Virtual research universes and research management

The analysis of large research production, such as universities, towns, cities or even countries, can be performed in several ways. These various approaches can range from the experts′ feeling to a more precise analysis of co-authors′ productivity. The various results obtained introduce the concept of ‘virtual research universes’ where the global perception of the production hides the sharp reality of objectives and subjects. The ability to apply the various methodologies and tools to make such analysis can reduce misunderstanding and misleading positions, especially in funding, planning and project evaluation. This paper takes as an example the production of physics laboratories in Marseille (from the INSPEC databae), and shows how the various levels of analysis can move from virtual to real research universes, thus helping the experts in their decision process.     

The economics of university-industry research linkages

Cooperative research can involve various combinations of government, industry, and the university. This article focuses on university-industry cooperative research interactions or linkages. Such linkages involve a network of money, information, and human effort flows between the science and engineering sector of the university and its counterpart in business firms. The university is modeled as a multiproduct-multisector nonprofit organization where the linkages are produced by research faculty. A dynamic control theory approach is used to shed light on the economic decisions of the university relating to the hiring of faculty and the production of products. One likely result of such decisions is the fallover time of undergraduate output and the rise of research output. Since research output is an element in overall technological change, the internal management of the university has public policy implications. Other policy values of the analysis are also indicated.     

Optimal research for cournot oligopolists

An oligopolistic industry faces uncertain demand. Firms can conduct research prior to production, obtaining private data that is informative of the unknown parameters of demand. Firm strategies thus consist of a level of research and a subsequent production strategy based on their research findings. We characterize the Bayes equilibrium of such a model when demand is linear, with unknown intercept, and the information structure has linear conditional expectations. We compare the solution to an efficiency standard, finding inefficiencies even in the competitive limit.     

Changing concepts of ‘land’ in economic theory: From single to multi-disciplinary approaches

The role of land in economic theory is surveyed, both from a conceptual and historical perspective. Land has been incorporated in economic theories in various ways. Originally, land used by agriculture was the main motivation for an economic treatment of land. This was gradually extended with various other land use categories. Neoclassical economic theory gave less attention to land use, generally regarding land as a production factor of relatively little importance. Nevertheless, specialized sub-fields within economics such as regional and urban economics met the demand for explicit spatial analysis including land use considerations. Attention for environmental and resource problems has stimulated new perspectives on, and conceptualizations of, land in economic analysis. This involves the interaction with other disciplines as well as the use of spatially disaggregated methods of analysis. Awareness of the richness of ideas on land in economic theory can contribute to enhanced environmental research.     

Assessing the returns to collaborative research: Firm-level evidence from Italy

We use firm-level data from Italian manufacturing firms to assess the relationship between various types of R&D and total factor productivity growth, including collaborative research with other firms and universities. A novel twist to our empirical analysis is that we estimate a sample selection model, which allows us to treat the decision to conduct R&D as endogenous. We find strong evidence of positive returns to collaborative research with other companies, whereas collaborative research with universities does not appear to enhance productivity. This result implies that firms may conduct R&D with universities when appropriability conditions are weak and the outcomes of such research projects do not yield direct strategic benefits.     

Measuring knowledge production of an agricultural research system

Agricultural research that increases knowledge is an important component of agricultural productivity and development. This paper focuses on understanding and formulating the interactions among factors involved in the knowledge production process. A conceptual mode of research input-output relationships is developed based on the existing literature. These relationships are estimated based on cross-sectional time-series data for the public research system in Israel. Research resources (inputs) such as direct cost and senior scientific manpower were found to extend knowledge production, while resources such as junior researchers and technicians were found to be nonsignificant. Use of the estimated functions for forecasting and control of agricultural development is also illustrated.     

