extent of commonness of these participants' transactional interests. These dimensions enable defining the identity of the third sector in terms of a distinct variety of rationing transactions combining legal equality of transactional participants with significant commonness of their interests. The paper further explores several implications of this argument for new institutional economics, concerning the citizenship aspect of markets and hierarchies and the possibility of viewing third sector organizations as hybrids between markets and hierarchies. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for further research.     

Technological innovation and knowledge network in Asia: Evidence from comparison of information and communication technologies among six countries

South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, China and India have become much larger force in the world economy. Due to the enormous contribution of the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in economic growth, this study investigates four main issues related to technological innovation and knowledge network in ICT among six countries. First, indicators of technological innovation were evaluated and used to compare capability of technological innovation in ICT between the six countries. Secondly, differences in innovation configurations among six countries were manifested. Thirdly, relative innovation strengths of these six countries were examined in five sub-technological fields. Finally, this study consists of analyzing the interactions into knowledge network among them; moreover, this study manifests the difference of knowledge network in five sub-technological field of ICT. The empirical findings of this study, based on analysis of a patent and citation dataset comprised of all patents granted by the U.S. Patents and Trademark Office (USPTO) to assignees in six countries from 1976 to 2006, are helpful to understand the comparative development of technological innovation of ICT in six countries.     

Structural and geographical patterns of knowledge networks in emerging technological standards: evidence from the European GNSS industry

The concentration and dispersion of innovative activities in space have been largely explained and evidenced by the nature of knowledge and the geographical extent of knowledge spillovers. One of the empirical challenges is to go beyond this by understanding how the geography of innovation is shaped by particular structural properties of knowledge networks. This paper contributes to this challenge, focusing on the particular case of global navigation satellite systems at the European level. We exploit a database of R&D collaborative projects based on the fifth and sixth European Union Framework Programs, and apply social network analysis in economic geography. We study the properties both of the network of organizations and the network of collaborative projects. We show that the nature of the knowledge involved in relationships influences the geographical and structural organizations of the technological field. The observed coexistence of a relational core/periphery structure with a geographical cluster/pipeline one is discussed in the light of the industrial and geographical dynamics of technological standards.     

欧盟未来新兴技术计划概况及进展

为加强欧盟信息技术前沿领域的研发创新,鼓励大规模产学研合作,提升整体科研竞争力,欧盟于2009年起,着手对未来新兴技术(FET)的大型研发和资助进行探索。经过长期筹备和多次选拔,2013年初,"石墨烯"和"人脑计划"项目被选为首批FET旗舰项目,分别获得总额10亿欧元的十年期资助。此举体现了欧盟以长远发展的眼光,对未来新兴技术的发展和多领域研发合作的高度重视。对欧盟未来新兴技术计划进行深入分析和研究,有助于我国相关机构和科技人员借鉴欧盟未来技术的研发理念和经验,加强有关研究和国际合作,探索适合我国国情的新一代信息技术前沿应用领域,提高我国的科研竞争力,为人类健康和社会可持续发展服务。     

The changing pattern of industrial technology linkage structure of Korea: Did the ICT industry play a role in the 1980s and 1990s?

The notion of the knowledge-based economy highlights the strategic importance of inter-industrial knowledge flows. Among others, the crucial role of information and communications technology (ICT) industry is emphasized. The pattern whereby technological knowledge is created, accumulated and disseminated through the interactive learning among industries can be portrayed as a network. Based on the network theory, this empirical study analyses, from the dynamic perspective, inter-industrial technological knowledge structure of Korean industries during the reference period of early 1980s to mid-1990s. Overall, the density of the network increased over time, implying that the knowledge network has expanded and intensified. The role of the ICT industry in the global network has also increased but needs to be further strengthened, especially informatization of non-ICT industries by the outflow of ICT industrial knowledge in the future. The findings in turn render some important policy implications that should be addressed in developing technology policy.     

ICT and productivity: conclusions from the empirical literature

Innovation drives economic competitiveness and sustained long-term economic growth. Especially the emergence and intensive utilization of information and communication technologies (ICTs), which spawned the beginning of the digital economy two decades ago, heavily affected the opportunities and efficiency of how firms produce and provide goods and services. We provide an overview of the empirical literature on ICT and productivity and highlight the main results and methodological differences. The majority of studies indicates that the productivity effect of ICT is indeed positive and significant. However, methodological approaches of how to appropriately estimate the ICT effect matter. While aggregate and sectoral growth accounting exercises suggest stronger differences of the ICT effect between US and Europe, firm-level analyses suggest no significant country differences. Moreover, we shed light on the notion of ICT being a General Propose Technology (GPT) enabling further innovations. Most of the GPT evidence on ICT is found for the US, while evidence for European countries is harder to come by. However, more theoretical and empirical research is needed to better understand spillovers and externalities of ICT and how these technologies transform our economies.     

基于空间维度的组织学习理论——组织从外部学习的模型

基于组织学习时空理论的空间维度,提出了组织从外部学习的模型。研究内容包括两个方面:一方面,基于外部组织类型的视角,以企业为例,探讨了组织向外部不同类型组织的学习——具体包括组织向政府、供应商、顾客、竞争者和合作者的学习,组织在向外部不同类型组织的学习中获取知识的维度和方式,知识的整合以及从外部学习与从内部学习的结合;另一方面,基于组织嵌入网络的视角,进一步探讨了组织与外部其他组织建立的网络,网络连带的强度、网络密度和组织在网络中所处的位置对组织从外部学习的影响,网络结构的决定因素,以及组织在网络中的权力和地位。最后总结了理论和实践贡献,并指出了存在的不足和未来的研究方向。     

Are ICT Spillovers Driving the New Economy?

