Subsidized technology and its utilization: Aids for the disabled

Subsidized research into advance technology is one means employed to attain social and ideological goals recognized as vital to a society. Increasing sensitivity to the social uses of technology has recently led to funding of R&D in aids for the disabled. An analysis of 89 such projects between 1979 and 1983 confirm the impact of subsidized public funding on such research, leading to a narrow focus on applied research in specific disability areas with the objective of creating a viable commercial prototype for a highly visible but extremely small number of severely disabled. Subsidized funding also reinforces specialization through selective support of projects by institutional setting. This specialization further focuses research into areas likely to be rewarded by further funding and through this mechanism scientific output matches needs for those whom R&D is subsidized. The impact of subsidized R&D for the disabled can therefore be said to be effective as an example of societal intervention in directing technological advances.     

The architecture of R&D joint projects: the social network analysis approach

This paper examines the effect of network properties on the performance R&D joint projects. In particular, we examine the impact of network cohesion, diversity and shape on the performance of these of exploration and exploitation R&D projects. We test these measures using data on projects from European R&D networks developed under the framework of Eureka projects. The empirical results indicated some network properties enhance the project’s performance and these differ depending on the kind of technological project developed. Our results suggest a lower heterogeneity, greater cohesion and network centralisation in exploitation than in exploration projects. Our findings show different types of structures depending on the aim of the joint project and that there exist different degrees of cohesion between the partners that comprise the core and the peripheral nodes.     

Government funding strategy in technology programs

Industrial R&D in a market economy is mainly implemented in the private sector, therefore public funding is a very important tool of government to guide private R&D activities. This paper investigates the experience of funding national programs in a number of industrialized countries, and reaches some preliminary conclusions: (a) To reduce opportunistic behavior and ingrain intrinsic incentive in firms, both competition and cost-sharing principles should be used concurrently in underwriting firms' R&D projects. (b) Competition principles can be applied across many candidate projects around the same time or a series of one-of-a-kind projects over a longer time horizon. (c) The major threat to application of competition principles is that there is no “real competition” due to few qualified candidates in specific technological fields or in some, especially small, countries. (d) In practice, the appropriate cost-sharing level is difficult to determine. Fifty-fifty is used as a rule of thumb in many countries to simplify the decision making and circumvent “bounded rationality.” (e) Full cost endorsement may be another “quantum” alternative for projects urged by government but not felt to be very relevant by firms.     

Will Italy meet the ambitious European target for R&D expenditure? Natura non facit saltus

The paper addresses the issue as to whether the Italian scientific and technological system can achieve the Barcelona targets set by the heads of state and government (3% of GDP devoted to R&D by the year 2010) and by the R&D guidelines set by the Italian Ministry for Education, University, and Research (MIUR) (to achieve the level of 1.75% of the ratio in the year 2006).The projections built in the paper show that such objectives are well beyond Italy's potential, and that according to a “natura non facit saltus” (NNFS) projection, the country will be able to raise the ratio from 1.04% in 2002 to 1.55% in 2010. Such projection rests on rather optimistic assumptions: higher priority attached to R&D in the government budget, an increasing propensity of firms to invest their value added in R&D, and an increase of researchers' salaries.The difficulty to achieve the objectives set at the European and national level is due to the low starting point, to the lack of additional investment from 2001 to 2003, and to structural factors such as insufficient supply of qualified human resources, the small size of high-tech industry, and constraints imposed by the reduction of public spending.The attainment of R&D policy objectives is more and more dependent on education, industrial, and public budget policies; the issue of a thorough review of the governance of the whole S&T system at the national level is therefore raised. The situation is accentuated by the fact that decisions taken at national level are conditioned by the European union (through the Framework Program, the regulations regarding state aid to firms, etc.) by multinational enterprises, which operate on a global scale, and by regions in the framework of their autonomy.     

