The Role of Multinational Corporations in Metropolitan Innovation Systems – Empirical Evidence from Europe and South-East Asia

Using firm-level survey data from Barcelona, Stockholm, Vienna in Europe and Singapore, Penang (Malaysia) and Bangkok in South-East Asia the paper enquires into the different R&D and innovation behaviour of multinational and local companies in these Metropolitan Regions. Scrutinizing a set of input, throughput and output indicators as well as information on cooperation characteristics, we try to evaluate a) if the spatial pattern of more (intense) innovation activity in Europe when compared to South-East Asia is still valid; and b) if there are reasons to believe that R&D units of multinational corporations in Europe are mainly concerned with the enhancement of the knowledge base and the development of future competitiveness by tapping into localized knowledge and using the particular host regions’ innovation systems, while, on the other hand, MNCs in South-East Asia use R&D to support existing production facilities in order to exploit an existing competitive advantage. We are able to show that there is still a major gap in the innovation performance between South-East Asia and Europe and that there are indeed indications that R&D units in Europe are more orientated towards the augmentation of the company’s knowledge base.

Barriers Against the Transfer of Knowledge Between Universities and the Industry in Newly-Industrialised Countries - An Analysis of the Regional Innovation System of Bangkok

This paper presents empirical evidence on university-industry relations (UIR) and knowledge transfer in the regional innovation system of Bangkok and broaches the issue of adapting well-established concepts for the analysis of innovation processes in newly industrialising countries. The potential for UIR is restricted due to 1) a weak and fragmented innovation system, 2) low technological and absorptive capacities in the industrial sector, and 3) slowly improving research capabilities in the scientific sector. Hence the level of UIR in the regional innovation system of Bangkok is mainly limited to occasional and personal modes. It is suggested to strengthen the knowledge transfer capabilities within both actors and to establish effective mechanisms for bridging institutional barriers between academia and industry.

Thin film instability with thermal noise

We study the effects of stochastic thermal fluctuations on the instability of the free surface of a flat liquid film upon a solid substrate. These fluctuations are represented as a standard Brownian motion that can be added to the deterministic equation for the film thickness within the lubrication approximation. Here, we consider that while the noise term is white in time, it is coloured in space. This allows for the introduction of a finite correlation length in the description of the randomized intermolecular interaction. Together with the expected spatial periodicity of the flow, we find a dimensionless parameter, $\beta$, that accounts for the relative importance of the spatial correlation. We perform here the linear stability analysis (LSA) of the film under the influence of both terms, and find the corresponding power spectra for the amplitudes of the normal modes of the instability. We compare this theoretical result with the numerical simulations of the complete non-linear problem, and find a good agreement for early times. For late times, we find that the stochastic LSA predictions on the dominant wavelength remains basically valid. We also use the theoretical spectra to fit experimental data from a nanometric melted copper film, and find the corresponding times of the evolution as well as the values of the parameter, $\beta$

Evolving into a Regional Innovation System: How Governance impact on Innovation in Shenzhen and Dongguan, China?

Governance constitutes elementary supportive infrastructure for regional innovation systems. This paper extends the evolutionary lens of governance into initial industrialization phase and examines the impact of their evolution into regional innovation systems on fostering innovation activities. Drawing on the empirical substances in Shenzhen and Dongguan, China, a path-dependent nature of institutional design on supporting innovation has been discovered. The paper shows that the dirigiste globalized production system in Shenzhen in 1980s has gradually evolved to a higher level of interactive regional innovation system than the grassroots globalized production system in Dongguan, where innovation is still passively managed by global players. Finally, policy implication is discussed for the construction of regional innovation systems under different governance modalities in the initial industrialization phase.ego-networks, geographical proximity, innovation performance, knowledge networks, technological relatedness

La enseñanza de las matemáticas a personas adultas desde un enfoque didáctico basado en el aprendizaje dialógico

Este artículo aborda la enseñanza de las matemáticas a personas adultas. La investigación previa existente muestra que los adultos aprendemos de manera diferente a como lo hacen los niños. El contexto, el papel que juega la experiencia acumulada durante la vida, y la capacidad que todas las personas tenemos para aplicar las matemáticas en nuestras vidas son elementos que deben ser considerados al enseñar matemáticas en las escuelas de adultos. En este artículo se discute una investigación que estudia cómo un grupo de mujeres explican cómo entienden las matemáticas, cómo se autodefinen con relación a ellas, y qué consecuencias educativas tiene eso sobre su propio aprendizaje. Se concluye que la creación de espacios de diálogo igualitarios contribuye a abrir posibilidades de aprendizaje para estas mujeres.This article addresses mathematics education for adult learners. Existing prior research explains that adult learning is different than how children learn. When teachers teach mathematics in adult schools, they have to have in mind aspects such as the context, the role played by the experience gained over the by adults, as well as the ability that everyone has to use mathematics in their daily lives. This article discusses research drawing on how a group of women explain how they understand mathematics, how they define themselves towards mathematics, and what kind of consequences these aspects have on their learning process. The article concludes that building spaces for egalitarian dialogue contributes to open learning possibilities for these women

List of reviewers

-

Editorial

---

Innovation potentials and innovative networks in European metropolitan regions: Some empirical evidence from the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona

Innovation potentials and innovative networks in European metropolitan regions - some empirical evidence from the Metropolitan Area of Barcelone Revilla Diez, Javier; Escorsa, Pere and Camacho, Jaime Alberto Interregional competitiveness and the relationship between technology and competitiveness has increasingly become the object of considerable interest. The stimulation of innovation potentials within a region is becoming more and more decisive in the competition between regions. Although a precise definition of the term innovation potential is difficult, there is no doubt that it is essentially the stock of knowledge and its use which makes up the innovation potential of a region. This stock, however, is an inert factor. Its conversion into innovation underlines the importance of linkages and relationships in everyday innovation processes. Firms pursue co-operative agreements in order to gain rapid access to new technologies or new markets, to benefit from economies of scale in joint R&D and production to tap into essential resources of know-how and to share risks. These linkages possess a number of features which make the network mode a distinct from inter-firm organisation. This paper attempts to give a clear documentation of current innovation activities in the metropolitan region of Barcelone between the three major actors in innovations systems: industrial firms, producer services and research institutions. The presented results are based on representative surveys within an international comparative study in three major metropolitan areas in Europe (Barcelone, Stockholm and Vienna). The results of this research will be relevant for an understanding of how and why different industries build cooperative relationships in metropolitan regions. The results will also provide insights for policy efforts that can help to nurture and expand the regional economic base in the face of the current rapid globalisation of production. Keywords: Innovation potential, Innovation networks, Metropolitan regions, Barcelona