A counting multidimensional innovation index for SMEs

We developed a C ounting Multidimensional Innovation Index (MII) framework for measuring and benchmarking innovation of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) , groups of SMEs, industries , regions, and countries . The methodology behind the MII is similar to the methodology behind the United Nations Multi dimensional Poverty Index and follows the innovation definitions stipulated by the OECD Oslo Manual , cover ing dime n s ions and partial indicators suggested by this Ma nual and/or adapted from the In novation Union Scoreboard (IUS) and from the Global Innovation Index (GII) . T o illustrate the MII framework , a survey was conducted among SME s of the metalworking industry in Portugal .info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A counting multidimensional innovation index for SMEs

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop a multidimensional innovation index (MII) framework for measuring and benchmarking multidimensional innovation of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and groups of SMEs. Design/methodology/approach: A counting dual cut-off method is employed. First, output and input innovation profiles and composite scores of individual SMEs are computed. Second, a set of four composite innovation indices are generated characterizing the group of SMEs under analysis: MIIo and MIIi measure multidimensional output and input innovation, respectively; while MIIr and MIIa assess the ratio and average of MIIo and MIIi, respectively. To test the MII framework, a survey was conducted among SMEs of the metalworking industry in Portugal. Findings: In 2012, about 28.9 percent (42.2 percent) SMEs of the Portuguese metalworking industry were determined to be multidimensional output (input) innovative. The average percentage of dimensions for which output (input) innovative SMEs were innovative was 65.0 percent (66.0 percent). Thus, the industry MII vector was (MIIo; MIIi; MIIr; MIIa)¼ (0.188, 0.279, 0.674; 0.233). Significant differences were found across the industry, individual SMEs’ multidimensional output and input innovation scores, enabling the identification of groups of SMEs, which can be characterized and compared by computing the corresponding and specific MII vectors. Research limitations/implications: The research has limitations because of the small size of the sample and the benchmarking possibilities it provides. Originality/value The novelty of the MII framework lies in the counting dual cut-off method employed.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Sentiment Analysis on Product-Service Systems

The main goal of this dissertation is to develop a tool to help each company reduce the amount of failed product-service systems that were avoidable due previous experience. By using tools and ideas already available and build them in a way they can interact with each other, this tool aims to give designers a better as faster way to view data. This was identified as a possible improvement since for the past 20 years the economy evolved into a consumer driven market, this led to the development of an extremely competitive economy. Companies need to strive for innovation and quality of products and services, faster than never. Products and services also need to match the expectations and needs of customers. Analyzing where product and service systems are lacking in terms of customer requirements is crucial. Currently it might take some time for information to travel from customer to producer, since the connection may include stores and local representatives before reaching the products’ and services’ designers. Although this information is readily available in social networks, the issue resides in efficiently merging and showing it in a simple and meaningful way to the designer of new products and systems. By shortening the time spent for information travel between costumer and producer, might lead to better and more innovative products

Shaping the future of urban mobility - potentiating car alternatives, increasing environmental and socioeconomic welfare given car usage and the rise of electric vehicles

Mass transport and sof tmodesplay a critical role in solving the major it yofurb an mobility problems that emerged in the last decades. Despite the benefits of the se transportation types, their usage in Portugal is still below its European peer san dfurther below the desired levels. The car usagere duction, particularly in city centers, should be amain concern of decision-makersasitinterferesinsocialwelfare.Havingtodealwiththecar,alternatively-poweredvehiclesappearasasolutiontofacetheenvironmentalproblemsraisedbytheexcessiveGHGemissionstotheatmosphere

Towards useful and usable interaction design tools: CanonSketch

Despite all the effort dedicated to bringing better User-Centered Design (UCD) tools to market, current studies show that the industry is still dominated by tools that do not support the activities and workstyles of designers. Also, there is a growing need for interaction design tools aimed at software engineers, a problem related to bringing usability into the software engineering processes. We propose a new workstyle model that can be effectively used to envision, design and evaluate a new generation of innovative interaction and software design tools, aimed at integrating usability and software engineering. We illustrate the effectiveness of our model by describing a new tool, called CanonSketch, that was built in order to support UCD in terms of the dimensions in our workstyle model. We also describe an evaluation study aimed at contrasting paper prototyping with our tool as well as the level of workstyle support.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Aesthetics and Emotions according to William James

publishersversionpublishe

Revision, Application and Evaluation of Electronic Markets in Portugal

The electronic markets are information systems used for several different organizational entities, within one or several levels in economic value chains. Electronic markets are considered platforms of commercial transactions between companies or business to business platforms. According to Bakos (1998), play a central role in the economy, facilitating the exchange of information, goods, services, and payments. In the process, they create economic value for buyers, sellers, market intermediaries, and for society at large. The objectives of this paper are: to perform the identification of the current state and evolution of B2B markets in Portugal; characterize the platform features of these markets; and finally, to create a guideline set to support companies that pretend to adhere to these markets.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

IPO impact on industry incumbents

The creation of an innovative company is suggestive of change in an industry. To test that change this paper tests the impact of IPOs on industry incumbents. IPOs are found to happen in industries that exhibited positive abnormal returns for up to 5 years before the IPO date. The IPO date is found to coincide with the end of that industry abnormal return profile. This paper suggests this evidence is consistent with the IPO acting as mechanism of enforcing market efficiency at the industry level

