Modes, challenges and outcomes of nanotechnology transfer: A comparative analysis of university and company researchers

Nanotechnology has been proposed as the next general purpose technology and^engine for growth for the 21th century. Increasing public R&D investments are foremost reflected in the growth of scientific publications, while nanotechnology still is in an uncertain phase of development with various directions of commercialization pending. This paper focuses on the challenge, modes and outcomes of nanotechnology as an emerging science‐based field in Finland. The paper contributes by interrogating how challenges and modes of nanotechnology transfer differ across universities and companies and determine outcomes broadly defined. It uses an extensive survey data covering university and company researchers in the Finnish nanotechnology community. The results show significant differences in the perceptions of researchers across these organisations, and highlight specific challenges and modes as determinants of outcomes. The specificities of nanotechnology are also assessed in this context

Commercialising eco-efficient nanotechnologies in the construction industry: The case of glass-processing in Finland

New and advanced process technologies are growing in importance for highly industrialized countries which increasingly have to compete with rapidly-developing, low-cost, countries. Nanotechnology is an interesting example in this context. It may evolve into a platform for industrial renewal in a broad range of sectors, and can also offer eco-efficient applications to address environmental concerns related to climate change. This paper assesses facilitating and inhibiting factors in the commercialisation and use of eco-efficient nanotechnology in the Finnish glass-processing and construction industry based on company case studies. The focus on the construction industry is motivated by its large contribution to economies while it also stands to gain significantly from new eco-efficient applications such as those enabled by nanotechnology. While there is an active community of nanotechnology-dedicated companies and research groups in this field, commercialization is inhibited by the absence of large and technologically progressive companies which could act as lead users, provide test markets, critical longer-term funding, and aid in the transition from R&D and piloting phases to industrial production. Public technology programs have provided a good basis for further developments and the construction industry could gain from nanotechnology once its benefits and value proposition to consumers and the general public become clearer

The economics of strategic R&D alliances: A review with focus on the ICT sector

Inter-firm collaboration in R&D is not a new phenomenon. What is new, however, is the rapid increase in such collaboration since the 1980s in parallel with increasing competition. Terms like “strategic R&D alliances” or “alliance capitalism” have been coined to conceptualise these patterns of collaboration and competition in industry. The aim of this paper is to briefly review theoretical frameworks to understand the formation, functioning and effects of strategic R&D alliances in industrial economies, to define more precisely and typologise different types of alliances, and to provide a descriptive analysis of alliance activity in the ICT sector as an empirical illustration. The empirical part of the paper draws on the world’s largest database of strategic R&D alliances and related research to identify characteristics of alliance activity in core ICT technology fields of special interest from a Finnish viewpoint. The paper concludes by discussing frictions between theoretical interpretations and empirical examples of alliance activity, the main results of the descriptive analysis, and suggests some new research directions to further our understanding of technical change and innovation in the ICT sector.Yritysten välinen tutkimus- ja kehitysyhteistyö on ollut jo kauan merkittävä tekijä teollisessa kehityksessä. Lisääntynyt kilpailu on kuitenkin erityisesti 1980-luvulta lähtien kasvattanut nopeasti tätä yhteistyötä ja muuttanut sen luonnetta. Käsitteet ”strateginen T&K-allianssi” tai ”allianssikapitalismi” ilmentävät näitä samanaikaisen yhteistyön ja kilpailun malleja. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena on ollut kuvata teoreettista viitekehystä, jolla voidaan ymmärtää strategisten T&Kallianssien syntyä, toimintaa ja vaikutuksia, tyypittää tarkemmin eri alliansseja sekä käyttäen empiiristä aineistoa analysoida deskriptiivisesti allianssiaktiviteetteja. Aineistona on käytetty suurinta kansainvälistä strategisten T&K-allianssien tietokantaa sekä muuta alan uusinta tutkimusmateriaalia painopisteenä suomalaisen ICT-alan ydinalueisiin liittyvät allianssit. Tutkimuksen johtopäätöksissä vertaillaan teoreettisia tulkintoja ja empiirisiä havaintoja, kerrotaan deskriptiivisen analyysin päätulokset sekä ehdotetaan joitakin suuntaviivoja jatkotyölle ICT-alan teknologisen muutoksen ja innovaatioiden vuorovaikutuksen ymmärtämiseksi. – yritysyhteistyö ; koordinointi ; strateginen T&K allianssi ; ICT-al

Towards a green post-crisis economy? - The position of Finland in environmental technologies

Climate change is a major global challenge and governments around the world are now promoting environmental technologies to address both climate change and realize new employment and growth opportunities in this rapidly expanding area. Investments have reached unprecedented levels and stimulus packages to tackle the recent economic crisis also contain noticeable commitments to green technologies. Innovation policies are now under pressure to capitalize these investments and define priorities in the application of environmental technologies to both boost competitiveness and eco-innovation. The aim of this paper is to clarify foreseen impacts of growing environmental technology investments, 'green' components of economic stimulus packages and the ideas of a 'Global Green New Deal' and 'Green Growth' and to assess how Finland is positioned in environmental technologies. The paper reviews existing studies, analyzes global and Finnish patenting and considers the role of environmental technologies in its industrial context in Finland. The findings suggest that renewable energy is the most rapidly expanding environmental technology area, while the economic stimulus packages will play a lesser role than originally anticipated in transitions to low-carbon economies. Finland is comparatively well positioned in environmental technologies by overall levels of patenting activity. Nonetheless, Finland does not have a specific specialization profile in the area, neither a comparative advantage in renewable energy technologies as the most rapidly expanding fields globally. Environmental technologies are developed in the context of a broad range of Finnish industries whereby the application potentials of these technologies are manifold