University/industry research linkages and knowledge transfers: A general equilibrium approach

This article models the dynamic behavior of the firm (or industry) and the university, intricately linked together in their respective research efforts by research personnel and faculty exchanges to each other's organization. One of the novel features of the model is the development of what is called the Fletcher rule (or hypothesis); namely, a top-rate university (or firm by implication) will always have 10% of its research faculty (personnel) away (at various sites) on leave from the campus (firm). It is then shown how the rule relates to knowledge transfer and personnel and faculty exchanges and turnovers. The model also differentiates between produced knowledge and transferred knowledge and shows that both types of knowledge (like capital) have implicit prices (values) which decline over time. The decline puts downward pressure over time on the employment and exchanges of research personnel and faculty. Both types of knowledge, however, can continue to increase at steady rates, due to an increase in the efficiency of knowledge production and transfer. The results of the analysis have policy implications for management, state legislators, and higher education and for technological change. The article also includes the empirical results of a small pilot study on the Fletcher rule.     

Quantitative/qualitative federal research impact evaluation practices

This paper describes the quantitative and qualitative practice of federal research impact evaluation. Evaluation of research impact is described for three cases: Research selection, where the work has not yet been performed; research review, where work and results are ongoing; and ex-post research assessment, where research has been completed and results can be tracked. Qualitative methods (such as peer review) and quantitative methods (such as cost-benefit analysis and bibliometrics) are described. Although peer review in its broadest sense is the most widely used method in research selection, review, and ex-post assessment, it has its deficiencies, and there is no single method that provides a complete impact evaluation.     

Empirical evidence regarding electricity consumption and urban economic growth

Links between electricity consumption and economic growth are fairly well documented for national economies, but less so for urban economies. The analysis of such relationships at the sub-national level of aggregation can potentially offer a useful complement to national-level research. This study examines the electricity-growth nexus in El Paso, Texas, while also considering the roles of capital stocks and employment. Testing suggests the presence of cointegrating relationships and a vector error correction model is estimated. Granger causality tests reveal the absence of causality between electricity consumption and personal income, implying that energy conservation efforts will have a neutral effect on economic growth. Furthermore, the results indicate that causality runs from the capital stock and employment to both personal income and electricity consumption. This echoes previous research regarding the importance of accounting for capital and labour factors of production in studies of aggregate electricity utilization and economic performance. The methodology used in this analysis to develop a broad synthetic measure of the urban capital stock, including various categories of public infrastructure, can also be applied to other regions and urban economies.     

Analysis of human needs as a basis for research policy

The authors postulate the necessity of establishing a coherent system of socio-economic goals and say that the analysis of human needs and studies of the dynamics of their satisfaction can become the means for goal-setting. They refer to the psychological theory of human needs [1, 2] enabling the decomposition of goals and quantification of requirements concerning the satisfaction of particular categories of needs. The model of needs is discussed and its usefulness for forecasting of the tasks of research and technology is shown. The program design based on the concept of the model should include such elements as diagnosis of the current state of needs satisfaction, diagnosis of the current state of identified desires, assessment of areas of needs dissatisfaction expected in the future, forecasts of the development of the system of needs, analysis, and evaluation of the present and future opportunities, and forecasts of barriers to growth. Decomposition of goals and dynamic analysis of needs satisfaction allow one to make a hierarchy of research projects from the point of view of their social importance.     

Bridging the gap in creative economy and ICT research: a regional analysis in Europe

ABSTRACT

Following Florida’s seminal work on the ‘creative class’ there is a great deal of interest concerning whether creativity, as an input, is important for regional growth. Answering this question requires developing a production framework that can distinguish creativity from other inputs. With data from Europe, this paper integrates the concept of information and communications technology (ICT) and the creative class into a theoretical production function. Findings reveal that not only is there a positive and interactive relationship between creative workers and ICT, but the combination of creative workers and ICT leads to higher levels of GVA growth. Moreover, creative workers were found to have a larger impact on growth in comparison with traditional human capital measures (i.e. graduates). Thus, findings from this research suggest that the creative class should not only pay attention to socio-economic preferences of individuals, but it must include wider social resources, such as ICT.     

