An adaptive stigmergy-based system for evaluating technological indicator dynamics in the context of smart specialization

Regional innovation is more and more considered an important enabler of welfare. It is no coincidence that the European Commission has started looking at regional peculiarities and dynamics, in order to focus Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialization towards effective investment policies. In this context, this work aims to support policy makers in the analysis of innovation-relevant trends. We exploit a European database of the regional patent application to determine the dynamics of a set of technological innovation indicators. For this purpose, we design and develop a software system for assessing unfolding trends in such indicators. In contrast with conventional knowledge-based design, our approach is biologically-inspired and based on self-organization of information. This means that a functional structure, called track, appears and stays spontaneous at runtime when local dynamism in data occurs. A further prototyping of tracks allows a better distinction of the critical phenomena during unfolding events, with a better assessment of the progressing levels. The proposed mechanism works if structural parameters are correctly tuned for the given historical context. Determining such correct parameters is not a simple task since different indicators may have different dynamics. For this purpose, we adopt an adaptation mechanism based on differential evolution. The study includes the problem statement and its characterization in the literature, as well as the proposed solving approach, experimental setting and results.Comment: mail: [email protected]

Fostering Distributed Business Logic in Open Collaborative Networks: an integrated approach based on semantic and swarm coordination

Given the great opportunities provided by Open Collaborative Networks (OCNs), their success depends on the effective integration of composite business logic at all stages. However, a dilemma between cooperation and competition is often found in environments where the access to business knowledge can provide absolute advantages over the competition. Indeed, although it is apparent that business logic should be automated for an effective integration, chain participants at all segments are often highly protective of their own knowledge. In this paper, we propose a solution to this problem by outlining a novel approach with a supporting architectural view. In our approach, business rules are modeled via semantic web and their execution is coordinated by a workflow model. Each company’s rule can be kept as private, and the business rules can be combined together to achieve goals with defined interdependencies and responsibilities in the workflow. The use of a workflow model allows assembling business facts together while protecting data source. We propose a privacy-preserving perturbation technique which is based on digital stigmergy. Stigmergy is a processing schema based on the principle of self-aggregation of marks produced by data. Stigmergy allows protecting data privacy, because only marks are involved in aggregation, in place of actual data values, without explicit data modeling. This paper discusses the proposed approach and examines its characteristics through actual scenarios

Product and process innovation in manufacturing firms: a 30-year bibliometric analysis

Built upon a thirty-year dataset collected from the Web of Science database, the present research aims to offer a comprehensive overview of papers, authors, streams of research, and the most influential journals that discuss product and process innovation in the manufacturing environment. The dataset is composed of 418 papers from more than 150 journals from the period between 1985 and 2015. Homogeneity analysis by means of alternating least squares (HOMALS) and Social Network Analysis (SNA) are used to accomplish the objectives listed above through the keywords given by authors. Initially, the paper highlights and discusses the similarity between the topics debated by the main journals in this field. Subsequently, a wide-range map of topics is presented highlighting five main areas of interests; namely, performance, patent, small firm, product development, and organization. A SNA is also performed in order to validate the results that emerged from HOMALS. Finally, several insights about future research avenues in the manufacturing field are provided

BioMAX the first macromolecular crystallography beamline at MAX IV Laboratory

BioMAX is the first macromolecular crystallography beamline at the MAX IV Laboratory 3 GeV storage ring, which is the first operational multi bend achromat storage ring. Due to the low emittance storage ring, BioMAX has a parallel, high intensity X ray beam, even when focused down to 20 mm 5 mm using the bendable focusing mirrors. The beam is tunable in the energy range 5 25 keV using the in vacuum undulator and the horizontally deflecting doublecrystal monochromator. BioMAX is equipped with an MD3 diffractometer, an ISARA high capacity sample changer and an EIGER 16M hybrid pixel detector. Data collection at BioMAX is controlled using the newly developed MXCuBE3 graphical user interface, and sample tracking is handled by ISPyB. The computing infrastructure includes data storage and processing both at MAX IV and the Lund University supercomputing center LUNARC. With state of the art instrumentation, a high degree of automation, a user friendly control system interface and remote operation, BioMAX provides an excellent facility for most macromolecular crystallography experiments. Serial crystallography using either a high viscosity extruder injector or the MD3 as a fixedtarget scanner is already implemented. The serial crystallography activities at MAX IV Laboratory will be further developed at the microfocus beamline MicroMAX, when it comes into operation in 2022. MicroMAX will have a 1 mm x 1 mm beam focus and a flux up to 10 15 photons s 1 with main applications in serial crystallography, room temperature structure determinations and time resolved experiment

