Innovation ecosystems: A critical examination

Publications pushing the “innovation ecosystem” meme have added valuable dimensions to the economic development discussion. The phrase has captured the imagination of policy makers and has motivated public initiatives of substantial magnitude. This paper reviews the concept of innovation ecosystems as it is set forth in the academic and trade literature, and asks, “What is gained from adding ‘eco-’ to our treatment of national and regional innovation systems?”The answer is, “Very little, and the risks outweigh the benefits.” Innovation ecosystem is not yet a clearly defined concept, much less a theory. Moreover, the idea carries pitfalls, notably its over-emphasis on market forces, and its flawed analogy to natural ecosystems.The prospect that the phrase “innovation ecosystem” is here to stay, in investment and economic development circles, implies a research gap, and indicates caution in using the phrase in rigorous research. The paper describes the gap, indicates directions for bridging it, and offers recommendations for prudent use of “ecosystem” terminology.     

HOW DOES COUNTRY RISK AFFECT INNOVATION? AN APPLICATION TO FOREIGN PATENTS REGISTERED IN THE USA

Abstract.  Innovation can occur at the national level under a wide range of settings. However, the leading innovative countries internationally have several common traits, including economic, financial and political stability, which are reflected in various measures of country risk. The purpose of the paper is to examine, for the first time, the relationship between the economic, financial and political country risk ratings, on the one hand, and innovation, as measured by a country's registered patents, on the other. The relationships between various monthly country risk ratings and registered patents are analyzed for the leading 12 foreign patenting countries in the USA from 1975 to 1997. The empirical results show that economic, financial and political risk ratings have a considerable impact on the innovative activities of the 12 countries. Total US patent applications are also influential in inducing innovation in the 12 countries. Such issues have not previously been addressed in the literature on country risk and innovation.     

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.     

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.     

企业技术中心创新管理：基于流程视角的研究框架

创新是企业获取竞争优势的最主要来源，创新管理也是近年来学界广泛研究的议题之一。本文以企业技术中心的创新管理为研究对象，提出流程视角的研究框架，探索从创意到市场的最佳创新管理模式。着重指出创意来源应包括外部大环境视角，行业视角，客户视角和公司视角，并概述创意筛选、转化的原则和模型以及创新项目管理等概念，为企业技术中心提高创新产出提供新视角。     

经济发展进程中的基础设施投资结构变迁

本文构建了经济发展进程与基础设施投资结构变迁的理论模型,并采用1998～2013年间省际面板数据对理论模型进行了实证检验。研究表明：在经济增长水平较低时,一般性基础设施投资对经济增长激励效应更强,但对自主创新演变影响较弱;在经济增长水平较高时,科技型基础设施投资对经济增长和自主创新激励效应均强于一般性基础设施投资。因此,政府在制定基础设施投资结构变迁政策时需同时兼顾自主创新目标和经济增长目标,根据两类基础设施投资边际效应的相对大小恰当地实施基础设施投资结构变迁,以最大限度地释放经济增长潜力。     

对我国医药企业自主创新演化机制的分析

自主创新是当前商业界和学术界研究比较热的话题。政府相应地制定了一系列的政策和法规来鼓励企业进行自主创新。在这种背景下,我国的医药企业也积极响应国家的政策进行自主创新。然而,医药企业创新在实际操作中的行动方向差异很大。针对这种差异,笔者将医药企业创新划分成新功能创新和新设计创新两种,并且通过对一系列的数据和资料分析后,发现我国的医药企业的创新并非实质上的自主创新即新功能创新,而是新设计创新。文中对产生这种局面的演化机制进行了分析。     

Technology-based design and sustainable economic growth

This paper seeks to analyze how design creates economic value. The literature on knowledge-based economic development has primarily focused on innovation as the analytical lens, whereas design is the original action that leads to innovation. Despite the fundamental importance of design, existing design research has offered few insights and little guidance for national strategies due to the lack of focus on and analysis of design in an economic context. This paper addresses such gaps by linking design research and economic development theory. We first elaborate on the relationship among design, invention and innovation, describing the necessity of design activity for invention and innovation. Our analysis of the fundamental characteristics of design across contexts sheds light on the strategic importance of the accumulative nature of technology-based design for sustaining economic growth. Through the lens of technology-based design, we further quantitatively compare Singapore and three similarly-sized countries (South Korea, Finland and Taiwan). Based upon interview data, we also qualitatively examine Singapore's national strategy focusing on design. The quantitative and qualitative results align well with the Singaporean government's use of design as a strategic lever to pursue innovation-driven economic growth, and also reveal its achievements and shortfalls which indicate possible directions for strategic adjustment.     

