Why aren't they locked in waiting games? Unlocking rules and the ecology of concepts in the semiconductor industry.

International audienceIn a multi-level perspective, regimes can be clearly described as long as they remain stable. To understand how regimes and niches interact during transition, the article contrasts two models of regimes in transition(s). The classical model of evolutionary niches suggests misalignments between rules and competition between niches. Transition management, technological innovation systems and works on transition pathways suggest a second model based on "unlocking rules", which support collective work on a structured set of emerging technologies. The latter model is illustrated with a case study on the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS)

Poétique de l’expérience

Gérard Cogez, professeur à l’Université de Lille-II Il s’est agi d’abord de dégager quelques éléments propres à alimenter la réflexion portant sur le récit d’expérience. Plusieurs interrogations ont été formulées à cette occasion : sur les motivations qui poussent un sujet à produire une narration à partir de ce qu’il croit être son expérience ; le délai plus ou moins long qui s’écoule entre le temps de l’expérience et sa mise en récit proprement dite (durée qui n’est pas sans retentissement ..

Platform emergence in double unknown: Common challenge strategy

International audienceThe proposed paper deals with platform emergence in double unknown situations when technology and markets are highly uncertain. The interest in technological platform development to enable creation of products and processes that support present and future development of multiple options is widely recognized by practitioners and academics The existing literature considers already existing platforms and the development is based on exploiting this common platform core to build future markets and technological derivatives. However, when we are in double unknown situations, markets and technologies are highly uncertain and neither options, nor platform core are known. Thus, how can one ensure platform emergence in double unknown?The history of innovation promotes mostly singular challenge strategy to guide innovative development. But in certain sectors, like semiconductors, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, the success of common challenge strategy applicable to several markets is more important than singular project success. Thus, which strategy to choose for innovative technological platform emergence? Why common challenge strategy appears to be so challenging and risky? The objective of the paper is to define what are the precise market and technological conditions that in certain situations lead to 1) develop common building block (common core) that facilitate all the others projects but don't provide access directly to the market 2) launch singular project exploration to emerge future platform core consequently. We attempt to address our research questions by formally describing each strategy and fabricating simple economical model to compare them. For simulation the data was created by taking into account specifics of real management situations and parameters were chosen based on the literature review. Then we illustrate the insights of the model through a case study of innovative technology development in semiconductor industry. The in-depth empirical case study was conducted in STMicroelectronics, one of the leaders in the semiconductor industry. The data for case study was gathered from advanced technology platform with several interdependent modules developed by company and introduced to the several markets after all. This paper contributes to existing work on platform emergence by introducing the strategy of platform core construction in double unknown based on future common challenge investigation

Poétique de l’expérience

Gérard Cogez, professeur à l’Université de Lille-II Il s’est agi d’abord de dégager quelques éléments propres à alimenter la réflexion portant sur le récit d’expérience. Plusieurs interrogations ont été formulées à cette occasion : sur les motivations qui poussent un sujet à produire une narration à partir de ce qu’il croit être son expérience ; le délai plus ou moins long qui s’écoule entre le temps de l’expérience et sa mise en récit proprement dite (durée qui n’est pas sans retentissement ..

Innovation et compétition entre plateformes technologiques : vers une stratégie basée sur la pervasivité des technologies

International audienceL’objectif de cette communication est de mettre en évidence un nouveau cadre théorique pour penser la stratégie de compétition entre plateformes technologiques, indépendamment des logiques de marchés. Nous démontrons que la compétition ne se joue pas seulement sur le marché ; et qu’un des défis majeur de l’innovation technologique est d’être capable de subvertir les systèmes techniques des autres acteurs industriels (concurrents, fournisseurs, partenaires, clients, etc.). Nous présentons ensuite un nouveau critère de performance stratégique pour illustrer l’effet systémique d’une technologie sur l’espace des techniques : la pervasivité d’une technologie. Ce concept permet d’exprimer la faculté d’une invention technique à transformer et à réorganiser d’autres systèmes techniques ainsi que sa capacité à se diffuser à travers un large ensemble de technologies. Aussi, mener une stratégie de pervasivité technologique suppose de contrôler le degré de transformation des différents systèmes techniques, tout en augmentant le nombre de relations entre différents systèmes. Afin de tester nos hypothèses et en raison du caractère exploratoire de cette recherche, nous avons opté pour une étude de cas unique basée sur une approche qualitative. Nous illustrons notre modèle à travers l’étude de l’activité de conception et de développement de la technologie FD-SOI (Fully Depleted Silicon On Insulator) chez STMicroelectronics, leader européen dans l’industrie du semi-conducteur

Advanced R&D for prepositioning strategies: the economics of platform shift in high technological velocity environments

