Energy sector in transition—technologies and regulatory policies in flux

A transition of the energy sector towards a renewable-based system is one of the challenges that results from the debate on the global climate problems and diminishing fossil fuels. This will demand access to innovations in energy production technologies and usage. However, policies directly focussing on innovation and diffusion of new technologies are losing ground. Policy discussions have been dominated by the liberalisation of energy markets and the introduction of new economic instruments all over Europe. Whether this delegation of responsibility for the transition to new economic instruments provides the expected innovations is questionable.In Europe, Denmark has served as an example country being one of the front runners in the development of energy technologies based on renewable sources, especially wind turbines. But also in Denmark policy preferences have changed from the support for technological innovation and implementation to support for delegating responsibility to a market for green energy and CO₂ certificate trading.The different policy regimes marking this change are analysed concerning their ability to support technological innovation. Important elements for the construction and legitimacy of policy regimes comes from academic disciplines involved in policy design. The analysis highlights the basic arguments and the type of knowledge involved and indicates some of the limitations in the measures' ability to solve the problems delegated to them. Experience thus far provides little if any evidence that simple, market-based models can facilitate the need for future energy technology innovations in a satisfactory way, which leads to a need for more complex and heterogeneous sets of measures.     

社交电商平台颠覆性创新的触发机制研究——基于拼多多的案例研究

以社交电商平台拼多多为研究对象,开展探索性单案例研究,将其颠覆性创新分为切入下沉市场、侵蚀主流市场两阶段,分析其通过技术创新和商业模式创新匹配共演实现颠覆性创新的路径,在已有研究基础上,构建颠覆性创新触发机制模型。结果表明：第一,在颠覆性创新过程中,技术创新和商业模式创新是匹配共演的,二者在匹配共演下形成螺旋上升的循环链。第二,颠覆性创新要分阶段实现,其触发机制包括前置条件、突破口及驱动因素;在不同阶段,技术创新和商业模式创新分别作为前置条件和突破口,内外部环境作为驱动因素。第三,在颠覆性创新过程中,企业必须充分考虑内外部环境的驱动作用,注重内部技术创新能力、企业战略及外部市场竞争、市场需要。     

Persistence of product innovation: comparing breakthrough and incremental product innovation

In this paper we examine whether and to what extent breakthrough and incremental product innovation is persistent at the firm level. Drawing on a panel database created from the Community Innovation Survey (CIS) we find that lagged breakthrough product innovation ‘new to the market’, has a significant and positive influence on firms’ ability to develop current breakthrough innovation, while this is not the case for incremental-product innovation ‘only new to the firm’. Our findings show that the dynamics of innovation persistence differ across types of (product) innovations.     

Combining the technological innovation systems framework with the entrepreneurs’ perspective on innovation

For their technological sustainability innovations to become successful, entrepreneurs can strategically shape the technological field in which they are involved. The technological innovation systems (TISs) literature has generated valuable insights into the processes which need to be stimulated for the successful development and implementation of innovative sustainability technologies. To explore the applicability of the TIS framework from the perspective of entrepreneurs, we conducted a case study in the Dutch smart grids sector. We found that the TIS framework generally matches the perspectives of entrepreneurs. For its use by entrepreneurs, we suggest a slight adaptation of this framework. The process ‘Market formation’ needs to be divided into processes that are driven by the government and processes that are driven by entrepreneurs. There should be a greater emphasis on collaborative marketing, on changing user behaviour and preferences and on the development of fair and feasible business models.     

中国证券商的业务竞争与创新发展势态

本文分析了开放条件下我国证券业经营竞争环境的变化，并从6个方面分析了中国证券商业务创新的发展势态。（1）证券业分类管理制度使证券商的经营规模发生变化；（2）证券发行与承销方式的改革深化了证券业内的服务竞争；（3）证券网络化交易的快速发展完善了交易清算的服务管理模式；（4）交易佣金制度的改革将使证券业的结构调整得到不断优化；（5）投资基金业务与投资组合的多样化对基金经理行为的监管提出了新的要求；（6）中国放宽市场准入条件的同时必须完善制度创新与管理创新。     

