Innovation surveys: A researcher's perspective

An earlier version of this paper was prepared for the joint OECD/Eurostat workshop on innovation surveys, OECD, Paris, June 30th 1999. The paper addresses some issues about the nature of innovation surveys (particularly the new Community Innovation Surveys) and how they might be improved to take on board several crucial developments in contemporary advanced economies. In particular the following topics are discussed: the increased distribution of innovative activity across firms and networks; the problems of service sector innovation and the comparability of services and manufacturing firms; and the problems of labour in the innovation process.survey; service; innovation

Knowledge-intensive services and international competitiveness: a four country comparison

The nature and consequences of services innovation remains a woefully under-researchedtopic. The paper calls into question two statements that are frequentlyrepeated in the political-economic discourse on services. The first concerns thesuggestion that Germany is a ‘services laggard’ that needs to restructure its domesticeconomy if it is to remain internationally competitive. By contrast, the UK is frequentlyheld up as an example of a successfully restructured ‘services economy’. The paperdraws an important distinction between the quantity of services in a domestic economyand the degree of connectivity between services and other economic activities. Thelatter, it is argued, is far more important in determining the size of spillovers fromservices innovation enjoyed within a domestic economy and, hence, to internationalcompetitiveness. Particular attention is paid to the role and impact of knowledge-intensiveservice sectors in this regard. In addition to the UK and Germany, data isdrawn from the Netherlands and Japan. Using these four comparative cases we explorethe distinction between a high representation of services in the domestic economy, andthe innovation spillovers facilitated by a high degree of connectivity between servicesand other economic sectors within a domestic economy.economic development an growth ;

Whodunnit? Divided Patent Infringement in Light of Akamai Technologies, Inc. v. Limelight Networks, Inc.

This Note provides background information on divided patent infringement in the United States with emphasis on landmark cases and the previous understanding of the Patent Act. Part II provides background information on the underlying controversies and the software at issue in each case. Part III discusses the opinions of the factions of the court, and Part IV dissects the reasoning of each. Part V examines the implications of Akamai on businesses and other method patent holders while acknowledging that the future of the court\u27s holding remains uncertain

Family-centred HIV interventions: lessons from the field of parental depression

Traditionally, HIV prevention focuses on individual behaviours that place one at risk for HIV infection. Less widely regarded as a fundamental public health issue is parental depression and the detrimental effects it exerts on infant and child development, as well as its key contribution to non-fatal burden. Much like many HIV prevention and treatment interventions, programmes for depression focus almost exclusively on individuals and individual behaviour. This paper will use the extensive evidence base from research into parental depression as a model to argue for a family based approach to HIV prevention and treatment. The aim of this will be to make a case for targeting a broader set of behaviours that occur within families when developing and implementing interventions

The Determinants of Lateness: Evidence from British Workers

Using a sample of male and female workers from the 1992 Employment in Britain survey we estimate a generalised grouped zero-inflated Poisson regression model of employeesÕ self-reported lateness. Reflecting theoretical predictions from both psychology and economics, lateness is modelled as a function of incentives, the monitoring of and sanctions for lateness within the workplace, job satisfaction and attitudes to work. Various aspects of workplace incentive and disciplinary policies turn out to affect lateness, however, once these are controlled for, an important role for job satisfaction remains.

The Academic Robotics Community in the UK Web based data construction and analysis of a distributed community of practice

This paper explores a scientific community of mainly academic researchers within the discipline of robotics. Data are constructed wholly from web-based resources such as web pages, electronic CVs and bibliographic search engines to identify teams of people working together, career patterns, and the research programmes of this group. Techniques from social network analysis are applied to the data to reveal the structures and relationships within the community. The paper is set within the context of ‘communities of practice’ (Lave and Wenger 1991) and is related to the literature on innovation systems. The paper reveals the structure of the scientific grouping, reveals the importance of key players in the system, and shows that the mobility of scientists is a key factor in both expanding and contracting the community in different locations.Knowledge diffusion, scientific community, networks

Mental health spillovers and the Millennium Development Goals: The case of perinatal depression in Khayelitsha, South Africa

Mental illness currently ranks among the top ten causes of burden of disease in low-income countries. In the African region specifically, neuropsychiatric disorders account for approximately 5% of disability-adjusted life years lost, with nearly one-quarter of this burden attributable to unipolar depressive disorders

Developmental assistance for child and adolescent mental health in low- and middle-income countries (2007-2014): Annual trends and allocation by sector, project type, donors and recipients.

