A literature review of intellectual property management in technology transfer offices: From appropriation to utilization

This paper presents a systematic literature review of the intersection between intellectual property (IP) management and technology transfer offices (TTOs) in the context of universities in order to understand how TTOs manage IP. IP management is an important issue, as it both enables and restricts the utilization of research results and impacts the competitiveness of technology-based businesses. The literature review shows that previous studies of IP management in TTOs tend to adopt a simplistic view of IP management, recommending that all valuable inventions should be patented. Moreover, academic research into TTOs and actual TTO practices both appear to focus on improving efficiency and outputs measured in terms of numbers of patents, licenses and spin-offs. We call this established view the appropriation mode of TTOs and question it based on the logics of publicly funded research and modern IP management. In its place, we suggest the utilization mode of TTOs, in which TTOs manage IP from publicly funded research in order to govern innovation processes and enable utilization of research results in a broader sense. Several recommendations are provided for both researchers and practitioners

Forces affecting one Lean Six Sigma adoption process

<b>Purpose</b> The purpose of this paper is to identify forces (in the form of converters and inhibitors) of Lean Six Sigma adoption by studying the gradual adoption of Lean Six Sigma in a medium-sized Swedish manufacturing company. The paper suggests how the converters and inhibitors interact toward increased maturity of the adoption and, in this case, stagnation thereof. <b>Design/methodology/approach</b> Thirteen interviews were recorded and analyzed to identify converters that were moving the process forward or backward, as well as inhibitors that caused it to linger. <b>Findings</b> It was discovered that activities that had initially moved the process forward were not sufficient to move it beyond its current point. However, an increased knowledge of Lean Six Sigma throughout the organization now prevents the process from moving in the opposite direction. In this medium-sized Swedish manufacturing company, Lean Six Sigma becomes a framework for thought and communication during Lean work. <b>Research limitations/implications</b> The study benefited from considering forces pushing the process forward as well as backward. Thus, we suggest that future studies will benefit from focusing beyond critical success factors (CSFs) that may at times be static in nature. As a limitation, for discussions about the past, the memories of interviewees generally may have a tendency to be biased. <b>Originality/value</b> The paper contributes knowledge of Lean Six Sigma adoptions and how they may attain greater future success by reporting on difficulties and setbacks in the current gradual adoption process in a chosen company

Teaching and facilitating action-based entrepreneurship education: Addressing challenges towards a research agenda

Entrepreneurship education is an increasingly distinct domain with particular approaches emphasizing experiential and action-based design. Action-based entrepreneurship education aims to deliver authenticity in entrepreneurial experiences while simultaneously facilitating learning and fair assessment. A venture creation program (VCP) is one such type of action-based entrepreneurship education which uses the creation of a new venture as the main vehicle for students\u27 learning, complemented with more traditional educational content. Engaging students in creating real-life ventures enables unique opportunities for learning but introduces a tension between didactic and pragmatic approaches and thus various challenges for educators. This paper\u27s purpose is to address current controversies related to VCPs and offer research-driven suggestions to key challenges. The empirical investigation, consisting of focus group data and individual interviews, builds on the accumulated knowledge of a global collaborative forum for VCPs—the VCP Forum—which consists of 11 VCPs in six countries in Europe and North America. The findings highlight three main areas that present challenges to educators: (1) facilitating students\u27 venture creation processes, (2) assessment of the students\u27 work connected to real-life activity, and (3) mitigating interaction with external stakeholders. The present paper contributes to entrepreneurship education research by suggesting areas for pedagogic development that need further investigation

Bruken av arbeidere under 18 år ved Næs Jernverk og Sjølingstad Uldvarefabrik 1894-1930

