Cooperation networks and innovation: A complex system perspective to the analysis and evaluation of a EU regional innovation policy programme

Recent developments in innovation theory and policy have led policymakers to assign particular importance to supporting networks of cooperation among heterogeneous economic actors, especially in production systems composed of small and medium enterprises. Such innovative policies call for parallel innovations in policy analysis, monitoring and assessment. Our analysis of a policy experiment aimed at supporting innovation networks in the Italian region of Tuscany intends to address some issues connected with the design, monitoring and evaluation of such interventions. Combining tools from ethnographic research and social networks analysis, we explore the structural elements of the policy programme, its macroscopic impact on the regional innovation system, and the success of individual networks in attaining their specific objectives. This innovative approach allows us to derive some general methodological suggestions for the design and evaluation of similar programmes.Innovation policy, cooperation networks, evaluation, regional development, SMEs production systems, complex systems

Innovative interventions in support of innovation networks. A complex system perspective to public innovation policy and private technology brokering

The linear model of innovation has been superseded by a variety of theoretical models that view the innovation process as systemic, complex, multi-level, multi-temporal, involving a plurality of heterogeneous economic agents. Accordingly, the emphasis of the policy discourse has shifted over time. It has gone from a focus on direct public funding of basic research as an engine of innovation, to the creation of markets for knowledge goods, to, eventually, the acknowledgement that knowledge transfer very often requires direct interactions among innovating actors. In most cases, these interventions attempt to facilitate the match between “demand” and “supply” of the knowledge needed to innovate. A complexity perspective calls for a different framing, one focused on the fostering of process characterized by multiple agency levels, multiple temporal scales, ontological uncertainty and emergent outcomes. The article explores what it means to design interventions in support of innovation processes inspired by a complex systems perspective. It does so by analyzing two different examples of coordinated interventions: an innovative public policy funding networks of innovating firms, and a private initiative supporting innovation in the mechanical engineering industry thanks to the set up of a technology broker. Relying on two unique datasets recording the interactions of the various organizations involved in these interventions, the article combines social network analysis and qualitative research in order to investigate the dynamics of the networks and the roles and actions of specific actors in fostering innovation processes. Building upon this comparative analysis, some general implications for the design of coordinated interventions supporting innovation in a complexity perspective are derived.Innovation policy; local development policies; regional development policies; evaluation management

Reti di cooperazione e innovazione. Analisi e valutazione di una politica regionale europea a sostegno dell’innovazione

Recent developments in innovation theory and policy have led policymakers to assign particular importance to supporting networks of cooperation among heterogeneous economic actors, especially in production systems composed of small and medium enterprises. Such innovative policies call for parallel innovations in policy analysis, monitoring and assessment. Our analysis of a policy experiment aimed at supporting innovation networks in the Italian region of Tuscany intends to address some issues connected with the design, monitoring and evaluation of such interventions. Combining tools from ethnographic research and social networks analysis, we explore the structural elements of the policy programme, its impact on the regional innovation system, and the success of individual networks in attaining their specific objectives. This innovative approach also allows us to derive suggestions for policymakers intending to implement similar programmes.Innovation policy; local development policies; regional development policies; evaluation management

Politiche per l’innovazione: dalla valutazione alla progettazione

We discuss how the outcomes of policy evaluation processes can provide valuable feedback in order to design more effective policy interventions. We address our analysis to policies directed at promoting innovation by fostering generative relationships among heterogeneous organizations. The empirical background of our paper is a specific policy programme: the Regional Programme of Innovative Actions (PRAI-ITT) implemented in the Italian region of Tuscany in the period 2002-2004. Starting from our policy evaluation and monitoring exercise (Russo and Rossi, 2008), we generate practical guidelines for the design of a new intervention that builds upon the previous programme's strength and overcomes its weaknesses. These guidelines concern how to write a tender that is consistent with the policy's objectives, how to design appropriate tools for the ongoing monitoring of the programme and for its ex post evaluation; how to use network analysis tools in order to represent the interactions among the programme's participants; how to use ethnographic research in the construction of the relevant data and in the interpretation of the results. We discuss what kind of data are relevant for monitoring and evaluation purposes, and what indicators can be used for the evaluation of the individual networks and of the entire programme.Innovation policy; local development policies; regional development policies; evaluation management

Can policy design help organizations improve their networking capabilities? An empirical analysis on a regional policy