Some observers have raised the possibility that production spillovers and network effects associated with information and communications technology (ICT) are an important part of the "New Economy." Across U.S. manufacturing industries, however, ICT capital appears correlated with the acceleration of average labor productivity (ALP) growth as predicted by a standard production model, but not with total factor productivity (TFP) growth as these New Economy forces imply. Once one allows for productivity differences across industries, measured TFP growth is uncorrelated with all capital inputs, including ICT capital. This provides little evidence for a New Economy story of ICT-related spillovers or network effects driving TFP growth throughout U.S. manufacturing.     

New technologies and productivity growth in the euro area

This paper provides an overview of the available evidence on the importance of information and communication technologies (ICT) for developments in average labour productivity (ALP) growth in the euro area. The contribution of ICT to ALP growth is found to have increased both in terms of production and investment over the 1990s (up to 2001). However, there is no evidence of significant positive spillover effects from the use of ICT on ALP growth. This implies that there is no reason to believe that potential output growth in the euro area has increased significantly in recent years on account of new technologies. Comparing developments in the euro area and the United States, it appears, however, that ICT capital cannot account for much of the difference in ALP developments over the 1990s. This suggests that cyclical developments and, in particular, the structure of the economy are more important for explaining the difference in performance.First version received: March 2002/Final version received: May 2003We thank Bart van Ark, Neale Kennedy, Gerard Korteweg, Ad van Riet, Marcel Timmer, two anonymous referees and participants at the 17th Congress of the European Economic Association, Venice August 2002 for their comments. All errors and omissions remain ours, of course. We thank Erikos Velissaratos for his help in acquiring data on investment in ICT and Colin Webb for providing us with the OECD STAN database. This paper represents the views of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Central Bank, the European Commission or their staff.     

Collective Influence on Information Technology in Virtual Organizations-Emancipatory Management of Technology?

This contribution addresses the question of how to create an agency for emancipatory management of technology. Unions are suggested as a collective actor, since steps towards democratization and micro emancipation have few chances if they rely on management practitioners alone. Instead, unions, shop stewards and employees should acquire and demand elements of emancipatory management of technology on the basis of collective power rather than waiting for managers to change their praxis. The article looks at union activities related to virtual organizations in manufacturing companies. It is argued that although virtualization is modest, it still challenges traditional union strategies. Based on case material stemming from action-oriented research, a number of levels of possible influence and politicization are discussed ranging from the workplace to the national level, which unions can pursue in becoming a collective actor in the development of ICT and organizations.     

Network Interaction with Material and Relational Goods: An Exploratory Simulation

We model interaction within the members of a work group, who carry on different projects and can choose to cooperate with each other or to exploit the work of the others. We focus our attention on the dynamic interdependence between their material performance and the structure of the relations among them. In particular, we assume that their satisfaction depends both upon the material outcome of their projects and upon the quality of their reciprocal relations (so that these two aspects are seen, to a certain extent, as psychological substitutes). As dissatisfaction may generate the disruption of social links, the consequent failure of the projects is a possible outcome. In turn, satisfactory relations and stable cooperation may loop positively together. Our model merges game theory and network representation of the relations among actors, thus opening a route of research that, to our knowledge, has not yet been explored.     

Collective Influence on Information Technology in Virtual Organizations-Emancipatory Management of Technology?

This contribution addresses the question of how to create an agency for emancipatory management of technology. Unions are suggested as a collective actor, since steps towards democratization and micro emancipation have few chances if they rely on management practitioners alone. Instead, unions, shop stewards and employees should acquire and demand elements of emancipatory management of technology on the basis of collective power rather than waiting for managers to change their praxis. The article looks at union activities related to virtual organizations in manufacturing companies. It is argued that although virtualization is modest, it still challenges traditional union strategies. Based on case material stemming from action-oriented research, a number of levels of possible influence and politicization are discussed ranging from the workplace to the national level, which unions can pursue in becoming a collective actor in the development of ICT and organizations.     

ICTs and time-span in technical efficiency gains. A stochastic frontier approach over a panel of Italian manufacturing firms

In this paper, in contrast to much of the existing literature dealing with the impact of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on labour productivity, we assess the relationship between ICT investments and technical efficiency (TE) using a stochastic frontier approach. We utilize a large panel dataset of Italian manufacturing firms over the period 1995–2006 and confirm the findings of the previous work on ICT and productivity. In addition, we test to what extent ICT investments influence the gap between firms and the production frontier; that is, how adoption of ICT influences the narrowing of the said gap. We also test the duration of the effects of adopting ICT on technical efficiency. Finally, our results indicate that ICT returns on TE are influenced by certain firm characteristics, most of which idiosyncratic, such as management practices, labour organization, research and development.     

Information Systems Project Abandonment: A Case of Political Influence by the Stakeholders

This paper serves as a stimulus to investigators to examine the role organizational politics plays in decisions leading to the abandonment of information systems (IS) projects. While prior research has identified the development of IS projects as a highly political process, where stakeholders may be more concerned about furthering their self-interests than about contributing to the overall success of the project, there has been little research on identifying the political factors contributing to IS project abandonment. Our case demonstrates six types of political action that took place that caused an electronic commerce (e-commerce) project to be abandoned. Finally, when analyzing mistakes and their principal causes, there is one important lesson that we should learn. That is, all organizations make mistakes and there is the potential for learning from project abandonment experiences.