University patenting, licensing and technology transfer: how organizational context and available resources determine performance.

The paper assesses the performance of the technology licensing offices (TLO) and technology transfer offices (TTO) which have been active in Portuguese higher education institutions. Data stemming from a survey of these entities was analyzed in successive steps through factor analysis, cluster analysis and estimation of a model using the Partial-Least Squares methodology. It is shown that the institutional nature of each of the surveyed organizations implies different behaviours and outcomes. Further it has also became clear that the type of resources and activities in the surveyed organizations determine both their “primary outcome” (patent applications and technology transfer processes) and their “final outcome” (technology licensing contracts and technology-based spin-offs). The results of this paper might be particularly relevant for other similar economies as Portugal where high-tech and knowledge-intensive industries have not been dominant.technology transfer; university-industry relationships; university patenting; university spin-offs

Services Innovation and Economic Performance An analysis at the firm level

We present a model that links innovation effort to economic performance, along the lines of the Crépon et al (1998) model. However, in contrast to Crépon et al, that analyze R&D intensive manufacturing sectors, the present application examines the relationship between innovation and performance for services sectors. This is relevant since much effort has been made to explore that relationship for manufacturing but very little is known about it in the case of services sectors. In trying to fulfill this gap the paper uses firm-level data from the Second Community Innovation Survey to estimate a simultaneous equations model for firms in ten services sectors in Portugal. The present model also differs from former approaches by the specific explanatory structure proposed to estimate the complex relationship between innovation and economic performance. Instead of estimating a direct link between innovation and labor productivity, three specific relationships were put forward. The first of them explains the innovation effort intensity (an input in the innovation process). The second one relates service innovation (an output of the innovation process) to effort intensity and to other explanatory variables. Finally, the third relationship links labor productivity to both service innovation and effort intensity considering also some other influences. Sensitivity analysis of the results to alternative estimation techniques was performed.Innovation and performance; Innovation in services; Technology; Service sectors; Labor productivity; CIS

Análise da redução de custos energéticos e gestão de resíduos no Grupo Conforama

Esta dissertação descreve o desenvolvimento dos trabalhos durante a realização do Estágio de Natureza Profissional, cujo objectivo é dotar o Grupo Conforama com as competências necessárias para a redução dos custos recorrendo a uma boa gestão energética e de resíduos. Os trabalhos de assessoria técnica desenvolveram-se através de entrevistas, recolha de informação, análise da informação e visitas técnicas. A aplicação no terreno dos trabalhos de assessoria propostos veio mostrar a realidade do mercado, i.e., uma certa relutância que as empresas têm em investir em projectos de Eficiência Energética. Das principais conclusões tiradas com a realização do presente Estágio de Natureza Profissional, é o facto de a energia ser barata face aos custos totais de operação dos edifícios. A importância que se dá aos custos inicias e ao sistema de retorno simples de investimento (curto prazo) não está a permitir às empresas, de um modo geral, ter uma visão holística da problemática da Gestão de Energia e das potencialidades que trará em termos económicos, sociais, ambientais e de imagem das organizações. Não foi possível continuar com o trabalho que inicialmente se propôs desenvolver no Grupo Conforama devido à presente situação económica. Consequentemente, esta dissertação incidiu também na descrição das principais funções do Processo de Gestão Energética e realçar a importância de cada uma para o aumento da Eficiência Energética como condutor para o aumento da competitividade

ARE THE DYNAMICS OF KNOWLEDGE-BASED INDUSTRIES ANY DIFFERENT?

The concept of «knowledge-based industries» (KBIs) has been widely used both in the academy and in policy-making over the last decade, due to the increasing role those industries play – both in terms of value added and employment – in contemporary, advanced economies. In this paper we discuss the extent to which KBIs differ from other industries in what concerns some of the stylised facts and regularities of industry dynamics usually found in the literature. In particular, we analyse the patterns and the determinants of firm entry and post-entry performance (measured in terms of survival of new firms), comparing KBIs groups with the remaining industries, using data for the Portuguese economy in the second half of the 1990s. We find that KBIs and the firms within them show some signs of distinctiveness in their dynamics as compared to the general case. In particular, on average, KBIs firms have higher survival chances, and entry within the KBIs groups is less responsive to incentives.knowledge-based industries; market entry; firm survival

Mudanças culturais, institucionais e tecnológicas em Portugal : um estudo de caso de inovação nos sumos de frutas

Colocados em segundo plano das agendas da inovação durante muitos anos, os sectores tradicionais têm despertado interesse crescente, quer porque estes sectores continuam a ter uma expressão significativa nas economias dos países desenvolvidos, quer porque alguns estudos empíricos têm demonstrado que empresas a actuar em sectores tradicionais são bastante inovadoras, mesmo quando os seus investimentos em investigação e desenvolvimento são praticamente nulos. Ainda assim, estudos empíricos sobre inovação em sectores tradicionais são até agora bastante escassos. O presente artigo descreve um estudo de caso sobre inovação de uma empresa hortofrutícola em Portugal. O estudo foca-se nos obstáculos e oportunidades que certas mudanças institucionais, culturais e tecnológicas ocorridas no país desde 1986 criaram para o sector hortofrutícola português. O caso descreve o processo pelo qual uma empresa de um sector tecnologicamente maduro é capaz de comercializar um produto baseado numa tecnologia emergente, ilustrando em detalhe a evolução do complexo processo de inovação em ambiente de “vida-real”Overlooked by the agendas of innovation studies for many years, mature sectors have attracted increasing interest. This interest has arisen either because these sectors continue to hold a significant weight in the economies of developed countries, or because some empirical studies have shown that companies operating in traditional sectors can be quite innovative, even when their investments in research and development are close to zero. Yet, studies of innovation in mature sectors are still quite scarce, particularly in Portugal. This article describes a case study of a Portuguese innovative horticultural company. The study focuses on the obstacles and opportunities that certain institutional, cultural and technological changes, which have been taking place in Portugal since 1986, have created for the Portuguese horticultural sector. The case describes the process by which an enterprise of a technologically mature industry is able to market a product based on an emerging technology, illustrating in detail the evolution of the complex process of innovation in a “real-life” setting.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Business incubators as a technological infrastructure for supporting small innovative firms’ activities

