NEEDS ANALYSIS REPORT:Towards a Sustainable Energy Sector in the Caribbean and the Role of Higher Education Institutions

Пропонується метод ідентифікації аварійних ситуацій, пов'язаних з виникненням витоків газу, на ділянках трубопроводу, заснований на математичному моделюванні нестаціонарних неізотермічних режимів роботи багатониткових лінійних ділянок газотранспортної систем

El programa Universidad Emprendedora (PUE) en Nicaragua: Actividades, productos y resultados

Las diez Universidades que conforman el Consejo Nacional de Universidades (CNU) en Nicaragua participaron en un programa (2007 a 2010) orientado a desarrollar el papel y la contribución de las Universidades en los procesos de innovación. El programa fue financiado por la Agencia Sueca para el Desarrollo Internacional (Asdi), y se basó en una metodología de acción-aprendizaje, en el cual las universidades compartían sus experiencias, competencias, estrategias y actividades entre ellas, así como, con otros actores claves en los sistemas de innovación. La Universidad Tecnológica de Chalmers, a través de la fundación Stiftelsen Chalmers Industriteknik (CIP) fue la contraparte sueca, con participación de investigadores de la escuela de tecnologías, gestión y economía, y el centro para estudios de propiedad intelectual (CIP). Los objetivos del programa fueron de extrema importancia para el desarrollo de las Universidades Nicaragüenses, y se asemejan a los retos y desafíos que las Universidades en todo el mundo enfrentan en el momento actual. En busca de la mejora de los procesos innovadores de las Universidades se definieron los siguientes objetivos: Desarrollar los roles y las responsabilidades que el CNU y las Universidades poseen en el sistema actual y futuro de innovación en Nicaragua, en asociación con otros grupos de claves en Nicaragua; generar las políticas que permitan a la Universidad incluir la innovación en su misión y prácticas; evaluar y mejorar el proceso de manejo de la investigación, incluyendo planes, diseños, métodos, construcción de relaciones y prácticas gerenciales que apoyarán la aplicabilidad e integración de las actividades de investigación y los resultados en la sociedad; desarrollar funciones, procesos y estructuras en las Universidades, que permitan que la innovación y el emprendedurismo sean integrados en su visión y prácticas, particularmente en el proceso de “investigación para el mercado”. Desarrollar a fondo el rol y la profesión del investigador, que incluyan contratos e incentivos para asegurar el desarrollo continuo de este grupo profesional desde una perspectiva de investigación e innovación; desarrollar una atmósfera y cultura en las Universidades (y el CNU) que estimulen transparencia, cooperación y aprendizaje, por medio del desarrollo de métodos de trabajo sistemáticos y conscientes, reflexionando y compartiendo; desarrollar habilidades y estrategias para proteger y extraer valor de la propiedad intelectual, basada en nuevos conocimientos y tecnologías generadas en las universidades, y por ultimo formar personal especializado a nivel de maestría, con el propósito de desarrollar habilidades locales en el área de propiedad intelectual y gerencia del capital intelectual. Este escrito presenta las acciones realizadas, los resultados y las conclusiones del programa

Innovation Systems in Latin America: Examples from Honduras, Nicaragua and Bolivia

