Transforming the energy system - the evolution of the German technological system for solar cells

To improve our understanding of processes involved in the formation and growth of new technological systems in the energy sector and to identify the associated key challenges for policy makers managing the transformation process, we examine the development of the German technological system for solar cells over the past twenty-five years. We use a 'technological system' approach in which we will trace the evolution of actors, networks and institutions that have a bearing on the generation and diffusion of solar cells. An initial preparatory stage lasted until about 1989 and was mainly characterised by knowledge build up induced by a Federal RDD programme. This was followed by a second stage characterised by political struggle over the regulatory framework and subsequently the beginning of a virtuous circle for solar cells. In the concluding discussion, we emphasise four key features of the evolution of the technological system: (1) the role of a coalition of system builders which successfully influenced the regulatory framework so that markets could be formed: (2) the considerable length of the learning period and the large number of actors which need to learn; (3) the importance of policies which form early markets (not only early niche markets, but beyond those) as only markets may induce firms to enter and learn, and (4) the need to run market formation policies simultaneous to policies which maintain technological variety.new technology, growth and formation, solar cells, Germany

Sustainability as an Urgent Global Issue: Architectural Environment and Landscape

In our increasingly interconnected world, sustainability has emerged as a paramount global concern. Both organizations and individuals are recognizing the imperative need for sustainable solutions to safeguard the future of our planet. Achieving sustainability on a global scale necessitates a significant level of collaboration among diverse stakeholders (Calvagna, 2020). Many of the pressing challenges we face, such as climate change, inequality, hunger, and resource scarcity, can only be effectively addressed through structured collaborative efforts involving various entities (Murtagh, Roberts & Hind, 2016). Professionals from various fields are actively engaged in commendable endeavors aimed at advancing sustainable development, fostering economic growth, and maintaining environmental equilibrium. This essay delves into the collaborative endeavors and their outcomes within three projects focused on the architectural environment and landscape. These projects represent significant strides towards the promotion of a sustainable future

Investigating the Feasibility of Open Development of Operations Support Solutions

The telecommunications Operations Support Systems supply chain must address many stakeholders: R&D, Product and Requirements Management, Purchasing, Systems Integration, Systems Administration and Users. While the management of next generation networks and services poses significant technical challenges, the present supply chain, market configuration, and business practices of the OSS community are an obstacle to rapid innovation. Forums for open development could potentially provide a medium to shorten this supply chain for the deployment of workable systems. This paper discusses the potential benefits and barriers to the open development of OSS for the telecommunications industry. It proposes the use of action research to execute a feasibility study into the open development of OSS software solutions within an industry wide Open OSS project

Report from GI-Dagstuhl Seminar 16394: Software Performance Engineering in the DevOps World

This report documents the program and the outcomes of GI-Dagstuhl Seminar 16394 "Software Performance Engineering in the DevOps World". The seminar addressed the problem of performance-aware DevOps. Both, DevOps and performance engineering have been growing trends over the past one to two years, in no small part due to the rise in importance of identifying performance anomalies in the operations (Ops) of cloud and big data systems and feeding these back to the development (Dev). However, so far, the research community has treated software engineering, performance engineering, and cloud computing mostly as individual research areas. We aimed to identify cross-community collaboration, and to set the path for long-lasting collaborations towards performance-aware DevOps. The main goal of the seminar was to bring together young researchers (PhD students in a later stage of their PhD, as well as PostDocs or Junior Professors) in the areas of (i) software engineering, (ii) performance engineering, and (iii) cloud computing and big data to present their current research projects, to exchange experience and expertise, to discuss research challenges, and to develop ideas for future collaborations

Updating the art history curriculum: incorporating virtual and augmented reality technologies to improve interactivity and engagement