Legacy sectors: barriers to global innovation in agriculture and energy

The US national innovation system has a dual structure: part suited to rapid innovation, and part stubbornly resistant to change. The complex, established ‘Legacy sectors’ that resist change, particularly disruptive innovation, share common features that obstruct the market launch of innovations, over and above the ‘valley of death’ and other obstacles that have been the traditional focus of innovation policy. Innovations in Legacy sectors must penetrate a well-established and well-defended technological/economic/political/social paradigm that favours existing technology, characterised by (1) ‘perverse’ subsidies and price structures that create a mismatch between the incentives of producers and broader social goals, such as environmental sustainability, public health and safety, and geopolitical security; (2) established infrastructure and institutional architecture that imposes regulatory hurdles or other disadvantages to new entrants (3) market imperfections beyond those faced by other innovations: network economies, lumpiness, economies of scale, split incentives, needs for collective action, and transaction costs (4) politically powerful vested interests, reinforced by public support, that defend the paradigm and resist innovations that threaten their business models (5) public habits and expectations attuned to existing technology and (6) an established knowledge and human resources structure adapted to its needs. Beyond these obstacles, more socially desirable technologies that are driven by environmental or other non-market considerations must overcome the lack of agreed replacement standards against which putative alternatives can be judged. We have developed a new, integrative analytic framework for categorising the obstacles to market launch faced by Legacy sectors, and earlier applied this method to energy, health delivery, the long-distance electric grid, building, and air transport. In energy especially, the requirement for innovation is sufficiently urgent that large-scale domestic and collaborative international research should take place even at the cost of possible competitive disadvantage and even if it is some time before the USA adopts carbon charges and thereby puts pressure on the prevailing paradigm of fossil fuel use. We now extend this method to sustainable agriculture. American paradigms in agriculture and in energy are exported worldwide, delaying the development and spread of needed innovations that are not consistent with them. Foreign manufacturers wishing to enter US markets must suit their products in these sectors to American paradigms, while American exports of technology may be insufficiently cost conscious or respectful of environmental sustainability. Developing countries are technology takers and suffer from asymmetric innovative capability. They need to choose sources of technology best suited to their situation. India and China constitute new competitive threats, but also represent ‘innovative developing countries’ that have large domestic markets in which they are launching innovations aimed at their lower income populations.     

Nonlinear dynamism of innovation and business cycles

The aim of this paper is to describe the nonlinear dynamism of innovation and to clarify the role of innovation for economic development in terms of Kondratiev business cycles, especially the causal relation of the bubble economy and depressions with innovations. Any paradigm of technological innovation develops within a definite time span reaching maturity. This nonlinear nature clarifies many characteristic features of innovation. Schumpeters innovation theory on business cycles is examined through this dynamism. Trunk innovation is defined as that which plays a decisive role in building infrastructures and inducing subsequent innovations. Every innovation has its own technological development period just before the innovation diffusion. The emergence of new markets can be estimated by chasing the ongoing technologies.JEL Classification: E32, L16, O11, O14, O30Paper presented at the 9th Conference of the International J.A. Schumpeter Society, Gainesville, Florida, USA.Previous affiliation was Ryutsu Kagaku University, Faculty of Information Science, Kobe, Japan.     

Sociotechnical regimes,technological innovation and corporate sustainability: from principles to action

Increased environmental and social responsibility awareness, while producing unique opportunities for sustainability-oriented innovations, has generated important challenges for companies. The path to sustainability requires corporate strategies that guarantee profitability, managing simultaneously environmental and social responsibilities. An attempt is made to provide an understanding of sustainable development thinking in business, discussing how the combination of the transition management, adaptive planning and sociotechnical approaches can contribute towards an effective implementation of sustainability-oriented innovations in business context. The article proposes a conceptual model, which incorporates this contribution, developed through a four-year action-research project carried out within a large Brazilian energy company – Petrobras. The authors argue that the adoption of the proposed model by other large firms operating in different societal sectors might trigger organisational changes related to current corporate practices of technological innovation management.     

