Research technology organisations as leaders of R&D collaboration with SMEs: role,barriers and facilitators

Research technology organisations or RTOs have attracted academic interest in the last decade due to their role as technology transfer agents and R&D collaborative leaders for firms and especially for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Although their role within the diversity of specialised structures in generating R&D for industry in National Innovation Systems is recognised, there are scarce publications in relation to their strategies, performance or characteristic, as leaders of R&D collaboration with SMEs. The aim of this work is to identify the role, barriers and facilitators for RTOs performance as well as to develop a contingency relationship between industry environment, strategy, organisational structure and other factors for successful technology transfer from technology organisations to SMEs. This research is based on a field study conducted on 14 technology organisations based in the Valencia region, working with various industry sectors.     

The impact of technology transfer on agribusiness performance in Kenya

ABSTRACT

This study examines how technology transfer can influence the performance of small businesses in developing countries like Kenya. The theoretical basis of the study is the technology transfer model, which integrates a consideration of the transfer provider with that of the recipient’s capacity. The study’s sample comprises 104 enterprises. Correlation and a regression model are used for content analysis. The results show that technology transfers improve small businesses’ performance and help drive rural development. The effectiveness of transferred technology has a major impact on small businesses’ competitiveness and access to international markets. These findings imply that governments must develop technology transfer strategies for small businesses in order to enhance both their performance and food security. Government policies for technology transfer should incorporate incentives for agricultural technology transfer to boost food security.     

Public investments in sustainable technology: an evaluation of North Carolina's Green Business Fund

North Carolina's Green Business Fund, a state-level sustainability–technology program, is evaluated in terms of net economic surplus. To conduct this evaluation, this paper develops and implements an economic model from which values of producer and consumer surplus can be measured. Data limitations drive modeling choices, namely the model must be applicable when the researcher is unable to decompose revenues into separate prices and quantities. The method used in this paper is an extension of one previously used to examine SBIR programs facing similar data limitations. An additional facet of the modeling method is a specification such that the presence of an existing technology can also be taken into account. This allows the evaluation to focus only on newly created surplus. The findings from this evaluation suggest that the Green Business Fund has resulted in a positive net social surplus and, when imposing an elasticity of demand drawn from the literature on other sustainability-based technologies, a benefit-to-cost ratio of above 2.     

颠覆性双元创新对数字产业技术融合的影响研究 --市场与技术的联动效应

颠覆性创新是数字产业突破在位企业封锁,掌握技术主导权的核心动力。多维度的颠覆性创新政策能否真正促进数字产业技术融合度的提升,行业中其他企业又扮演何种角色？本文围绕技术与市场两个维度,基于数字产业中具有代表性智能制造业的研究数据,运用双元创新理论,探讨探索与利用两种颠覆性技术创新政策影响数字产业技术融合的异同,以及技术距离在其中的作用机制;并比较颠覆性技术双元和颠覆性市场双元之间不同的联动效应。采用逐步回归进行实证检验,研究发现：(1)颠覆性技术探索对技术融合度有显著的正向影响,且技术距离正向调节颠覆性技术探索与技术融合度间关系;(2)颠覆性技术利用与技术融合度呈倒U型关系,且技术距离正向调节颠覆性技术利用与技术融合度间关系;(3)不同的颠覆性技术创新和颠覆性市场创新联动关系对企业技术融合有着截然不同的影响,具体来说,在企业选定颠覆性技术探索战略的情境下,颠覆性市场双元对数字产业技术融合度不会产生明显的促进或抑制作用;在企业选定颠覆性技术利用战略的情境下,颠覆性市场探索对数字产业技术融合度表现出更为明显的促进作用。     

The impact of technology imports on technology balance of payments in Korea: an ARDL bounds testing approach

This study empirically analyses the impact of technology imports on the technology balance of payments in Korea during 1981–2013 using the autoregressive distributed lag bounds testing approach of co-integration. We estimate the long- and short-run coefficients of the technology balance of payments with respect to technology imports. The results show that technology imports produce positive effects on the technology balance of payments in the long run, although it has negative effects in the short run.     

Quick and dirty technology assessment: The case of an Italian Research Centre

Technology assessment has an increasingly critical role to play, in light of the fact that technology is the ultimate source of competitive advantage for companies, and of economic and social development for nations. In this paper, we present a methodology for a “quick and dirty” technology assessment, developed with reference to a real-word case study. The case in question is that of a large Italian Research Centre, whose top management required a rapid assessment of the technological competences, resources and results of the organisation. Because technology assessment is inherently highly complex, the problem consisted in reducing the complexity to obtain a simple methodology that could be rapidly deployed in practice.In summary, this paper: (i) describes a methodology for a “quick and dirty” technology assessment, effectively implemented in practice; (ii) points out the main problems/difficulties encountered and the possible solutions; (iii) discusses the results and the validity/applicability of the formulated methodology.     

