Are environmental concerns drivers of innovation? Interpreting Portuguese innovation data to foster environmental foresight

The relationship between environmental concerns and innovation is analyzed in the context of Portuguese manufacturing firms, with the ultimate goal to foster measures of environmental foresight.Based on data from the Community Innovation Survey in Portugal, simple statistical tests, including Chi², t, and Levene's tests and contingency tables (adjusted standardized residuals), were used to study the relationship between firms' characteristics and the introduction of innovation aiming to reduce environmental damage. Environmental foresight is discussed based on three groups of variables that allow considering the industrial context that frames firm's actions, the economic performance of the firm and its innovation patterns.Results show that the development of innovation due to environmental concerns is positively associated with the firm's size and exports share, and negatively associated with its technological content. Moreover, it is shown that the firms that introduced innovations due to environmental concerns are likely to belong to an economic group, to have performed continuous R&D, or received public support. It is also shown that “lack of organizational flexibility” and “lack of receptivity by customers” are the two most relevant innovation barriers for these firms.     

The dynamics of environmental innovations: three stylised trajectories of clean technology

In this article, we explore the dynamics of environmental innovations developed by firms to comply with environmental regulations. Our analysis is based on a micro-simulation model of industrial dynamics. The question arises: how do firms competing in the same industry deal with environmental issues without altering their productive efficiency or the performance of the product? We focus on clean technology which seeks to combine environmental and productive dimensions by way of innovation offsets. Our simulations show that an innovative strategy based on a good balance between environmental and productive dimensions takes more time to develop and needs to address a ‘competence destroying effect’. Finally, we study favourable conditions for the development of this type of clean technology and draw some policy implications.     

A technology opportunities analysis model: applied to dye-sensitised solar cells for China

Technology opportunities analysis (TOA) can support policy-makers or managers in making strategic technical decisions so as to enhance their technological innovation capability and international competitiveness. This paper presents a multi-level framework to support and systematically identify technological opportunities. Patent data as a key component of technology innovation are used to enable TOA within the framework in the present research. At the research and development (R&D) level, we anticipate the directions of technology development based on technology morphology. Countries’ development emphases can also be investigated in order to help identify their R&D strengths and weaknesses and to seek promising development pathways. At the level of competition, we devise the assignee-technology analysis to obtain insight into competitive participants’ technical emphases and intents. It is also used to explore possible collaboration opportunities among them. At the market level, we apply patent family analysis to understand countries’ target markets and to assess prospects for the commercialisation of their technology. We pursue TOA to explore China's opportunities and challenges in dye-sensitised solar cells. The empirical case analysis supports the effectiveness of the TOA model. We believe it can be adapted well to fit other emerging technologies.     

Scenarios of technology and innovation policies in Europe: Investigating future governance

In Europe, public research, technology and innovation policies are no longer exclusively in the hands of national authorities: increasingly, national initiatives are supplemented by, or even competing with, regional innovation policies or transnational programmes, in particular the activities of the European Union. At the same time, industrial innovation increasingly occurs within international networks. Are we witnessing a change of governance in European innovation policy? Based on some theoretical assumptions concerning the relationship between the “political systems” and “innovation systems” in Europe, the paper speculates about the future governance of innovation policies, trying to pave ways for empirical analyses. It sketches three scenarios stretching from (1) the idea of an increasingly centralised and dominating European innovation policy arena to (2) the opposite, i.e., a progressive decentralisation and open competition between partly strengthened, partly weakened national or regional innovation systems and finally to (3) the vision of a centrally “mediated” mixture of competition and cooperation between diverse regional innovation cultures and a related governance structure.     

Technological innovation strategy: how do technology life cycles change by technological area

Discussions on the patterns of technological innovation have significant implications in terms of the efficient distribution of national R&D resources and the establishment of corporate managerial strategies. This study is focused on calculating and analysing technology cycle time (TCT) by technological area based on patent data that can be used as easily accessible objective indicators for the purpose of modelling the patterns of technological innovation by period and technological area. The main technological areas handled by the study include medical science, vehicles, metallurgy, and computing. Of the patent data registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office from 1990 to 2014, International Patent Classification sub-class codes representing each technological area were selected to collect patent data, and to generate TCT statistics every five years. The TCT statistics generated is interpreted as the technological life cycle, to be used in modelling technological innovation patterns individualised by technology and period.     