科技型中小企业创新影响实证研究——以河北省为研究对象

本文旨在评估1999年实施科技型中小企业创新基金以来,受到过基金支持并成功通过验收的河北省科技型中小企业创新影响因素和创新绩效的关系。数据来自河北省的174家科技型中小企业,调查不同属性及创新因素影响下创新绩效的差异,探讨提高科技型中小企业创新绩效的因素组合,为政府制定更有针对性的扶持企业发展的创新政策提供决策参考。事实证明,科技型中小企业的创新活动局限于国内范围,主要目的在于改进质量、提高产量和技术水平。研究发现,河北省科技型中小企业技术主要从外部购买;自主研发技术(以下简称自有技术)企业的创新绩效并不好于购买技术的;创新战略与企业所处的竞争环境相适应的企业,总体而言绩效更好,它们具有更好的对环境判断和适应的能力,能够自主研发和创新,从而适应了新的市场经济。     

营商环境优化与区域创新效率 ——兼论经济一体化的联合空间效应

基于营商环境影响区域创新效率的机制分析,以2011-2019年中国地级市数据为样本,构建空间动态面板模型,检验得出：①从总体看,营商环境优化是提高创新效率的重要着力点,并通过促进创新人才集聚间接提升创新效率,但同时因创新人才集聚的挤出效应引致邻近区域创新效率损失;②分区域看,外围城市营商环境优化对创新效率的直接提升效应强于中心城市,但中心城市因创新人才集聚存在创新外溢效应,因此营商环境优化的创新溢出效应更显著;③经济一体化战略放大了营商环境优化的积极作用,尤其表现在京津冀经济圈,即营商环境优化对创新效率的直接提升效应增强,且创新挤出效应也转为创新溢出效应。鉴于此,提出应通过建设协同创新平台、差异化设计营商环境考核指标、加强中心城市强强联合等策略促进营商环境优化,同时,提升区域整体创新效率。     

Focusing device as innovation mechanism and cluster growth

This paper models a focusing device of innovation in which a cluster has an o-ring type production function and each technology component endogenously upgrades its quality. We show that provided the magnitude of innovation is the same across technology components, competitive equilibrium is an efficient mechanism by which core technology-driven innovations emerge with expanding inequality among clusters. Our result is in sharp contrast to bottleneck-removed innovation which is widely accepted. The inefficiency arises, however, when low-powered incentives, such as cost plus contracting, are employed to reward innovation. In this case, the corresponding factor price provides erroneous information regarding the potential benefits of innovation, which should be corrected by some form of policy intervention.     

绿色经济视野下商业模式创新的价值取向

商业模式创新作为当代一种新型创新形态,对于发展绿色经济具有不可或缺的重要性,能充分适应绿色市场的需求及其变化,有效应对绿色市场竞争的挑战,并促进绿色技术创新走向市场。绿色商业模式创新应以经济发展与环保、节约资源的双赢为价值取向,实现生态化与市场化的统一,主要包括:将节省生产成本与节能减排要求相结合,将绿色技术创新与蓝海战略相结合,联系国情实际进行创新,将绿色文化建设与市场营销相结合,实施绿色品牌战略等。     

Marine renewables: a new innovation frontier

The UK has a large marine renewable energy resource and has been developing a range of wave and tidal technologies for exploiting it. However, progress on moving to the commercial scale has been slow, in part, it is argued, as a result of the way this area of innovation has been supported by the government. This paper looks at the technologies and how they are being developed in the UK and elsewhere. It notes that, although the UK is still in the lead in terms of novel device development, unless better support is provided, the UK might lose out to device developers from other countries in the race to capture the very large global market that is opening up for the relevant technologies.     

企业绿色技术创新驱动绿色发展探析

文章基于党的十八大提出的大力推进生态文明建设战略,从推进绿色发展加快生态文明建设的思路出发,对企业绿色技术驱动绿色发展问题进行了研究。文章运用宏观与微观相结合、理论和实践相统一的研究方法,在阐明了企业绿色技术创新是推进绿色发展的必然选择的基础上,从宏观和微观两个层面提出了绿色技术创新驱动绿色发展的途径和方法。从微观层面指出了企业绿色技术创新驱动绿色发展的基本途径,即企业在生产方式上,要通过开发利用绿色技术,建造绿色企业,发展绿色生产等措施以实现企业绿色技术创新;在技术运用上,要大力开发清洁生产技术和资源化技术,以推进企业绿色技术创新成果转化;从宏观层面给出了企业绿色技术创新驱动绿色发展的对策建议,即在宏观保障上,积极建构有利于企业绿色技术创新的社会舆论、政策制度和市场体系,以保障企业绿色技术驱动绿色发展的实施。     

BIG data – BIG gains? Understanding the link between big data analytics and innovation

ABSTRACT

This paper analyzes the relationship between firms' use of big data analytics and their innovative performance in terms of product innovations. Since big data technologies provide new data information practices, they create novel decision-making possibilities, which are widely believed to support firms' innovation process. Applying German firm-level data within a knowledge production function framework we find suggestive evidence that big data analytics is a relevant determinant for the likelihood of a firm becoming a product innovator as well as for the market success of product innovations. These results hold for the manufacturing as well as for the service sector but are contingent on firms' investment in IT-specific skills. Overall, the results support the view that big data analytics have the potential to enable innovation.     