This master's thesis examines the use of child and adolescent laborers under the age of 18 at Næs Jernverk and Sjølingstad Uldvarefabrik between the years 1894 and 1930. The primary research questions addressed in this study are: "How were children utilized as laborers?" focusing on the extent of child labor, their assigned tasks, wages, working hours, and their connection to the paternalistic companies. The second main research question is: "How did the utilization of child labor decline and why?" This is further explored through the subquestion: "Did schooling replace child labor, and if so, how did this occur?" The study investigates the decline in child labor at the two companies during the 1920s and attempts to identify the reasons behind this decline. The children and their parents, as employees of the companies, were closely tied to the establishments as their lives revolved around them. Many parents had debts to the companies from purchasing goods or taking loans, which made them economically bound. Additionally, many resided in company-owned or provided housing. The children were assigned work that was considered "suitable for children." At the ironworks, children typically began working at an early age, some as young as 8 years old, while at Sjølingstad, they were slightly older. Work at Sjølingstad was gender-segregated, with certain jobs reserved for girls, whereas only boys worked at Næs. Both companies had apprentices, with the majority being at the ironworks, while all apprentices at the woolen mill were boys. They worked ten hours a day until the introduction of an eight-hour workday in 1919. Over time, the utilization of child labor decreased, with Næs Jernverk having more child labor until 1915, after which only a few children worked. Sjølingstad still employed child labor, albeit for fewer hours. The decrease in child labor was not due to a high turnover of workers but the development of the education system might explain the change. Schools began to play a greater role, introducing new subjects, becoming more pedagogical and enlightening. The perception of children remained unchanged, but the understanding and expectations shifted, leading to a greater awareness of child labor as a negative practice. A battle was fought against the government when municipalities sought to gain more control over or take over company schools. Næs Jernverk's company school was eventually taken over by the municipality in 1922. Little research has been conducted on child labor at these two companies, particularly at Næs Jernverk during the specific period under investigatio

Case-based entrepreneurship education in and for the Nordic region

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Relationship development patterns of university-based start-ups

In the present chapter, we focus on how start-ups become embedded in the university and industry context(s) in order to suggest a research agenda for a more systemic approach to university and industry actors when studying start-up development in entrepreneurial universities. More specifically, the story should not end in business formation but an entrepreneurial university also has roles in the further development of start-ups originating both from the university and industry. We base our suggested research agenda on a case study of the automotive and transport cluster in Western Sweden, which is established as both an academic context and an industry context. We relied both on secondary data about the case as such as well as primary data about the relationship development patterns of the 9 start-ups in the cluster. We identified 5 different patterns of how start-ups become embedded. Arguing that the development and success of university-based start-ups have to be understood in terms of how they embed in their context(s) entails several important implications for further studies connected to additional details of the development patterns, the roles universities play in the networking and embedding of start-ups and the design of collaborative platforms for collaboration between various actors.acceptedVersionPeer reviewe

An Evidence-Based Research Agenda for Action-Based Entrepreneurship Education

A growing research stream is ‘action-based’ entrepreneurship education, where students actively engage in entrepreneurship and learning is primarily student-centered rather than teacher-led. In the present paper, we look to the practice of teaching in order to clarify key challenges and identify a future research agenda for entrepreneurship education. The research design revolves around a global forum for venture creation programs which consists of eleven programs in six different countries in Europe and North America. The method involves written material in order to develop a model and later semi-structured interviews based on the model. The present paper builds on previous developments within research and teaching practice regarding action-based entrepreneurship education and suggests that further research should focus on (1) students’ perspective in developing strategies to handle venture creation and academic work simultaneously, (2) strategies to develop curriculum, deliverables and assessment schemes that acknowledge the diversity among students’ venture creation processes, (3) development of tailor-made quality assurance and impact measures and (4) exploring the role of faculty in terms of their prior experience and involvement for students’ learning. We suggest that a future research agenda focus on these four issues from the teachers’ point of view, the learners’ point of view and the institutional point of view in a systematic way. Thereby, the present paper contributes to the research field of entrepreneurship education by providing an evidence-based research agenda for entrepreneurship education

Business networks and localization effects for new Swedish technology-based firms’ innovation performance

This study examines the business networks and localization effects for new technology-based firms (NTBFs) in the context of innovation performance (the number of patents and product differentiation). In this regard, the study includes 28 variables. A survey was conducted in 2016 with 401 Swedish NTBFs that were small and young (the employment mean was 1.80 and the average age of each firm was 28.3\ua0months). The biggest category of NTBFs was knowledge-intensive high-technology services, followed by medium high-technology manufacturing, and high-technology manufacturing. Hypotheses on how business networks and localization are related to innovation performance were tested using principal component analysis, correlation analysis, and regression analysis. The results show that the primary significant factor for innovation performance regarding business networks and localization dimensions are professional network services, while industrial and regional areas also have a positive relationship on product differentiation. Our study also shows that innovation performance enhances firms’ abilities to access external financing through professional network services (e.g., venture capital companies)