In recent years, the subject of technological infrastructures has commanded increasing interest from several socio-economic and political segments, including policy-makers, development agents, entrepreneurs, academic and research communities. The focus of industrial and innovation policies has been gradually shifting away from the exclusive or dominant use of direct instruments of support to other more indirect forms of assistance. In order to improve the competitive environment of firms, huge amounts of money have been pouring into the building and reinforcing of technological infrastructures. Among the infrastructures that have been stimulated, business incubators seem to be a possible policy tool aiming at the constant increment of firms’ competitiveness and economic development, through the promotion of technology-based entrepreneurship, diversification of productive activities and the generation and diffusion of innovation in the economy. Incubators have been implemented all over the world, putting together several social actors and their different sets of purposes and objectives. As a consequence, they have also generated a high level of political and economic expectations in relation to their performance. This paper aims to contextualise and systematise the available information and knowledge on incubators as a technological infrastructure and policy tool, providing background information for the whole set of papers of this Special Issue of the International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management on ‘Business incubators and SMEs: policy and determinants for their success’.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

ERAWATCH Country Reports 2013: Portugal

The Analytical Country Reports analyse and assess in a structured manner the evolution of the national policy research and innovation in the perspective of the wider EU strategy and goals, with a particular focus on the performance of the national research and innovation (R&I) system, their broader policy mix and governance. The 2013 edition of the Country Reports highlight national policy and system developments occurring since late 2012 and assess, through dedicated sections: -National progress in addressing Research and Innovation system challenges; -National progress in addressing the 5 ERA priorities; -The progress at Member State level towards achieving the Innovation Union; -The status and relevant features of Regional and/or National Research and Innovation Strategies on Smart Specialisation (RIS3); -As far relevant, country Specific Research and Innovation (R&I) Recommendations. Detailed annexes in tabular form provide access to country information in a concise and synthetic manner. The reports were originally produced in December 2013, focusing on policy developments occurring over the preceding twelve months.JRC.J.2-Knowledge for Growt

Towards a taxonomy of innovation systems

The concept of National Innovation System (NIS) has been recently applied in the context of developing nations even tough it was originally developed in relation to the more developed economies (Japan, Scandinavian countries, US etc.). This raises the methodological problem of knowing whether what was learnt in the study of more advanced NISs is relevant for all sorts of economies regardless the maturity of their actual innovation systems. With this question in mind an exploratory exercise is implemented. First a technique for mapping different NIS is put forward and next based on such mapping a taxonomy of NISs is proposed. The technique although simple in the steps it requires shows analytical potential. The cartography it generates allows one to compare directly different countries, by visualizing in bi-dimensional space the graphic pattern of the relevant dimensions of their respective NISs. This technique is applied to 69 countries (87.4% of the world population) and a set of 29 indicators is used to examine these NISs along eight major dimensions. With the resulting data, and with the help of cluster analysis, a taxonomy of innovation systems is proposed. That taxonomy which contains 6 major types of NISs indicates that what differentiates most the individual systems is their performance in three critical dimensions: innovation, diffusion and basic and applied knowledge. Country size and the natural resources endowment of the economies also emerge as important contingency factors underlying the overall dynamics of different NISs.innovation; national innovation systems; economic development.

University patenting, licensing and technology transfer: how organizational context and available resources determine performance

The paper assesses the performance of the technology licensing offices (TLO) and technology transfer offices (TTO) which have been active in Portuguese higher education institutions. Data stemming from a survey of these entities was analyzed in successive steps through factor analysis, cluster analysis and estimation of a model using the Partial-Least Squares methodology. It is shown that the institutional nature of each of the surveyed organizations implies different behaviours and outcomes. Further it has also became clear that the type of resources and activities in the surveyed organizations determine both their “primary outcome” (patent applications and technology transfer processes) and their “final outcome” (technology licensing contracts and technology-based spin-offs). The results of this paper might be particularly relevant for other similar economies as Portugal where high-tech and knowledge-intensive industries have not been dominant

RIO Country Report Portugal 2014

The report offers an analysis of the R&I system in Portugal for 2014, including relevant policies and funding, with particular focus on topics critical for two EU policies: the European Research Area and the Innovation Union. The report was prepared according to a set of guidelines for collecting and analysing a range of materials, including policy documents, statistics, evaluation reports, websites etc. The report identifies the structural challenges of the Portuguese research and innovation system and assesses the match between the national priorities and those challenges, highlighting the latest policy developments, their dynamics and impact in the overall national context.JRC.J.6-Innovation Systems Analysi