Inside the high-tech black box: A critique of technology entrepreneurship policy

Promoting new technology-based firms is the cornerstone of technology entrepreneurship policies in advanced industrial economies. Drawing on quantitative and qualitative empirical evidence from the UK, this paper provides a critique of these policy frameworks. The aggregate analysis shows that vast majority of these firms are micro firms, a small minority of whom grow rapidly. The paper then highlights the incongruence between the nature of these firms and the public sector technology policies designed to support them. The qualitative data reveals that typically these firms are corporate rather than university spin-offs; most do not undertake large amounts of in-house R&D; most do not have protected IP; and only a small minority are VC-backed. Most derive their main competitive advantages from open innovation sources such as relationships with end-users and customers. The paper offers suggestions for how policy could be recalibrated to better reflect the requirements of local entrepreneurial actors and the types of support required by most high-tech SMEs.     

Building absorptive capacity to organise inbound open innovation in traditional industries

The discussion on open innovation suggests that the ability to absorb external knowledge has become a major driver for competition. For R&D intensive large firms, the concept of open innovation in relation to absorptive capacity is relatively well understood. Little attention has; however, been paid to how both small firms and firms, which operate in traditional sectors, engage in open innovation activities. The latter two categories of firms often dispose of no, or at most a relatively low level of, absorptive capacity. Open innovation has two faces. In the case of inbound open innovation, companies screen their environment to search for technology and knowledge and do not exclusively rely on in-house R&D. A key pre-condition is that firms dispose of “absorptive capacity” to internalise external knowledge. SMEs and firms in traditional industries might need assistance in building absorptive capacity. This paper focuses on the role of collective research centres in building absorptive capacity at the inter-organisational level. In order to do so, primary data was collected through interviews with CEOs of these technology intermediaries and their member firms and analysed in combination with secondary data. The technology intermediaries discussed are created to help firms to take advantage of technological developments. The paper demonstrates that the openness of the innovation process forces firms lacking absorptive capacity to search for alternative ways to engage in inbound open innovation. The paper highlights the multiple activities of which absorptive capacity in intermediaries is made up; defines the concept of absorptive capacity as a pre-condition to open innovation; and demonstrates how firms lacking absorptive capacity collectively cope with distributed knowledge and innovation.     

Knowledge flow in Technological Business Incubators: Evidence from Australia and Israel

The study of the contribution of incubators to economic growth started to gain momentum in the 1980s, following the growth of the incubation phenomenon. While acknowledging the challenge of evaluating incubators׳ outcomes, we shift the focus from incubators׳ performance to their internal processes, in particular, the interrelationships through which the incubator stakeholders share knowledge. The literature suggests that small new ventures tend to fail because they lack managerial experience and ability to raise capital in an early stage. Incubators are expected to overcome these obstacles by offering experienced monitoring skills and by enhancing access to capital at a firm׳s early stage. However, empirical results of incubators׳ ability to perform their role are often contradictory, making policy makers question their effectiveness. We provide evidence from Australian and Israeli incubators. Our findings suggest that collaborations between incubatees, graduated incubatees, and incubator management increase the incubatees׳ knowledge of technology and market in both countries. Collaboration between incubatees and incubator management also increase incubatees׳ financial knowledge and their likelihood of raising capital. We also found that universities played a modest role as a source of new ideas for incubatees, but a more important role in later stages of incubatees׳ new product development processes.     

Municipal demand-side policy tools and the strategic management of technology life cycles

This research is particularly concerned with public policy instruments which may help to accelerate the development and diffusion of sustainable innovations and support local economic development. While sustainable technology sectors are in high demand, firms still face significant barriers in developing and diffusing their technologies in regions throughout the world (Hoff, 2012). This area has been less explored in the extant research yet recent experiences suggest that supply side tools may not always have positive benefits for supporting clean technology evolution, or for taxpayers. Leveraging innovation policy and technology life cycle literature, we develop a model of demand-side policy instruments which could be applied at different stages of the technology s-curve in order to accelerate the adoption of sustainable technologies. Implications for managers, public policy actors and researchers are considered.     

Types of innovation and inter-firm co-operation

The paper presents the results of an empirical study that aims to investigate the impact of interfirm co-operation over innovation on four different types of innovation: product, process, incremental and radical innovation. Drawing on the innovative milieu literature, the impact on the above four types of innovation was tested for both external and internal factors of innovation such as inter-firm co-operation over innovation, production networking, as well as R&D investment and R&D personnel. Four probit models were run by using a unique data set compiled as part of the Regional Innovation Strategy for the West Midlands (UK) Project. The main findings of the paper seem to provide substantial evidence that, for any of the four types of innovation considered, firms' capacity to innovate could greatly improve if they co-operated with other firms over innovation in addition to or instead of investing in R&D. Innovation policy should not overlook, therefore, the systemic component of innovation and ought to attempt to initiate and support inter-firm co-operation. This would mean a renewed and more focused analysis of firms' clusters as part of a multi-faceted approach to innovation policy.     