Innovation in the medical device sector: an open business model approach for high-tech small firms

Innovation in the medical device industry is progressing rapidly with many technologies heralded as major breakthroughs. The public are often well informed about these matters, which results in a patient pull for innovations that are years from market. HTSFs operating in this environment face huge challenges in terms of realising the latent economic potential from new innovations. Open innovation offers the prospect of lower costs for innovation, faster times to market, and the chance to share risks. By developing open business models medical device companies can capture the multifaceted ideas of scientists, engineers, clinicians and indeed patients; thus allowing beneficial technologies to reach the market more quickly in a way that is evidence focused. This study uses a qualitative approach to investigate the explicit and implicit business models within HTSFs in the health care sector and provides a useful contribution to understand the challenges and identify solutions in this multi-stakeholder environment.     

The legacy and promise of Vannevar Bush: rethinking the model of innovation and the role of public policy

The linear model of innovation argues that innovation takes place in a unidirectional sequence, with basic research directly diffusing in marketable product or process innovations. This perspective has served society well in past decades. However, recent productivity slowdowns in developed economies and the failure of innovation policies to continue to deliver desired results have called this perspective into question. Scholars explain these slowdowns by the oversimplification of the linear model which fails to consider the complexities associated with innovation processes. Although it is generally believed that Vannevar Bush’s report Science – The Endless Frontier – was based on his belief in a linear model of innovation and the notion that basic research is the ultimate source of all innovation, an examination of Bush’s writings and his life reveals that he believed in a more sophisticated model in which basic and applied research cross-fertilize each other and in which government’s job is not so much to stimulate basic research as it is to facilitate interactions between basic and applied research for the benefit of both and the prosperity of society. This paper explicates Bush’s model of the research and innovation process, explores the implications of that model, and derives policy recommendations.     

中国工业企业绿色技术创新效率的测度与评价—基于超效率网络SBM-Malmquist模型分析

将绿色创新发展理念融入到工业企业技术活动中,已经成为突破环境和资源约束、推动工业可持续发展的关键。本文将能源消耗量、三废排放量等纳入研究框架,运用超效率网络SBM模型和Malmquist-Luenberger指数对中国各省份工业企业绿色技术创新效率进行测度与评价。结果表明：在2013—2018年间,工业企业绿色技术创新效率处于较低水平,省域间存在较大差异,但差异趋势逐渐缩小;我国工业企业绿色技术创新效率呈现出“东-中-西”依次递减的阶梯式空间分布格局,与东部地区工业企业绿色技术创新效率持上升的趋势相比,中西部效率水平不仅存在绝对水平明显偏低的特征,而且还表现出了增长幅度的差异;成果转化期的效率值低于科技研发的效率值,纯技术效率水平过低是造成两阶段效率不高的主要原因;我国Malmquist-Luenberger指数均大于1,整体发展态势良好,其中技术效率变化指数的增长主要依赖于纯技术效率变化指数。从三大地区层面来看,东部地区的ML(Malmquist-Luenberger)指数主要归结于技术进步（technological change,TC）指数的增长,而中西部地区的ML指数则主要依赖...     

技术能力对产业创新的影响——以东方汽轮机厂为例

以东方汽轮机厂的产业创新实践为背景,着重分析了技术的原始积累对产业创新当期竞争优势的影响,以及企业的技术创新能力对产业创新后续发展的支撑作用,对其获取长期竞争优势具有重要的实践意义。     

The role of public policy in closing foreign direct investment gaps: an empirical analysis

Using public policy instruments to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has become standard in most countries, irrespective of their level of development, geographical location or industrial structure. Against this background the paper analyses the suitability of various public policies to attract inward FDI based on a sample of 11 countries and 10 industries from the manufacturing sector over 10 years. For this aim we derive an empirical baseline model of the determinants of inward FDI-stock. From this baseline model FDI-gaps—measured as the difference between the “estimated actual” inward FDI-stock and the “potential” FDI-stock, which could be realized if a certain “best practice policy” were carried out—are derived. Thereby the analysis focuses on business taxation, public research and development expenditures, the information and communication infrastructure endowment, labor costs as well as institutional and skill-related policies. The analysis inter alia reveals the share of each of these location factors in the total industry- and country-level FDI-gap. Moreover, the analysis explores how policy advice depends on the definition of the “best practice policy”.     

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.     

The impact of old technologies on innovation: the case of the US biotechnology industry

This paper investigates the implications of a technology sourcing strategy maintaining a focus on the rediscovery of old technologies. Specifically, we study the different impact exerted by old technological solutions, distinguished on the basis of their organisational and industrial origins, on the innovation value. We develop a set of hypotheses about the impact exerted by four distinct types of old technological solutions (firm core technological heritage, firm lateral technological heritage, competitors’ technological heritage and others’ technological heritage) and test them on a sample of 1189 biotechnology patents registered at the US Patent and Trademark Office from 1979 to 2002. Results strongly support our hypotheses, revealing that: (1) using both firm core technological heritage and others’ technological heritage has an inverted U-shaped effect on innovation value; (2) employing firm lateral technological heritage is positively related to innovation value; (3) a negative relationship occurs between competitors’ core technological heritage and the value of subsequent innovations.     

