52,004 research outputs found
"Regulating Healthcare Technologies and Medical Supplies: A Comparative Overview"
A complex relationship exists among EU regulations, current national practices and rules, institutional capacities to implement regulatory adjustments and the legacy of past health and regulatory policy and traditions. However, there is little empirical information on medical devices policy, the medical devices industry, and the assurance of medical device safety and usage. Drawing on a review of the secondary literature and on-going field work, the evidence suggests that the current mix of statecentric and self-regulatory traditions will be as important in determining the implementation and final outcomes of EU-rules as the new rules themselves. EU directives redesign rules, but they do not necessarily lead to institutional change, create institutional capacities, or alter old practices in the short term. Neither EU directives nor national regulatory adjustments determine the "man-machine/skill-experience" interface which is shaped and influenced by local medical traditions and the acceptance of these traditions by local publics
New Models of Technology Assessment for Development
This report explores the role that ânew modelsâ of
technology assessment can play in improving the lives of
poor and vulnerable populations in the developing world.
The ânew modelsâ addressed here combine citizen and
decision-maker participation with technical expertise. They
are virtual and networked rather than being based in a
single office of technology assessment (as was the case in
the United States in the 1970s-90s). They are flexible
enough to address issues across disciplines and are
increasingly transnational or global in their reach and
scope. The report argues that these new models of
technology assessment can make a vital contribution to
informing policies and strategies around innovation,
particularly in developing regions. They are most beneficial
if they enable the broadening out of inputs to technology
assessment, and the opening up of political debate around
possible directions of technological change and their
interactions with social and environmental systems.
Beyond the process of technology assessment itself, the
report argues that governance systems within which these
processes are embedded play an important role in
determining the impact and effectiveness of technology
assessment. Finally, the report argues for training and
capacity-building in technology assessment
methodologies in developing countries, and support for
internationally co-ordinated technology assessment
efforts to address global and regional development
challenges
Internationalisation of Innovation: Why Chip Design Moving to Asia
This paper will appear in International Journal of Innovation Management, special issue in honor of Keith Pavitt, (Peter Augsdoerfer, Jonathan Sapsed, and James Utterback, guest editors), forthcoming. Among Keith Pavitt's many contributions to the study of innovation is the proposition that physical proximity is advantageous for innovative activities that involve highly complex technological knowledge But chip design, a process that creates the greatest value in the electronics industry and that requires highly complex knowledge, is experiencing a massive dispersion to leading Asian electronics exporting countries. To explain why chip design is moving to Asia, the paper draws on interviews with 60 companies and 15 research institutions that are doing leading-edge chip design in Asia. I demonstrate that "pull" and "policy" factors explain what attracts design to particular locations. But to get to the root causes that shift the balance in favor of geographical decentralization, I examine "push" factors, i.e. changes in design methodology ("system-on-chip design") and organization ("vertical specialization" within global design networks). The resultant increase in knowledge mobility explains why chip design - that, in Pavitt's framework is not supposed to move - is moving from the traditional centers to a few new specialized design clusters in Asia. A completely revised and updated version has been published as: " Complexity and Internationalisation of Innovation: Why is Chip Design Moving to Asia?," in International Journal of Innovation Management, special issue in honour of Keith Pavitt, Vol. 9,1: 47-73.
Late Innovation Strategies in Asian Electronics Industries: A Conceptual Framework and Illustrative Evidence
This paper was published in Oxford Development Studies special issue in honor of the late Professor Linsu Kim. The paper reviews evidence on the evolution of electronics design in Asia's leading electronics exporting countries, to establish what capabilities have been developed, and to shed light on the forces that are driving "late innovation" strategies. It also reviews intellectual sources that can be used to theoretically ground these hypotheses. Using a well-known taxonomy of innovation that distinguishes incremental, modular, architectural and radical innovations, and the concept of "disruptive technologies", I argue that Asian firms may have realistic chances to engage in incremental innovations as well as in architectural innovations. However, to sustain "late innovation" strategies over a longer period, "complex system integration" capabilities are necessary to provide the missing link.
Global public policy, transnational policy communities, and their networks
Public policy has been a prisoner of the word "state." Yet, the state is reconfigured by globalization. Through "global publicâprivate partnerships" and "transnational executive networks," new forms of authority are emerging through global and regional policy processes that coexist alongside nation-state policy processes. Accordingly, this article asks what is "global public policy"? The first part of the article identifies new public spaces where global policies occur. These spaces are multiple in character and variety and will be collectively referred to as the "global agora." The second section adapts the conventional policy cycle heuristic by conceptually stretching it to the global and regional levels to reveal the higher degree of pluralization of actors and multiple-authority structures than is the case at national levels. The third section asks: who is involved in the delivery of global public policy? The focus is on transnational policy communities. The global agora is a public space of policymaking and administration, although it is one where authority is more diffuse, decision making is dispersed and sovereignty muddled. Trapped by methodological nationalism and an intellectual agoraphobia of globalization, public policy scholars have yet to examine fully global policy processes and new managerial modes of transnational public administration
Collaborative governance for the sustainable development goals
The advent of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals has refocused global attention on the roles of business and other nonstate actors in achieving global goals. Often, business involvement takes the form of collaborations with the more traditional actorsâgovernments and nonâgovernmental organizations. Although such partnerships for development have been seen before, the scale and expectations are new. This paper explores how and why these crossâsector collaborations are evolving, and what steps can or should be taken to ensure that partnerships create public and private value. The arguments are illustrated with reference to cases of marketâdriven partnerships for agriculture in Southeast Asia that are intended to engage marginalized smallholder farmers in global value chains in agriculture. The aims of these crossâsector collaborations coincide with several targets of the Sustainable Development Goals such as poverty alleviation, decreasing environmental impact, and achieving food security. This is a hard case for mechanisms intended to protect public interests, given that the target beneficiaries (lowâincome smallholder farmers and the environment) are unable to speak effectively for themselves. We find that structures and processes to align interests in ways that protect the public interest are both necessary and feasible, though not easy to achieve
Offshore education : offshore education in the wider context of internationalisation and ICT: experiences and examples from Dutch higher education
This report presents a study on offshore education conducted by a consortium of Dutch higher education researchers and commissioned by the Digital University (DU). The study explored the extent to which Dutch higher education institutions are involved in offering their educational services abroad (offshore education). After thoroughly embedding offshore education in the wider contexts of internationalisation and ICT policies, the study particularly explores the practical experiences with a number of real-life offshore activities of Dutch higher education. As a warm-up to this report, a few interesting cases are briefly touched upon below
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