Patterns of innovation during the Industrial Revolution: A reappraisal using a composite indicator of patent quality

The distinction between macro- and microinventions is at the core of recent debates on the Industrial Revolution. Yet, the empirical testing of this notion has remained elusive. We address this issue by introducing a new quality indicator for all patents granted in England in the period 1700–1850. The indicator provides the opportunity for a large-scale empirical appraisal of macro- and microinventions. Our findings indicate that macroinventions did not exhibit any specific time-clustering, while microinventions were characterized by clustering behavior. In addition, we also find that macroinventions displayed a labor-saving bias and were mostly introduced by professional engineers. These results suggest that Allen's and Mokyr's views of macroinventions, rather than conflicting, should be regarded as complementary

Only one way to skin a cat? Heterogeneity and equifinality in European national innovation systems

One of the most significant results of the qualitative literature on national systems of innovation (NSIs) is that different systemic arrangements (i.e. configurations of actors and institutions) can deliver similar levels of innovative performance. Using factor analysis on a novel dataset of 29 quantitative indicators of innovative activities we provide an empirical characterization of the structure of European NSIs over the last ten years. Our results cast doubt on the empirical significance of the “equifinality” of heterogeneous systemic arrangements in the context of NSI. Innovation systems show inherent complexity, which leads to a high level of complementarity among their constituent components and configuration. This result implies that successful innovation policies should be systemic, leaving little flexibility in policy design and scope

An Automatic Approach to Generate Haste Code from Simulink Specifications

One of the reasons that prevents digital designers to adopt asynchronous design methodologies is the lack of high level design tools that are available for asynchronous design. Nowadays, it is quite common to use Simulink, from The Mathworks, as a modeling tool and then to synthesize the developed diagram into RTL code automatically. In the synchronous domain some tools are able to synthesize such models. Until now however, such tools were not available in the asynchronous domain. Our work aims at filling this gap using the Haste language and TiDE tools from Handshake Solutions to facilitate mapping Simulink models onto selftimed circuits. The solution proposed is based on the CodeSimulink environment, a co-design tool, able to synthesize systems composed of hardware and software parts from Simulink descriptions. A model of a commercial audio CODEC has been converted using this approach, showing a significant reduction in development time. 1