Master's Project (M.Ed.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2017This project investigates how the art history curricula in higher education can borrow from and incorporate emerging technologies currently being used in art museums. Many art museums are using augmented reality and virtual reality technologies to transform their visitors' experiences into experiences that are interactive and engaging. Art museums have historically offered static visitor experiences, which have been mirrored in the study of art. This project explores the current state of the art history classroom in higher education, which is historically a teacher-centered learning environment and the learning effects of that environment. The project then looks at how art museums are creating visitor-centered learning environments; specifically looking at how they are using reality technologies (virtual and augmented) to transition into digitally interactive learning environments that support various learning theories. Lastly, the project examines the learning benefits of such tools to see what could (and should) be implemented into the art history curricula at the higher education level and provides a sample section of a curriculum demonstrating what that implementation could look like. Art and art history are a crucial part of our culture and being able to successfully engage with it and learn from it enables the spread of our culture through digital means and of digital culture

The electronics industry in central and eastern Europe: an emerging production location in the alignment of networks perspective

This paper analyses the emergence of central Europe as a new location for the production of electronics. The main factors that drive integration in the region into global production networks are also analysed, as well as prospects for upgrading the industry by using network alignment perspectives. Foreign investment is the primary vehicle of integration of CEE electronics firms into global production networks, and Hungary has moved furthest along this path, positioning itself as a major low-cost supply base in the region. Czech and Polish electronics industries are connected, in smaller, but increasing, degrees to international electronics production networks. Networks that are being built in CEE in electronics are usually confined to subsidiaries with still limited local subcontracting; they are export-oriented and are expanding. Local subsidiaries have mastered production capabilities and several subsidiaries in Hungary are European mandate suppliers in their respective lines of business. EU demand is the main pull factor, which gives cohesion to the actions of MNCs as well as to the action of local and national governments in CEE. The layer of local firms is still very weak with very limited capabilities in core technologies. This is the key weakness which prevents further alignment of networks in CEE electronics. Local governments play an important role in working jointly with foreign investors in establishing industrial parks and new capacities

Purpose Built Case Study: Translational Research Institute

The Translational Research Institute (TRI) in Brisbane, Australia brings together more than 650 staff members from four institutions to focus on biomedical research with direct clinical application. The idea for TRI originated from the development of the first cancer preventing vaccine at the University of Queensland -- a discovery with the potential to save millions of lives and generate billions of dollars for Australia. However, a lack of infrastructure and industry partnerships stalled commercialization of the vaccine for over a decade. This delay brought national attention to the need to translate research findings into meaningful health outcomes at a time when the Queensland state government also sought to invest in industries that could attract foreign investment and create jobs.TRI is a unique collaboration between University of Queensland, Mater Medical Research Institute, Princess Alexandra Hospital, and Queensland University of Technology. These institutions came together to create a joint venture in a home facility where all could pursue a common purpose. Through cross-disciplinary collaboration, TRI was intended to provide medical innovations in a center for research excellence that could compete on a global scale while generating new economic impact.The TRI facility was constructed adjacent to both the Princess Alexandra Hospital's clinical trials wing and to a biopharmaceutical manufacturing plant. A hybrid funding strategy combined state and national government resources with investment from The Atlantic Philanthropies. While funding also supported a new clinical trial space embedded within the hospital, this case study focuses on the TRI research facility.To integrate the interests of all partners, a project control group with representatives from each institution consolidated user inputs and developed a design reflecting a shared vision. The group ultimately selected an approach that emphasized seamless connections within the building. Despite a complicated construction process, TRI became fully operational in 2012, on time and under budget.Today, TRI is known as the first "bench-to-bedside" facility in Australia and has elevated the nation's appreciation for the value of translational research. The distinctive appearance of the TRI building has attracted top biomedical researchers to Brisbane. The proximity between research, clinical trial, and biopharmaceutical manufacturing facilities has created opportunities to improve public health, sparking interdisciplinary and inter-institutional research on cancer, diabetes, HIV, and inflammatory disease.While staff members from each institution are placed on separate floors, cross-disciplinary collaboration is an everyday way of working at TRI. The young organization has already drawn investment in translational research within Queensland and across Australia, and has brought prestige to Brisbane's biomedical industry. However, combining the visions of four large, complex organizations in one facility brought some political turmoil. Each of the partner institutions has been hesitant to relinquish autonomy and fully embrace TRI as a merged enterprise.This case study is based on research conducted by MASS Design Group in October 2015. Funded by The Atlantic Philanthropies, this case illustrates how a capital project can connect multiple disciplines and institutions to achieve new levels of scientific and economic benefit