The main purpose of the study was to identify and analyze the current status of local innovation and cluster activities in three Latin American countries, Bolivia, Honduras and Nicaragua. This included the goals to identify key stakeholders active in innovation and to analyze the relationships between the various stakeholder and cluster groups. More specifically we were also interested in analyzing the university’s role in innovation activities. Finally, our aim was to identify supports and hinders to innovation activities and the emergence of innovation clusters. The cluster model (based on Sölvell et al. 2003) that was used for analysis was a good starting point – but not sufficient. We needed to adjust and adapt it during our research process and had to add 4 key stakeholders which were missing: Unions; Aid community; Development banks; and Indigenous communities. Using our interview data from Bolivia, Honduras and Nicaragua for the analysis, it was found that there were many similarities across the three countries. There is limited sharing of research results and lack of diffusion of competence, learning and know-how. There is a lack of research culture (incentives, funding) and research and science is not on the national agenda or connected to industry. Limited resources, risk avoidance and low esteem in locally grown inhibit local innovation and entrepreneurship. Intellectual property rights (IPR) are poorly developed and lack links to business development. Public universities have most of the state research money as well as money from donors but have very limited contact with industry and there is a lack of trust. Some great examples of research being conducted were identified where financing for research and advanced degrees had been provided by international donor organisations. However, the researchers act as islands so research is not visible even internally at the universities. There is a lack of research culture where teachers have no time for research, and promotion/prestige does not value research. The research that exists is not linked to the market and there is no commercialization of research. Private universities are a recent phenomenon, during the last 10 years, primarily focused on education and typically with excellent contacts with industry, but with a few exceptions, without any research tradition. A few examples of well-functioning and market driven research institutes were identified. Industry is in general not making innovation and do not budget for innovation and R & D activities, although we found good examples of innovative activities in all three countries - primarily in organisation innovation and product innovation. Government policies and institutions for Innovation, Science and Technology are either non-existent or weak. Some innovative approaches were identified, e.g. in bidding system to link suppliers and producers in agro business (Bolivia), financing innovation in SMEs and support to cluster development (Nicaragua) and financing of micro businesses (Bolivia, Nicaragua). In the financial sector, traditional banks do not support SMEs and do not give loans for innovation. Instead, international donor agencies are important actors when it comes to financing, but they have their own agendas, which do not necessarily coincide with National goals. Various types of organizations, including NGOs, perform the role of linking organizations and the services provided can include financing which make them a stronger player. Laws and regulations are sometimes creating disincentives for local entrepreneurs, for example tax incentives for foreign investment, Tax free zones create islands of industry, without interaction with the local business or society. The Intellectual Property systems are weak with limited capacity to evaluate intellectual assets, mainly foreigners (90%) apply for patents and universities offer no courses or information to students or teachers on IP and IP processes. The above study provided input for an action learning project with the main goal of introducing and developing a process that will increase awareness, cooperation and debate on the role and opportunity that ‘innovation clusters’ may have in the development of innovations. A sub-goal was to increase the connectivity between the key stakeholders active in innovation activities both locally in within the wider region. As part of this action learning project various stakeholders were invited to meet and discuss the preliminary findings in a workshop at the end of our visit to each of the Latin American countries. Finally, a group of stakeholders from each country were invited to participate in the 7th Global Innovation Cluster Conference in Ottawa, Canada

The Art & Science of Mobilizing Stakeholders for Sustainable Development and a Resilient Society

This paper presents a comprehensive model for how to approach and sustain stakeholder mobilization. This model has been generated to support a long term process of engaging and collaborating with stakeholders - from research to development and to innovation. This model and approach have been: applied, evaluated and further developed to make sense and make change in various contexts and issues (including: developing university’s role in society, strengthening innovation systems, renewable energy, migration and well-being, integration and human rights). It has been applied in over 50 countries over a 30 -year period and generated a wide range of knowledge, understanding, relations and innovations. Our aim will be to illustrate the approach and model’s use in a number of cases, to share results accomplished, challenges experienced, and to explore insights developed during the course of 30 years of experimentation, development and innovation of this way of working with stakeholders

Action Science – How researcher gender affects the research design and work approach

During a 3 year period (2004 to 2006), an extensive action research project was conducted in Latin America and Africa, intent on exploring the local innovation systems. Over 500 persons were interviewed, representing the various stakeholders in the local innovation systems in Bolivia, Nicaragua, Honduras, Tanzania and South Africa. The goal of the research was to find the key players who are actively working with innovation, and to explore their experience in the innovation process, including the psycho-social perspective. Specifically, we sought to learn about their roles and responsibilities in the innovation, the types and quality of the relationships they had, how they managed their work, and what they believed supported and hindered their work. For example, researchers were interviewed about their research projects; industry leaders and managers were interviewed to learn about their research, development and improvement work; government officials (national, regional and local) were interviewed to learn about their current policies, laws and programs for supporting and protecting innovation, science and technology; community leaders were interviewed to learn about the local issues, needs and goals for improvement; indigenous leaders were interviewed to learn about their needs and activities of development; bankers and donor agencies were interviewed to learn about their current strategies and programs to invest in or to support innovation activities; and journalists were interviewed to learn about their editorial positions and their understanding of innovation. Because the goal of this research was to understand the innovation process from the ’experience’ of these various stakeholders, a special research design and philosophy was created and followed which was based upon a qualitative methodology (semi-structured interviews and observations) with a phenomenological orientation. In complying with this tradition and in order to assure that we analysed the interviews with the least amount of interpretation, we invited the interviewees to participate in a series of workshops, where we fed back our initial results, got feedback, and created the possibilities to dig deeper into the meaning of their responses and to observe and make interventions into the relationships (between the various stakeholders) in the room. The purpose of this paper is to explore and critique the design, philosophy and methodology used in this research project, both from a theoretical and practical perspective. We are interested in exploring and reflecting on how the gender and culture (values) of the researchers affect the research process and choices made as well as the consequences of using this approach – on both the researchers and stakeholders they are working with. The research approach chosen, the design and the choices made during the course of the research have been analyzed based on research methodology literature, including from a philosophical approach (Buber 1958), feministic approach (Flecher, 2001, Alvesson and Billing, 1997), value approach (Perls 1951, Nevis 1987). The methodology used was developed out from the humanistic and psychological fields and it was found that a large set of the values and choices made in the design were coincidentally similar (if not identical) to the ’feminist approach’ to conducting research