Strategic policies and growth: an applied model of R&D-driven endogenous growth

We introduce and explore a general equilibrium model with R&D-driven endogenous growth, whose antecedents are the models of Romer (1990) [Romer, P.M., 1990. Endogenous technological change. Journal of Political Economy, 98, S71-102] and Grossman and Helpman (1991) [Grossman, G.M., Helpman E., 1991. Innovation and Growth in the Global Economy, The MIT Press, Cambridge]. Utilizing evidence from recent econometric studies on sources of growth, the model also accounts explicitly for cross-border technological spillovers. The model is specified and calibrated to data from Japan, and is solved to obtain both the transitional and the steady-state equilibria. We explore the effects of selective trade and R&D promotion policies on long-run growth and social welfare. The model results suggest that while a strategic trade policy has little effect on re-allocating resources into domestic R&D activities, it can significantly affect the cross-border spillovers of technological knowledge, which, in turn, stimulates growth. We find that trade liberalization may cause the growth rate to fall and lead to a loss of social welfare in the long-run, although it improves welfare in the short-run. R&D promotion policies stimulate growth by inducing private agents to allocate more resources to domestic R&D, as well as to take greater advantage of global R&D spillovers. Here, we find significantly high growth effects together with sizable gains in social welfare at low incidence to tax payers.     

R&D portfolios in environmentally friendly automotive propulsion: Variety, competition and policy implications

In this article, we analyze R&D portfolios in environmentally friendly automotive propulsion including alternative fuel options. We argue that at the current stage of development, substitution of conventional car technology by a new automotive propulsion technology may lead to premature lock-in of suboptimal technology. To avoid such lock-in, one should value the variety of current R&D activity that enables organizations to learn from multiple options and to create spillovers between options. We further argue that the existence of technological variety is not a sufficient condition to avoid lock-in. Organizational variety is also required to sustain competition and avoid the dominance of few firms that possibly enforce a suboptimal technology within the sector. To assess whether recent developments in R&D have led to both technological variety and organizational competition, we analyze United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) patents in low-emission vehicles (LEVs) during the period 1980–2001 using entropy statistics. Results show that both technological variety and organizational competition have increased steadily since the early nineties, suggesting that premature lock-in is unlikely to occur. From an environmental policy evaluation perspective, we consider the findings as a positive evaluation of the 1990 Californian Low Emission Vehicle program.     

A practical approach to R&D project selection

We present a technique to allocate available resources more systematically to competing R&D projects in a government laboratory setting. The technique is simpler than most models described in the literature, systematically utilizes the expertise of various organizational units in the corporation, and does not try to substitute complex calculations for good managerial judgment. The literature on R&D project selection models is briefly reviewed. Key factors identified are used to develop the approach. Details are presented on the sequence of the R&D project selection process through alternative levels of corporate management. Sample forms used for R&D ideas submittal and evaluation are included. Experiences gained from applying the approach in a large R&D laboratory are discussed.     

A dynamic model of R&D competition

This study considers a dynamic model of R&D competition in a situation of no uncertainty with identical firms in a perfect foresight. We are going to find out about the effects of firms' absorptive capacity on R&D strategies in the presence of technological spillovers. The conditions for the existence and uniqueness of a feedback–Nash equilibrium on firms' R&D expense will be also discussed. Numerical simulations will show as the introduction of the absorptive capacity reduces the impact of spillovers degree on firms' R&D strategies.     

Product market competition, R&D, and welfare

We compare the subgame perfect equilibrium emerging in four regimes of research and development (R&D) competition between duopolists: (i) full competition, (ii) coordination of research strategies, (iii) joint venture with cross licensing of patents, and (iv) full collusion in R&D and the product market. The outcome of the firms' interaction depends on the interplay of the degree of product market competition, the similarity of the research strategies, and the cost of R&D, relatively to market size. Our main result is that each of the four regimes can, for plausible parameter combinations, yield the highest level of welfare. Therefore it is problematic to draw general rules applicable to all proposed research joint ventures.     