In parallel with the interest in networks of innovation on the part of the academic literature, policymakers are increasingly recognizing the important systemic nature of innovation processes, involving many agents often engaged in networks of relationships (OECD, 1997; Mytelka and Smith, 2002; European Commission, 2003; Nauwelaers and Wintjes, 2008), and they are increasingly supporting the creation of networks among firms and other types of organizations. Examples are the EU Framework Programmes (Breschi and Malerba, 2009; Tindemans, 2009) as well as the many national and regional policies launched in the past decade or so (Branstetter and Sakakibara, 2002; Caloghirou et al, 2004; Russo and Rossi, 2009; Bellandi and Caloffi, 2010; Cunningham and Ramlogan, 2012). Policies for innovation networks usually aim to support joint R&D, technological development or technology transfer projects or even, sometimes, networking per se (with a view to create a “critical mass” of experts or users in a certain technology). At the same time, these policy interventions may also help the participants improve their ability to perform collaborative innovation, by allowing them to gain experience in working with external partners on a specific activity. Such behavioural outcomes, while not generally considered the main objective of these policies, have the potential to generate long-lasting beneficial changes in the participants’ competences and abilities (Gök and Edler, 2012). An important question for policy design is what kind of networks should be supported, if the objective of the policy is not just to fund “successful” innovation projects, but also to increase the participants’ ability to engage in collaborative innovation. Should policies simply provide funding to innovation networks on the basis of an assessment of the project they intend to realize, or should they promote the setup of networks with specific features, in order to increase the agents’ innovative potential through networking

Charge carrier generation in a conjugated polymer studied via ultrafast pump-push-probe experiments

Conjugated polymers find rapidly growing application in electroluminescent displays and are extensively studied for use in photovoltaics and laser diodes. For a wide range of conjugated materials ultrafast pump-probe experiments have revealed the excited state dynamics of singlet and triplet excitons as well as positively and negatively charged polarons. Charge carriers play a key role in all the above mentioned applications. However, there is yet no clear picture of the mechanisms which lead to their generation. Photocurrent excitation cross-correlation measurement on methyl-substituted ladder-type poly(para)phenyl (m-LPPP), a prototypical conjugated polymer with very appealing properties for the above mentioned applications, have suggested that charge carrier generation occurs preferentially from higher lying states during energy migration. Our approach to examining this mechanism consists of an innovative modification of the ultrafast time-resolved pump-probe technique

Public innovation intermediaries and digital co-creation. Research contribution to the OECD TIP Co-creation project

The emerging digital technologies pose new challenges to innovation intermediaries. In this chapter we build on a case base of evidence on selected public intermediaries in France (pôles de compétitivité) and in the UK (digital catapults), to argue that public innovation intermediar-ies, which carry public policy mandates, have a specific role to play, particularly in the context on the emerging, complex, and yet not fully commoditised set of technologies underpinning the ‘fourth industrial revolution’. In particular, we reveal that by connecting a plurality of actors on the demand and supply side, public innovation intermediaries facilitate co-creation of complex technological solutions, and that in doing so, they create both social and economic value. The goals of examined co-creation activities revolve around finding highly innovative solutions to complex problems triggered by the digital transformation. The co-creation initiatives that we study take place at the national level, but their outputs have broader impact on the activities of the parties involved. Our evidence suggests that, when co-creating a complex technological solution, the intermediary is involved in two complementary, often intertwined, but distinct processes that bring together organisations that demand technology and those that supply technological solutions. On the demand side, the intermediary helps the organisation looking for a technological solution (a large company, an SME, or a municipality) to articulate their demand, and eventually find it as well. We call this ‘demand-led’ co-creation. On the supply side, the intermediary brings together a system of technology providers (large companies, SMEs, universities and public research or-ganisations) able to devise, develop and implement a technological solution to match the needs of the organisation on the demand side. We call this ‘supply-led’ co-creation. The intermediary is present from the beginning to the end of the co-creation processes, with its activities extending beyond co-creation processes to ensure post-project continuity between the involved actors. Among demand-led co-creation processes, we identified at least two different approaches devised by Catapults and Pôles de compétitivité - the development of an open challenge, and the development of a proof-of concept. On the supply side, we noted the creation of the so-called ‘groupement’ of SMEs by pôles de compétitivité, whereby the pôle facilitates the creation of a value-chain that is able to respond to complex demands of organisations looking for technolog-ical solutions. Our study shows that public intermediaries are able to play their unique role in co-creation processes thanks to several factors: the legitimacy they have to act as intermediaries, as they are endowed with public mandates; the presence of long-term public funding that enables interme-diaries to be perceived as neutral agents, to gain reputation and trust over time; the networks of trusted experts on whom they can rely to successfully complete their mission; a well functioning evaluation process that spurs intermediaries to act effectively and efficiently and to be respon-sive to demands from their stakeholders