科技企业孵化器运营模式的创新策略分析

随着我国社会的不断发展,各企业也在不断地进行改革创新。当前,孵化器概念被应用于我国的经济服务行业,在许多地方,企业孵化器被运用于高新技术的创业与服务当中。科技企业孵化器能够使一些科技型的中小企业寻求更好的发展,孵化器能够提供空间与基础设施等支持,并能够帮助引导毕业大学生进行更好的创业活动。论文从科技企业孵化器运营模式的含义进行分析,然后分析科技企业孵化器运营中所存在的问题,最后从两个方面思考科技企业孵化器运营模式的创新。     

Determinants of licensing activities of local public technology centers in Japan

Local public technology centers are publicly managed institutions that facilitate technology transfer to small local firms. As well as providing small local firms with various technological services, local public technology centers conduct their own research and patent inventions. This study examines factors facilitating licensing activities and finds that the determinants vary according to the phase of technology transfer. Employing more Ph.D. scientists tends to promote the licensing of patents, while organizational efforts that encourage scientists to better understand the technological needs of small local firms tend to increase royalty revenue. The theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed.     

区域创新能力对经济发展质量提升的驱动作用研究

创新驱动是提高经济发展质量的第一动力,推动高质量发展的关键是通过创新提升经济效率。河南全要素生产率代表的经济发展质量与多层面区域创新能力(包括创新基础条件、创新投入、产出与创新制度等)的相互影响关系实证计量分析的结果表明,区域创新能力与经济发展质量间存在较为显著的长期因果关系,河南创新能力每增加一个百分点,经济发展质量相应提升0.6976%。同时还发现区域创新基础条件改善、制度创新能力提升与经济发展质量间存在的正向效应关系最为明显,而区域创新投入因与区域创新能力提升并不明显表现为同步关系,使其对经济发展质量的影响具有一定的滞后性。基于上述研究,促进区域发展质量提升应该强调战略新兴产业和高技术产业对产业优化的引领导向,进一步加大创新投入,促进企业创新主体作用发挥,持续强化区域创新活动的高水平人才支撑,推进制度创新,进一步深化科技体制改革。     

Roadmapping for technology push and partnership: A contribution for open innovation environments

There are several tools in the literature that support innovation in organizations. Some of the most cited are the so-called technology roadmapping methods, also known as TRM. However, these methods are designed primarily for organizations that adopt the market pull strategy of technology-product integration. Organizations that adopt the technology push integration strategy are neglected in the literature. Furthermore, with the advent of open innovation, it is possible to note the need to consider the adoption of partnerships in the innovation process. Thus, this study proposes a method of technology roadmapping, identified as method for technology push (MTP), applicable to organizations that adopt the technology push integration strategy, such as SMEs and independent research centers in an open-innovation environment. The method was developed through action-research and was assessed from two analytical standpoints: externally, via a specific literature review on its theoretical contributions, and internally, through the analysis of potential users' perceptions on the feasibility of applying MTP. The results indicate both the unique character of the method and its perceived implementation feasibility. Future research is suggested in order to validate the method in different types of organizations     

Editorial: Purchasing and innovation: Past,present and future of the field of research

This paper introduces the special topic forum (STF) on purchasing and innovation. Presenting the findings from a systematic literature review, we take stock of the current state of the field, delineating themes, theories and methods, and identifying key trends over time. Our study shows a take-off in research on purchasing and innovation during the last decade. This has predominantly focused on private sector manufacturing firms although a recent expansion into public sector research is evident. Large-scale surveys and case studies are still the dominant research methods where the unit of analysis is typically the ‘firm’ or ‘project’. The findings also show how in the past the field was driven by questions on how purchasing can facilitate different types of innovation projects, seeking to derive practical implications, and rarely making explicit statements regarding theories applied; this still characterises much of the research but we find an increasing focus on theory development. We also see a shift in the type of technological innovation being investigated: past studies tended to focus on the role of purchasing in new product development (NPD) projects, which reflected a relatively low degree of technological uncertainty, but we see a trend towards innovation projects facing technological uncertainty. Research shows how this requires new ways of sourcing innovations and therefore new ways for purchasing to facilitate innovation sourcing. On the basis of the review, we offer our guidance for future research avenues to 1) carry out more research on procurement of innovation in the public sector; 2) consider new theories and research methods, and 3) go beyond firm-level or dyadic analysis to research networks and ecosystems. We conclude by introducing the papers in the STF.     