Agglomeration, innovation and international research mobility

This paper discusses a model of the New Economic Geography, in which the seminal core-periphery model of Krugman [Krugman, P., 1991, Increasing returns and economic geography, Journal of Political Economy 99, 483–499.] is extended by endogenous research activities. Beyond the common ‘anonymous’ consideration of R&D expenditures within fixed costs, this model introduces in an analytically tractable approach vertical product differentiation in combination with a de-integrated R&D sector. In the context of international factor mobility, the destabilizing effects of a mobile scientific workforce are analyzed. Based upon a simple welfare analysis, a consideration of R&D promoting policy instruments and their spatial implications, this paper makes a contribution to the brain-drain debate.     

R&D activity in a dynamic factor demand model

The focus of this paper is an econometric analysis of the determinants of private firms' R&D activities in the context of a general dynamic factor demand model. Besides the traditional production factors we treat technological knowledge, endogenously determined by R&D expenditures, as a further input factor. While labour and materials are assumed to be variable, capital and know-how are considered as quasi-fixed. The dynamic demand equations for labour, capital investment and R&D which are derived from an intertemporal cost minimisation are estimated for a panel data set of small and medium size German firms. The data covers the period between 1978 and 1982 and includes 408 firms. It turns out that R&D activity depends on the underlying production structure as suggested by neoclassical theory. In addition, by introducing firm specific effects, we can show that firm size and market concentration influence innovative behaviour in accordance with the Schumpeterian hypotheses.Paper presented at the Industrial Organization Conference at the Annual Meeting of the Austrian Economic Association, Vienna, June 24–26, 1992, the 7th Annual Congress of the European Economic Association, Dublin, August 29–31, 1992, and the 19th Annual Conference of the EARIE, Stuttgart, September 4–6, 1992. Helpful suggestions and comments were received from participants of these conferences as well as from seminar participants at Temple University, at the University of Augsburg, and at the fourth DFG workshop Marktstruktur und gesamtwirtschaftliche Entwicklung in Munich. We are particularly indebted to an anonymous referee for very helpful specific comments. Finally, we would like to thank Horst Albach for providing us with the panel data set. Financial support of the DFG is gratefully acknowledged.     

European TA-discourses - European TA?

Is there a balance to be achieved between national technological assessment (TA) activities and the European level? What are the potential benefits of the European-level TA infrastructure both for the Community's own R&D and for national TA activities? This article discusses these questions in light of the different ways TA has been conceptualized in Europe, particularly in the light of the current debate on social shaping of technology and constructive TA. As a member of the VALUE II Think Tank group, I have also included a presentation of the initiatives of VALUE II to strengthen European TA infrastructure.     

Welfare and growth impacts of innovation policies in a small, open economy; an applied general equilibrium analysis

We explore how innovation incentives in a small, open economy should be designed in order to achieve the highest welfare and growth. The computable general equilibrium model we develop for the purpose allows for research and development (R&D)-driven endogenous technological change embodied in varieties of capital. We study policy alternatives targeted towards R&D, capital varieties formation, and domestic investments in capital varieties. Subsidising domestic investments, thereby excluding stimuli to world market deliveries, generates less R&D, capital formation, economic growth, and welfare than do the other alternatives, reflecting that the domestic market for capital varieties is limited. In spite of breeding stronger economic growth, a higher number of patents, and a higher share of R&D in total production, direct R&D support generates slightly less welfare than subsidising formation of capital varieties. The costs in terms of welfare relates to a lower production within each variety firm, which in presence of mark-up pricing results in efficiency losses.     

Invention, innovation, and economic evolution

This paper provides a synopsis of logic and adventure in the process of fundamental innovation. The contemporary viewpoint of R&D management would have us believe that innovation is a rational process subject to prediction, regulation, and control. The alternative viewpoint is advanced here that innovation is neither merely a mechanical nor solely a goal-driven process. In reality, innovative systems are inherently untidy systems. The most important clue to any possible uniformity in the behavior of such systems is to be found in their very multiformity. Thus, the process of innovation is first and foremost a self-organizing process. This theory, based on the author's work of the past several years in this area, has led to identification and explanation of several lawlike relationships in the origin of fundamental technical breakthroughs, transfer of technical knowledge, and long-term economic evolution. There are a number of important implications of these regularities for technology and science policy during 1980s and beyond. First, success in innovation critically depends upon pursuing several small-scale experimental projects at the same time. Thus popular attempts to avoid duplication in R&D activity constitute what is really a penny-wise but pound-foolish policy. Second, nothing is more important in the future than to promote greater decentralization in the conduct of R&D enterprise. Third, one way out of the current worldwide economic stagnation is to be found in the development of a few, already available, fundamental innovations such as those in the microelectronics, solar energy, and biotechnology fields rather than in the eternal search for more technical breakthroughs. Thus the need in the future is not so much for disproportionate increase in basic research in relation to technological development effort as it is for striking a congruence between various components of R&D activity.     