Building Teams and Organizational Learning in China: A case illustrating how Action research can be used in a cross-cultural context to support new ways of working between universities and industry

In 2010, the Chinese Geely Holding Group bought Swedish Volvo Cars. During the build-up phase of a first new factory in Chengdu, Swedish and Chinese managers were employed to work in parallel and on equal terms. However, these cross-cultural teams did not appear to work as effectively and harmoniously as was expected. Due to Volvo’s history of working with the Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, Volvo decided to design a project together with Chalmers with 3 key-objectives: 1.To understand what was supporting and hindering their cross cultural teams. 2. To support the teams to learn from the results and to experiment with new ways of working and learning. 3. To develop a research team that included both Swedish and Chinese professors and students. As a result, a cross cultural team was created between Chalmers and the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC). An action research approach was designed, including feedback workshops to support leaders to become aware of and to experiment with new ways of working and learning together. Action research was found useful for the Swedish/Chinese company to improve its leadership groups and to enhance its relations with universities in a new cross cultural setting

Innovation Systems in Latin America: Examples from Honduras, Nicaragua and Bolivia

The main purpose of the study was to identify and analyze the current status of local innovation and cluster activities in three Latin American countries, Bolivia, Honduras and Nicaragua. This included the goals to identify key stakeholders active in innovation and to analyze the relationships between the various stakeholder and cluster groups. More specifically we were also interested in analyzing the university’s role in innovation activities. Finally, our aim was to identify supports and hinders to innovation activities and the emergence of innovation clusters. The cluster model (based on S\uf6lvell et al. 2003) that was used for analysis was a good starting point – but not sufficient. We needed to adjust and adapt it during our research process and had to add 4 key stakeholders which were missing: Unions; Aid community; Development banks; and Indigenous communities. Using our interview data from Bolivia, Honduras and Nicaragua for the analysis, it was found that there were many similarities across the three countries. There is limited sharing of research results and lack of diffusion of competence, learning and know-how. There is a lack of research culture (incentives, funding) and research and science is not on the national agenda or connected to industry. Limited resources, risk avoidance and low esteem in locally grown inhibit local innovation and entrepreneurship. Intellectual property rights (IPR) are poorly developed and lack links to business development.Public universities have most of the state research money as well as money from donors but have very limited contact with industry and there is a lack of trust. Some great examples of research being conducted were identified where financing for research and advanced degrees had been provided by international donor organisations. However, the researchers act as islands so research is not visible even internally at the universities. There is a lack of research culture where teachers have no time for research, and promotion/prestige does not value research. The research that exists is not linked to the market and there is no commercialization of research. Private universities are a recent phenomenon, during the last 10 years, primarily focused on education and typically with excellent contacts with industry, but with a few exceptions, without any research tradition. A few examples of well-functioning and market driven research institutes were identified. Industry is in general not making innovation and do not budget for innovation and R & D activities, although we found good examples of innovative activities in all three countries - primarily in organisation innovation and product innovation. Government policies and institutions for Innovation, Science and Technology are either non-existent or weak. Some innovative approaches were identified, e.g. in bidding system to link suppliers and producers in agro business (Bolivia), financing innovation in SMEs and support to cluster development (Nicaragua) and financing of micro businesses (Bolivia, Nicaragua). In the financial sector, traditional banks do not support SMEs and do not give loans for innovation. Instead, international donor agencies are important actors when it comes to financing, but they have their own agendas, which do not necessarily coincide with National goals. Various types of organizations, including NGOs, perform the role of linking organizations and the services provided can include financing which make them a stronger player. Laws and regulations are sometimes creating disincentives for local entrepreneurs, for example tax incentives for foreign investment, Tax free zones create islands of industry, without interaction with the local business or society. The Intellectual Property systems are weak with limited capacity to evaluate intellectual assets, mainly foreigners (90%) apply for patents and universities offer no courses or information to students or teachers on IP and IP processes. The above study provided input for an action learning project with the main goal of introducing and developing a process that will increase awareness, cooperation and debate on the role and opportunity that ‘innovation clusters’ may have in the development of innovations. A sub-goal was to increase the connectivity between the key stakeholders active in innovation activities both locally in within the wider region. As part of this action learning project various stakeholders were invited to meet and discuss the preliminary findings in a workshop at the end of our visit to each of the Latin American countries. Finally, a group of stakeholders from each country were invited to participate in the 7th Global Innovation Cluster Conference in Ottawa, Canada