INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES – ONE ENGINE OF GLOBALIZATION

Technological changes are “the main engine of capitalism and evolution” (A. Toffler), “the fundamental driving force in transformation of an economy” (C. Freeman). The paper proposes a theoretical investigation of information and communication technologies evolution and their impact on the globalization of economy. It defines terms like globalization - with special attention focused on its economical dimension, technological change, and information and communication technologies.globalization, information technology, communications, internet, digitization

CYCLES OF CONVERGENCE AND DYNAMICS OF GROWTH IN THE SMARTPHONE INDUSTRY

Over the last few years, with the definitive manifestation of the effects of the ‘digital revolution’, a convergence process has taken place and through which the boundaries of the Information and Communication Technologies industries have become increasingly ‘blurred’ and unstable. Amongst the ICT industries in which the convergence process has brought about the most relevant changes, there appears that of the mobile phones. This industry has been characterized by a series of cycles of convergence which have favoured the emergence of hybrid mobile devices, the smartphones. Worldwide sales of smartphones to end users totalled 1.2 billion units in 2014, a 29 per cent increase from 2013. Sales of smartphones in 2013 exceeded annual sales of feature phones for the first time. The work analyzes the effects of the process of digital convergence on the dynamics of growth of the smartphone industry. In particular, the paper: identifies the various cycles of convergence which have contributed towards the growth of the smartphone industry; analyzes, in relation to the various cycles of convergence, the main drivers of convergence, the overlapping industries and the types of convergence taken place; analyzes the impact of the various cycles of convergence on the development phases of the main industries affected by the convergence process

CYCLES OF CONVERGENCE AND DYNAMICS OF GROWTH IN THE SMARTPHONE INDUSTRY

Over the last few years, with the definitive manifestation of the effects of the ‘digital revolution’, a convergence process has taken place and through which the boundaries of the Information and Communication Technologies industries have become increasingly ‘blurred’ and unstable. Amongst the ICT industries in which the convergence process has brought about the most relevant changes, there appears that of the mobile phones. This industry has been characterized by a series of cycles of convergence which have favoured the emergence of hybrid mobile devices, the smartphones. Worldwide sales of smartphones to end users totalled 1.2 billion units in 2014, a 29 per cent increase from 2013. Sales of smartphones in 2013 exceeded annual sales of feature phones for the first time. The work analyzes the effects of the process of digital convergence on the dynamics of growth of the smartphone industry. In particular, the paper: identifies the various cycles of convergence which have contributed towards the growth of the smartphone industry; analyzes, in relation to the various cycles of convergence, the main drivers of convergence, the overlapping industries and the types of convergence taken place; analyzes the impact of the various cycles of convergence on the development phases of the main industries affected by the convergence process

CYCLES OF CONVERGENCE AND DYNAMICS OF GROWTH IN THE SMARTPHONE INDUSTRY

Over the last few years, with the definitive manifestation of the effects of the ‘digital revolution’, a convergence process has taken place and through which the boundaries of the Information and Communication Technologies industries have become increasingly ‘blurred’ and unstable. Amongst the ICT industries in which the convergence process has brought about the most relevant changes, there appears that of the mobile phones. This industry has been characterized by a series of cycles of convergence which have favoured the emergence of hybrid mobile devices, the smartphones. Worldwide sales of smartphones to end users totalled 1.2 billion units in 2014, a 29 per cent increase from 2013. Sales of smartphones in 2013 exceeded annual sales of feature phones for the first time. The work analyzes the effects of the process of digital convergence on the dynamics of growth of the smartphone industry. In particular, the paper: identifies the various cycles of convergence which have contributed towards the growth of the smartphone industry; analyzes, in relation to the various cycles of convergence, the main drivers of convergence, the overlapping industries and the types of convergence taken place; analyzes the impact of the various cycles of convergence on the development phases of the main industries affected by the convergence process

A polymorphic reconfigurable emulator for parallel simulation

Microprocessor and arithmetic support chip technology was applied to the design of a reconfigurable emulator for real time flight simulation. The system developed consists of master control system to perform all man machine interactions and to configure the hardware to emulate a given aircraft, and numerous slave compute modules (SCM) which comprise the parallel computational units. It is shown that all parts of the state equations can be worked on simultaneously but that the algebraic equations cannot (unless they are slowly varying). Attempts to obtain algorithms that will allow parellel updates are reported. The word length and step size to be used in the SCM's is determined and the architecture of the hardware and software is described

Human brain evolution, theories of innovation, and lessons from the history of technology

Biological evolution and technological innovation, while differing in many respects, also share common features. In particular, implementation of a new technology in the market is analogous to the spreading of a new genetic trait in a population. Technological innovation may occur either through the accumulation of quantitative changes, as in the development of the ocean clipper, or it may be initiated by a new combination of features or subsystems, as in the case of steamships. Other examples of the latter type are electric networks that combine the generation, distribution, and use of electricity, and containerized transportation that combines standardized containers, logistics, and ships. Biological evolution proceeds, phenotypically, in many small steps, but at the genetic level novel features may arise not only through the accumulation of many small, common mutational changes, but also when distinct, relatively rare genetic changes are followed by many further mutations. In particular, capabilities of biologically modern man may have been initiated, perhaps some 150 000 years ago, by one or few accidental but distinct combinations of modules and subroutines of gene regulation which are involved in the generation of the neural network in the cerebral cortex. It is even conceivable that it was one primary genetic event that initiated the evolution of biologically modern man, introducing some novel but subtle feature of connectivity into the cerebral cortex which allowed for meta-levels of abstraction and upgraded modes of information processing. This may have set the stage for the evolution of integrated but diverse higher capabilities such as structured language, symbolic thought, strategic thought, and cognition based empathy

Using Networks For Changing Innovation Strategy: The Case of IBM

Large-scale strategic change projects in companies may be supported by using alliance networks. This paper shows that IBM’s change from an exploitation strategy towards an exploration strategy required a radically different network strategy as well. By entering into more non-equity alliances, involving new partners in the network and loosening the ties with existing partners, IBM supported its transformation from a hardware manufacturing company to a global service provider and software company