Theoretical and technological building blocks for an innovation accelerator

The scientific system that we use today was devised centuries ago and is inadequate for our current ICT-based society: the peer review system encourages conservatism, journal publications are monolithic and slow, data is often not available to other scientists, and the independent validation of results is limited. Building on the Innovation Accelerator paper by Helbing and Balietti (2011) this paper takes the initial global vision and reviews the theoretical and technological building blocks that can be used for implementing an innovation (in first place: science) accelerator platform driven by re-imagining the science system. The envisioned platform would rest on four pillars: (i) Redesign the incentive scheme to reduce behavior such as conservatism, herding and hyping; (ii) Advance scientific publications by breaking up the monolithic paper unit and introducing other building blocks such as data, tools, experiment workflows, resources; (iii) Use machine readable semantics for publications, debate structures, provenance etc. in order to include the computer as a partner in the scientific process, and (iv) Build an online platform for collaboration, including a network of trust and reputation among the different types of stakeholders in the scientific system: scientists, educators, funding agencies, policy makers, students and industrial innovators among others. Any such improvements to the scientific system must support the entire scientific process (unlike current tools that chop up the scientific process into disconnected pieces), must facilitate and encourage collaboration and interdisciplinarity (again unlike current tools), must facilitate the inclusion of intelligent computing in the scientific process, must facilitate not only the core scientific process, but also accommodate other stakeholders such science policy makers, industrial innovators, and the general public

Accelerating Scientific Discovery by Formulating Grand Scientific Challenges

One important question for science and society is how to best promote scientific progress. Inspired by the great success of Hilbert's famous set of problems, the FuturICT project tries to stimulate and focus the efforts of many scientists by formulating Grand Challenges, i.e. a set of fundamental, relevant and hardly solvable scientific questions.Comment: To appear in EPJ Special Topics. For related work see http://www.futurict.eu and http://www.soms.ethz.c

Development Blocks, Faulty Investment and Structural Tensions – The Åkerman- Dahmén Theory of the Business Cycle

Johan Åkerman and Erik Dahmén’s structural theory of economic fluctuations is a constructive alternative to traditional macroeconomic approaches and also to modern business-cycle models based on micro economic concepts. There are similarities between Åkerman and Dahmén’s theory and Schumpeter’s theory in Business Cycles. Both theories underline the importance of progressive industries for the recovery or prosperity phase. However, by the notions of faulty investment, structural tensions and development blocks, Åkerman and Dahmén provided an original explanation of the turning points in the business cycle. An empirical study of the severely overheated Swedish economy in the 1980s and the following depression did not confirm the Åkerman-Dahmén theory. One weakness of the theory is that it downplays the independent role of financial-market conditions. Åkerman and Dahmén’s theory is more valid for innovation-driven cycles such as the ICT boom in the late 1990s and the subsequent crisis.Development Blocks; Faulty Investment; Structural Change; Juglar Cycles; Progressive Industries