重大科研项目团队心理资本维度及与创新绩效的关系

实施创新驱动发展战略、推动科技创新的核心要素是人,然而鲜有研究关注重大科研项目团队中人的健康状态,特别是心理状态与心理品质。基于此,运用扎根理论对4个重大科研项目团队（共10名成员）的访谈资料进行编码,发现重大科研项目团队心理资本包括团队自信、团队希望、团队乐观、团队韧性、团队合作和团队责任6个维度,且各维度对创新绩效具有积极作用。此外,根据访谈资料并结合以往研究成果,提出 “团队氛围和团队协同合作分别在团队心理资本与团队绩效关系中起调节效应及中介效应”的假设,并建议关注重大科研团队及其成员心理资本的开发和培育,推动科研团队持续高效健康发展。     

Technological progress and market growth: An empirical study based on the quality-ladder approach

This paper develops an extended version of the quality-adder model by allowing for heterogeneous markets. Based on this model, it presents an empirical analysis of innovation-based growth at the market level using a technometric measurement concept. It can be shown that a growth-promoting effect due to technological progress in a particular single year is observed after between 2 and up to 7 years. This is true not only for highly innovative markets but also for those in which fewer R&D resources are invested.     

Deregulation in an energy market and its impact on R&D for low-carbon energy technology

This paper analyzes the impact of deregulation in an energy market on R&D activities for new energy technology when climate policy is implemented. A model of growth with vertical innovation is modified by including an oligopolistic energy supply sector for demonstrating to what extent deregulation in the energy supply sector will affect R&D activities for low-carbon energy technology, provided that carbon taxation is implemented. The analysis shows that, when the elasticity of substitution between input factors is less than unity, deregulation will drive energy R&D activities and reduce CO₂ accumulation if the energy market is highly concentrated in the beginning.     

Integration of Technology Assessment in R&D Management Practices

This paper addresses the question of how technology assessment (TA) can be best integrated in the managment of R&D both at the laboratory and the policy level. The main objective is to present a conceptual framework to situate and evaluate the actual and possible TA infrastructure in Europe. The paper consists of three distinct sections. In section one, the concept and practice of TA are briefly introduced with an emphasis on their actual institutionalizations in Europe. Section two presents a conceptual framework of R&D managment at four levels: the R&D environment, the R&D institution, the R&D process, and the R&D project. The relationship between TA and R&D management is explored for each of the four levels. Finally, in section three the concept of and motives for TA integrated within the laboratory work of scientists and engineers are presented. The basic argument of this paper is that by promoting the integration of TA in R&D managment practices, a significant contribution can be made to (1) increasing the cost-efficiency of research and (2) increase the social responsiblity of scientists. The authors therefore draw up a conceptual framework for the development of R&D-integrated TA practices called Integrated Technology Assessment (ITA).     

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.     

Analysis of the Interaction between Regional R&D Productivity and the Investment Strategies of Multinational Enterprises

The aim of this article is to analyze the interaction between regional R&D productivity and the investment strategies of multinational enterprises. The discussion is based on the hypothesis that R&D investments cause a reduction in the production costs and an increase in firms’ market share; furthermore, R&D costs may be affected by national industrial policies. Supposing the existence of asymmetries in local research productivity, necessary and sufficient conditions for a geographical diversification of resources have been found. Suggestions with respect to the optimal allocation of R&D investment are finally derived.