Innovation intermediaries: What does it take to survive over time?

Innovation intermediaries are recognised as crucial actors that can facilitate the innovation process, support eco-innovation and contribute to sustainable entrepreneurship. However, little is known about the temporal dimension of innovation intermediaries and how they change over time to survive, which is crucial if intermediaries are to contribute to long term sustainability-oriented transformations. An in-depth case study design with a comparative approach was chosen to examine four innovation intermediaries at different development stages in the related fields of CO2 utilisation and Carbon Capture Storage technology in Europe, the USA, and Australia. This study sheds light on the survival of innovation intermediaries over time: Firstly, by describing the dynamics in an intermediary's (a) characteristics, (b) scope, (c) objectives, and (d) roles and activities. Secondly, by identifying at least four interrelated factors influencing an intermediary's survival: (i) neutrality, (ii) technological context, (iii) shared consensus, and (iv) internal value creation. Thus, this article contributes to the literature by highlighting the complexity and tensions in the survival of intermediaries through an analysis of both internal and contextual factors, as opposed to previous literature which has mainly focused on how intermediaries change their roles and activities over time to survive.EIT, Climate-KIC, EnCO2r

Маркетингові дослідження в Internet

This paper uses a multidisciplinary and systematic review of 45 journal articles and two case interviews to investigate the role of public support organizations in the development of eco-innovations. Even though eco-innovations are regarded as a driving force within sustainable development, entrepreneurs developing such innovations face barriers such as lack of some technical expertise, limited financial, time and human resources. Generally, two aspects are needed for eco-innovation support i.e. support for technology as well as business development. The selected public support organizations offered business development support through networking, bridging and financing. However, preliminary findings on their current support activities indicate bridging to other actors who can provide technical expertise such as environmental impact assessment and eco-design could be a promising addition to business development. Potential further research includes deeper empirical investigations on the role of public support actors in the development of eco-innovations

Прогностическая значимость плацентарной васкуляризации у беременных при низкой плацентации

БЕРЕМЕННОСТИ ОСЛОЖНЕНИЯКРОВООБРАЩЕНИЕПЛАЦЕНТАРНАЯ НЕДОСТАТОЧНОСТ

Urine recycling-Diffusion barriers and upscaling potential; case studies from Sweden and Switzerland

In this study, we explored why urine recycling systems have failed to gain wide-scale expansion despite their high potential for food and fertilizer security. Additionally, we examined the future perception of urine recycling in Sweden and Switzerland, as these two countries are at the forefront of technological advancement. Along with identifying barriers, we also proposed pathways for overcoming those barriers and achieving the upscale. The analysis was conducted using the technological innovation (TIS) approach, which is technology-focused, i.e., revolves around emerging technologies. Additionally, the study provides a methodological contribution to the innovation systems research by employing the Delphi method in conjunction with urine recycling experts to enforce transparency and prevent bias in the analysis. For urine recycling to overcome its current challenges, actors must work collectively. There needs to be a combination of top-down and bottom-up efforts to achieve the upscaling pathways. Lobbying and knowledge provision are necessary to adjust the current regulatory frame-work in a manner that provides public and private incentives. For urine recycling to diffuse and break into the mainstream market, we must move beyond enthusiasts, innovators, and niche markets into the mass market (ordinary people); dedicated service providers can facilitate this process. Pilot projects have been found integral to urine recycling upscaling. Future work could conduct life cycle assessments on existing pilot projects to un-derstand the environmental and economic performance of urine recycling systems when scaled up

Дослідження динаміки навантаженості рами двигуна коренезбиральної машини КС-6Б

This article studies five Swedish cities, their membership in international city networks, the different motivations for such membership, and their administrations’ expected and perceived benefits. Particular focus is put on sustainability, environmental technology, and municipal companies as potential beneficiaries of such network membership. This study is motivated by the fact that city networks can potentially contribute to global sustainability goals by accelerating the diffusion of innovations, giving members access to bidirectional information flows, improving the user-producer relationship, and providing legitimacy in the potential recipient regimes. The study relies on a documentation review, the collection of data from the websites of the studied cities and numerous international city networks, and interviews with city officials responsible for international city networks. It was found that four of the five studied cities are active members of international networks for sustainability, but also that there are large gaps between the two largest cities and the rest when it comes to the number of memberships and the geographical outreach they have through the networks they belong to. Some city officials claim that it is easier to be active in national networks than in international networks, due to time requirements and coordination among so many members. However, city officials see benefits for their municipal companies when they are members of international networks, and these companies are usually independent when it comes to choosing and administering their memberships. It was found that it is difficult to measure direct benefits from network membership, and link improvements in the studied cities to participation in a particular network (with the exception of groups created for a specific infrastructure project, reported as “networks” by the administrations). In addition, there is no apparent direct correlation between membership and diffusion of environmental solutions from municipal companies. However, the administrations expect indirect benefits such as gaining legitimacy and access to milieus where they can share information and best practices, which could lead to the improvement of both local and global environmental conditions.Funding agencies: Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems (VINNOVA); Swedish Energy Agency; Tekniska Verken AB</p

