Topology and Evolution of Technology Innovation Networks

The web of relations linking technological innovation can be fairly described in terms of patent citations. The resulting patent citation network provides a picture of the large-scale organization of innovations and its time evolution. Here we study the patterns of change of patents registered by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). We show that the scaling behavior exhibited by this network is consistent with a preferential attachment mechanism together with a Weibull-shaped aging term. Such attachment kernel is shared by scientific citation networks, thus indicating an universal type of mechanism linking ideas and designs and their evolution. The implications for evolutionary theory of innovation are discussed.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Physical Review

Worldwide topology of the scientific subject profile: a macro approach in the country level

[Background] Models for the production of knowledge and systems of innovation and science are key elements for characterizing a country in view of its scientific thematic profile. With regard to scientific output and publication in journals of international visibility, the countries of the world may be classified into three main groups according to their thematic bias.[Methodology/Principal Findings] This paper aims to classify the countries of the world in several broad groups, described in terms of behavioural models that attempt to sum up the characteristics of their systems of knowledge and innovation. We perceive three clusters in our analysis: 1) the biomedical cluster, 2) the basic science & engineering cluster, and 3) the agricultural cluster. The countries are conceptually associated with the clusters via Principal Component Analysis (PCA), and a Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) map with all the countries is presented.[Conclusions/Significance] As we have seen, insofar as scientific output and publication in journals of international visibility is concerned, the countries of the world may be classified into three main groups according to their thematic profile. These groups can be described in terms of behavioral models that attempt to sum up the characteristics of their systems of knowledge and innovation

Darwinism, organizational evolution and survival: key challenges for future research

How do social organizations evolve? How do they adapt to environmental pressures? What resources and capabilities determine their survival within dynamic competition? Charles Darwin’s seminal work The Origin of Species (1859) has provided a significant impact on the development of the management and organization theory literatures on organizational evolution. This article introduces the JMG Special Issue focused on Darwinism, organizational evolution and survival. We discuss key themes in the organizational evolution research that have emerged in recent years. These include the increasing adoption of the co-evolutionary approach, with a particular focus on the definition of appropriate units of analysis, such as routines, and related challenges associated with exploring the relationship between co-evolution, re-use of knowledge, adaptation, and exaptation processes. We then introduce the three articles that we have finally accepted in this Special Issue after an extensive, multi-round, triple blind-review process. We briefly outline how each of these articles contributes to understanding among scholars, practitioners and policy makers of the continuous evolutionary processes within and among social organizations and systems

A Diverse and Flexible Teaching Toolkit Facilitates the Human Capacity for Cumulative Culture

© 2017, The Author(s). Human culture is uniquely complex compared to other species. This complexity stems from the accumulation of culture over time through high- and low-fidelity transmission and innovation. One possible reason for why humans retain and create culture, is our ability to modulate teaching strategies in order to foster learning and innovation. We argue that teaching is more diverse, flexible, and complex in humans than in other species. This particular characteristic of human teaching rather than teaching itself is one of the reasons for human’s incredible capacity for cumulative culture. That is, humans unlike other species can signal to learners whether the information they are teaching can or cannot be modified. As a result teaching in humans can be used to support high or low fidelity transmission, innovation, and ultimately, cumulative culture

Mapping Inventors’ Networks to Trace Knowledge Flows Among EU Regions

Recent literature on technological changes has highlighted the role of knowledge recombination in innovation. Evidence suggests that the production of scientific and technological knowledge is becoming an increasingly collective phenomenon. Thus, in rapidly developing industries, it is almost inevitable to develop inter-organizational collaborations to identify new opportunities for new technologies. The aim of this chapter was to explore the innovative activities and networks in European regions (EU 27 plus Norway and Switzerland) from 1980 to 2010. Specifically, we analysed the most innovative sectors: environmental (green), biotechnology (biotech), laser and optic technology and nanotechnology (nanotech). This longitudinal study relies on European Patent Office (EPO) patents and inventors’ data by year and region, as provided by OECD-Regpat database. Our main findings emphasize the rise of co-inventions in intra-regional and inter-regional inventive networks, the concentration of innovations in central regions and peripheral regions’ reliance on external knowledge flows to compensate for their technological weaknesses