Designer requirements for visual capability loss simulator tools: Differences between design disciplines

There is a low uptake of inclusive design tools in industry, partly due to a poor fit between design tools and the thought and work processes of designers. Simulating visual capability losses is a technique with great potential in helping designers improve inclusivity and accessibility. However, we need to understand the needs of designers from different disciplines to improve the fit of these tools and their uptake in industry. This study aims to determine designers’ needs for vision loss simulators, and how this varies between disciplines. Interviews were carried out with 15 designers from five disciplines. The results suggest that one tool is not suitable for all. The graphic and web designers interviewed required a tool to aid communication with clients, hoever, the industrial and engineering designers required two tools, depending on the stage of the design process. To increase their uptake, simulator tools should be used in education.We would like to thank the EPSRC for funding this work, and Wolfson College Cambridge for their support.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07437-5_

The extended narrotype: adaptation and stasis in spatial evolution.

We present the proposition that features of work spaces, in both learning spaces and offices, might be considered as the memetic or linguistic analogue of extended phenotypes. We demonstrate a synchronicity in theorising about, on the one hand processes of cognition and learning, and on the other about the design of physical space in our two chosen contexts. The actual physical expression lags the theory in both because, we argue, it reflects the narratives of both powerful occupiers of the space and the professional departments responsible for provision of same. The results are compatible with, and an independent argument for, a ‘narrative ecology’ perspective on organisations. Our intention here is the theory however the results have relevance both to accelerating learning and democratizing management. They argue for the spatial dimension to organisational studies as a subset of research and practice in organisational Darwinism

Market fields structure & dynamics in industrial automation

There is a research tradition in the economics of standards which addresses standards wars, antitrust concerns or positive externalities from standards. Recent research has also dealt with the process characteristics of standardisation, de facto standard-setting consortia and intellectual property concerns in the technology specification or implementation phase. Nonetheless, there are no studies which analyse capabilities, comparative industry dynamics or incentive structures sufficiently in the context of standard-setting. In my study, I address the characteristics of collaborative research and standard-setting as a new mode of deploying assets beyond motivations well-known from R&D consortia or market alliances. On the basis of a case study of a leading user organisation in the market for industrial automation technology, but also a descriptive network analysis of cross-community affiliations, I demonstrate that there must be a paradoxical relationship between cooperation and competition. More precisely, I explain how there can be a dual relationship between value creation and value capture respecting exploration and exploitation. My case study emphasises the dynamics between knowledge stocks (knowledge alignment, narrowing and deepening) produced by collaborative standard setting and innovation; it also sheds light on an evolutional relationship between the exploration of assets and use cases and each firm's exploitation activities in the market. I derive standard-setting capabilities from an empirical analysis of membership structures, policies and incumbent firm characteristics in selected, but leading, user organisations. The results are as follows: the market for industrial automation technology is characterised by collaboration on standards, high technology influences of other industries and network effects on standards. Further, system integrators play a decisive role in value creation in the customer-specific business case. Standard-setting activities appear to be loosely coupled to the products offered on the market. Core leaders in world standards in industrial automation own a variety of assets and they are affiliated to many standard-setting communities rather than exclusively committed to a few standards. Furthermore, their R&D ratios outperform those of peripheral members and experience in standard-setting processes can be assumed. Standard-setting communities specify common core concepts as the basis for the development of each member's proprietary products, complementary technologies and industrial services. From a knowledge-based perspective, the targeted disclosure of certain knowledge can be used to achieve high innovation returns through systemic products which add proprietary features to open standards. Finally, the interplay between exploitation and exploration respecting the deployment of standard-setting capabilities linked to cooperative, pre-competitive processes leads to an evolution in common technology owned and exploited by the standard-setting community as a particular kind of innovation ecosystem. --standard-setting,innovation,industry dynamics and context,industrial automation