5G-Network-Based Connectivity and Data Platforms for Smart Cities– an Explorative Case Study of Drivers for Industry Transformation

Digital platforms, more detailed connectivity and increased availability of data are re-shaping markets. This is an opportunity for telecom companies to partner with other industries and offerings. We conduct an explorative case study to understand the connectivity and data platforms in smart cities. The contribution of our study is that it provides insights on the business models, platform control and competitive strategy in smart cities. Specifically, we find that the understanding of business models together with political, economic, social, environmental, technological and legal aspects are prerequisites to successful cases. Finally, we highlight the importance of co-creation and collaboration, as a means to tackle the challenges of platform localisations. Based on our findings we indicate promising aspects for future research in these fields.©2022 the authors. Published by University of Hawaii. Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Regional Innovation Ecosystems Fostering Sustainable Development

Since 2014, European Union has recommended European regions to conduct development activities based on Smart Specialisation. Smart Specialisation is a place-based approach characterised by the identification of strategic areas based both on the analysis of the regional strengths and potential of the economy. It aims to enhance prosperity of European regions by creating enabling conditions, accelerating research, development and innovation activities as well as supporting Entrepreneurial Discovery Process (EDP) with wide stakeholder involvement. This outward-looking approach embraces open innovation ecosystems supported by collaborative activities combined with effective monitoring mechanisms. This paper examines experiences of the creation and implementation of smart specialisation strategies across Baltic Sea Region and at Häme Region in Finland. The paper introduces results of a SmartUp BSR –project. The study builds on ten cases in nine countries of the Baltic Sea Region. Large number of regional stakeholders involved in regional smart specialization strategy processes participated in project events to share their experiences and best practices. The aim was also to encourage participants to include Sustainable Development Goals 2030 into regional development activities. Activities also included innovation camps and pilots, which endorsed and accelerated activities related to strategy content and chosen spearheads. This also enhanced stakeholder participation and international collaboration widening the scope of the innovation ecosystem. The paper takes a deeper look as a case example of Häme Region, Finland. At Häme region open regional portfolio management tools were created, piloted and taken in use to support implementation of regional smart specialization strategy. Prior to development a benchmarking study was conducted with 18 Finnish regions. The aim was to support collaboration among regional stakeholders, provide flexible monitoring and reporting practices over the time and collection of new development ideas for the future. Experiences of new portfolio management tool practices were openly shared with other Finnish regions and interested stakeholders.The goal of this paper is to share experiences from ecosystem based leadership and management practices for regional development to support active stakeholder participation stakeholder and sustainable development.© 2022. Published by AHFE Open Access. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

5G-Network-Based Connectivity and Data Platforms for Smart Cities– an Explorative Case Study of Drivers for Industry Transformation

Digital platforms, more detailed connectivity and increased availability of data are re-shaping markets. This is an opportunity for telecom companies to partner with other industries and offerings. We conduct an explorative case study to understand the connectivity and data platforms in smart cities. The contribution of our study is that it provides insights on the business models, platform control and competitive strategy in smart cities. Specifically, we find that the understanding of business models together with political, economic, social, environmental, technological and legal aspects are prerequisites to successful cases. Finally, we highlight the importance of co-creation and collaboration, as a means to tackle the challenges of platform localisations. Based on our findings we indicate promising aspects for future research in these fields

Cities as collaborative innovation platforms

In this article, we focus on the role of a city as an orchestrator for innovation. We argue that cities should establish active dialogue with their citizens, and private and public sectors actors to co-create, develop, test, and offer service innovations that utilize diverse sets of platforms such as living labs. Our research contributes to the discussions of open and user innovations from the perspective of cities as communities that involve and integrate citizens and companies to collaborative innovation activities. While acknowledging that cities are platforms for simultaneous and divergent innovation initiatives, we identify four principal types of collaborative innovation. Cities serve as platforms for: i) improving everyday life; ii) conducting consumer and citizen experiments; iii) experimenting and implementing new technologies and services; and iv) creating new innovations and economies. Finally, we offer guidelines for fostering collaborative innovation activities between the public and private sectors

Fasting Glucose and the Risk of Depressive Symptoms : Instrumental-Variable Regression in the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) has been associated with depressive symptoms, but the causal direction of this association and the underlying mechanisms, such as increased glucose levels, remain unclear. We used instrumental-variable regression with a genetic instrument (Mendelian randomization) to examine a causal role of increased glucose concentrations in the development of depressive symptoms. Data were from the population-based Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study (n = 1217). Depressive symptoms were assessed in 2012 using a modified Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-I). Fasting glucose was measured concurrently with depressive symptoms. A genetic risk score for fasting glucose (with 35 single nucleotide polymorphisms) was used as an instrumental variable for glucose. Glucose was not associated with depressive symptoms in the standard linear regression (B = -0.04, 95% CI [-0.12, 0.04], p = .34), but the instrumental-variable regression showed an inverse association between glucose and depressive symptoms (B = -0.43, 95% CI [-0.79, -0.07], p = .020). The difference between the estimates of standard linear regression and instrumental-variable regression was significant (p = .026) Our results suggest that the association between T2D and depressive symptoms is unlikely to be caused by increased glucose concentrations. It seems possible that T2D might be linked to depressive symptoms due to low glucose levels.Peer reviewe

The unexpected benefits of internal corporate ventures : an empirical examination of the consequences of investment in corporate ventures

