A new innovation paradigm: European cohesion policy and the retreat of public science in countries in Europe's scientific periphery

This article seeks to undertake a critical assessment of the changing position of public science in the entrepreneurial ecosystem of the countries on the periphery of European research. These countries are driven by new innovation paradigm based on entrepreneurship, which are implemented within the European Smart specialization strategy (S3). This article argues that S3 is widely implemented in the cohesion countries and, while it provides substantial resources for science, technology, and innovation, it fails to provide sustainability in the public research sector. This has direct implications for policies concerning innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystems. In order to prove the thesis, the article provides theoretical argumentation for emergence of a new innovation paradigm, driven by the rise of the entrepreneurial ecosystem, its incorporation into S3, and a consequent retreat of science policy in favor of entrepreneurial policy. The empirical analysis is focused on the funding trends seen in the business and public research sectors over the last decade (2008–2017), which have clearly shown that S3 has not contributed, despite expectations, to an increase in public expenditure for science. This signifies S3's neglect of public research within entrepreneurial ecosystems and challenges the ability of S3 to reduce wide disparities in research and innovation performance across the European Union. This ultimately endangers the innovation potential of the entrepreneurial ecosystem itself.     

Analyzing the global human appropriation of net primary production — processes, trajectories, implications. An introduction

Humanity's role in shaping patterns and processes in the terrestrial biosphere is large and growing. Most of the earth's fertile land is used more or less intensively by humans for resource extraction, production, transport, consumption and waste deposition or as living space. Biomass production on cropland, grazing areas and in managed forests dominates area requirements, but other processes such as soil degradation, human-induced fires and expansion of settlements and infrastructure play an increasingly important role as well. The growing human domination of terrestrial ecosystems contributes to biodiversity loss as well as to a reduced capability of ecosystems to deliver vital services such as buffering capacity, soil conservation or self-regulation. This special section is devoted to the presentation of recent research into the patterns, determinants and implications of the human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP), an integrated socio-ecological indicator of land use intensity. By measuring the combined effect of land conversion and biomass harvest on the availability of trophic energy (biomass) in ecosystems, HANPP explicitly links natural with socioeconomic processes and allows for integrated analyses of land systems. This introductory article explains the rationale that links current HANPP research to Ecological Economics and discusses issues of definition and methods shared by all articles included in the special section. Finally, it gives an overview of the individual papers, provides some general conclusions and presents an outlook for future research: a better understanding of long-term trajectories of HANPP, of the significance of trade patterns as well as of the future role of bioenergy are highlighted as important issues to be addressed in the coming years.     

A new professionalism for agricultural research for development

There have been repeated calls for a ‘new professionalism’ for carrying out agricultural research for development since the 1990s. At the centre of these calls is a recognition that for agricultural research to support the capacities required to face global patterns of change and their implications on rural livelihoods, requires a more systemic, learning focused and reflexive practice that bridges epistemologies and methodologies. In this paper, we share learning from efforts to mainstream such an approach through a large, multi-partner CGIAR research program working in aquatic agricultural systems. We reflect on four years of implementing research in development (RinD), the program’s approach to the new professionalism. We highlight successes and challenges and describe the key characteristics that define the approach. We conclude it is possible to build a program on a broader approach that embraces multidisciplinarity and engages with stakeholders in social-ecological systems. Our experience also suggests caution is required to ensure there is the time, space and appropriate evaluation methodologies in place to appreciate outcomes different to those to which conventional agricultural research aspires.     

An axiomatic characterization of the Baker-Thompson rule

The airport problem is a widely studied allocation problem, with the aim of providing simple and fair sharing rule for the landing fees. In this note we introduce some fairness criteria and characterize the classical Baker-Thompson allocation rule.     

Nadelstichverletzungen: Kleiner Pieks mit großer Wirkung

Arbeitsschutz als Führungsaufgabe - Eine kurze Unachtsamkeit oder unglückliche Verkettung von Ereignissen und schon ist es passiert: Die Kanüle trifft das Pflegepersonal. Aber: Nadelstichverletzungen lassen sich durch die Verwendung sicherer Produkte und Injektionstechniken reduzieren. Dabei ist die Verbesserung des Arbeits- und Gesundheitsschutzes des medizinischen und pflegerischen Personals eine wichtige Aufgabe der Führungskr?fte.     

Organizing innovation projects under technological turbulence

Research on the organization of innovation projects suggests that increased project flexibility is a common reaction to high levels of technological turbulence. However, existing definitions of project flexibility are inconsistent and sometimes unclear, and empirical evidence is limited. This article makes an important distinction between flexible project planning and flexible project specifications. A negative relationship is found between flexible project planning and innovation project performance, whereas flexible product specifications are found to contribute positively.This article also examines how technological turbulence contributes to the choice of flexible or inflexible strategies. Technological turbulence can be present in the external environment or can be internal to the firm, when radically new products are developed. The findings suggest that when businesses perceive technological turbulence in the environment they are more likely to adopt flexible approaches to innovation in an attempt to adapt to external pressures. In technologically innovative projects, product specifications are likely to remain fixed while project organization is likely to be adapted to the needs of the project.Taken together, the findings suggest that innovation projects should maintain stable organization, schedules and budgets, but stay flexible about product specifications. Vigilance with regards to external and internal conditions of technological turbulence, which may lead organizations to be more flexible in terms of project planning, is needed.     

Median‐voter Equilibria in the Neoclassical Growth Model under Aggregation*

We study a dynamic version of Meltzer and Richard's median‐voter model where agents differ in wealth. Taxes are proportional to income and are redistributed as equal lump‐sum transfers. Voting occurs every period and each consumer votes for the tax that maximizes his welfare. We characterize time‐consistent Markov‐perfect equilibria twofold. First, restricting utility classes, we show that the economy's aggregate state is mean and median wealth. Second, we derive the median‐voter's first‐order condition interpreting it as a tradeoff between distortions and net wealth transfers. Our method for solving the steady state relies on a polynomial expansion around the steady state.     

The Dynamics of Self-Esteem and Physical Self: Between Preservation and Adaptation

The aim of this study was to model and characterize the psychologicalprocesses that underlie the dynamics of global self-esteem and physicalself over time. Twice a day for 228 consecutive days, seven participantscompleted a short inventory (PSI-6, Ninot et al., 2001) measuring sixsubjective dimensions: global self-esteem, physical self-worth, physicalcondition, sport competence, physical strength, and attractive body.Each series was modeled by means of ARIMA procedures. The resultsshowed that a simple moving average model provided a satisfactoryaccount for the dynamics of all series. This model suggests that acombination of two opposite processes underlies the dynamics ofself-concept: preservation, which tends to restore the previousvalue after a disturbance, and adaptation, which tends to inflectthe series in the direction of the perturbation.     

A theory of trust based systems of intermediation

Recent studies have analysed the economic benefits of belongingto high-trust networks and the biological foundations of individualtrust, but much scepticism remains regarding the precise roleof trust in economic transactions, as well as gaps between microand macro concepts of trust. This paper links individual andinstitutional trust by modelling the costs associated with accessingmarket, law and trust-based intermediation systems, and identifiesthe conditions under which one of the three systems may be moreadvantageous for rational actors, and thus more likely to emerge.The discussion concentrates on examples drawn from developmentpolicy to illustrate how the three systems operate together,and how the failing of the trust system affects the legal andmarket systems.