Barriers to innovation through public procurement: A supplier perspective

Public procurement is increasingly viewed as having important potential to drive innovation. Despite this interest, numerous barriers prevent the public sector from acting as an intelligent and informed customer. This paper seeks to understand how barriers related to processes, competences, procedures and relationships in public procurement influence suppliers? ability to innovate and to reap the benefits of innovation. We address this by exploiting a dedicated survey of public sector suppliers in the UK, using a probit model to investigate the influence of structural, market and innovation determinants on suppliers? perception of these barriers.     

The national innovation policy effect according to firm location

The regional nature of innovation and innovation policy was investigated. The aim of this study was to determine whether the specific economic and institutional conditions of a region had an influence on the results of a national policy intended to support entrepreneurial innovation. The analysis compared the effect of the national R&D subsidies on the innovation effort of firms located in central regions, which concentrate an important percentage of the national innovation activity, together with those firms located in periphery regions. Significant regional differences were detected with regard to the national R&D subsidies’ effect and distribution. The central regions manifested a higher subsidy effect compared to the periphery regions. The results of this study have allowed us to conclude that the region plays an important differentiating role in connection with the final result of the innovation policy aimed at the entire national territory. Therefore, this study recommends including the geographical location of the firm in future evaluations.     

墨西哥技术性贸易措施体系纵览

墨西哥作为新兴市场国家,经济发展潜力巨大,已成为各同贸易投资的对象。本文详细分析了近几年我国与墨西哥的贸易往来状况,墨西哥2008年的TBT通报情况以及墨西哥实施的技术性贸易措施体系,重点介绍了墨西哥国家标准体系概况和墨西哥NOM强制性认证体系。     

当前经济环境下物流服务创新与政策对策

文中首先提及当前经济发展环境对物流业产生的影响,提出只有创新求变才能转危机为机遇。     

Between vision and reality: Promoting innovation through technoparks in an emerging economy

The paper analyses the role of technoparks as instruments of innovation promotion in Kazakhstan using data from a firm survey and interviews. It explores three specific issues: first, the overall effectiveness of technoparks in promoting innovation development in Kazakhstan, second, the underlying innovation model in Kazakhstan technoparks, and third, whether technoparks can compensate for missing elements in the technology-based infrastructure and environment. Our conclusions are that technopark firms are no more innovative than other firms. They are oriented largely towards the local market, and operate in traditional sectors; the frequency and intensity of their external links are more developed than are their internal links. The key motivations for relocating to a technopark seem to be lower rents and the possibility of accessing finance. Overall, Kazakh technoparks seem to be successful in terms of facilitating business incubation, but much less so in terms of innovation promotion and diversification of the economy. Focusing on technoparks as the main mechanism to diversify the economy seems to be an ineffective and uncertain policy option at this stage of the country's economic development. However, there seems to be significant scope for supporting business incubation. The conclusions of this study are of relevance to other emerging economies.     

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.     

The interaction of multiple champions in orchestrating innovation networks: Conflicts and complementarities

In networked or open innovation processes, so-called innovation communities have been identified in the innovation champion literature, in which innovation champions from different levels in the innovation system supposedly act as a team. It has however not been studied in detail to what extent and how different champions in innovation communities complement each other and act as a team. Applying the concept of innovation network orchestration to analyze the role and position of different kinds of champions as brokers in innovation networks, the purpose of this paper is to unravel the interaction between champions and what this entails in terms of role complementarities and conflicts as regards innovation network orchestration. This is done by using an explorative multiple case study approach in which three innovation journeys are analyzed. The results indicate that a distinction can be made between primary innovation communities, who act as aggregated orchestrators of the overall innovation network, and who in turn orchestrate secondary innovation communities in certain sub-networks. Here different kinds of champions complement each other and act as a team, but these complementarities are not a given: they are negotiated over time in interaction, and lack of reflection on each other’s roles may result in role conflicts. The main conclusion is that an oversimplified notion of innovation communities as a unified team of champions should be avoided: innovation communities themselves need a form of orchestration.     