BACKGROUND: Globally, mental disorders are the leading cause of disability among children and adolescents. To date, there has been no estimate of developmental assistance supporting mental health projects that target children and adolescents (DAMH-CA). This study aimed to identify, describe and analyse DAMH-CA with respect to annual trends (2007-2014), sector, project type, recipient regions, and top donor and recipient countries, and estimate annual DAMH-CA per child/adolescent by region. METHODS: Developmental assistance for all projects focused on children and adolescent mental health between 2007 and 2014 was identified on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) Creditor Reporting System, and analysed by target population, sector, project type, donors, and recipients. The study did not include governmental or private organisation funds, nor funding for projects that targeted the community or those that included mental health but not as a primary objective. RESULTS: Between 2007 and 2014, 704 projects were identified, constituting US$88.35 million in DAMH-CA, with an average of 16.9$ 63.24 million, 72%), while little in absolute and relative terms supported capacity building, prevention, promotion or research, with the latter receiving just US$1.2 million over the eight years (1.4$ 0.02 in Europe, less than US$0.01 in Asia, Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean, and US$ 0 in Oceania. CONCLUSIONS: To mitigate the growing burden of mental and neurological disorders, increased financial aid must be invested in child and adolescent mental health, especially with respect to capacity building, research and prevention of mental disorder projects. The present findings can be used to inform policy development and guide resource allocation, as current developmental assistance is described by sector and project type, thereby facilitating the identification of specific areas of investment need

Integration of mental health into primary care in low- and middle-income countries: the PRIME mental healthcare plans.

This supplement outlines the development and piloting of district mental healthcare plans from five low- and middle-income countries, together with the methods for their design, evaluation and costing. In this editorial we consider the challenges that these programmes face, highlight their innovations and draw conclusions

Poverty and Participation in 21st Century Britain

Observatoire sociologique du changement – 27 rue Saint - Guillaume 75337 Paris Cedex 07 http://www.sciencespo.fr/osc/fr Tel +33 (0)1 45 49 54 50 Fax +33 (0)1 45 49 54 86 Résumé : Peter Townsend déclarait que la pauvreté pouvait être scientifiquement mesurée comme un point de rupture dans la distribu tion du revenu en dessous duquel la participation à la société s’effondre. Cet article explore l’hypothèse de Townsend : (1) en élargissant les dimensions de la participation sociale telle que conçue par Townsend, (2) en exploitant de nouvelles données (Un derstanding Society, 2011; 2013, N=40, 000 ménages) et en utilisant le modèle SEM (Structural Equation Modelling) , enfin (3) en prenant en compte l’aspect pluri - culturel/ethnique de la société Britannique. La participation à la société ― définie dans un se ns large qui inclut la non - privation économique, la participation sociale et la confiance ― diminue avec la baisse du niveau de revenu puis cesse de se réduire pour les 30% des individus les plus pauvres. Ceci peut indiquer un effet de seuil de participati on, un pallier plutôt qu’un point de rupture comme le suggère Townsend, qui reste valable même pour les revenus très faibles. Finalement, nous montrerons que les personnes interrogées issues des minorités présentent un moindre niveau de participation socia le par rapport aux autochtones.Peter Townsend argued that poverty could be scientifically measured as a 'breakpoint' within the income distribution below which participation collapses. This pap er investigates Townsend's hypothesis by: (1) broadening his original measurement of participation, (2) using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) in conjunction with a new dataset including 40,000 households (Understanding Society, 2011; 2013); and (3) tak ing into account the multi - cultural/ethnic nature of British society. We find that participation - defined as lack of deprivation, social participation and trust - reduces as income falls but stops doing so among the poorest 30 per cent of individuals. Thi s may be indicating a minimum level of participation, a floor rather than a ‘breakpoint’ as suggested by Townsend, which has to be sustained irrespective of how low income is. Finally, respondents with an ethnic minority background manifest lower levels of participation than white respondents