Ways to open innovation: main agents and sources in the Portuguese case

Facing increasing open innovation trends, Portuguese enterprises are considering the related processes and impacts. Thus, this work aims to identify the sectors whose enterprises most engage in open innovation (such as cooperation on this issue) and which sources/agents are most used. This is analyzed by sector and type of innovation as an interesting way of differentiation for better open innovation strategy delineation. Using the data from the Community Innovation Survey (CIS-2012), it first appraises the nature of the innovation process, either cooperative or firm-based, as the starting level of analysis. Then, it differentiates the results by sector illustrating which cooperation sources/agents are most used (scope) and relative intensity of use (scale). This is important to assess levels of openness and related factors. Results show that main innovating sectors in Portugal are of three types: research-based, knowledge-based and service-based. They reveal an increasing focus on knowledge and services, trends that have been leading to more active openness towards innovation. For instance, health and construction are increasing their openness for innovating and internationalizing processes. However, Portuguese innovation is still more firm-based (in-house) than cooperation-based, especially concerning new products' launching. This work and future analyzes around it can contribute to encourage the open innovation strategy in more sectors of the economy as an easy and effective way to cope with rapid trends and changes. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Which way to cope with COVID-19 challenges? Contributions of the IoT for smart city projects

Many activities and sectors have come to a halt due to the COVID-19 crisis. People and workers’ habits and behaviors have changed dramatically, as the use of technologies and connections, virtual reality, and remote support have been enhanced. Businesses and cities have been forced to quickly adapt to the new challenges. Digital technologies have allowed people to have better access to public services due to improved use of resources. Smart cities have significant potential for linking people to work and services as never done before. Additionally, the technological convergence produces data that can enhance interactions and decisions toward the “new normal”. In this paper, the aim is to assess how Portugal is prepared to respond to the accelerated process that this context demands from cities. Portuguese SMEs have developed a good capacity for entrepreneurship and innovation; however, they are still behind in converting the knowledge acquired in sales and exports and there is still limited collaboration at the public-private level. The acceleration of smart cities through the Internet of Things (IoT) may encourage changes in these issues. A more assertive alignment between the emergent technologies and the digitization goals of companies is required. This paper opens a discussion around major needs and trends of IoT (and related technologies) since the pandemic has leveraged them. The relationship between innovation and city smartness is approached to assess main contributing and limiting variables (through the European Innovation Scoreboard), to clarify future directions toward smarter services. The tourism sector, as the largest export economic activity in the country, is addressed in this matter. An analytical framework (using, for example, Power BI and Azure IoT Hub) around this approach can choose and support the most suitable areas of development in the country.UIDB/04020/2020info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Approaching the potential of cyber-physical systems to tourism projects

We are witnessing the need for a quick and intelligent reaction from organizations to the level and speed of change in business processes. This is often associated with the emerging of new information systems and technologies, bursting problems like the persistence of wrong information, systems not fully used and slow response. This requires two main actions: synchronizing people’s visions and strategies within the organization and selecting the information which is relevant for the strategic goals. The main challenge of the proposed approach is to choose the information systems’ portfolio management aligned with the enterprise architecture. This integration leads to modelling the process architecture of the company, which in turn serves as a reference for knowledge-base management to cope with business prospects. This kind of flexible framework can contribute to managing the potential adherence to new systems such as the mobile, cloud, big-data or IoT-based services that tend to proliferate especially in such areas as tourism and health

Building resilience capacity through innovation: highlights from European reports

More than ever firms will be required to develop strategies for coping with shocks and stresses to our economic and social infrastructures. They will need to build the so called resilience capacity, which is an umbrella term for the planning and design strategies that can help firms develop the capacity to cope with challenges. The present work is based on an assessment of works that explored recent European reports on innovation performance. The discussion acknowledges that firms will have to find new ways to reduce their risk-aversion and become more flexible. To become more resilient, firms will need to adopt strategies that allow them to develop capacities that better respond and adapt to the economic and social stresses. These capacities must be planned to transform our current economic systems into much more flexible and dynamic ones. Small and medium enterprises are more exposed to competitive pressures. Thus, the choice of sectors and the design of public procurement policies are fundamental opportunities. With the polarization of knowledge creation across Europe, a few countries are responsible for the bulk of innovation and knowledge production. Therefore, attention should also be given to investment in knowledge diffusion and absorption depending on the specific national context. The fact of some characteristics of the national innovation system explain persistence on innovating in response to major external shocks sheds light on the resilient behavior of firms

