Territorial innovation dynamics and integration of SMEs into the collaborative innovation projects of French competitiveness poles: the underlying mechanisms

Geographical clusters are nowadays considered as a relevant factor for competitiveness, thanks to their innovative capabilities. In this context, public policies based on this approach are flourishing all over the world. The French “Pole of competitiveness” (PoC) policy (Politique des pôles de compétitivité) is one of these initiatives. It is the new French industrial policy aiming at reinforcing the specializations of the economy and the attractiveness of territories by fostering the development of R&D projects, bringing together multinationals, universities, and particularly Small-Middle-Sized-Enterprises (SMEs). Precisely, significant research suggests that in order to innovate SMEs need to cooperate and they are also vital for the functioning, and survival of innovative milieux. Consequently, their integration is a key issue for French PoC' success. However, the call for projects shows that despite their efforts, French Poles of Competitiveness are not totally successful: a gap remains especially between the massive financial investments helping SMEs innovate and the expected results. Yet, this issue is only analysed by focusing on intrinsic weaknesses of SMEs' management or on the complexities of existing support programmes supporting SMEs' innovation. This is insufficient. Innovation dynamics are different from a cluster to another and many failures of innovation policies come from the lack of identification of these specificities. Therefore, this paper aims are threefold: it aims at introducing the French PoC, indeed, the French PoC policy is the main new policy gathering all the nation's innovation programmes. But few papers are explaining how they work. It aims at identifying the territorial innovation dynamics within PoC and how they work, and then combine this analysis with the intrinsic features of SMEs management, to better understand how they get involved in these dynamics. It finally aims at presenting the preliminary results of the first stage of research: the analysis of a specific French PoC, the “Secured Communicating Solutions”(SCS) PoC as well as the further research questions they raise for the next stage of research.clusters, interaction, knowledge management, SMEs

Transnational Corporations - Key Enablers Globalization

Romania, Romanian economic agents have become in recent years present ever more active in world trade. Association agreements agreed with the European Union and beyond, opening Romania and Romanian participants in international trade relations, prospects of major deep involvement in the world flow of values and knowledge. But it also means aligning our trade laws to European legislation profile, with priority to Community law and assimilation regulatory provisions of international conventions ratified across Romania as part of national law rules. Transnational corporations, which operate in more than one country or nation at a time, have become some of the most powerful economic and political entities in the world today. The United Nations has justly described these corporations as “the productive core of the globalizing world economy.globalization, transnational corporations, global village, ecommerce

Learning Networks Matter: Challenges to Developing Learning-Based Competence in Mango Production and Post-Harvest in Andhra Pradesh, India

This discussion paper explores aspects of innovation systems ideas in the analysis of mango production and export by smallscale farmers in the South Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The paper shows how despite favourable agro-ecological conditions and being the largest international mango producer, India still struggles to build momentum in rapidly emerging export markets. An analysis of the sector's recent history combined with an empirical account of inter-sectoral and intra-sectoral linkage patterns among stakeholder groups appears to provide the basis for remedial policy suggestions. Most of these relate to aspects of integrated technology development and innovation management.innovation, innovation systems, mango, high-value, national competence, learning networks, South Asia, India

Industrial restructuring and professional qualification requirements

Among the most complex subjects that affect modern society in this early millennium, the problem of relationships between the educational patterns and the work organization seems to be one of the most important and full of uncertainties. Specially, this problem acquires greater relevance when one thinks of the impacts of the techno-scientific revolution in the work world, as well as in the educational system. In this sense, the present work researches some elements regarding the new educational patterns and qualification requirements in face of the new industrial paradigm and discusses the transformations accomplished by the techno-scientific revolution and its implications on the new lean and flexible production paradigm and on the (re)organization of work in the modern industry. The methodological approach is based on a bibliographic revision with a quantitative approach

Nordic small countries in the global high-tech value chains: the case of telecommunications systems production in Estonia

In this paper we focus on the electronics industry, and more specifically on the production of telecommunications systems, which is characterised both by very rapid growth of the global trade and very high ratio of R&D investments in the sales revenues (Moncada-Paternoo-Castello et al 2010). More specifically, we analyse the distinctly different development paths of the three major telecommunications systems producers in the Nordic countries: Ericsson, Elcoteq and Skype. Ericsson was established in 1876, and has been a well-known brand name for decades. By contrast, Elcoteq grew from a small company into a global multinational corporation in less than a decade only in the 1990s. As a global company, Skype is still less than ten years old, but it facilitates today more international calls than any other telecommunications operator on the planet.

