Non Expectations and Adaptive Behaviours: the Missing Trade-off in Models of Innovation

We explore the modelling of the determination of the level of R&D investment of firms. This means that we do not tackle the decision of being an innovator or not, nor the adoption of a new technology. We exclude these decisions and focus on the situations where firms invest in internal R&D in order to produce an innovation. In that case the problem is to determine the level of R&D investment. Our interest is to analyse how expectation and adaptation can be combined in the modelling of R&D investment rules. In the literature both dimensions are generally split up: rational expectations are assumed in neoclassical models whereas alternative approaches (institutional and/or evolutionary) generally adopt a purely adaptive representation.Bounded rationality, learning, expectations, innovation dynamics.

Diversity of Innovative Strategy as a Source of Technological Performance

This paper explores the impact of diversity of innovative strategies of firms upon the industrial dynamics through a micro-simulation model. We consider two types of firms each one being characterised by a specific innovative strategy. Basically we assume that some cumulative firms adopt an internal learning by searching strategy, while noncumulative firms adopt an external learning strategy aiming at absorbing external sources of knowledge. The results show that the co-existence of the two types of firms leads to an oligopolistic structure characterised by asymmetries in the size of firms and high technological performances. Thus the diversity of innovative strategies generates a diversity in firms market shares and is a source of dynamic efficiency in the long run.Industrial dynamics, innovation, diversity, learning

LiveSNN: a new ecosystem for HEENS architecture

This project proposal and development of a several tools, a communication protocol and an embedded program for giving a neural network called HEENS that it is currently developed by the group ISSET from UPC the capability of being controlled remotely, and to extract the neural . This will provide a faster development, user friendly tools for the development and analysis of spiking neural networks for emulation and verification of biological neural networks and neural models. As such, three new pieces of software are developed called: LiveSNN protocol, which communicates the HEENS architecture to a remote PC for Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) operations, LiveSNN program, which manages the conections and supervises the activity of the HEENS, and HEENS Toolchain Suite (HTS), which is an upgrade of the previous synthesis and assembler tools in order to allow the implementation of more sophisticated neural networks being easy and be capable of optimise the assembler model of the neuron for the architecture. With those developments, the time to generate spiking neural networks, to debug them, and emulate them is increased in addition to the reduction of possible human errors due to the increased automation workflow that those programs give to the end user

Environmental innovation and industrial dynamics: the contributions of evolutionary economics

The purpose of this article is to discuss the contributions of the evolutionary theory of innovation on the micro and meso dynamics of environmental innovations. We argue that the evolutionary literature on innovation, and more particularly on technological regimes, provides a relevant framework in order to analyse the various determinants of environmental innovations and the double externality problem in an industrial dynamics context. The article starts with an overview of the empirical literature on environmental innovations with a focus on their determinants and specificities. In section 3, we discuss the contributions of the evolutionary literature on technological regimes and argue that it can provide a relevant framework for a sectoral approach of environmental innovations. In section 4, we concentrate on the role of demand side dynamics and highlight the implications of technological competition models on the role of demand conditions in the diffusion of environmental technologies. Finally, section 5 is devoted to the implications of the evolutionary theory of innovation on the question of the transition towards more sustainable technological systems.Environmental innovations, industrial dynamics, evolutionary theory, technological regimes

ANTONIO RAMOS OLIVEIRA. LA UNIDAD NACIONAL Y LOS NACIONALISMOS ESPAÑOLES

Obra ressenyada: Antonio RAMOS OLIVEIRA, La Unidad Nacional y los nacionalismos españoles. México: Grijalbo, 1970

Ressenyes

Index de les obres ressenyades: Félix REQUENA SANTOS (ed.), Análisis de redes sociales: Orígenes, teorías y aplicaciones. Madrid: Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas, 2003