Evolving capabilities and Innovative Intentionality: some reflections on the role of intention within innovation processes

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis Group in Innovation: management, policy & practice on 2006, available online at:http://www.tandfonline.com/[10.5172/impp.2006.8.4.310I].We may argue that individual and organisational dynamic capabilities evolve through the interaction of intentions and action goals. Capabilities are renewed and reshaped by the appearance of new action goals. A feedback process between capabilities and goals opens up new possibilities of action. This may happen when agents (organisations and individuals) act towards their goals, transforming capabilities and renewing the spaces where actions are conceived and deployed. Moreover, agents’ goals vary not only in the sense that they are different but also because they are characterised by different transforming intensities. The concept of innovative intentionality synthesizes this idea. Innovative intentionality is defined as the will to conceive or imagine realities which differ from the perceived realities, with the purpose of making them effective. This concept appears to be useful for addressing the divergence of innovative dynamics among organisations and societies

‘Ethical Novelty’: new insights into economic change

Agents’ knowledge combines their perception of what reality is with their conception of what reality should be. “Ethical dynamics” refers to the evolution in the latter conception. This is a key element to explain changes in agents’ objectives of action, which usually do not result simply from interaction or “cognitive dynamics”. “Ethical novelties” are important sources of economic change. They consist of changes in the structure of action objectives which result from ethical dynamics.knowledge; action plan; ethical novelty; cognitive and ethical dynamics; economic change

El sistema español de innovación

59 págs., 21 cuadros, 7 figurasEste trabajo aborda la descripción y estudio comparado del Sistema Español de Innovación. El análisis revela que España ha hecho un esfuerzo significativo por poner su sistema científico a la altura de los de los países de nuestro entorno europeo más desarrollado y ha cosechado algunos éxitos como el crecimiento de los recursos de I+D y el crecimiento en volumen y producción de calidad del sistema científico. El esfuerzo realizado en la formación de recursos humanos y, por tanto, en dotar al sistema de innovación de una buena capacidad de absorción y difusión de conocimiento, ha sido también notable. En el otro lado de la balanza, encontramos, sin embargo, el bajo nivel educativo de una proporción todavía demasiado alta de la población y un tejido empresarial español con características estructurales que lo predisponen a una dinámica innovadora deficiente como el reducido tamaño de la mayoría de las empresas o la estructura productiva. Los datos ponen de manifiesto que los esfuerzos realizados desde las políticas públicas no se ven reflejados, al menos no de momento, en un incremento significativo de actividades innovadoras en ninguno de los sectores económicos clave (ni el industrial, ni el de la construcción, ni el de los servicios). La canalización de estos esfuerzos y de la inversión pública en I+D hacia rendimientos innovadores es pues una de las principales tareas pendientes dentro del Sistema Español de innovación.Peer reviewe

La gestion de la mobilité professionnelle des chercheurs : un défi pour les politiques de recherche et d’innovation

Depuis les travaux de Joseph Schumpeter, l’étude des mécanismes de l’innovation comme celle des acteurs occupe une place importante dans l’analyse des mécanismes de la croissance des sociétés, que ce soit en économie, en histoire ou en sociologie. Les prismes de l’analyse diffèrent en fonction de la discipline même si les pourtours disciplinaires sont moins nets, historiens et sociologues travaillant souvent de conserve notamment pour l’histoire des sciences du second XXe siècle utilisant abo..

International stays abroad, collaborations and the return of Spanish researchers

This article uses curricular information from a sample of applicants to the Spanish Ramón y Cajal programme to, on the one hand, assess the extent to which international mobility has an impact on the collaboration patterns of researchers and, on the other hand, to address the connection between collaboration patterns and the likelihood of return to Spain. We focus on two main types of collaborations: co-publications and collaboration in research projects through formal participation. We find that longer stays abroad seem to provide better opportunities to publish with a host principal investigator and to participate in research projects in the recipient country. We find that the length of the stay also has an impact on the likelihood of return to Spain: longer stays abroad reduce the likelihood of return. However, a longer duration international stay does not affect the collaboration links maintained with the home country, which may persist over time. We also find that public financial support is crucial for explaining and facilitating the return of Spanish researchers from abroad.Peer Reviewe