Микробиота/микробиом полости рта, периодонтит и механизмы дизрегуляции артериального давления (АД) в патогенезе эссенциальной гипертензии (ЭГ)

ЭССЕНЦИАЛЬНАЯ ГИПЕРТЕНЗИЯКРОВЯНОЕ ДАВЛЕНИЕАРТЕРИАЛЬНОЕ ДАВЛЕНИЕРОТОВАЯ ПОЛОСТЬ /МИКРОБПЕРИОДОНТА БОЛЕЗНИПАРОДОНТИТПАРОДОНТОЗПИОРЕЯ АЛЬВЕОЛЯРНА

Journal Staff

Rapid international and widespread diffusion of environmental technologies remains an essential requirement within the framework of sustainable development. Export offers a desired means for technology diffusion due to its strategic flexibility compared to other means such as foreign direct investment and aid. However, the export of environmental technologies is stifled by market failures. Among other reasons and as a response to such market failures, several governments are formulating initiatives to promote the export of environmental technologies. Although diffusion promotion is highlighted as an important research focus, a systematic overview of governmental initiatives that aim to promote environmental technology export is not available in the literature. This gap in the literature makes it difficult to analyse program effectiveness, and identify best practices. Using documentation from export promotion and export credit agencies in eight selected countries across Asia, Europe, and North America, we discuss governmental initiatives that aim to promote the export of environmental technologies. Our synthesis reveals that governmental promotion can be categorised according to alternative promotional services and is applied across target country(ies), environmental technology type(s), firm size(s),  and firm involvement in export. In addition, using theories from market failure and diffusion studies, we discuss similarities and differences between country initiatives. Trends indicate a focus on support for small and medium sized environmental technology exporters but interesting differences emerge with the choice of target markets, technologies, and the specific export promotion services.Megatec

Проблеми реалізації принципів правової держави в Україні

Eco-innovation continues to gain support as a driving force for sustainable development. In this regard, pressing questions include how to stimulate the development, diffusion and use of eco-innovations. Often, firms engaged with eco-innovation need to connect to intermediary organizations (e.g. business development organizations, regional clusters, universities, financers, incubators) to get hold of necessary resources to tackle the challenges in the innovation process. This article analyses the functions of such intermediary organizations for eco-innovation by focusing on public–owned business development organizations and cluster initiatives in the Region Scania, Sweden and North Rhine Westphalia, Germany.  We synthesise at least eight functions of intermediaries for eco-innovation as: (i) forecasting and road mapping (ii) resource mobilization (iii) networking and partnerships (iv) commercialization (v) technical consulting (vi) information scanning and distribution (vii) sector branding and legitimation (viii) prototyping and piloting.  The support functions often take a “one-size-fits-all” approach with few initiatives particularly tailored for eco-innovations. This can be explained by the market complementarity roles of public intermediaries, their resource constraints and the cross-sectoral nature of eco-innovation. Even though, intermediary functions are often appreciated by clients and financers, it is often difficult to establish a causal relation between the support and eco-innovation outcomes, a challenge which undermines the existence of intermediaries themselves. Despite these challenges, potential good practices point to a mix between general “one-size-fits-all” and tailored support activities for different types of eco-innovations and firms. Furthermore, interaction between various types of intermediaries is important since there are often numerous actors and initiatives working with eco-innovation which can confuse firms. When it comes to stimulating radical eco-innovations, a proactive approach to intermediation is particularly important. SHIF

From circular business models to circular business ecosystems

Abstract: The circular economy aims to minimize resource inputs and waste and emission outputs of the economy and its organizational subsystems. This can benefit both financial and sustainability performance of companies. To analyze industrial implementation of the concept, the prevalent unit of analysis on the firm level is currently the circular business model. Our investigation of nine Swedish biogas companies and one branch organization indicates a range of conceptual shortcomings that challenges this approach. Our comparative case analysis points towards circular ecosystems being a more appropriate concept to describe the high level of coordination between different stakeholders necessary to implement circular systems. This increases the suitability to analyze, plan, and communicate circular economy systems on an organizational level, especially if value chain integration is low. An ecosystem perspective can thus support innovation and entrepreneurship in the context of the circular economy

Conceptualising the systemic activities of intermediaries in sustainability transitions

This article contributes to the literature on sustainability transitions, innovation systems, and eco-innovation by addressing conceptual challenges regarding the systemic activities of intermediaries. Specifically, the article addresses a research gap pertaining to the ways in which the systemic activities of (eco-)innovation intermediaries can be conceptualised and empirically demonstrated. Empirically, the paper examines selected intermediaries in the context of support systems for eco-innovators in three regions across Finland, Germany, and Sweden. Drawing from our empirical findings and the literature on intermediaries, we conceptualise three system levels within which intermediation occurs: (i) in-between entities in a network, (ii) in-between networks of entities, and (iii) in-between actors, networks, and institutions. Our discussion suggests a heterogeneity of roles that individual intermediaries take at multiple system levels, complementing an emerging, more nuanced perspective of intermediaries in sustainability transitions. Thus, we suggest the term systemic intermediation for describing the system-level activities of intermediaries