German and Israeli Innovation: The Best of Two Worlds

This study reviews – through desk research and expert interviews with Mittelstand companies, startups and ecosystem experts – the current status of the Israeli startup ecosystem and the Mittelstand region of North Rhine- Westphalia (NRW), Germany. As a case study, it highlights potential opportunities for collaboration and analyzes different engagement modes that might serve to connect the two regions. The potential synergies between the two economies are based on a high degree of complementarity. A comparison of NRW’s key verticals and Israel’s primary areas of innovation indicates that there is significant overlap in verticals, such as artificial intelligence (AI), the internet of things (IoT), sensors and cybersecurity. Israeli startups can offer speed, agility and new ideas, while German Mittelstand companies can contribute expertise in production and scaling, access to markets, capital and support. The differences between Mittelstand companies and startups are less pronounced than those between startups and big corporations. However, three current barriers to fruitful collaboration have been identified: 1) a lack of access, 2) a lack of transparency regarding relevant players in the market, and 3) a lack of the internal resources needed to select the right partners, often due to time constraints or a lack of internal expertise on this issue. To ensure that positive business opportunities ensue, Mittelstand companies and startups alike have to be proactive in their search for cooperation partners and draw on a range of existing engagement modes (e.g., events, communities, accelerators). The interviews and the research conducted for this study made clear that no single mode of engagement can address all the needs and challenges associated with German-Israeli collaboration

D3.2 Final requirements report

This final requirements report (D 3.2) presents the results of the assessment of market requirements of actors in the field of river basin management, which is part of the work package number 3 of WaterInnEU. This analysis will determine the design and selection of functionalities and products to be taken up by the virtual Market Place of WaterInnEU

Semantic and Syntactic Matching of Heterogeneous e-Catalogues

In e-procurement, companies use e-catalogues to exchange product infor-mation with business partners. Matching e-catalogues with product requests helps the suppliers to identify the best business opportunities in B2B e-Marketplaces. But various ways to specify products and the large variety of e-catalogue formats used by different business actors makes it difficult. This Ph.D. thesis aims to discover potential syntactic and semantic rela-tionships among product data in procurement documents and exploit it to find similar e-catalogues. Using a Concept-based Vector Space Model, product data and its semantic interpretation is used to find the correlation of product data. In order to identify important terms in procurement documents, standard e-catalogues and e-tenders are used as a resource to train a Product Named Entity Recognizer to find B2B product mentions in e-catalogues. The proposed approach makes it possible to use the benefits of all availa-ble semantic resources and schemas but not to be dependent on any specific as-sumption. The solution can serve as a B2B product search system in e-Procurement platforms and e-Marketplaces

D8.2 Scheldt virtual marketplace experiment report

This report explains the involvement and interaction of the Scheldt stakeholders in the development of the project. This collaboration includes interviews, giving input on the design of the marketplace, attendance to stakeholders meetings and e-pitch event as well as input to the e-learning and the interoperability experiment. The case studies were developed to test and guide a number of different actions during the course of the project, nonetheless, the parallel dialogue and knowledge transfer between Maritza and Scheldt stakeholders has added value both to the case studies and the project itself

Linked Open Data - Creating Knowledge Out of Interlinked Data: Results of the LOD2 Project

Database Management; Artificial Intelligence (incl. Robotics); Information Systems and Communication Servic

Linking scientific and practical knowledge in innovation systems

New research indicates that firms combining the science-based STI (Science, Technology, Innovation) and the experience-based DUI (Doing, Using, Interacting) modes of innovation are more efficient when it comes to improving innovation capacity and competitiveness. With regard to innovation policy, the STI mode calls for a supply driven policy, typically aimed to commercialise research results. The DUI mode suggests a demand driven policy approach, such as supporting the development of new products or services to specific markets. This paper analyses how the two types of innovation policy and the two innovation modes can be combined in regional innovation systems. The analysis builds on studies of the food industry and related knowledge organisations in two counties, Rogaland County (Norway) and Skåne County (Sweden), and two policy initiatives (NCE Culinology and Skåne Food Innovation Network) aimed at strengthening the innovative capability of the regional innovation systems. The analysis indicates that policies aimed to link science and user driven innovation activity should focus on building absorptive capacity of DUI firms (e.g. through increased scientific competence) and implementation capacity of STI firms (e.g. through increased market and process competence).innovation policy; scientific knowledge; practical knowledge; regional innovation systems; food industry; Norway; Sweden