Assessment of innovative software technology: developing an end-user-initiated interface design strategy

Knowledge intensive services and, in particular, R&D services contribute significantly to innovation in firms. The objective of this paper is to find out which characteristics of firms explain the acquisition of R&D services and to analyse whether there are differences depending on the typology of the supplier (universities, technology centres and consulting firms). Three main conclusions emerge from the econometric estimations carried out with information from a survey of innovative firms in the region of Valencia in Spain. First, the results show that firm size and age matter in the decision to buy R&D services. Second, our results are consistent with the relevance that the literature gives to human capital in absorbing external knowledge. Third, innovation policy has a significant influence on the decision to acquire R&D services, particularly from universities and technology centres.     

The impact of public R&D investments on patenting activity: technology transfer at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

ABSTRACT

This paper presents estimates of the impact of public R&D on patenting activity at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Using a time series of public sector agency data, we estimate the per-capita R&D elasticity of new patent applications using a knowledge production function framework model that is an expanded version of what other scholars have used with private sector data. New patent applications are an important step in the technology transfer activities of a federal agency. We estimate this elasticity to be about 2.0. This elasticity value represents an initial estimate of the impact of EPA’s R&D investments on its technology transfer activity.     

A patent-based cross impact analysis for quantitative estimation of technological impact: The case of information and communication technology

The increasing syntheses and interactions between various technologies increase the usefulness of cross impact analysis (CIA) as a method for forecasting and analyzing them. Conventional CIA depends on an expert's qualitative judgment or intuition and thus it is difficult to evaluate quantitatively the impact of one technology on another. In this study, we employ patent analysis in CIA to examine such impacts between technologies based on multiple patent classifications. Patent information is used for facilitating quantitative and systematic approach in CIA. The distinctive feature and main contribution of the proposed approach is the overcoming of the limitations of conventional CIA, by employing conditional probabilities based on the patent information. The classification of patents, particularly the multiple classifications, is used to evaluate the relationships between technologies. As an illustration, a patent-based CIA with information and communication technologies (ICTs) was conducted. Firstly, the patent-based cross impact among ICTs was calculated. Secondly, the technology pairs were classified based on the cross impact score between ICTs. Thirdly, a cross impact network was constructed to identify the complex relation among ICTs. Finally, the changes in cross impact scores between technologies over time were analyzed. The results of this research are expected to help practitioners to forecast future trends and to develop better R&D strategies.     

Exploring the role of human resources in technology out-licensing:an empirical analysis of biotech newtechnology-based firms

Out-licensing is a technology exploitation option to generate revenues without investing in downstream complementary assets. Despite its increasing strategic relevance, the strong complexity of out-licensing activity determines a substantial discrepancy in firms’ ability to extract monetary benefits from this practice. Searching for determinants of out-licensing performance, the paper focuses in particular on the role of licensing managers. Based on a multiple case study analysis involving 26 out-licensing deals executed in seven Italian biotech NTBFs, the study shows that expert scientific skills, extensive licensing practice and prior employment in multinationals, but not an intense social network, characterise successful licensing managers, while high delegation and powerful intrinsic rewards enable individual capacities of licensing managers to translate into actual economic value.     

The occurrence and spatial distribution of collaboration: biotech firms in Gothenburg,Sweden

This paper deals with the occurrence and spatial distribution of collaborations within biotechnology. By starting from a total population of 45 firms involved in biotech R&D, we shed light on how many collaborate with (1) other firms, (2) venture capitalists, and (3) actors in science and technology and whether these partners can be found in the region, nation or in the rest of the world. Possible explanations for the different patterns are drawn out.     

Cost of stroke in Canada: a 1-year prospective study

Summary

The objective of this study was to estimate the 1-year cost of stroke for patients in Canada in 2004 and to determine the factors that contribute to this cost.

This work was based on a prospective follow-up study of all patients presenting with a stroke or transient ischaemic attack (TIA) to the emergency room in a large teaching hospital over a 6-month prospective period. All healthcare, social services, patient and caregiver resource utilisation attributable to strokes or TIAs were included in the analysis. There were 365 patients who met the

inclusion criteria. The average 1-year cost of managing patients with TIA was the lowest at $17,769, followed by ischaemic strokes at $53,576 and haemorrhagic strokes at $56,573. Predictors for 1-year cost were: type of stroke; discharge severity of stroke; death; marital status; discharge destination; and the presence of diabetes and congestive heart failure.

Initial hospitalisation costs represented the majority of 1-year costs of stroke. However, caregiver expenses are significant at between 11% and 27% of the total are 1-year cost.     

Effect of proximity on recombination innovation in R&D collaboration: an empirical analysis

Recombination innovation is a process of creatively combining different knowledge domains in an invention. Recombination innovation in R&D collaboration – joint recombination process, which is integration of the organisation’s internal knowledge with the partner’s new knowledge, serves as the stepping stone of the knowledge search in the technological space. This paper tries to illuminate how different dimensions of proximity of the collaborating partners affect the probability of the collaborative innovation to be recombination innovation. Our result shows that technological proximity has a negative effect on joint recombination innovation. Geographical proximity has an inverted U-shaped effect on joint recombination innovation. The positive effect of organisational proximity on joint recombination innovation is not supported.