Research on technology entrepreneurship and accelerators

The last few years, accelerators are quickly proliferating across the globe. To illustrate, the F6S-platform for founders indicates that the worldwide number of accelerators has grown from 194 in 2012 to 793 in 2015; an increase of 308%. However, there is quite some confusion about what an accelerator is and what its impact is on early-stage technology ventures. To add to the confusion, many programs are continuously evolving their models. Understanding the organizational design of accelerators, its effectiveness, and its role in the startup ecosystem is key if we want to properly advise policy makers, investors, and corporates looking for new ways to spur the development of innovative ventures. Furthermore, focusing on accelerators provides an opportunity to extend the learning and experimentation literature as it offers a natural lab setting. Accordingly, the overarching research question of this dissertation is: what do accelerators do and how do they impact the entrepreneurial trajectory of ventures? This study uses theory elaboration methods to suggest how accelerators are configured and what happens within an accelerator program. The research setting is 40 accelerators across Europe—cohort-based startup support programs that accelerate learning and are seen as problem solvers for various actors in the entrepreneurial ecosystem such as venture capitalists, governments, corporates and even incubators. For instance, setting up an accelerator benefits venture capitalists by facilitating investments in a larger number of early-stage ventures at relatively low cost. It also benefits governments and corporates to streamline technology commercialization efforts. Thus, accelerators are an important phenomenon and this study provides several insights. On the one hand, it opens the ‘black box’ by highlighting the design and practices of the accelerator. By recognizing the heterogeneity among accelerators, it is clear that more robust metrics have to be developed in order to monitor the effectiveness of the different models. Although classifications of accelerator programs based on their relative performance (e.g. the Seed Accelerators Ranking Project) could be of importance to startups, it may also provide a distorted view considering programs can differ in their strategic objectives. On the other hand, it explains to policy makers, accelerators and early-stage technology ventures the boundary conditions of acceleration. First, policy makers need to take a long-term budget view when they consider to support startups through accelerator programs. Second, many ventures may not be investor-ready or commercially viable at the end of an accelerator program. Therefore, a systematic policy approach is needed for startups to thrive. Third, both early-stage technology ventures and individuals interested in setting up an accelerator should take into account the specific program components such as the selection process and the learning approach when respectively considering to apply for a program or configure one. Taken together, these essays demonstrate that accelerators occur in various forms, are constantly evolving and can differently impact the development of early-stage ventures

How to Create an Innovation Accelerator

Too many policy failures are fundamentally failures of knowledge. This has become particularly apparent during the recent financial and economic crisis, which is questioning the validity of mainstream scholarly paradigms. We propose to pursue a multi-disciplinary approach and to establish new institutional settings which remove or reduce obstacles impeding efficient knowledge creation. We provided suggestions on (i) how to modernize and improve the academic publication system, and (ii) how to support scientific coordination, communication, and co-creation in large-scale multi-disciplinary projects. Both constitute important elements of what we envision to be a novel ICT infrastructure called "Innovation Accelerator" or "Knowledge Accelerator".Comment: 32 pages, Visioneer White Paper, see http://www.visioneer.ethz.c

FPSA: A Full System Stack Solution for Reconfigurable ReRAM-based NN Accelerator Architecture

Neural Network (NN) accelerators with emerging ReRAM (resistive random access memory) technologies have been investigated as one of the promising solutions to address the \textit{memory wall} challenge, due to the unique capability of \textit{processing-in-memory} within ReRAM-crossbar-based processing elements (PEs). However, the high efficiency and high density advantages of ReRAM have not been fully utilized due to the huge communication demands among PEs and the overhead of peripheral circuits. In this paper, we propose a full system stack solution, composed of a reconfigurable architecture design, Field Programmable Synapse Array (FPSA) and its software system including neural synthesizer, temporal-to-spatial mapper, and placement & routing. We highly leverage the software system to make the hardware design compact and efficient. To satisfy the high-performance communication demand, we optimize it with a reconfigurable routing architecture and the placement & routing tool. To improve the computational density, we greatly simplify the PE circuit with the spiking schema and then adopt neural synthesizer to enable the high density computation-resources to support different kinds of NN operations. In addition, we provide spiking memory blocks (SMBs) and configurable logic blocks (CLBs) in hardware and leverage the temporal-to-spatial mapper to utilize them to balance the storage and computation requirements of NN. Owing to the end-to-end software system, we can efficiently deploy existing deep neural networks to FPSA. Evaluations show that, compared to one of state-of-the-art ReRAM-based NN accelerators, PRIME, the computational density of FPSA improves by 31x; for representative NNs, its inference performance can achieve up to 1000x speedup.Comment: Accepted by ASPLOS 201

From the Triple Helix model to the Global Open Innovation model a case study based on international cooperation for innovation in Dominican Republic

[Abstract]: This study presents a case study research that sets out the process of designing the Dominican Republic’s RDI strategy during the period 2001-2007 and the role played by international cooperation in that process. We discuss the Triple Helix model as framework, and the use of a new approach that can be transferred to other countries. The results have validated some of the model’s assumptions, but they have also confirmed the existence of certain explanatory limitations in it. In order to rectify them, a new model –the Global Open Innovation model– has been proposed as alternative approach to the innovation transfer