公共政策运行中的信息不对称及其治理

我国城市公共政策在运行过程中,普遍存在着信息不对称的问题,其形成原因主要包括政府自利性、科层制的局限性、信息传递通道不畅以及信息成本高。信息不对称对城市公共政策的制定、执行、评估、监控和终结等有着重要的消极影响,可能导致政策失效,应通过不同方式加以治理。     

中小企业技术创新政策工具功能探讨

中小企业在技术创新与经济增长中有着不可替代的作用,中小企业有其内在的技术创新动力,能够承担和分散技术创新的不确定性和风险,成为培育企业家的摇篮和基地.建立和完善中小企业技术创新政策,利用中小企业技术创新政策工具促进中小企业发展,具有非常重要的意义.因而,必须重新认识中小企业的地位和作用,建立健全政府中小企业管理机构,构建系统的中小企业技术创新激励政策体系,充分发挥中小企业技术创新政策工具的作用,促进我国中小企业快速健康发展.     

Incubator,technology, and innovation centres in Switzerland: features and policy implications

Only since the early 1990s, when unemployment rates in Switzerland soared to unprecedented levels, has federal technology and innovation policy begun to design their activities with regard to employment and the establishment of new firms. Now, all across the country, private as well as public incubator facilities, technology and innovation centres have begun to spring up. This paper starts by describing the theoretical and methodological background of a survey of incubator, technology and innovation (ITI) centres. In a first step, all cantonal offices for economic promotion were asked to report and to describe incubator facilities, technology and innovation centres within their realm. In a second step a selection of centres were analysed in depth. The key findings are that: (1) ITI centres are most commonly established by a combination of public and private initiatives; (2) the main motive for the creation of ITI centres is to promote startups and the innovative potential; (3) most ITI centres offer space to rent and make available joint amenities; (4) ITI centres are predominantly in manufacturing, services, and development activities; their level of technology input is high or very high; and (5) the spatial reach of most of the ITI centre is on the region. Together with selected foreign experiences, some conclusions and recommendations for the operation of such centres are formulated.     

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.     

Mapping the benefits and costs associated with process innovation: The case of RFID adoption

The successful implementation of any innovation requires an understanding of its benefits and costs. This study examines the changes in the magnitude of costs and benefits associated with technology process innovation adoption as the innovation diffuses across different industries. Using RFID as an exemplar technology, the study shows that the magnitude of benefits and costs associated with technological process innovation adoption within different industries varies as technology diffuses beyond early adopters to the early majority. During the early stages of technology evolution, the development cost, the cost of capital, ethical costs and simple direct implementation costs (in the form of the cost of tags) predominate. As a dominant design emerges the profile of costs changes with the emphasis on initiation costs, more holistic direct implementation costs and indirect implementation costs. A similar change in the emphasis of benefits is observed, with a shift from direct to indirect benefits being noticeable as the technology moves from early adopters to early majority adopters. Our findings help to explain the difficulties in consistently measuring innovation outcomes observed in the innovation implementation literature, and emphasize the need to take into consideration the stage of technology development as a significant factor that influences the realised outcomes from innovation implementation.     

Reconfiguring the innovation policy portfolios for Taiwan's SIP Mall industry

Since the year 2000, silicon intellectual property (SIP), which can minimize the gap in ‘design productivity’ that exists with systems-on-chip (SOC), has become one of the most important factors in the development of integrated circuit (IC) products in the SOC era. Although SIP is very important for IC industry development, complicated business, technical as well as legal issues inside SIP transactions have hindered successful transactions and the integration of SIPs into SOCs. Thus, web-based SIP e-Commerce mechanisms, called SIP Malls, have emerged, aiming to resolve complex SIP issues. To maintain its leading position and competitiveness in the World's IC industry, as well as the value added by SOC products in Taiwanese IC firms, the Taiwanese government has developed SIP Malls, using innovation policy tools. However, the Taiwanese SIP Mall industry remains immature. No existing Taiwanese SIP Malls generate a profit or account for a significant share of worldwide SIP transactions. This research will develop an analytical framework for defining an innovation policy portfolio that aims to develop Taiwan's SIP Mall industry, so that it will enhance the value added of SIP Malls and, thus, the nation's competitiveness in the SIP and IC industries, something which already has become one of the Taiwanese government's major concerns. The industry innovation requirements (IIRs) are summarized using the Delphi method. Meanwhile, the major IIRs identified by Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) are introduced. After the IIRs are derived, the relationships between the IIRs and innovation policy tools are derived by Grey relational analysis (GRA). Then, the innovation policy tools are clustered, based upon the Grey grades derived by GRA. Finally, reconfigured innovation policy portfolios are presented for the Taiwanese government's policy definition. The results demonstrate that developing an innovative policy portfolio that includes scientific, technical, educational, public enterprise, information, legal and regulatory, financial, and taxation policy tools will be the most necessary step towards developing Taiwan's SIP Mall industry.     

