Innovation dynamics and the role of infrastructure

This report shows how the role of the infrastructure – standards, measurement, accreditation, design and intellectual property – can be integrated into a quantitative model of the innovation system and used to help explain levels and changes in labour productivity and growth in turnover and employment. The summary focuses on the new results from the project, set out in more detail in Sections 5 and 6. The first two sections of the report provide contextual material on the UK innovation system, the nature and content of the infrastructure knowledge and the institutions that provide it. Mixed modes of innovation, the typology of innovation practices developed and applied here, is constituted of six mixed modes, derived from many variables taken from the UK Innovation Survey. These are: Investing in intangibles Technology with IP innovating Using codified knowledge Wider (managerial) innovating Market-led innovating External process modernising. The composition of the innovation modes, and the approach used to compute them, is set out in more detail in Section 4. Modes can be thought of as the underlying process of innovation, a bundle of activities undertaken jointly by firms, and whose working out generates well known indicators such as new product innovations, R&D spending and accessing external information, that are the partial indicators gathered from the innovation survey itself

Persistence of Innovation Stylised Facts and Panel Data Evidence

This paper investigates whether firms innovate persistently or discontinuously over time using an innovation panel data set on German manufacturing and service firms for the period 1994–2002. It turns out that innovation behaviour is permanent at the firm–level to a very large extent. Using a dynamic random effects discrete choice model and a new estimator recently proposed by Wooldrigde (2005), I further shed some light on the driving forces for this phenomenon. The econometric results show that past innovation experience is an important determinant for manufacturing as well as for service sector firms, and hence confirm the hypothesis of true state dependence. In addition, the results highlight the important role of knowledge provided by skilled employees and unobserved individual heterogeneity in explaining the persistence of innovation.Innovation; persistence; state dependence; unobserved heterogeneity; dynamic random effects panel probit model

Appropriating value from external technology: Absorptive capacity dimensions and innovation strategy

Innovation from external sources has continued to grow in importance in recent years, in defiance of conventional wisdom advocating internal sourcing of core technologies. One important reason for the previous emphasis on internal sourcing of core technologies relates to concerns of horizontal and vertical appropriability. Thus, the question arises of whether and how firms can reconcile horizontal and vertical appropriability with the rise of the external sourcing of new technologies. Must firms sacrifice value appropriation on the altar of value creation? To answer these questions, we delve beneath individual technological innovations to examine the technical and market capabilities underlying them. Specifically, we show how the amount of value a firm stands to appropriate relative to competitors and relative to technology suppliers depends on the fit between its innovation strategy and its previous investments in distinct dimensions of absorptive capacity. At the same time, we also show how first-order capabilities and dynamic capabilities interact to determine firm performance. Thus, we shed light on how and when the move to 'open' innovation will affect the amount of value innovating firms stand to appropriate.Innovation strategy; external sourcing; technology innovation; value appropriation;

How Do Young Innovative Companies Innovate?

This paper discusses the determinants of product innovation in young innovative companies (YICs) by looking at in-house and external R&D and at the acquisition of external technology in embodied and disembodied components. These input-output relationships are tested on a sample of innovative Italian firms. A sample-selection approach is applied. Results show that in-house R&D is linked to the propensity to introduce product innovation both in mature firms and YICs; however, innovation intensity in the YICs is mainly dependent on embodied technical change from external sources, while − in contrast with the incumbent firms − in-house R&D does not play a significant role.R&D, product innovation, embodied technical change, CIS 3, sample selection

Maturity Models in the Age of Industry 4.0 – Do the Available Models Correspond to the Needs of Business Practice?

Maturity models (MMs) enable users to identify the need for change and to derive the necessary measures to accompany the change process. Existing literature reviews indicate that the number of available models has increased sharply in recent years. At the same time, it is found that the number of model applications does not keep up with the pace of development. Against the background of the current digitization trend, this article empirically investigates which models are actually used in business practice. We find that the degree of application is very low. Moreover, we also examine user-related model requirements, reasons for employing MMs, and the purpose of using MMs, which can support the user-centered development of future MMs

Innovation modes in small and medium-sized firms : organization of learning processes and regional innovation policy implications

Innovation is an important driver of economic growth. However, little is known about learning mechanisms by which innovation is created in firms with few formal research-and-development-structures, as is typical of small and medium-sized firms (SMEs). This dissertation aims to provide a detailed understanding of how innovation processes in SMEs are organized and how regional innovation policy in Germany might learn from these insights to better support innovation activities at their specific region. To achieve this overall goal, four research questions are guiding through this cumulative dissertation. First, it is asked what hinders combinatorial knowledge dynamics and second, which mechanisms are used to integrate STI-processes into DUI-mode learning routines. The third question includes which configuration of learning mechanisms leads to high innovativeness and, forth, how CEOs do influence innovation processes in SMEs.BMBF/Weiterentwicklung der Indikatorik für Forschung und Innovation/16IFI005/E

Internationalization of professional service firms

This chapter examines the internationalization of Professional Service Firms (PSFs), outlining its drivers, varying forms, and organizational implications. It argues that conventional internationalization theory does not apply straightforwardly to PSFs. The authors identify three key sources of PSF distinctiveness—governance, clients, and knowledge—and show how these generate not only differences between PSFs and other types of organizations but also heterogeneity amongst PSFs themselves. Based on this, four different forms of PSF internationalization are identified—network, project, federal, and transnational—and the authors note that scholarly interest has mostly focused on the last two of these. The chapter highlights change towards the transnational model as an underlying theme in PSF research. It finds little convincing evidence that this model has been successfully implemented and it is argued that, in general, PSFs are better understood as federal structures controlled by a few powerful offices than as transnational enterprises

Sustainable Participation? Mapping out and reflecting on the field of public dialogue on science and technology

The field of public participation in issues relating to science, technology and the environment is booming. To date much effort has gone into developing new participatory approaches and their evaluation, while most of what we know comes from individual case studies of engagement. This report builds on one of the first ever studies of public participation experts, their networks, roles and relations, to present a broader analysis of the UK public dialogue field as a whole. It draws on a recent project that involved 21 of the UK’s leading thinkers, practitioners, and policy makers in this area reflecting on the following critical questions. • What is the nature of participatory governance networks and the roles and relations of different actors within them? • Who counts as an expert on public participation and how are these meanings changing over time? • What are the implications of increasing institutionalisation, commercialisation and professionalisation of public dialogue? • To what extent are UK science and policy institutions learning about and learning from public dialogue? Taken together, these insights indicate that the field of public dialogue on science and technology has reached a critical moment and highlight a series of challenges and recommendations for its future sustainability