A gap in competencies or in capabilities?: the role of regional universities in developing scientific and technological skills in Campania

A gap in competencies or in capabilities?: the role of regional universities in developing scientific and technological skills in Campania The paper assesses the role of universities in resolving the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) skills gap in the Campania region of Southern Italy. The results are shown to hinge on a doubled supply/demand model, involving a first upstream stage (logically if not chronologically) of derived demands for and supplies of STEM-based skill development within universities, and a second downstream stage of the usage of these skills in industrial firms. The main objective of this work is to re-examine the role of conventional ‘knowledge capital’ arguments for the role of universities in development processes in catching-up regions of the EU – i.e. human capital and R&D capital, or what will be identified here as ‘competencies’ – as against what we refer to as ‘capabilities’ arguments, reflected here in better ways in which universities might adapt to the actual needs of industry for highly skilled workers and research outcomes. The results suggest that the STEM skills gap is not clearly a deficiency just in capabilities, but more so in the links between capabilities and competencies. Moreover, the STEM universities are trying to feed the interaction with industry, however it is still left mostly to the personal relationships of the professors or their administrative counterparts, e.g. head of the T&T office, and/or to placement. Key words: Derived demand and supply, STEM subjects, Mezzogiorno region, skills gap, competencies and capabilities.

Transferring new dynamic capabilities to SMEs: the role of ONERA – the French Aerospace LabTM in promoting asymmetries management

The technology transfer process between a public laboratory and a company has been the subject of many publications and has been widely discussed in economic theory. This paper highlights several newly identified asymmetries occurring between the different agents taking part in the process, dealing specifically with the aerospace and defense sectors in France. These specificities concern the characteristics, capabilities and competencies (the ‘capacities') of French SMEs and public research laboratories. The theoretical corpus of the article draws partly upon the analyses of ‘dynamic and interactive capabilities' (and competencies), and for the rest upon empirical sources, being based on the recent experience of one of the most dynamic Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs) in France: the case of ONERA (the National Office for Aerospace Studies and Research) and its dyadic relations with the SMEs. In such a cooperative, interactive innovation process, we will argue that certain collaborative tools or practices emerge, aimed at reducing information asymmetries or acting as compensation mechanisms for other types of asymmetries between the partners at a microeconomic level; especially in France where there is a gap between the public R&D laboratories and the SMEs in terms of Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs). Some of these compensation mechanisms, particularly those related to the knowledge economy, could be adapted and reshaped for agents engaged in R&D and innovation in various other sectors, perhaps inducing positive amplification effects on innovation behavior, and thereby on economic growth at the macroeconomic level within the “national innovation system”. This research work initiated by the author further to his economic research works on “innovation actors' asymmetries” (Paun, F., 2009) and “hybridizing tendency of the innovation approaches” (Paun, F., 2010) is based on the empirical study about eighty SMEs partners of ONERA coordinated by Florin Paun as Deputy Director in charge with Industrial Innovation at ONERA in order to better understand the barriers perceived inside this relationship and with the aim to envisage systemic solutions for accelerating innovation. A specific questionnaire has been developed by Florin Paun and more then forty interviews have been thus conducted with scientists and industrial representatives involved in direct collaborations linked to technology or knowledge transfer.French SMEs, technology transfer, information asymmetries, dynamic capabilities, innovation systems

Technology and technology policy in the postwar UK : « market failure » or « network failure » ?