就业增长与空间政策

从空间的角度,解释高增长低就业、内需不足等宏观经济问题的深层原因.认为目前就业和内需不足,不仅仅是产业政策的问题,在很大程度上也是由于不正确的空间政策造成的.提出要解决这些问题需要同时从空间政策入手.     

Entry and barriers to entry in emerging markets

This note briefly introduces the symposium on entry and entry barriers in emerging markets edited by Nauro Campos and Saul Estrin. The symposium contains four inter-related case studies focusing in depth on the relationship between entry of new firms and institutional arrangements in four major emerging markets: Brazil, China, India and Russia. We find that entry rates are not necessarily low in emerging markets, and that institutional quality is a complex and “fuzzy” notion so that its impact on the entry process is not straightforward.     

基于多中心治理的公共政策产出机制研究

公共政策产出存在多种机制：政府主导的“内生型”、公众有限参与的政府“回应型”、多中心治理下的“网络型”等。多种政策产出机制在各民主制国家都是并存的,只是由于民主政治发展程度不同,三者所占比重不等而已。在治理理论成为一种政治思潮的今天,多中心的“网络型”政策产出机制受到更多欢迎和关注。这既给传统的政策产出机制带来了一系列影响,也使得该机制的不足得以暴露,如何进一步优化这一政策产出机制成为亟待解决的问题。     

A policy perspective on incremental innovation in small and medium sized enterprises

The increased importance of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in industrial economies is explained and the very large variance in their degree of participation in the innovation process is established. Evidence from Canadian research clarifies the difficulties that smidl and medium sized firms, even in technology intensive industries, experience in developing new products and implementing new designs. Innovation theory is reviewed and the importance of inputs from specialist consultants is established for SMEs undertaking incremental innovation. Transaction costs concepts are then used to explain the difficulties SMEs encounter in arranging these linkages. A recommended form of policy to help to correct this type of market imperfection is derived and used to describe a gap in Canadian policies and to evaluate initiatives in Australia and UK.     

Industrial clusters,flagship enterprises and regional innovation

ABSTRACT

For a sample of all 88 counties in the State of Ohio over a 5-year period, this study documents the effect of flagship enterprises and concentrated industrial clusters on regional innovation. Consistent with the agglomeration arguments and the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship, both appear to affect regional innovation positively. Additionally, regional educational attainment positively moderates the effect of industrial clusters on innovation. At the same time, flagship enterprises primarily affect regional innovation in regions with low education levels. Results are obtained with the help of conservative econometric techniques and are robust to the choice of alternative dependent variables and estimators. The findings have major policy implications and provide insights into alternative routes to encouraging regional innovation.     

Regulatory influences on innovation in the public sector: the role of regulatory regimes

The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of regulation on innovation within the public sector. This is done by integrating two separate frameworks, related to regulatory regimes and public-sector innovation. Through a case study of the Scottish water sector a matrix integrating these frameworks has been empirically developed, illustrating a continuous improvement path for innovation in the Scottish water sector. Findings indicate that customer and shareholder accountability is manifest at the transitional interface of the regulatory regimes, facilitating movement within the different systems. Interplay with the accountabilities and adjustments to the regulatory regime are paramount for progress. Through incentives to establish partnerships, the regulator provides conditions for new ideas to emerge with reduced risk of failure. Experimentation allows a new approach towards solving problems and enhancing innovation potential within the sector. The contribution of this paper is a framework demonstrating mechanisms required to move between government-centred, compliance- based regulation through to performance-oriented regulatory regimes.