Territorial innovation dynamics: a knowledge based perspective

A great deal of studies has focused on the role played by geographical location on the emergence and the building of localised learning capacities (Maskell, Malmberg, 1999). In this perspective, empirical studies have demonstrated that innovation dynamics of clusters results from the quality of interactions and coordination inside the cluster as well as interactions with external, often global, networks. In this context, knowledge exchange between firms and institutions are claimed to be the main drivers of spatial agglomeration (Canals et al, 2008). Hence, cluster policies have followed the main idea that geographic proximity facilitates collective innovation in so far as firms can capture knowledge externalities more easily. This idea is in fact very attractive but contains some limits (Suire et Vicente, 2007): if some clusters are successful others seem to decline. Therefore, in order to understand the territorial dynamics of clusters, the analysis of the specific nature of knowledge and information flows within a cluster is crucial. The objective of the paper is to enhance the analysis of the role of cognitive and relational dimensions of interactions on territorial dynamics of innovation. We focus on the key sub process of innovation: knowledge creation, which is above all a social process based on two key complex social mechanisms: the exchange and the combination of knowledge (Nahapiet and Goshal, 1996). We suggest building a theoretical framework that hinges on these two key mechanisms. In this perspective, we mobilise Boisot's I-Space model (Boisot, 1998) for the diffusion and exchange of knowledge and suggest completing the model by introducing the concept of architectural knowledge (Henderson and Clark, 1990) so as to take the complexity of the combination process into consideration. This analysis is conducted through the illustrative analysis of three different case studies. We will draw upon the case of Aerospace Valley Pole of Competitiveness (PoC), The Secured Communicating Solutions PoC, and Fabelor Competence Cluster. The cases show that the existence of architectural knowledge is pivotal to territorial innovation.Architectural Knowledge, I-Space Model, Territorial Innovation, Geographical Clusters, Knowledge Management

Private Capacity and Public Failure: Contours of Livestock Innovation Response Capacity in Kenya

Globalization, urbanization and new market demands - together with ever-increasing quality and safety requirements - are putting significantly greater pressures on agrifood stakeholders in the world. The ability to respond to new challenges and opportunities is important not just for producers but also for industries in developing countries. This paper aims to present what "innovation response capacity" entails, especially for natural resourcebased industries in a developing country context. It will also provide an analytical framework that draws elements from agricultural innovation capacity and the innovation systems framework. This is provided through case study research conducted in Kenya by exploring two livestock product companies: Farmer's Choice and Kenchic. The cases show how companies had worked around the problem of weak interaction with the various livestockrelated agencies of the public sector by developing links with international sources of knowledge and technology. This allowed the sector to respond rapidly to different challenges. While the country's historical development explains this pattern of innovation response capacity, public policy appears to be failing in its role of nurturing and contributing to the capacities needed for development in emerging economies, such as that of Kenya.Livestock, agriculture, innovation, innovation response capacity, Kenya

BECOMING A GLOBALLY COMPETITIVE PLAYER: THE CASE OF THE MUSIC INDUSTRY IN JAMAICA

This paper uses the NSI approach to examine the prospects for industrial development in Jamaica, a small middle-income developing country. It argues that the present state of the Jamaican NSI is not adequately developed to provide the necessary support to ensure that one of its key emerging industries – the music sector – becomes competitive on global markets. It suggests various policy options aimed at industrial upgrading and better integration with those markets. The type of applied research presented here is highly original and speaks to a wider audience, as it represents a novel attempt to operationalize the concept of NSI in a developing country context, with particular reference to the music and entertainment sector, which is not traditionally treated in the NSI context. This sector, however, has been selected as one of the leading emerging sectors for the Jamaican economy identified in its national industrial policy.

Appendix 4 : Relocation : What Matters ? Competition or/and Co-ordination.

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