Problem-solving effort and success in innovation contests: The role of national wealth and national culture

Innovation contests allow firms to harness specialized skills and services from globally dispersed participants for solutions to business problems. Such contests provide a rich setting for operations management (OM) scholars to explore problem solving in global labor markets as firms continue to unbundle their innovation value chains. In this study, we examine the implications of specific types of diversity in innovation contests on problem-solving effort and success. First, we conceptualize diversity among contestants in terms of national wealth (measured as gross domestic product per capita (GDPP) adjusted for purchasing power parity) and national culture (measured using the culture dimensions of performance orientation and uncertainty avoidance) and examine how such factors influence problem-solving effort. Next, we examine how differences between contestants and contest holders in terms of the above factors influence contest outcomes. Using data from a popular online innovation contest platform and country-level archival data, we find that contestants from countries with lower levels of GDPP are more likely to exert greater problem-solving effort compared to other contestants. With regard to national culture, we find that performance orientation and uncertainty avoidance have positive and negative effects, respectively, each of which weakens with increasing levels of GDPP. Finally, our analysis provides evidence of homophily effects indicating that contestants who share greater similarities with the contest holder in terms of national wealth and national culture are more likely to be successful in a contest. We discuss the implications of the study's findings for contest holders and platform owners who organize innovation contests, and for emerging research on innovation contests.     

Towards a functional framework for measuring national innovation efficacy

In an increasingly globalised economy, the ability to draw in innovations and ideas from elsewhere and build on them to create value at home has become a powerful facility for economic growth. Since some places are better at adopting and adapting borrowed ideas than others, the function of ‘innovation through adoption’ deserves more attention at both scholarly and policymaking levels. Based on such beliefs, this paper elaborates the notion of ‘innovation through adoption’ and develops it further to advance the notion of ‘innovation efficacy’. The latter is interpreted here as the efficiency and effectiveness of innovation systems in terms of accessing, anchoring, diffusing, creating and exploiting innovations. This notion is further illustrated in a measurement tool based on a composite index, which we name the ‘Innovation Efficacy Index’.The ultimate contribution of the paper lies in its aim to shift the traditional focus of attention from a fixation with developing and exploiting new knowledge locally to the prospect of value creation through accessing, anchoring or diffusing knowledge acquired from elsewhere.     

Play at work,learning and innovation

ABSTRACT

Suggesting a virtuous triangle constituting public service innovation of new governances, innovation and learning, the paper examines how and why a particular mode of learning occurs: that of play. Having identified an absence of research literature on play as a catalyst for new ideas in public services, the paper argues that the diversified nature of public services and disciplinary intermixing offers fertile ground for playing with new service ideas. Our conception of play avoids functional interpretations, such as Amabile or individualizing the results of play and instead draws upon Vygotsky’s social learning theory to conceptualize play as a group activity from which new ideas emerge and suggest a new framework for understanding purposive play at work and the contribution it can make to public service innovation.     

我国物流组织与物流体系的创新与发展

现代物流作为“降低成末的最后边界”，从组织看，是由流体、载体和流向三要素构成，从运作看，体现储存、运输和配送三大功能；从投入产出看，寻求降低物流成本和提高服务水平的动态均衡。供应式物流到订购式物流是我国物流组织创新的内容，其发展战略是即时物流、协同或一体化物流、高度化物流。物流体系创新应从行政区域、组织到按经济区域组织来实现。     

INNOVATION IN A REGULATED SERVICE: The case of English housing associations

This article explores the previously unexamined relationship between innovation and regulation in public service organizations. Innovation and regulation are conceptualized as different types of change - innovation is discontinuous change and regulation change to modify the behaviour of regulatees in relation to standards. Evidence is presented from a highly regulated public services sector - English housing associations, which are regulated by the Housing Corporation. In order to explain the behaviour of the case study housing associations and the regulator to innovation a two-stage innovation classification technique is developed and tested. Stage one draws upon social policy typologies, and stage two on attributes shown to influence innovation in other research. Housing associations' innovations are presented, categorized and classified. The findings indicate that innovation occurs at the borders of regulatory jurisdiction and that it is the tensions over these boundaries that are key drivers of innovation.     