The case for government intervention via technology policy in the UK in the later 20th century was typically justified by « market failure » arguments. In this paper I argue firstly that an analysis of technology trends indicates that non-market failures, mainly systemic and dynamic in nature, were a more basic source of British technological shortcomings. Secondly, an analysis of trends in technology policy suggests that narrowly economics-based views too often hampered good intentions to reform policy along more appropriate lines, and restricted development of any serious capabilities for « policy learning » in the field. The main line of argument represents an application of the Richardson-Sen model of capabilities and networking to the government/policy field. There follows a discussion of policy learning in a context of network misalignment and systemic failure over the longer term of British technology policy, although there have been more encouraging efforts to overcome some of these problems in recent times. The paper concludes that « market failure » is at best a gross simplification of the issues confronting British technology policy in this era, and often an obstruction in the way of applying more constructive network-oriented policies.A la fin du 20ème siècle, au Royaume-Uni, l’intervention du gouvernement via la politique technologique était justifiée par des arguments relevant des défaillances du marché. Premièrement, cet article propose une analyse des évolutions technologiques qui montre que des défaillances ne relevant pas du marché, et de nature principalement systémique et dynamique, ont été une source plus fondamentale des échecs britanniques en matière technologique. Deuxièmement, une analyse des orientations de politique technologique  suggère que des conceptions étroites de l’économie ont trop souvent entravé les bonnes intentions de réformer la politique de façon plus appropriée, et ont restreint le développement de toute capacité sérieuse d’apprentissage relatif aux politiques dans ce domaine. L’argumentation repose sur une application du modèle de capacités réseaux de Richardson-Sen au domaine gouvernemental/politique. Il s’ensuit une discussion sur l’apprentissage des politiques dans un contexte de défaut d’alignement des réseaux et d’échec de système sur le long terme de la politique technologique britannique, bien que des efforts encourageant le dépassement de ces problèmes sont apparus récemment. Le papier conclut que les défaillances de marché sont au mieux  une simplification des problèmes auxquels se confronte la politique technologique Britannique dans ce domaine, et souvent  une obstruction dans la façon de mettre en œuvre des politiques orientées réseaux plus constructives

A gap in competencies or in capabilities? the role of regional universities in developing scientific and technological skills in Campania

A gap in competencies or in capabilities?: the role of regional universities in developing scientific and technological skills in Campania The paper assesses the role of universities in resolving the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) skills gap in the Campania region of Southern Italy. The results are shown to hinge on a doubled supply/demand model, involving a first upstream stage (logically if not chronologically) of derived demands for and supplies of STEM-based skill development within universities, and a second downstream stage of the usage of these skills in industrial firms. The main objective of this work is to re-examine the role of conventional ‘knowledge capital' arguments for the role of universities in development processes in catching-up regions of the EU - i.e. human capital and R&D capital, or what will be identified here as ‘competencies' - as against what we refer to as ‘capabilities' arguments, reflected here in better ways in which universities might adapt to the actual needs of industry for highly skilled workers and research outcomes. The results suggest that the STEM skills gap is not clearly a deficiency just in capabilities, but more so in the links between capabilities and competencies. Moreover, the STEM universities are trying to feed the interaction with industry, however it is still left mostly to the personal relationships of the professors or their administrative counterparts, e.g. head of the T&T office, and/or to placement

What hampers innovation? Evidence from the UK CIS4

barriers to innovation, innovative firms, non-innovators

The Early Diffusion of the Steam Engine in Britain, 1700-1800. A Reappraisal

We examine the diffusion of steam technology across British counties during the eighteenth century. First, we provide new estimates for the regional variations in the timing, pace and extent of usage of steam engines. Our main data source is an updated version of the list of steam engines erected in Britain during the eighteenth century originally compiled by Kanefsky and Robey (1980). Following a rather established approach for analysing the diffusion of new technologies we fit S-shaped growth functions to the data on the numbers of steam engines installed in each county. In this way, we are able to provide a comprehensive appraisal of the relative speed of the diffusion process in different counties. Second, in order to assess the relative importance of the variables shaping the diffusion of steam power technology, we study the relationship between the number of steam engines installed in each county with of localization factors such as coal prices, availability of water sites, number of textile mills and number of blast furnaces.Steam Engine, Britain, Industrial Revolution, Diffusion of innovations

Technological capabilities and patterns of cooperation of UK firms: a regional investigation

This paper focuses on the relationship between firms' technological capabilities and different forms of cooperation for innovation by combining the analysis of both micro and meso levels, i.e. the level of the firm and of the geographical region. Our findings, based on the Fourth UK Community Innovation Survey (CIS), provide new insights regarding the relationship between cooperative linkages for innovation and the development of technological capabilities by business units. Firstly, the distinction between competences and capabilities adopted in this paper seems appropriate for going beyond the rather simplistic dichotomy of 'innovative' versus 'non-innovative' firms commonly used in interpreting CIS data. Secondly, we find that the analysis for the UK as a whole masks stark regional differences in terms of intra- and extra-region collaborative linkages and degrees of firms' technological capabilities. These findings may be useful to help policy making to meet the priorities highlighted within the UK Government's framework for Science & Technology