Nanotechnology as general-purpose technology: empirical evidence and implications

Developments in nanotechnology are poised to have a pervasive effect on various industries for years to come and nanotechnology management research is beginning to appear in peer-reviewed management journals. Much of the research on this early, emergent technology is focused on issues of definition and identification of technology type. In this study, we searched the US Patents and Trademarks Office database and used an expert validation methodology to develop a sample of the first 25 years (1980–2004) of nanotechnology patenting activity. We analysed this data for early evidence that nanotechnology is a general-purpose technology (GPT) – a transformative technology characterised by its pervasiveness, improvement over time, and pattern of diffusion. Our findings indicate that nanotechnology patenting activity has been growing in intensity and relative to overall patenting activity, and that it is pervasive across industry and technology sectors. Implications of nanotechnology as a GPT are discussed.     

Climate change—environmental and technology policies in a strategic context

There are a number of features of climate change which make it one of the most challenging problems confronting policy makers and policy analysts. In this paper we consider three such features: (i) climate change is a global pollutant so there are strategic interactions between governments over climate policy; (ii) cutting greenhouse gas emissions can have significant cost effects across a number of sectors of the economy, raising concerns about the implications of climate change policy on competitive advantage; (iii) the long-time scales on which climate change operates means that an important dimension of climate change policy is policy towards R&D to cut the costs of dealing with climate change. In Ulph and Ulph (1996) [Ulph A, Ulph D (1996) In: Carraro C, Katsoulacos Y, Xepapadeas A (eds) Environmental policy and market structure. Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp 181–208] we presented a model to analyse these issues, but considered only environmental policies. In this paper we extend that analysis to allow for both a richer set of policy instruments (environmental and technology policies) and a richer strategic context.     

Technology-forcing through environmental regulation

This paper analyzes the demand characteristics of innovation in pollution abatement and the interaction between a regulator and a polluter under a technology-forcing policy. Important demand-driven determinants of innovation in pollution control are examined, such as uncertainties surrounding unexplored technologies, the length of the compliance period and the maximum abatement costs the regulator is willing to accept. We derive the formal condition that the regulator balances the marginal utility of emissions reduction against the marginal disutilities of a longer compliance time and the increased uncertainty about the feasibility of a more stringent standard.     

The role of the technology barometer in assessing the performance of the national innovation system

Along with increasing significance of innovation in socio-economic development grows the need to utilize future-oriented knowledge in innovation policy-making. Foresight and road-map exercises are aimed at supporting planning and priority-setting of R&D and have become indispensable elements of policy-making. Besides technological development decision-makers need all-inclusive knowledge of future developments of society, economy and impacts of science and technology. When the worldwide competition is about the attractiveness of innovation systems, such knowledge is important for comparing the innovation performance of nations to other economies. Finland is among the countries improving her position in worldwide performance comparisons since the late 1990s and reached leading nations in early 2000s. This attainment raised national interest and critical debate of the reliability of the data basis and methodologies used in comparisons. In The Finnish Association of Graduate Engineers (TEK) this discussion led to a decision to develop an own comparative exercise together with VTT. In addition to performance analysis based on ex-post indicators the barometer includes the questionnaire of the views and visions of the future development by relevant national actors. The theoretical framework of the barometer is based on the evolution of economies from industrial development phase to sustainable knowledge society. The barometer has been undertaken in 2004, 2005 and 2007, and a wide interest and emerged discussion of barometer proves that a social interest and order exists for the barometer. The article presents the background, methodology and results of technology barometer, discusses its impacts on national discussion, and gives perspectives for the future development of barometer.     