Corporate ventures, the projects representing significant attempts by established firms to extend their domains into new areas, have long presented a fundamental puzzle. They are uncertain, thus results are unpredictable, in a world that values corporate predictability and reliability. They often do not deliver the intended results, and expose the corporation to significant risks. On the other hand, firms persistently make substantial investments in pursuing internal corporate ventures, and corporate venturing is often described as a key process through which organizations renew their capabilities and maintain their competitiveness. The question arises why would firms do this? Do corporate ventures create benefits for their parent firms, even when outcomes are not what was intended when the ventures were initiated? In this dissertation, I address this question offering evidence that suggests that ventures can create positive outcomes for the corporation even if they do not produce intended results. Drawing on ecological models, resource dependence models, and real options thinking I develop propositions of environment, venture level, and firm level factors that correlate with value creation in corporate ventures. To empirically explore these propositions, I collected data on 37 corporate ventures in a large European telecommunications equipment manufacturer during the period from 1998-2002. I collected both quantitative and qualitative data from internal documentation, public sources and press releases and through multiple interviews (ranging from one to six interviews) in the ventures. Altogether I conducted 104 interviews. The ventures in question are the entire population of ventures authorized through a formal stage/gate process (with three major stages) in place within this firm at the time. As distinct from projects intended to enhance the existing business, these ventures all represent forays into either new market spaces or into the commercialization of new technological solutions. To analyze the decision-making processes I used both qualitative and quantitative analysis methods allowing us to exploit the depth of data but also systematically compare patterns across ventures. Several key findings emerged from the data. I found support for the importance of venture level, firm level and venture environment variables in explaining venture outcomes. Value created by ventures depends on both the intrinsic value potential and how this value is managed and captured in the firm. While I found that value creation in terms of revenues or number of patents grew with the age of ventures, in line with real options arguments, I found ample evidence of value creation in discontinued ventures. In fact, discontinuing ventures in which time had disproved the venture concept and reallocating the resources that these ventures had created was a major value creation mechanism in the corporation. Central to this value creation process was redirecting or discontinuing ventures, as key milestones were approached. Several mechanisms permitted the firm to benefit even from discontinued ventures. They include transferring personnel with important individual skills, the development of new products, creation of important new organizational capabilities, development of new knowledge and the creation of intellectual property. I further found that strategic relatedness plays a pivotal role in venture survival and value creation. In line with resource dependence arguments, ventures that are related to the corporate strategy receive more management attention and survive longer. This dissertation informs several bodies of literature. First, the study contributes to the literature on corporate venturing by empirically examining some of the controversies surrounding value creation through corporate ventures. The study further informs recent debates around applicability of a real options perspective on strategic investments under high uncertainty by showing that a rigorously structured staged investment program helped the focal firm to manage its investment projects and to create significant value even from ventures that were discontinued. The research sheds light on ecological models by showing that a firm can adapt to changing environment in the world of high uncertainty, although not easily. The study also informs literature on organizational search. Particularly in complex and dynamic environments, intelligent search heuristics are needed to be able to explore beyond the vicinity of existing knowledge. This study helps to establish that real options reasoning can inform such a search heuristic by helping organizations and managers to systematically explore business domains that are further away from established lines of business. The study contributes to resource dependence theory by showing how management of key resource dependencies such as access to corporate resources or management attention influence value creation. Further by analysing the value creation from redirecting and exiting ventures, the study contributes to the dynamic capabilities view in the strategic management. Based on the findings of the dissertation I derive a number of practical implications for managers in the corporate, portfolio and venture level. The key finding of the study is that the value of ventures depends on the intrinsic value produced in a venture, and how the value is managed and widely used holistically in the firm. The first one is the responsibility of venture management and the latter one of senior executives in the firm. Both of these have clear managerial implications for the firm.reviewe

Cities as Collaborative Innovation Platforms

In this article, we focus on the role of a city as an orchestrator for innovation. We argue that cities should establish active dialogue with their citizens, and private and public sectors actors to co-create, develop, test, and offer service innovations that utilize diverse sets of platforms such as living labs. Our research contributes to the discussions of open and user innovations from the perspective of cities as communities that involve and integrate citizens and companies to collaborative innovation activities. While acknowledging that cities are platforms for simultaneous and divergent innovation initiatives, we identify four principal types of collaborative innovation. Cities serve as platforms for: i) improving everyday life; ii) conducting consumer and citizen experiments; iii) experimenting and implementing new technologies and services; and iv) creating new innovations and economies. Finally, we offer guidelines for fostering collaborative innovation activities between the public and private sectors

Editorial : Smart Cities and Regions

Welcome to the December 2016 issue of the Technology Innovation Management Review. In this issue, we revisit the theme of Smart Cities and Regions, and it is my pleasure to welcome back our three guest editors: Taina Tukiainen, Senior Researcher at Aalto University in Espoo, Finland, Seppo Leminen, Principal Lecturer at the Laurea University of Applied Sciences and Adjunct Professor in the School of Business at Aalto University in Finland, and Mika Westerlund, Associate Professor at Carleton University's Sprott School of Business in Ottawa, Canada

Editorial : Smart Cities and Regions

Welcome to the October 2015 issue of the Technology Innovation Management Review. The editorial theme of this issue is Smart Cities and Regions, and it is my pleasure welcome our three guest editors: Taina Tukiainen, Senior Researcher at Aalto University in Espoo, Finland, Seppo Leminen, Principal Lecturer at the Laurea University of Applied Sciences and Adjunct Professor in the School of Business at Aalto University in Finland, and Mika Westerlund, Associate Professor at Carleton University's Sprott School of Business in Ottawa, Canada