Scientific careers and the mobility of European researchers: an analysis of international mobility by career stage

International scientific mobility and research careers are two concepts that are intimately related. Yet, it has been very difficult for scholarship to pinpoint exactly how international mobility impacts on research careers. This paper contributes to this question by investigating links between international mobility, research career stage progression and job changes. It does so using a large-scale survey (MORE) which targets researchers based in European universities. The results establish that the profile of international mobility varies by academic research career stage. They also show that for researchers in the established mid-career phase who are working internationally, there are career advancement benefits associated with return mobility to their home country. However, these benefits may reduce if the timing of return is too delayed. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of these results for researcher mobility policy in the context of the European Higher Education Area and the European Research Area.This research was partly supported by funding received from the Research Infrastructure for Research and Innovation Policy Studies project (RISIS, contract number 313082).Peer reviewe

'Intencionalidad innovadora' y dinámica económica

Entender la actividad económica y su transformación exige considerar la “irrealidad” futura en la que se sitúan los fines de la acción de los agentes económicos. Producir o innovar son acciones condicionadas por los objetivos perseguidos por los agentes. Estos objetivos cambian en el tiempo. La explicación de algunas características de los procesos innovadores debe abordarse desde la consideración de la dinámica de formulación de objetivos cuya consecución precisa de unas capacidades. El artículo presenta algunas reflexiones sobre el papel esencial que juega la intención en la dinámica económica. Argumenta que la retroalimentación constante entre la intención y las capacidades dinámicas transforma el sistema económico. La intención de transformar los espacios de acción, la intencionalidad innovadora, está vinculada a objetivos innovadores.The understanding of economic dynamics requires the analytical consideration of the future “irreality” in which action goals are located. Producing or innovating are actions conditioned by the changing goals pursued by agents. The explanation of some characteristics of innovation processes can only be addressed by considering the dynamics of goals formulation. In order to achieve their goals, agents must deploy their capabilities. The paper presents some reflections on the essential role which intentions play in economic dynamics. The main argument states that the constant feedback between intentions and dynamic capabilities transforms the economic system. The intention of transforming action spaces, here referred to as innovative intentionality, is linked to the formulation of transforming goals

On Economics, Ethics, and Corporate Social Responsibility

This paper suggests that understanding questions such as those related to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) re- quires economic theorizing to include in its explanatory models the very fact that (economic) agents have their own distinctive conception of how reality ought to be (which implies making judgments of value). Under standard economic theorizing, the relationship between social or ethical values and economics is one of mere juxtaposition. Ethical and economic issues are being put together side by side in such a way that the anomalies pointed out by economics, which refer to the presence of goal paradoxes and the problem of altruism, etc., denote the presence of ethical issues within the processes of valuation and choice by agents. To surpass this relationship a change of perspective by means of the agents’ action plans approach is proposed. The action plan approach allows to pass from a conception of economics understood as a technology-of-choice to economics understood as a theory of production-of-action. In particular, it is shown that the ethical dynamics of agents are capable of generating “ethical novelties”, which consequently alter the agents’ space of goals. Insofar as this is heavily influenced by CSR, the consequence is that CSR is neither strange to Economics nor a concept juxtaposed with the analysis of autonomous economic processes

On entrepreneurship, intentionality and economic policymaking

Within evolutionary economics, entrepreneurship is seen as the main force of economic change, as the agency of self-transformation within restless capitalist economic systems. Therefore, a truly evolutionary perspective on economic policy-making must consider the significance and scope of entrepreneurship. On the basis of such a perspective, it might be possible to assess future outcomes of economic evolution under different policy measures related with, for instance, stimulating entrepreneurship as a policy that would provide the seeds for recovery from a slump in an econ-omy. In this short note, our main claim is that the very nature of entrepreneurship implies the recognition of the role played by entrepreneurs’ intentions, their tendency towards transforming goals and agents’ spaces of action. Recogni-tion is possible due to a more systematic analytical integration of these elements into a theory of entrepreneurship based on a ‘production of action’ conception (vs. the standard framework based on a ‘technology of choice’). This analytical vision sheds light on how economic policymaking should be implemented to stimulate entrepreneurship