Surface Reconstruction From 3D Point Clouds

The triangulation of a point cloud of a 3D object is a complex problem, since it depends on the complexity of the shape of such object, as well as on the density of points generated by a specific scanner. In the literature, there are essentially two approaches to the reconstruction of surfaces from point clouds: interpolation and approximation. In general, interpolation approaches are associated with simplicial methods; that is, methods that directly generate a triangle mesh from a point cloud. On the other hand, approximation approaches generate a global implicit function — that represents an implicit surface — from local shape functions, then generating a triangulation of such implicit surface. The simplicial methods are divided into two families: Delaunay and mesh growing. Bearing in mind that the first of the methods presented in this dissertation falls under the category of mesh growing methods, let us focus our attention for now on these methods. One of the biggest problems with these methods is that, in general, they are based on the establishment of dihedral angle bounds between adjacent triangles, as needed to make the decision on which triangle to add to the expansion mesh front. Typically, other bounds are also used for the internal angles of each triangle. In the course of this dissertation, we will see how this problem was solved. The second algorithm introduced in this dissertation is also a simplicial method but does not fit into any of the two families mentioned above, which makes us think that we are in the presence of a new family: triangulation based on the atlas of charts or triangle stars. This algorithm generates an atlas of the surface that consists of overlapping stars of triangles, that is, one produces a total surface coverage, thus solving one of the common problems of this family of direct triangulation methods, which is the appearance of holes or incomplete triangulation of the surface. The third algorithm refers to an implicit method, but, unlike other implicit methods, it uses an interpolation approach. That is, the local shape functions interpolate the points of the cloud. It is, perhaps, one of a few implicit methods that we can find in the literature that interpolates all points of the cloud. Therefore, one of the biggest problems of the implicit methods is solved, which has to do with the smoothing of the surface sharp features resulting from the blending of the local functions into the global function. What is common to the three methods is the interpolation approach, either in simple or implicit methods, that is, the linearization of the surface subject to reconstruction. As will be seen, the linearization of the neighborhood of each point allows us to solve several problems posed to the surface reconstruction algorithms, namely: point sub‐sampling, non‐uniform sampling, as well as sharp features.A triangulação de uma nuvem de pontos de um objeto 3D é um problema complexo, uma vez que depende da complexidade da forma desse objeto, assim como da densidade dos pontos extraídos desse objeto através de um scanner 3D particular. Na literatura, existem essencialmente duas abordagens na reconstrução de superfícies a partir de nuvens de pontos: interpolação e aproximação. Em geral, as abordagens de interpolação estão associadas aos métodos simpliciais, ou seja, a métodos que geram diretamente uma malha de triângulos a partir de uma nuvem de pontos. Por outro lado, as abordagens de aproximação estão habitualmente associadas à geração de uma função implícita global —que representa uma superfície implícita— a partir de funções locais de forma, para em seguida gerar uma triangulação da dita superfície implícita. Os métodos simpliciais dividem‐se em duas famílias: triangulação de Delaunay e triangulação baseada em crescimento progressivo da triangulação (i.e., mesh growing). Tendo em conta que o primeiro dos métodos apresentados nesta dissertação se enquadra na categoria de métodos de crescimento progressivo, foquemos a nossa atenção por ora nestes métodos. Um dos maiores problemas destes métodos é que, em geral, se baseiam no estabelecimento de limites de ângulos diédricos (i.e., dihedral angle bounds) entre triângulos adjacentes, para assim tomar a decisão sobre qual triângulo acrescentar à frente de expansão da malha. Tipicamente, também se usam limites para os ângulos internos de cada triângulo. No decorrer desta dissertação veremos como é que este problema foi resolvido. O segundo algoritmo introduzido nesta dissertação também é um método simplicial, mas não se enquadra em nenhuma das duas famílias acima referidas, o que nos faz pensar que estaremos na presença de uma nova família: triangulação baseada em atlas de vizinhanças sobrepostas (i.e., atlas of charts) ou estrelas de triângulos (i.e., triangle star). Este algoritmo gera um atlas da superfície que é constituído por estrelas sobrepostas de triângulos, ou seja, produz‐se a cobertura total da superfície, resolvendo assim um dos problemas comuns desta família de métodos de triangulação direta que é o do surgimento de furos ou de triangulação incompleta da superfície. O terceiro algoritmo refere‐se a um método implícito, mas, ao invés de grande parte dos métodos implícitos, utiliza uma abordagem de interpolação. Ou seja, as funções locais de forma interpolam os pontos da nuvem. É, talvez, um dos poucos métodos implícitos que podemos encontrar na literatura que interpola todos os pontos da nuvem. Desta forma resolve‐se um dos maiores problemas dos métodos implícitos que é o do arredondamento de forma resultante do blending das funções locais que geram a função global, em particular ao longo dos vincos da superfície (i.e., sharp features). O que é comum aos três métodos é a abordagem de interpolação, quer em métodos simpliciais quer em métodos implícitos, ou seja a linearização da superfície sujeita a reconstrução. Como se verá, a linearização da vizinhança de cada ponto permite‐nos resolver vários problemas colocados aos algoritmos de reconstrução de superfícies, nomeadamente: sub‐amostragem de pontos (point sub‐sampling), amostragem não uniforme (non‐uniform sampling), bem como formas vincadas (sharp features)