The Open2-Innova8ion Tool—A software tool for rating organisational innovation performance

The Open2-Innova8ion Tool is an interactive, multi-media, web-based software tool for rating organisational innovation performance. This tool was designed for organisations to use as an adaptation of the European Commission's work on developing empirical measures of national innovation performance with the Summary Innovation Index (SII). It is designed for users with experience of employment in an organisation, from senior managers to all types of employees, with an interest in rating the innovation performance of their organisation. The Tool is quick and intuitive to use, and provides textual feedback, together with graphic ratings using Google meters. Feedback is based on user perceptions of organisational indicators of Innovation Enablers, Activities, and Outputs to provide an overall rating of innovation performance; this can be compared with a self-rating of innovativeness to allow some interpretation of the congruence between the user and their organisation. This prototype Tool was trialled and evaluated during a workshop on low carbon vehicle innovation, with participants (innovators) representing organisations from the surface transport industry as part of the U-STIR programme with EU Framework 7 funding. This publically available web-tool has applications to education, training, and research http://design.open.ac.uk/itool/.     

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND INNOVATION: A SURVEY

Abstract The traditional economics of innovation, inspired by Schumpeter and more recent advances on his work, seem unable to explain why firms with similar external conditions may show greatly different performance in innovation. Contrastingly, the literature on corporate governance provides some useful insights for understanding corporate innovation activity, to the extent that such literature examines the economic effects of different modes of coordination between firm members. The process through which individuals integrate their human and physical resources within the firm is central to the dynamics of corporate innovation. This paper provides the first survey of the literature on this issue. We start by discussing how various theoretical approaches to the analysis of the firm deal with technological innovation. We then describe three main channels – corporate ownership, corporate finance and labour – through which a system of corporate governance shapes a firm's innovation activity. Finally, we examine the relationship between country‐level institutional settings, national patterns of corporate governance and the aggregate innovation activity of corporations. We conclude by suggesting that future research should focus more deeply on the interrelation between the various dimensions of corporate governance and on their joint effect on firm innovation.     

Co-operation and co-opetition as open innovation practices in the service sector: Which influence on innovation novelty?

This study aims to identify the influence of co-operation practices and the use of internal and external information sources on the propensity of firms to introduce new to the market innovations in the service sector. Data come from the 4th Community Innovation Survey, which covers the years 2002-2004. A logistic regression model is applied with the degree of novelty of good/service innovation as dependent variable. The analysis of the parameter estimates shows that firms provided with information from market sources and from internal sources as well as firms involved in science-based collaboration for their product innovations are more likely to introduce new to the market innovations, whereas information coming from competitors seems to have a negative influence on the degree of novelty of innovation.     

The Organizational Innovation System: A systemic framework for radical innovation at the organizational level

Most research on innovation management at the organizational level has typically been focused on one specific innovation project phase or innovation management concept. This has resulted in many valuable insights, though scattered in different (innovation) research fields and studies. With the development of the Organizational Innovation System (OIS), we bring together important insights from the Innovation Systems, Open Innovation and other related fields into a guiding concept useful for both innovation managers developing (radical) innovations and innovation scholars. In this paper, we define the OIS and its key structural components, and discuss the identified functions and categories of potential imperfections. With the OIS, we provide a holistic, hands-on concept currently lacking in the open innovation approach. From the conceptualization, a framework for analysis is put forward which provides structure to the study of ongoing and finished innovation processes. Additionally, the development of the OIS is a first step in the development of a currently underdeveloped micro-level within the innovation systems perspective. The insights in OISs and the future insights derived from analytical efforts, will not only be beneficial for the performance of innovating organizations and organizational innovation systems but also for the performance of the higher, interconnected system levels.     

创新扩散理论应用于IT领域研究综述

创新扩散理论(Innovation Diffusion Theory,简称IDT)主要研究创新在社会系统中传播扩散的过程。罗杰斯的创新扩散理论作为当前国际学术界技术创新扩散理论的重要研究成果,已被我国学者普遍了解和接受,并运用到众多研究领域。本文主要通过搜集2002-2010年期间有关创新扩散理论应用于IT领域的研究文献,分析综述。     

浅谈水闸职工思想政治工作的创新

创新是企业发展、进步的灵魂,在新的历史条件下,水闸职工思想政治工作的创新是关系到水利行业改革发展的一件大事,必须在队伍建设和指导思想、管理制度、针对性和实效性、形式和方法等方面进行创新,建立适应新形势要求的思想政治工作新机制。     

国家审计、经济双循环新发展格局与区域创新效率

国家审计的经济秩序治理功能在助力经济双循环新发展格局和提升区域创新效率方面发挥了巨大作用。以2006—2019年省级面板数据为研究样本,基于简单中介效应模型和多重中介效应模型的联合检验方法,研究了国家审计对区域创新效率的影响以及经济双循环新发展格局在其中发挥的中介作用。研究结果表明,国家审计综合效能显著促进了区域创新效率的提高,经济内循环和外循环发挥了双重中介作用。进一步研究发现,在国家审计通过助力形成新发展格局来促进区域创新效率的过程中,应当格外注意政府债务风险和区域数字化建设差异的影响。