The Light and Shade of Knowledge Recombination: A Systematic Look at the Bioinformatics Patent Scenario

This research focuses on a special case of General Purpose Technology: Bioinformatics. It explores whether – and to what extent – Bioinformatics inventions build upon inherently diverse knowledge sources. Precisely, the role of scientific and technological diversity (measured with Shannon-Wiener diversity index) as driver of impactful Bioinformatics inventions (measured at different standard deviations of the forward citations distribution) is investigated. To this purpose, we carried out an analysis of both Non-Patent and Patent references cited into Bioinformatics patented inventions in the period 1976-2014. Results from a series of logistic regression models indicate that different degrees of impact require different degrees of knowledge diversity; at the same time, and importantly for practitioners and scholars, recombining diverse scientific and technological knowledge bases not always lead to impactful inventions. In other terms: the interplay of science and technology is not always the best option to get impactful inventions

Does Geographical Proximty Matters for Innovation? The Case for European Regions

The increasing globalization, challenges for the competitiveness, and resources prioritization are among the causes forcing the European (EU) regions to rethink their overall approach to regional economic development. To deal with such a complexity, EU policy makers deployed a program called Smart Specialisation Strategies (SSS) which aims at consolidating the sources of regional competitive advantage by making effective and efficient use of public investment in R&D. By promoting SSS, national and regional governments are attempting to enhance the competitiveness of firms and clusters. Then, the study of clusters along with their evolutionary and spatial dynamics is put on top of the agenda of EU policy makers. To better understand the determinants of clusters in Europe we first, investigate the role played by technological specialization and diversification; second, find empirical evidence to whether the link between geographical proximity and regional innovation activity exists; finally, explore the co-existence of cluster dynamics and the deployment of SSS

Search Practices for Discontinuous Innovation: Scale Development and Construct Validation

Managing innovation and particularly searching for new ideas in a steady state environment is really different than in discontinuous conditions where traditional practices and routines may prove ineffective. This paper reviews and empirically explores the field of search strategies and practices for discontinuous innovation and, for the first time, tests the validity of a "Discontinuous Innovation (DI) Search Capacity" construct. Based on a comprehensive literature review on the innovation search stage and on the evidence of more than 80 case studies reported by the Discontinuous Innovation Lab a questionnaire was developed and submitted to a 500 high tech firm sample. Four DI Search dimensions were identified, each consisting of a bundle of interrelated yet distinct practices. We empirically tested the DI Search Capacity and measured it as second-order construct by using the Structural Equation Modelling

Learning in an Agile Setting: A Multilevel Study on the Evolution of Organizational Routines

Recognizing a serious lack of research on routinized individual actions and organizational adaptation in the stability-change paradox, we intend to provide an in-depth explanation of the way in which agile methods affect organizational learning in self-managed, team-based organizations, taking a multi-level evolutionary approach. We explore learning in agile organizations by breaking the analysis of organizational routines down into different levels \u2013 individual, team and organization \u2013 and describing the process of variation, selection and retention of routines at each level. Leveraging on multiple case studies, we discuss how team members learn and gain knowledge, from both direct and indirect experience, and analyze how teams develop conceptual frameworks and interpret those experiences. Finally, we discuss how organizational memory develops and how teams in agile organizations adapt simultaneously within an ecological structure that also comprises the changing environment. Our findings reveal substantial flaws in the capacity of agile methods to foster organizational learning

Building an ANFIS-based Decision Support System for Regional Growth: The Case of European Regions

This paper proposes a Decision Support System that can provide European policy makers with systematic guidance in allocating and prioritizing scant public resources. We do so by taking the stance of the Smart Specialisation Strategies which aim at consolidating the regional strengths and make effective and efficient use of public investment in R&D. By applying the ANFIS method we were able to understand how – and to what extent – the competitiveness drivers promoted technological development and how the latter contributes to the economic growth of European regions. We used socio-economic, spatial, and patent-based data to train, test and validate the models. What emerges is that an increase of R&D investments enhances the regional employment rate and the number of patents per capita; in turn, by taking into account the several combinations of specialization and diversification indicators, this leads to an increase of the regional GDP

Editorial

Special issue on Continuous Innovation Network (CINet

Occupational safety and health education and training: an innovative format and experience

Health begins at home and in community where people live and work, in fact, the World Health Organisation (WHO) defines health as ‘a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being’. Experts and professionals, of all sectors and specialities, need to take account the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) in all aspects of their working lives. Mainstreaming OSH into education concerns integrating one policy area – OSH – into another – education. This study started from a first analysis of an international and national OSH training offer, in which  some critical aspects emerged: there are mostly sectoral training courses, qualifying some prevention actor roles, most linked to traditional risks, and primarily focused on the safety aspects rather than the health ones. The current study is related to an innovative format and experience for an integrated management of OSH in the evolution of the world of work. The concept was born from the need to train new professionals figures when the rapid demographic changes and technological innovation are changing the working world and therefore also the required skills to prevention actors. A first test has been conducted on 26 students who attended the first edition of this innovative training. Iavicoli, S.; Pietrafesa, E.; Martini, A.; Simeone, R.; Polimeni, A. (2020). Occupational safety and health education and training: an innovative format and experience. En 6th International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd'20). Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. (30-05-2020):333-341. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAd20.2020.11051OCS33334130-05-202

A role for startups in unleashing the disruptive power of social media

As social media attract increasing attention from executives and find varied applications in different industries, research on the subject has been investigating the antecedents, moderators, mediators and outcomes of social media adoption, as well as impacts on the organizational and individual level. However, relatively little attention has been paid to the discussion of the new sources of social media innovation-i.e., the upstream originators of social media solutions. Such innovations of a possibly disruptive nature often originate from startups, which can constitute a significant driver for social media development and can influence the adopting incumbents' behaviors. This study aims at shedding first light on social media-based solutions developed and delivered by startups. By surveying the Crunchbase database, we identified 724 funded social media startups, which were further classified into six categories, namely: (i) social network; (ii) social commerce; (iii) social recruitment; (iv) social management; (v) social loyalty and advocacy; (vi) contact management. Our findings show how the large majority of startups deliver social network solutions to incumbents, followed by social media management applications. The findings also shed light on emerging approaches to value generation and open innovation from social media related to and driven by startups