Fostering product innovation: Differences between new ventures and established firms

This study combines insights from the entrepreneurship, competency-based view and innovation policy literature to analyze the relationships among different types of public incentives designed to foster innovation and product innovation at both new ventures and incumbent firms. To test our hypotheses, we ran a system of regression models on a cross-national sample comprised of 5238 firms from 29 European countries and found a different pattern for new ventures and incumbents. Our results suggest that support for attendance or participation in trade fairs and networking with other companies are the most effective methods of promoting product innovation for new ventures. However, for incumbent firms, we found that the most effective policies consisted of tax reduction for R&D expenditures and subsidies for acquiring buildings or other infrastructure(s) for innovation activities. This distinction prompts interesting insights related to theory development in research on entrepreneurship and innovation policy.     

Looking beyond the focal industry and existing technologies for radical innovations

The “radicalness” of an innovation is often contingent upon access to distinct technologies which arise from sourcing innovation outside a firms' focal industry (exterior sourcing). We posit that exterior sourcing leads to technology distinctness and that the presence of technology distinctness significantly affects the relationship between exterior sourcing and radicalness. In addition, we assert that high technology distinctness results in a stronger association with radicalness irrespective of the levels of exterior sourcing. Further, at lower levels of exterior sourcing, technology distinctness will have a stronger relationship with radicalness than at higher levels of exterior sourcing. We also argue that high technology distinctness and low exterior sourcing will have the strongest relationship with radicalness. We used patent filings from 1996 through 2009 from the IT industry from within the S&P-500 database to test our assertions. The empirical evidence validated our affirmations. Our findings suggest that to maximize the chance of radical innovations, firms must obtain highly distinct technologies from minimum possible contacts outside their focal industry. We conclude the paper by summarizing the key findings, discussing implications for theory and practice, and suggesting avenues for future research.     

企业技术创新动力与利益激励机制

企业技术创新活动需要相应的动力来推动和加速.企业技术创新动力是由多种动力要素相互作用的结果.这些动力要素本质上都隐含着一定的利益关系,即与创新主体的利益相关性,这是企业技术创新的动力本源.本文以创新主体的利益相关性为基点,分析了决定企业技术创新动力的利益因素,企业技术创新激励的体制和制度障碍,进而提出了企业技术创新利益激励系统的基本框架.     

Towards a New Conceptualization of Innovation in Space: Territorial Patterns of Innovation

This article investigates the way in which regions innovate. Its conceptual framework departs from the simple notion that scientific activities equate with knowledge, which assumes that the presence of local knowledge produced by research centres, universities and firms is a necessary and sufficient condition for increasing the innovative capacities in local firms, fed by local spillovers. In particular, the paradigmatic jump in interpreting regional innovation processes lies in a conceptual framework interpreting not a single phase of the innovation process, but the different modes of performing different phases of the innovation process. This article conceptually identifies different territorial patterns of innovation and highlights the context conditions (internal and external to the region) that accompany each innovation pattern. Based on this debate, I express some doubts on the usefulness of EU policy aims for achieving a figure of 3% of the EU's GDP (public and private) to be invested in R&D/innovation and instead strongly support normative suggestions towards thematically and regionally focused innovation policies.     

Innovation and public procurement: Terminology,concepts, and applications

The growing awareness of public procurement as an innovation policy tool has recently sparked the interest of both policy makers and researchers. While an increasing number of studies is being published every year, an overview of the field is missing. Researchers, practitioners, and policy makers are often using ambiguous wording and have not yet reached consensus on the terminology and concepts involved. This state of affairs leads to research fragmentation and lack of knowledge convergence. For the purpose of contributing to knowledge synthesis and consolidation, this article provides a structured review of the literature on innovation in public procurement. From categorizing publications based on innovation drivers, concepts, and research approaches, the emerging structure of the field is described and synthesized into a framework of innovation in public procurement. The proposed framework differentiates between literature streams on (1) innovations in the public procurement process, (2) innovation of public services by means of procurement, and (3) the use of public procurement as a tool for demand-side innovation policy-making. For each of these streams of literature, different focus areas as well as research gaps and opportunities for future research are identified. Based on analysis of existing research, the proposed framework provides an overview of state-of-the-art knowledge, a unified terminology, and a holistic understanding of innovation in public procurement. The framework is both a point of departure for future research and a source of knowledge for practitioners.     