Innovating for elderly people: the development of geront’innovations in the French silver economy

The objective of this paper is to study the supply side of the silver market, which is usually neglected by research on this topic. Adopting a systemic approach to innovation, our main goals are to identify the nature of the innovations developed, the way innovations are created, and the issues related to their emergence and diffusion. Our research is based on an empirical study of the French silver economy, which consists in an enquiry carried out in Silver Valley. The results of our study lead us to suggest a new term ‘geront’innovation’ to qualify the various forms of innovations developed to cater for the needs of elderly people. We also put forward the importance of networking and open innovation strategies. Finally, the identified barriers to emergence and diffusion as perceived by the supply side of the market lead us to suggest recommendations to support the diffusion of geront’innovations.     

Technological and non-technological innovation and productivity in services vis-à-vis manufacturing sectors

In this paper, the links between investment in innovation activities, innovation outputs (technological and non-technological innovation) and productivity in services vis-à-vis the manufacturing sector are explored using innovation survey data from Uruguay. The size of firms, their cooperation in R&D activities, the use of public financial support, patent protection and the use of market sources of information are very important drivers of the decision to invest in innovation activities across sectors. The main determinants of technological and non-technological innovations are the level of investment in innovation activities and the size of the firm. The results indicate that both technological and non-technological innovations are positively associated to productivity gains in services, but non-technological innovations have a more important role. The reverse happens for manufacturing, where technological innovations are more relevant for productivity.     

Battle royal in biotechnology: R&D vs. product vs. process innovations

Companies regard innovation as a central element of their business. However, as not all innovation types are the same, the central question is: should their announcements bring about the same effect on performance? This article analyses potential differences in firm value derived from the innovation-type announcements ‘R&;D’, ‘product’, and ‘process’, made by intensive news-generating firms such as biotech companies. The empirical application shows a significantly positive reaction to innovation announcements, with the prospect of future innovation (‘R&;D’ investment announcements) having greater impact on firm value than ‘product’ and ‘process’ innovations. Firm experience also acts as a moderator in this innovation–performance relationship, which is particularly relevant for entrepreneurs who need to develop and send credible signals indicating the value of the firm's intangible assets to the market.     

中小企业商业模式创新的现实意义与实现途径

商业模式创新是中小企业转型升级的有效途径。商业模式诠释了公司价值的来源,是企业的主动选择,具有系统性、逻辑性、具体性、形象性和创新性等特色。中小企业商业模式以完善型和改变型为主,通过可分收入式模式、专业化模式、协作式模式创新以及有机融合,实现重新定义客户、重新定义服务、重新定义沟通、重新定义供应链构架等模式创新。商业模式创新的成功取决于创新途径的正确选择。要坚持能使企业发挥自身优势的细分市场来进行专业化经营,促进企业持久发展;培育中小企业商业模式创新的动力机制,营造良好的外部环境;促进中小企业电子商务向国际化、专业化与纵深化方向发展。     

The effect of interfirm codevelopment competency on the innovation of the e-service process and product: the perspective of internal/external technology integration mechanisms

Service innovations are central to today's rapidly changing business environment. Because of heterogeneous customer demands, rapid product life cycles, and advances in information technology (IT) for services management, an expanded conceptualisation of e-service innovation is required. This study examines the mediating effects of internal and external technology integration mechanisms among interfirm codevelopment competency and the innovation of the e-service process and product. A field survey was conducted of IT departments in information service firms to test the theoretical model. IT managers were the key informants. Partial least squares (PLS) analyses supported the main premises of the proposed research model. The data suggest that firms in the information service industry emphasise interfirm codevelopment competency in developing e-service innovations but use different sets of technology integration mechanisms to enhance e-service product and process innovation.