Diagnóstico do SI do INEM: fragilidades e mudanças em curso

Os sistemas de informação constituem uma mais-valia na capacidade das instituições melhorarem sua actividade. Sendo o potencial dos sistemas móveis crescente, em especial na área da saúde, é diagnosticado o sistema de informação do INEM em algumas das suas fragilidades. Tratando-se de vidas humanas, que requerem rapidez e qualidade de atendimento em contexto e local específicos, é fundamental que as instituições de saúde implementem sistemas móveis e sensíveis ao contexto no sentido de suprimir falhas na prestação de cuidados desde o primeiro contacto ao atendimento do paciente. O artigo mostra uma arquitectura, facultada pelo técnico de desenvolvimento funcional da empresa Algardata em entrevista, orientada a serviços para ambientes dinâmicos. O objectivo é permitir que, sempre que o utente mude de local, sejam imediatamente descobertos os serviços que mais se ajustam às suas necessidades e determinar os recursos a afectar, incluindo a localização dos profissionais que se encontrem nas instalações

Information systems in healthcare. The case of INEM: use of mobile systems

Information systems are an asset in the capacity of institutions to improve their business. As the potential of mobile systems is increasing especially in healthcare, a diagnosis is made of the information system of INEM (National Institute for Medical Emergency) in terms of some of its weaknesses and changes. In the case of human lives, which require speed and quality of care in a specific context and location, it is essential that healthcare institutions implement mobile and context-aware systems in order to prevent gaps in care from the time of first contact with the patient. This paper presents a system’s architecture, provided by the technical and functional development department of a company (Algardata) for context-oriented systems in dynamic environments. The aim is, whenever the patient changes his location, to immediately discover the services that best fit his needs and determine the resources required, including the position of professionals who are on duty nearby

E-CRM and CMS systems: potential for more dynamic businesses

Any change in customer’s behaviour affects the customer’s value. In addition, profitability and economic viability also change. Most companies still do not know entirely their customer base characteristics. They find difficult to define criteria that segment their customer base to find high-value customers. They need to focus on target selections to carry on with marketing campaigns which involve high investments. Given the potential of e-CRM and CMS as powerful tools to guide customer-oriented understanding and analysis, greater attention is required. Several companies, operating within the same business and having access to the same information and technology, differ in e-CRM performance. Without sufficient evidence, managers are prone to making investment decisions that are neither efficient nor effective. So it is imperative to base the decision of e-CRM and CMS adoption, on not only their analytical power, but also on economic viability criteria for sustainable business dynamic

Aspectos a considerar em sistemas e tecnologias de informação

Os sistemas e tecnologias de informação(SI/Ti) constituem uma plataforma decisiva na capacidade das empresas responderem a novos imperativos de gestão com novas soluções que permitam ampliar sua posição competitiva no mercado. Sendo a gestão da informação reconhecida como uma área altamente diferenciadora, são comparadas várias empresas de diferentes sectores de actividade nomeadamente do comércio e serviços, localizadas (sede ou filial) na região do Algarve, a fim de sistematizar os principais aspectos diferenciadores no âmbito da adopção, reestruturação e implementação de SI/Ti. Realmente as constatações são incisivas sobre a necessidade premente de se avaliarem todos os benefícios e custos envolvidos, indirectos e escondidos. É fundamental que a empresa defina correcta e atempadamente um plano e, no caso de adopção e implementação de sistemas, avalie os resultados obtidos no seio desse plano e numa base anual da actividade do sistema estando este alinhado com a estratégia de negócio

An empirical approach of the distinctive aspects for socioeconomic development

This paper aims to present an integrative approach for examining key aspects, and their associations, of economic development. After a cross-country cluster analysis of profiles related to select indicators, discriminant analysis of the clusters identified variables that most differentiate them. This assessment acknowledges that their level of capital endowment, and the ability to exploit it, is crucial to economic performance. Intangible aspects are the elements necessary for creation and maintenance of distinct economic development. Economies with lower skills and knowledge activities lose governance and cohesiveness, explaining unemployment and inequalities and influencing the consumer-confidence index. Economies with higher confidence use new communication technologies. E-government and knowledge media play an important role since collective learning occurs through active social communication. As the learning environment matures, its elements gain new knowledge and entrepreneurship, valuing cohesiveness and governance. This study contributes an original integrative approach to indicators for cross-evaluation, applied to economies/regions or firms. The complements between cluster and discriminant analyses consolidate and sustain the approach, helping economists, policymakers, and researchers understand distinctive aspects of economic development and their associations for coping with future economic stress

Sistemas de informação como indicadores de qualidade na saúde: uma revisão de níveis de abordagem

The introduction of new technologies in several areas of activity creates impact at the economic, social and organizational level. Health organizations must keep up with new demand patterns to respond to current challenges. Health information systems (HIS) aim to promote quality and continuity of healthcare. Thus, the main objectives of this work are: 1) to identify advantages and disadvantages of health information systems, particularly in nursing, for the quality of care and 2) assess whether such systems can be quality indicators. It uses a literature review, of scientific articles related to these goals. Most of these articles states that nursing information systems (NIS) are an important tool of work and quality assessment. There is a growing perspective of HIS oriented to results and organizational intelligence. Here lies an important factor of performance, which is very relevant in health