Towards an integrated model of socioeconomic biodiversity drivers, pressures and impacts. A feasibility study based on three European long-term socio-ecological research platforms

Effective policies to slow the rate of anthropogenic biodiversity loss should reduce socioeconomic pressures on biodiversity, either directly or by modifying their underlying socioeconomic driving forces. The design of such policies is currently hampered by the limited understanding of socioeconomic drivers of and pressures on biodiversity as well as by lacking data, indicators and models. In order to improve understanding of these issues we here propose a conceptual model of socioeconomic biodiversity drivers and pressures. The model is based on the drivers-pressures-impacts-states-responses (DPSIR) scheme and on the socioeconomic metabolism approach. The aim of the model is to guide research aimed at improving our understanding of socioeconomic biodiversity pressures and drivers and to serve as a basis for the development of formal, quantitative models in that field. Based on three European long-term socio-ecological research (LTSER) platforms, we analyze the model's applicability and suitability as well as data availability and research needs. These platforms are the Danube Delta Wetland System in Romania, the Doñana in Spain and the Eisenwurzen in Austria. An empirical analysis of the relationship between the human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP) and breeding bird richness in the Eisenwurzen demonstrates the ability of HANPP to provide a link between socioeconomic pressures/drivers and biodiversity. The analysis of the case studies underlines the potential utility of the conceptual model to guide future research into socioeconomic biodiversity drivers and pressures. However, considerable investments in monitoring and reconstruction of past trajectories as well as in model development will be required before mathematical (computer) models of the interrelation processes between society and ecosystems can be successfully deployed.     

New UK interdisciplinary research centres: reorganization for new generic technology

This article considers the various strategic and organizational problems connected with the UK's introduction of university-based Interdisciplinary Research Centres (IRCs) to develop the knowledge bases underlying key new generic technologies—such as biotechnology and high temperature superconductivity. The new IRCs are set against the context of the UK's declining economic competitiveness and the UK's present rationalization of higher education, including the further concentration of university scientific research in fewer departments and centres. The origins of the IRC model are examined and related to similar cantres now being introduced in the USA. Mobility between the IRCs, university departments and participating firms is seen as a key issue, as is the question of whether a balance of resources can be maintained. A sensitive issue is whether or not the sort of strategic management of research resources envisioned will result in long-term distortions of organizational decelopment—and of the overall intellectual directions, shape and standing of UK universities.     

对国外产业集群经济效果及其形成机制的综述与评论

关于产业集群经济效果的研究重点经历了由生产成本、交易成本、代理成本这些静态的效率性向以创新为代表的动态效率性转变的过程;同时作为解释效率性的说明变量也在从在库成本、运输成本等经济要素向道德规范、认知模式、社会资本等制度要素转移.从逻辑关系来看,关于产业集群形成机制的研究可以分为三个学派,即要素论学派、模型论学派和动态论学派,动态论学派代表了有关产业集群形成机制研究的最前沿.     

The impact of scientific research on health care: Evidence from the OECD countries

This paper investigates the impact of scientific research on health care productivity in a set of OECD countries, in the years from 1960 to 2008. To this end, we have matched information collected from the OECD Health Data 2010 with data gathered from the Scopus database on the papers published and their relative citations. Our empirical results suggest that medical research plays an important role in explaining health care productivity, although various countries are characterized by different velocities in assimilating scientific knowledge. Another important result that emerges from our work is that countries characterized by a faster absorption of academic science, such as the US, have on average a milder impact of scientific research on health productivity, compared with countries with slower absorption. As one would expect, we also find that countries absorbing more scientific research also bear higher health costs.Results from this study may support policy makers in designing incentive mechanisms to improve the impact of medical research on the health care system.     

