Flanders Language Valley; Industrial Districts and Localized Technological Change

This case study questions how Flanders Language Valley developed as a cluster of localized technological change. Through licensing the attracted small, mostly foreign firms use the research lab of L&H Speech Products as a common source of codified knowledge and with their fast entrepreneurial reaction they complement it by developing a broad range of applications. Subsequently, the created favorable communication conditions induced innovative linkages between the attracted SMEs. Like the Silicon Valley role-model, a strong pilot firm, venture capital, education and most of all the informal networking were critical to the development of FLV. Companies ''find'' each other at FLV to their mutual advantage. They learn from each other and benefit from developing and using common pools of resources in proximity, e.g., companies find employees in the ''collective pool of labour'' created by several education and training programmes.industrial organization ;

Knowledge intensive Industrial Clustering around Océ; Embedding a vertical disintegrating

This case study provides insight into how a particular transformation of the innovation process affects individual companies and the regional Mechatronics system as a whole in the Eindhoven-Venlo region (The Netherlands). The transformation involves out-sourcing engineering activities by Océ, one of the major high-tech companies in the region. Océ wanted to upgrade regional suppliers from jobbers into main-suppliers so that most of the engineering could be done by suppliers while Océ played the role of system integrator. Local suppliers saw an opportunity to reduce the extent of (production) cost competition by increasing their own innovative competences. Under the Knowledge-intensive Industrial Clustering (KIC) policy programme the collective goal is to build up internal knowledge resources and increase the use of external knowledge resources in the local area. The case study shows that the change in allocation between internal and external knowledge resources is not an easy (costless) change. The restructuring of a codification process requires intensive communicative interaction between heterogeneous knowledge resources and this is favoured by proximity.industrial organization ;

SME policy and the Regional Dimension of Innovation: Towards a New Paradigm for Innovation Policy?

Based on the empirical findings achieved in a comparative research,involving 40 innovation policy instruments in 11 European regions, thispaper exposes the claim for a new innovation policy paradigm andproposes a shift in rationale and in broad orientations for innovationpolicy, addressing SMEs in their regional context. The main role forinnovation policy, which aims to increase the capacity of a region andthe capabilities of its SMEs to innovate, is to foster interactive learningwithin the firms and within the region. This calls for an interactivemode of policy intervention.The paper also deals with the question of how to build a coherentportfolio of policy instruments, taking into account both regionalsituations and specific SMEs needs in terms of innovation. The keymessage delivered is that there is no "one-size-fits-all" policy portfolio.Regional differences in innovation capabilities call for a tailored mix ofpolicy instruments. One salient element of the conclusion is the need formore "policy intelligence" in this complex field.economics of technology ;

Conclusions and perspectives: adapting old policy institutions to new challenges

Innovation has climbed higher on policy agendas everywhere, not only in developed countries but also in emerging economies. As a relatively young policy area, it is designed mainly as a trial and error process, with no simple and universal model to follow. Moreover, innovation not only serves economic purposes, but has invaded other policy agendas. As a possible solution to a diversity of problems it has been included in the missions of almost any traditional policy field, including science policy, competition policy, environmental policy, foreign policy, regional development policy, education policy, etc. Hence, the need for new conceptual frameworks and policy intelligence tools to feed policy-making is expanding dramatically.This book is about how to increase policy intelligence by combining quantitative and qualitative assessments of Innovation Systems, and by taking a forward-looking perspective on the conditions for an innovative Europe of tomorrow. A number of new developments and new challenges have been identified throughout the chapters, which, together, help pave the way towards future innovation policies for Europe

Guide on promoting cross-border activities for social economy

Social economy entities combine societal goals with an entrepreneurial spirit. They are formed as entities with focus on achieving wider social, environmental or community objectives. Based on these goals and aspirations, the European Commission aims to create a favourable financial, administrative, and legal environment for social economy actors so that they operate on an equal footing with other types of for-profit enterprises. To this end, to pursue access to the Single Market as well as on an international level, social enterprises need appropriate business models that simultaneously serve their mission and vision, support them in their cross-border activities and – where feasible and relevant – help them use technological advancements and digital solutions. The study report, forming the basis of this guide has the objective to identify barriers and challenges related to cross border ambitions of social economy entities. Such barriers might cover different dimensions such as legal, cultural, capacity and business model. However, it should be noted that this study does not provides a comprehensive analysis of specific legal obstacles and features. Secondly the study has the aim to picture existing success stories, potentials and processes related to social economy internationalisation and cross border activities. Third, several types of support services are identified supporting internationalisation of businesses in general as well as social economy specific support

Study on promoting cross-border activities for social economy; description of 52 cases

The current report has been elaborated during the course of the study entitled “Promoting cross-border activities for social economy, including social enterprises” (EASME/COSME/2018/032). The overarching objective of the study has been to study, assess and diffuse transnational social economy initiatives and activities of as well as corresponding European and national policies. In the framework of the study, 52 cases of social economy entities involved in crossborder activities have been selected and interviewed by the partnership.The pool of social economy entities includes initiatives either already engaged in transnational business activities (exporting or importing) or multinational social economy start-ups with international outreach