中国风电技术专利信息分析

从中国风电技术的应用及风电产业的发展出发,从专利类型、年度趋势、技术领域、区域分布、申请人、发明人和生命周期等角度,分析了1985—2010年3月期间中国风电技术领域的专利信息。研究结果显示:中国风电技术领域专利处于快速发展阶段;从专利类型看,该领域专利主要为发明专利和实用新型专利;从技术领域看,该领域专利主要集中于IPC-F03D;从区域看,江苏、上海、北京等风能资源较丰富或科研力量较强区域的该领域专利申请量较多;从申请人看,通用电气、艾劳埃斯.乌本和维斯塔斯等企业或个人在中国风电技术领域的专利具有较强的竞争力;从发明人的角度看,艾劳埃斯.乌本是中国风电技术领域最具竞争力的创新者。     

Strategic technology editing of the patent stage: lesson from a case of inkjet printer development

Patents are conventionally regarded as representing post-procurement of rights based on results of research and development (R&D). Patents can also be regarded as factors promoting R&D itself. In this study, the author examines the strategic meaning of patents in R&D through analyses of the R&D processes at Canon Inc., which is widely considered to submit patents strategically. The author identified characteristic behaviour related to patent acquisition in the R&D of inkjet printers. Canon constructed a strong patent group precisely by editing patents submitted earlier. Characteristic patent submissions were also identified: they elevated the obtained R&D results to higher concepts as milestones of R&D. These findings are discussed from the viewpoint of the meaning of patents for R&D and the possibility of effective R&D at the patent stage.     

Environmental innovation and the cost of pollution abatement revisited

It is widely assumed in the literature that environmental innovation reduces the marginal cost of pollution abatement. In this paper we show that this is not necessarily the case and we provide some unexpected outcomes.     

Analyzing the innovation process for environmental performance improvement

This paper elaborates the concept of demand articulation in product innovation to analyze innovation for environmental improvement. A conceptual framework has been developed that allows analysis of social demand articulation, the process that stimulates firms toward environmental innovation. Knowledge and information flows that raise the technological capability and awareness level of firms and consumers for environmental improvement are discerned. Their indicators have been developed based on the number of research papers and newspaper articles on environmental issues, respectively. Statistically significant results have been obtained on the role of knowledge and information flows on environmental innovations. Use of the framework on case studies revealed knowledge and information flows on local air quality and global warming led to the development of high-efficiency, low-emission automobiles. In conclusion, social demand articulation is an effective process by which knowledge and information flows mobilize the requisites needed for a successful environmental innovation.     

Linking technology innovation strategy,intellectual capital and technology innovation performance in manufacturing SMEs

The research interest on Intellectual Capital (IC) has been increasing, adopting different definitions and developing diverse measurement tools. Nonetheless, little research focuses on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the relation between IC and innovation management. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of technology innovation strategy on the IC development and then on innovation performance in manufacturing SMEs. After conducting a survey, measures of IC for SMEs have been performed and an integrated structural equation model has been created. Results demonstrate that technology innovation strategy affects all IC components, the internal structural capital supports the relational and human capital, and the latter two influence firm technology innovation performance. This study contributes to developing an IC measurement system in SMEs and to emphasise the importance of single IC components in improving technology innovation performance.     

国际技术转移与我国技术创新

在经济全球化、一体化的背景下,跨国公司作为国际技术转移主体的作用正在不断增强,FDI的流入的确推动了我国的经济进步,但跨国公司为了维持其在某些领域的垄断地位,还会千方百计地阻挠这种技术的转移和扩散,加上我国自身的经济结构和体制的障碍及吸收学习能力的有限,技术转移的效应可能达不到理想的理论水平.因此,既要注重跨国公司的技术转移,又不能忽视我国的技术创新,这是实现经济可持续增长的根本所在.     

Green technical innovation, environmental expenditure, and the environmental Kuznets curve： a dynamic s model

The relationship between the emission of pollutant and economic growth has attracted a lot of attention in the environmental debate of the recent decades. Based on some theoretical and empirical research on environmental Kuznets curve （EKC）, this paper introduces the environmental technical innovation and environmental investment into Salow growth model to discuss the relationship between GDP per capital and the emission of pollutant By the dynamic simulation and parameters analysis, the results of the model indicate： （1） when ＂green＂ technical progress and environmental investment are fixed, the relationship between GDP per capital and the emission shows the linear relationship; （2） ＂green＂ technical progress can lead to the positive growth rates with a decreasing level of emission, which is compatible with an EKC; （3） the proportion of the environmental investment can lead the different growth rates and level of emission. These results can explain that developing countries are ＂too poor to be green＂.     