International audienceThis paper addresses the design of platform, and more precisely the economics of platform shift in industries with high technological velocity. A platform consists in fixing some design dimensions (such as basic components, modules or processes) to get better performance on some other dimensions (flexibility of alternative development, enhanced variety, lower costs). Platform design consists in using a stock of design rules to find the right balance between fixed parameters and to be defined parameters for a certain time period. In high technological velocity (HTV) environment this time period can become very short so that platform renewal becomes critical. Moreover in this HTV environment, the stock of design rules becomes obsolete so that platform renewal can take several forms: this can range from "adaptation" (development activity makes the optimal use of existing stock) to "anticipation" (research activity produces new design rules to prepare the development of the next platform). In this paper we propose an economic model of platform renewal to compare these strategies, depending on the technological velocity. We show where anticipation and adaptation are relevant and what is the optimal level of research compared to development. Moreover we show that an alternate strategy, called "prepositioning", based on advanced R&D (ARD) and consisting in renewing the stock of design rules for several generations, would be interesting in case of HTV. We then illustrate its insights through a case study in a typical HTV industry, semiconductor industry. This enables us to propose an explanation of complex platform renewal strategies. The article closes with managerial implications and directions for further research in platform renewal

A Forward Genetic Approach in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii as a Strategy for Exploring Starch Catabolism

International audienceA screen was recently developed to study the mobilization of starch in the unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. This screen relies on starch synthesis accumulation during nitrogen starvation followed by the supply of nitrogen and the switch to darkness. Hence multiple regulatory networks including those of nutrient starvation, cell cycle control and light to dark transitions are likely to impact the recovery of mutant candidates. In this paper we monitor the specificity of this mutant screen by characterizing the nature of the genes disrupted in the selected mutants. We show that one third of the mutants consisted of strains mutated in genes previously reported to be of paramount importance in starch catabolism such as those encoding β-amylases, the maltose export protein, and branching enzyme I. The other mutants were defective for previously uncharacterized functions some of which are likely to define novel proteins affecting starch mobilization in green algae

U–Th and ¹⁰Be constraints on sediment recycling in proglacial settings, Lago Buenos Aires, Patagonia

International audienceThe estimation of sediment transfer times remains a challenge to our understanding of sediment budgets and the relationships between erosion and climate. Uranium (U) and thorium (Th) isotope disequilibria offer a means of more robustly constraining sediment transfer times. Here, we present new uranium and tho-rium disequilibrium data for a series of nested moraines around Lago Buenos Aires in Argentine Patagonia. The glacial chronology for the area is constrained using in situ cosmogenic 10 Be analysis of glacial outwash. Sediment transfer times within the periglacial domain were estimated by comparing the deposition ages of moraines to the theoretical age of sediment production, i.e., the comminution age inferred from U disequilibrium data and recoil loss factor estimates. Our data show first that the classical comminution age approach must include weathering processes accounted for by measuring Th disequilibrium. Second, our combined data suggest that the pre-deposition history of the moraine sediments is not negligible, as evidenced by the large disequilibrium of the youngest moraines despite the equilibrium of the corresponding glacial flour. Monte Carlo simulations suggest that weathering was more intense before the deposition of the moraines and that the transfer time of the fine sediments to the moraines was on the order of 100-200 kyr. Long transfer times could result from a combination of long sediment residence times in the proglacial lake (recurrence time of a glacial cycle) and the remobilization of sediments from moraines deposited during previous glacial cycles. 10 Be data suggest that some glacial cycles are absent from the preserved moraine record (seemingly every second cycle), supporting a model of reworking moraines and/or fluctuations in the extent of glacial advances. The chronological pattern is consistent with the U-Th disequilibrium data and the 100-200 kyr transfer time. This long transfer time raises the question of the proportion of freshly eroded sediments that escape (or not) the proglacial environments during glacial periods

Regional mid-Pleistocene glaciation in central Patagonia

Southern South America contains a glacial geomorphological record that spans the past million years and has the potential to provide palaeoclimate information for several glacial periods in Earth's history. In central Patagonia, two major outlet glaciers of the former Patagonian Ice Sheet carved deep basins ∼50 km wide and extending over 100 km into the Andean plain east of the mountain front. A succession of nested glacial moraines offers the possibility of determining when the ice lobes advanced and whether such advances occurred synchronously. The existing chronology, which was obtained using different methods in each valley, indicates the penultimate moraines differ in age by a full glacial cycle. Here, we test this hypothesis further using a uniform methodology that combines cosmogenic nuclide ages from moraine boulders, moraine cobbles and outwash cobbles. 10Be concentrations in eighteen outwash cobbles from the Moreno outwash terrace in the Lago Buenos Aires valley yield surface exposure ages of 169–269 ka. We find 10Be inheritance is low and therefore use the oldest surface cobbles to date the deposit at 260–270 ka, which is indistinguishable from the age obtained in the neighbouring Lago Pueyrredón valley. This suggests a regionally significant glaciation during Marine Isotope Stage 8, and broad interhemispheric synchrony of glacial maxima during the mid to late Pleistocene. Finally, we find the dated outwash terrace is 70–100 ka older than the associated moraines. On the basis of geomorphological observations, we suggest this difference can be explained by exhumation of moraine boulders