THE THEORY OF STATE-OWNED ENTERPRISES IN MARKET ECONOMIES

Abstract. Four topics are covered: the circumstances under which state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are more effective than private firms; the different approaches to modelling public and private firms; the performance of SOEs; and strategies including privatization to limit their more damaging effects. It is argued that ideological or development motives are important in their genesis, but that if efficiency and innovation are key considerations the normative case for their existence is more doubtful. Various types of SOE model are identified, deriving from the variety of circumstances in which they operate, and the theoretical perspective of the modeller. These include the property rights school, the public choice tradition, neoclassical, behavioural and budget maximizing approaches. All models assume the existence of monitoring problems, created by informational asymmetry. The consequences can include high non-pecuniary benefits for managers, a concentration on monitored activities, and lower innovation levels and efficiency than private firms. Curiously this is not necessarily reflected in higher prices or costs. Possible remedial strategies include a change of ownership, a change of objectives, the introduction of incentive-compatible payment schemes, improved performance indicators and privatization.     

The relationship between R&D,innovation and productivity in emerging economies: CDM model and alternatives

CDM (Crépon, Duguet and Mairesse, 1988) is a workhorse model in the economics of innovation, which explains productivity in a three-stage procedure driven initially by R&D and leads to patents and then to productivity improvements. Based on the logic of this model, an increasing number of papers applies it to emerging economies but modifies the original model without being explicit about the nature and implications of this modification. We argue in this paper that, in its original form, CDM does not capture stylized facts of the determinants of productivity in emerging economies and that we need alternative models. Accordingly, we are critical of papers that try to maintain the validity of the model but actually change it. For that purpose, we test the original CDM model and its two alternatives: investment and production capability–driven models. Our research is based on a large sample of firms in Central and Eastern Europe, former Soviet republics and Turkey, and we show that the alternative models are much closer to the stylized facts of innovation activities and technology upgrading in these and other emerging economies. Our conclusions have important policy implications, which we discuss.     

中国企业参与垂直分工会促进其技术创新吗？

研究目标：研究中国企业参与垂直分工会对其技术创新产生何种影响。研究方法：利用2000~2013年中国工业企业数据库与海关贸易统计库匹配数据测算中国企业的垂直专业化指数（VSS）,继而实证分析垂直分工对不同所有制、贸易类型及组织模式的企业技术创新的影响。研究发现：中国企业的VSS从2000年的0.48下降至2013年的0.27;整体来说,中国企业参与垂直分工对其技术创新产生了显著的抑制效应;区分所有制、贸易方式和组织模式后发现,垂直分工对外资企业、加工企业及外资加工企业的创新抑制效应最大。研究创新：在Upward等（2013）和张杰等（2013）关于VSS测算方法的基础上进行了改进。研究价值：支撑了中国目前实施的“做强一般贸易、扩大一般贸易规模”的政策。该政策虽然使得企业的垂直分工程度不断下降,但不会削弱其技术创新能力。     

中国企业技术创新若干问题的思考

本文从中国现阶段的经济现状出发,论证了企业技术创新无论对国家民族的兴旺发达,还是企业的生存和发展,都有着十分重要的意义.为了实现企业技术创新,文章提出当前企业最主要是实施“三个”转变:(1)企业要从以引进国外生产技术设备为主的形式,向以立足国内自主开发创新为主的形式转变.不断地创造出具有本企业特色的新的名牌产品.(2)要改革现行科技体制,建立健全企业自主开新机制.使企业真正成为技术开发、技术改造的主体,实现科技开发与经济发展密切结合起来,提高科研成果转变为现实生产力的概率.(3)企业当前不仅要在生产技术开发创新,而且也要在经营思想和经营方式上创新.要实施“顾客满意”工程战略(GS战略,Customer Satisfacion).推行品质功能展开技术(QFD,Quality Function Deployment),使企业更加明确市场需求与生产过程之间的相互关系,企业发展随着用户和消费者需求的不断发展而发展.     

The problem of private under-investment in innovation: A policy mind map

This paper reviews the major finance-related causes of private under-investment in innovation and the consequent alternative choices for public policy. The focus is on (i) incentive-based arguments that address the problem of limited appropriability of new knowledge, and (ii) the lacking access to external sources of finance caused by imperfections in the capital market. Drawing a policy mind map, which aims to enhance the mutual awareness and coordination of policy makers at the crossroads of technology and corporate finance, the paper is organised along the following chain of thought: (i) causes and rationales, (ii) aims and targets, (iii) critical constraints, and (iv) the main finance-related instruments of innovation policy.