A HÉLICE QUÍNTUPLA MODELANDO A INOVAÇÃO TECNOLÓGICA: caracterização e estado das aceleradoras de negócios em uma região metropolitana

Purpose: The theme of technological innovation, especially in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, has generated significant turbulence both in literature and in executive business practices. Among the various explanatory models of the development context in the area, the Quintuple Helix emerges. Objective: This study aims to describe and analyze the current state of business accelerators in the metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte - MG (Brazil). Methodology: A qualitative research was carried out, in which 6 executives of business accelerators and 4 representatives of institutions that support innovation were interviewed. These institutions were characterized as a control group, but they contribute to the evolution of the Minas Gerais innovation ecosystem. A literature search was carried out to identify constructs and variables applicable to the proposed model as a study reference. Results: The main results showed the relevance of the constructs and variables, demonstrating the convenience of the model to study and plan its applicability, both academically, in the evolution of knowledge, and in the executive function, since it approaches the current reality of the accelerators of business studied here. Contribution to the evolution of the knowledge: Analysis of an emerging model and proposition of validations compatible with the need for its consolidation as a theory. Executive contribution: Offering an evolving model, but interesting as a structure applicable to the evolution of institution development.Fundamento: El tema de la innovación tecnológica, especialmente en el contexto de la Cuarta Revolución Industrial, ha generado importantes turbulencias tanto en la literatura como en las prácticas empresariales ejecutivas. Entre los diversos modelos explicativos del contexto de desarrollo en el área, surge la Quintuple Helix. Objetivo: Este estudio tiene como objetivo describir y analizar el estado actual de las aceleradoras empresariales en la región metropolitana de Belo Horizonte – MG (Brasil). Metodología: Se realizó una investigación cualitativa, en la que se entrevistó a 6 ejecutivos de aceleradoras de empresas y 4 representantes de instituciones de apoyo a la innovación. Estas instituciones se caracterizaron como un grupo de control, pero contribuyen a la evolución del ecosistema de innovación de Minas Gerais. Se realizó una búsqueda bibliográfica para identificar constructos y variables aplicables al modelo propuesto como referéncia del estudio. Resultados: Los principales resultados mostraron la relevancia de los constructos y variables, demostrando la conveniencia del modelo para estudiar y planificar su aplicabilidad, tanto académicamente, en la evolución del conocimiento, como en la función ejecutiva, ya que se acerca a la realidad actual del aceleradores de negocios estudiados aquí. Contribución a la evolución del conocimiento: Análisis de un modelo emergente y propuesta de validaciones compatibles con la necesidad de su consolidación como teoría. Contribución ejecutiva: Ofrece un modelo en evolución, pero interesante como estructura aplicable a la evolución del desarrollo institucional.  Fundamento do estudo: O tema da inovação tecnológica, sobretudo no contexto da Quarta Revolução Industrial, tem gerado significativa turbulência tanto na literatura, quando nas práticas executivas de negócios. Entre os diversos modelos explicativos do contexto do desenvolvimento na área, emerge o da Hélice Quíntupla. Objetivo do estudo: Este estudo objetiva descrever e analisar o estado atual das aceleradoras de negócios da região metropolitana de Belo Horizonte. Metodologia: Foi realizada uma pesquisa qualitativa, em que foram entrevistados 6 executivos de aceleradoras de negócios e 4 representantes de instituições de suporte à inovação. Estas instituições foram caracterizadas como um grupo de controle, mas que contribuem com a evolução do ecossistema mineiro de inovação. Foi realizada uma busca na literatura, para identificar construtos e variáveis aplicáveis ao modelo proposto como referência de estudo. Resultados: Os principais resultados mostraram a pertinência dos construtos e variáveis, demonstrando a conveniência do modelo para se estudar e planejar a sua aplicabilidade, tanto acadêmica, na evolução do conhecimento, quanto na função executiva, já que se aproxima da realidade atual das aceleradoras de negócios aqui estudada. Contribuição à evolução do conhecimento: Análise de um modelo emergente e proposição de validações compatíveis com a necessidade de sua consolidação como teoria. Contribuição executiva: Oferta de um modelo em evolução, porém interessante como estrutura aplicável à evolução do desenvolvimento de instituições