技术资本：概念辨析、知识结构与分析框架

技术资本是一种新型、独立的资本形态，是技术加速转化为生产力并创造更多价值的重要途径，对加快数字经济发展具有重要意义。在回顾国内外相关研究的基础上，首先拓展技术资本的概念内涵，明确其价值增值的目标属性；然后，运用知识图谱分析方法对技术资本研究的知识结构进行可视化分析，发现现有研究主要形成技术视角、资本视角和技术资本化过程的3种进路；随后，进一步构建一个整合式分析框架，从驱动因素、生成机制、作用机理和影响效果4个方面建立全局性视角，以把握技术资本研究情况；最后，从完善测量方法，探析技术资本与数字经济、数字技术关联等方面提出可行的研究方向。结论有助于阶段性厘清国内外技术资本研究进展，为未来更深入的分析提供参考。     

中国数字经济发展的政策演进与理论研究脉络

数字经济发展的政策实践与理论研究具有一定的联动性。数字经济发展政策肇始于信息化,并在政策领域、政策重心和政策目标上展现出3维演进特征。2000—2012年数字经济发展呈“理论跟着政策走”的趋势;2012年党的十八之后,平台经济和数字经济等热点理论研究开始引领政策实践,二者间的互动更为积极有效。文献计量结果显示,党的十九大之后数字经济词频数达536,是2013—2017年的16.75倍;中心度也由0.18上升至0.32,数字经济研究的关联性和拓展性显著增强。平台经济、数字经济、数字贸易、互联网经济、共享经济是研究领域的关键节点。结合中国数字经济发展的政策演进和理论研究脉络,可以展望数字经济、数字贸易及数字金融会保持较高的研究热度,并且数字经济与高质量发展及数字安全将吸引更多的关注。与数字经济、数字金融和数字贸易相关的政策法规也将成为下一阶段的政策聚焦点。     

Joint research and development projects as technology training ventures

This paper presents an empirically derived model of the process through which industrial firms that lack internal resources in a particular technology area to implement certain research and development (R&D) projects on their own, initiale nad implement them jointly with not-for-profit research institutions. Such joint R&D projects are typically initiated by smaller, technologically less advanced firms in developing countires, with the underlying objective of training themselves in the relevant technology area and acquiring new technological resources from more advanced local research institutions, while simultaneously and rapidly completing the immediate R&D project. This process model has been developed by drawing from and synthesizing several in-depth case studies of such projects. In developing countries, joint R&D projects of this nature are important, as they can be more effective than formal technology training programmes for not-for-profit research institutions to fulfil their charter by transerning their advanced technical knowledge to the relatively less advanced local industrial firms. Participating firms that seek to their immediate interest, and therefore learn it rapidly and effectively. This paper adds to the scarce literature on ht process of organizational knowledge acquisition through contractual arrangements such as joint projects. It also enables both firms and research institutions to understand effective proceses for initiating and implementing such mutually beneficial joint R&D projects.     

Using AHP,DEA and MPI for governmental research institution performance evaluation

Under situations of limited resources, soft powers such as technology development and innovation become critical capabilities for a nation’s continuous growth and sustainability. Therefore, we used analytical hierarchy process (AHP), data envelopment analysis (DEA), and Malmquist productivity index (MPI) to evaluate the performance of research projects in 6 main fields of study managed by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) in Taiwan from 2002 to 2012. Among the 6 fields of study, Agriculture and Humanities were two research fields as efficiency; and the sequence of inefficiency 4 fields were sociology, medicine, science, and engineering. Although the field of sociology was inefficiency, it was the only field show continuous growth in result of MPI analysis. Taking the fields as a whole, the result of the analysis of total factor productivity showed recession. However, as seen from the growth in technical change and in scale efficiency change, the MOST was effective to a certain extent during the period. However, the recession in technical efficiency change showed that further improvement in the planning and distribution of manpower and funds is needed.     

Implications of happiness research for environmental economics

Using happiness data to study economic issues is a burgeoning field in recent economic literature. This paper shows that happiness research has considerable potential for environmental economic analysis. The paper discusses some implications of happiness research for environmental policy analysis, specifically with respect to the level of socially optimal environmental quality. It discusses evidence that consumer choice may be not utility maximizing and systematically distorted away from intrinsically motivated options, especially environment-friendly consumption. Finally, the paper describes how happiness data can be used in a novel approach to the monetary valuation of environmental quality and discusses the associated benefits and problems in relation to conventional methods.