Inviting Strangers to get the gist of Radical Innovation: the Diversity Dilemma

This paper is about the way companies from a variety of industries (called strangers) come to create and develop innovation together, with the aim of accomplishing the holy-grail: a certain degree of radicalness in order to make money out of it, adapt the environment and increase the chances of surviving. On the basis of the configurations stemming from the assessment concerning the knowlegde about the likelihoods of accomplish a certain innovation, the knowledge about the nature of the outcomes, and the time frames, a theoretical model has been advanced. Two dimensions have been contrasted: the non-spatial proximity characteristics (knowledge base) of the partners involved into the collaboration setting, and the collaboration strategy in terms of the number of partners involved. The nature of the innovation accomplished was meant ot be incremental or radical in terms of its antecedents (nature of knowledge required) and consequences (impact). A typology of innovation resulted from the model: incremental^2 innovation (risky context), incremental-s1 x radical-s2 innovation (uncertain context), radical-s1 x incremental-s2 innovation (fuzzy context), radical^2 innovation (ignorance context). The framework contributes to understanding the primary and controversial role of diversity in order to make managers aware of the profound implications that such a strategic setting will bring when collaborations are to be planned

Miten markkinointiviestintään liittyvää asiakasymmärrystä luodaan ja hyödynnetään? Case: suomalainen teleoperaattori

Companies have an increasing amount of customer data available, but the challenge is to analyze it into actionable customer insights. Customer insight has become an important way to get competitive advantage when organizations strive to use it e.g. to build long-lasting customer relationships, targeted marketing communication and automated marketing processes. Data-driven marketing has also an important role in justifying the marketing actions to the rest of the organization. The purpose of this thesis is to shed light on the customer insight creation process and exploitation of the insights in marketing communication decision making. The aim is to resolve which factors either facilitate or impede the creation and exploitation of customer insights. Theoretical framework, which regards the customer insight generation as an organizational capability is developed based on existing literature. The empirical part of the study was conducted as a qualitative single case study and the data was collected through 10 semi-structured interviews. Case company is a Finnish Telco and the interviews were arranged with employees from its Customer Insight and Analysis unit and Marketing Communication unit. The informants were directors, middle-level chiefs and operative level employees of the both units. The main findings of the study are presented as five themes that affect to the generation and application of customer insights. These are organizational culture and organizational learning capabilities, organizational structure, linking of analytics and marcom processes, customer insight strategy and confrontation of insight specialists and marketing professionals. The first four have support in earlier researches, while the last one is a new emerging theme. According to the study, organization culture that does not fully support the pursuit of being data-driven and has weak organizational learning practices was recognized as one significant reason for the poor exploitation of customer insights in marketing communication. Regarding organizational structure, the physical distance between analytics and marketing communication unit, as well as the perceived approachability of analysts, affect to the exploiting of customer insights. The study suggests that the customer insight generation process has to be planned in a way that analytics process and marketing communication process are linked together. The study stresses the importance of linking the processes, since separate processes might prevent the exploitation of insights due to timing challenges. The study agrees with earlier researches of customer insight strategy in regard of three important issues. First, insight specialists have an important role in enabling the effective application of customer insights. Second, the customer insight initiatives should be tied to business objectives, and thirdly, dissemination and exploitation of customer insights should be tracked. Confrontation of the analytics and marketing communication units emerged as a new theme affecting the creation and application of customer insights. This study suggests that the relations of the two units can be problematic due to the different educational background. The cooperation between the units could be improved by developing common practices, rules and objectives

Introduction

On the basis of these two dimensions – breadth and diversity – a theoretical framework is advanced and explained in the light of the special issue contributions

The strategic, organizational, and entrepreneurial evolution of smart cities

This present editorial illustrates the recent evolution of strategy, organization and entrepreneurship in smart city. Referring to strategy, integrated smart city strategies aim to connect the physical space of cities with the economic and social sphere – a connection that although clearly existing, has always been troublesome for scientists and policy makers. Referring to organization, the interplay between theorizing and researching in the context of smart cities and will offer an improved understanding of how organization theories apply to complex ICT-related urban transformations and the societal challenge of enabling smart city development. Referring to entrepreneurship, a synchronization among the actors is necessary to make entrepreneurial activities flourishing and conducive of a ‘smarter’ smartification of cities. The editorial ends by providing a short summary of the six articles included in the special issue

Digital Transformation and Innovation Management: A Synthesis of Existing Research and an Agenda for Future Studies

Management and organizational scholars have paid increasing attention to the interconnections between digital transformation and innovation management in the last decade. However, a highly fragmented understanding of this topic is what we are left with so far. In this editorial, we suggest an approach to open up the black box of the interplay between digital transformation and innovation management by providing a framework that identifies three levels of analyisis (i.e., macro, meso, and micro) along which existing and future research on the topic can be organized. This model encourages scholars to conduct theoretical and empirical studies on how digital transformation affects ecosystems’ structure and governance, how industries and firms compete and organize for innovation in a digitalized world, how the processes for developing new products and services change under the effect of digital technologies, and the implications of digital transformation on managing people and teams involved in the innovation process, among the other topics. We also provide a synthesis of the eight papers published in the Special Issue that this editorial introduces and develop an agenda for future research that will hopefully contribute to encourage and shape future scholarly efforts into this field