Exploring causal relationships in an innovation program with Robust Portfolio Modeling

Many countries seek to foster the commercial exploitation of science-based research results through selective policy instruments. Typically, these instruments involve processes of follow-up data collection where the results of ex ante and ex post assessments are systematically recorded. Yet, several factors – such as the presence of multiple objectives, predominance of qualitative data and missing observations – may complicate the use of such data for adjusting the management practices of these instruments. With the aim of addressing these challenges, we adopt Robust Portfolio Modeling¹ (RPM) as an evaluation framework to the analysis of longitudinal data: specifically, we (i) determine subsets of outperforming and underperforming projects through the development of an explicit multicriteria model for ex post evaluation, and (ii) carry out comparative analyses between these subsets, in order to identify which ex ante interventions and contextual characteristics may have contributed to later performance. We also report experiences from the application of RPM-evaluation to a Finnish innovation program and outline extensions of this approach that provide further decision support to the managers of innovation programs.     

我国信息通讯技术领域专利战略分析

对我国信息通讯技术（ICT）领域在1985-2006年期间的发明专利申请情况进行了分析,重点研究了在华知名跨国公司与国内企业在15个最主要的ICT子领域的发明专利申请情况,计算了主要ICT子领域对各企业的技术重要性、各企业在ICT子领域及整体领域的技术竞争指数、各企业在ICT子领域的技术比较优势指数等。研究结果揭示了我国ICT的重要技术创新和竞争子领域;在我国整体ICT领域的竞争指数最大的公司依次为三星、华为、松下等,而国内其他公司的竞争指数都较低;在各ICT子领域最具技术竞争力的公司几乎都是发明专利申请量最多的公司。研究进一步表明,并非所有公司都能在对其最具技术重要性的领域保持技术竞争优势。本土ICT企业要缩小与跨国公司的技术差距,必须重视对重要技术领域的选择并加大创新投入,实施专利战略,以保持自身在这些领域的相对技术比较优势。     

Generic innovation dynamics across the industrial technology life cycle: Platform equation modeling of invention and innovation activity

We describe here a generic approach to innovation dynamics based on an integrated framework for inventions and innovations applied via a platform equation and model across the industrial technology life cycle. We test the model for metals and other materials, and demonstrate that this model correctly describes the production activity for several materials and energy conversion technologies.Innovation activity patterns are shown for several oxides, metals, oil and wind energy and its derivatives. The metals Cu, Al, W, Mo and Pb are particularly studied for the amount produced over time. The total activity for the metals encompasses both the invention and innovation stage for a particular metal. Four major stages and two sub stages are identified for the discovery (invention) and subsequent growth regimes (i.e. the innovation stage). The pattern equation appears to clearly capture all these stages for the metals studied — work is ongoing for similar analyses of energy and other materials. Although the metals studied existed over differing periods (e.g. copper greater than 200 years whereas aluminum, just over 100 years), one single pattern equation appears to capture all the major trends. The use of the model is also shown for productivity analysis, especially for the condition of radical innovation (very rapid growth). For sustained radical innovation, namely, when the output of the produced material per unit time, keeps on increasing with time, there are various factors which may influence growth. For the conditions where thermal activation and plant size are the dominant variables, their impact on the growth may be examined in the context of the pattern equation. A preliminary analysis of oxide production activity also appears to follow this same innovation model.The results suggest a fertile field of future research extending the initial platform equation model to include R&D, Patents, and Performance, as well as Sales, as innovation activity. Further, the model shows promise in combination with the ARI methodology model for analysis and assessment of existing and future industrial technology life cycles involving material, process, product, software and service innovations.     

Innovation and diffusion of environmental technology: Industrial NOx abatement in Sweden under refunded emission payments

We study the actual process of technical change in the case of NOx abatement from large stationary sources that have been regulated by very forceful policies in Sweden. Considerable progress has been made in lowering aggregate emissions and this paper seeks to disaggregate average industry improvements to study how much of it is due to innovations by first movers, and how much is achieved by adoption and diffusion of technology. We find both factors very important. Innovation has been rapid: the best firms have cut emissions on the order of 70%. In spite of this, reductions have actually been even more rapid for the majority of firms so that the median firms have caught up with best practice. We analyze various characteristics of the technological change observed.