Suuryrityksen kasvuohjelma startupeille

Sustaining a constant flow of innovation is necessary to obtain and maintain competitive advantage in any line of business. To enhance its innovation activities, the case company, Nokia Corporation, aims to embrace external sources of innovation, one of which is the ever growing startup community. Collaboration with startups enables Nokia to swiftly expand its product offering while avoiding the tedious early stages of new product development. The main purpose of the research was to identify the challenges that have emerged in the collaboration between Nokia and startups, and to formulate solutions to overcome them. Methods of accelerating startup growth were also explored. The desired outcome of the research was a light weight process, which Nokia could use to systematically work with startups. The findings of the research suggest that the challenges Nokia is facing are common in other large corporations, which are looking to collaborate with startups. These include the lack of clear ownership structure and vision, and heavy processes designed for large corporations. Even though the problems are common, no universally applicable solutions exist. The solutions need to be formulated and customized for each case separately. As a result of the study, a startup collaboration program was created for Nokia, comprising of four main building blocks: Foundation, Agile Environment, Gradual Partnership and Ecosystem. Through this program, Nokia may embrace external innovations while startups shall find new growth. The study provides practical implementation steps and an estimate of the resources required to maintain the program.Jatkuva innovaatioiden tuottaminen on välttämätöntä kilpailuedun saamiseksi ja säilyttämiseksi millä tahansa liiketoimialalla. Kohdeyritys Nokia pyrkii tehostamaan innovaatiotoimintojaan hyödyntämällä ulkoisia innovaation lähteitä, joista yksi on jatkuvasti kasvava startupyhteisö. Yhteistyö startupien kanssa avaa mahdollisuuden sovittaa uusia tuotteita nopeasti Nokian tarjontaan ohittamalla samalla tuotekehityksen hankalan alkuvaiheen. Tutkimuksen päätarkoituksena oli havaita Nokian ja startupien välisessä yhteistyössä ilmenneet haasteet ja kehittää niihin ratkaisut. Myös startupien liiketoiminnan kasvua kiihdyttäviä menetelmiä tutkittiin. Tutkimuksen toivottiin luovan prosessin, jonka avulla Nokia pystyy systemaattisesti työskentelemään startupien kanssa. Tutkimustyössä havaittiin Nokian kohtaavan ongelmia, jotka ovat tyypillisiä myös muissa startupien kanssa työskentelevissä suuryrityksissä. Näitä ovat muun muassa selkeän vastuurakenteen ja vision puuttuminen sekä raskaat, suuryrityksille tarkoitetut prosessit. Vaikka ongelmat ovat yleisiä, niille ei ole olemassa valmiiksi sovellettavia ratkaisuja. Ratkaisut tulee kehittää tapauskohtaisesti räätälöityinä. Tutkimuksen tuloksena Nokialle kehitettiin startuphojelma, joka koostuu neljästä rakennuspalikasta: Perustukset, vikkelä ympäristö, vaiheittainen kumppanuus ja ekosysteemi. Ohjelman avulla Nokia pystyy hyödyntämään ulkoisia innovaatioita ja startupit saavat uutta kasvua. Tutkimus laati käytännön askeleet ohjelman käyttöönottamiseksi sekä arvioi ohjelman ylläpitoon vaadittavat resurssit

Deliverable D6.4 Marketplace sustainability concept

Project title: Applying European market leadership to river basin networks and spreading of innovation on water ICT models, tools and data.A detailed description of the functionalities is given in WaterInnEU Final Virtual Marketplace Report (D6. 2). The general exploitation plan for WaterInnEU including the additional services, e. g. matchmaking support, e-pitch events, and management structure is described in D4. 4 - Exploitation plan for beyond the life of the project. This report complements D4. 4 by describing how the virtual platform can be sustained beyond the project from a technical perspective

Competing in the Digital Economy?: The Dynamics and Impacts of B2B E-commerce on the South African Manufacturing Sector

ICTs, B2B e-commerce, manufacturing sector, South Africa

Promoting innovation in developing countries: a conceptual framework

The author provides a conceptual framework for approaching the promotion of technological innovation and its diffusion in developing countries. Innovation climates in developing countries are, by nature, problematic, characterized by poor business and governance conditions, low educational levels, and mediocre infrastructure. This raises particular challenges for the promotion of innovation. The latter should be understood as the diffusion of technologies-and related practices-which are new to a given context (not in absolute terms). What matters first is to provide the necessary package of support-technical, financial, commercial, legal, and so on-with flexible, autonomous agencies adapting their support and operations to the different types of concerned enterprises. Facilitating and responding to the emergence of grass-root needs at the local level is also essential. Support to entrepreneurs and local communities should be primarily provided in matching grant forms to facilitate the mobilization of local resources and ownership. It is of primary importance to pay the greatest attention to country specificities, not only in terms of development level, size, and specialization, but also in terms of administrative and cultural traditions. At the global level, major issues need also to be considered and dealt with by appropriate incentives and regulations: the role of foreign direct investment in developing countries'technological development, conditions of technologies'patenting and licensing, the North-South research asymmetry, and brain drain trends.Innovation,Environmental Economics&Policies,Agricultural Research,Poverty Assessment,Health Monitoring&Evaluation