The Finnish telecom sector facing next generation standards: Indigenous capabilities versus R&D alliances

After the success related to the GSM standard, the Finnish telecom sector has come to the crossroads and now phases various possible paths to follow and challenges to master. At present there is technological and market competition both within and between different next generation telecom standards. Against this background we identify three possible future scenarios of these next generation standards, and analyse recent patterns of internal and external diversification of prominent Finnish telecom firms using data on patents and strategic R&D alliances. Our results indicate that the Finnish telecom sector has diversified its technological base in recent years. The sector appears internally/indigenously weak in Internet-related new telecom technology fields and related applications. However, telecom firms have also extensively engaged themselves in complementary R&D alliances in these fields. We assess the limitations, present and possible future implications of these findings.GSM-standardin luoman menestyksen jälkeen suomalainen tietoliikenneala on uusien valintojen ja haasteiden edessä. Tällä hetkellä on käynnissä kilpailu useiden seuraavan sukupolven teknologiastandardien välillä, sekä siitä mihin standardeihin nykyiset markkinat siirtyvät. Tätä taustaa vasten identifioimme kolme mahdollista skenaariota seuraavan sukupolven standardien valinnalle. Lisäksi analysoimme merkittävimpien suomalaisten tietoliikennealan yritysten sisäistä ja ulkoista diversifikaatiota lähihistoriassa käyttäen tietoja patenteista ja strategisista T&K alliansseista. Tutkimuksen perusteella suomalainen teleala on hajauttanut teknologiapohjaansa viime vuosien aikana. Vaikuttaa myös siltä, että sisäiset teknologiapanostukset uusiin Internetpohjaisiin tietoliikenneratkaisuihin ja sovelluksiin ovat olleet vähäisempiä kuin traditionaalisille alueille. Näille uusille alueille on kuitenkin käynnistetty runsaasti komplementaarisia T&K-alliansseja. Arvioimme näiden havaintojen tämänhetkistä ja tulevaa merkitystä sekä niiden mahdollisesti aiheuttamia rajoitteita

Determinants of internationalisation through strategic alliances: Insights based on new data on large Finnish firms

The internationalisation of firms is a salient feature of ongoing globalisation. Internationalisation has traditionally occurred through the extensions of the in-house activities of firms through foreign direct investments or other equity-based arrangements. However, the recent rapid growth of cross-border strategic alliances indicates that such international alliances increasingly complement in-house activities. Nowadays international alliances are typically based on looser non-equity agreements between firms in activities ranging from joint R&D, production, or various market-related activities. In this study we draw on new data to identify the determinants of nonequity international alliance formation of large Finnish firms and thereby contribute with new insights into the reasons behind the recent internationalisation of these firms through strategic alliances. The econometric analysis is framed in terms of organisational theories of the firm, which emphasise the relationships between uncertainties embedded in the activities undertaken within alliances and their organisation. The results suggest that the involvement of firms in uncertain R&Dor market- related activities, and ICT technologies, determine the preference for non-equity alliances over equity-based ones in their internationalisation effort. In contrast, production- related activities are associated with tighter equity-based alliance organisations. Non-equity strategic alliances have thereby contributed less to the internationalisation of production-related activities when compared with R&D and market-related activities.Yritysten kansainvälistyminen on oleellinen osa menneillään olevaa globalisaatiokehitystä. Yritykset ovat perinteisesti kansainvälistyneet suorien ulkomaisten investointien kautta. Kansainvälisten strategisten allianssien lukumäärän voimakas kasvu viime vuosina indikoi kuitenkin, että allianssit ovat lisäämässä merkitystään yritysten kansainvälistymisponnisteluissa. Alliansseja muodostetaan liittyen niin t&k-, tuotanto- kuin markkinointitoimintoihinkin. Nykyisin yhä suurempi osa alliansseista perustuu ei-pääomasidonnaisiin järjestelyihin. Tässä tutkimuksessa pyritään selittämään tämäntyyppisen ei-pääomasidonnaisten kansainvälisten allianssien muodostamiseen vaikuttavia tekijöitä hyödyntäen tutkimusta varten luotua uutta suomalaisten suuryritysten allianssitietokantaa. Viimeaikaisessa teoreettisessa kirjallisuudessa on korostettu allianssin toimintaan liittyvien epävarmuuksien merkitystä allianssin organisaatiomuodon valinnassa; epävarmuuden lisääntyessä ei-pääomasidonnaiset allianssit ovat tyypillisempiä. Empiirisen analyysin tulokset tukevat tätä käsitystä, sillä ei-pääomasidonnaiset allianssit ovat analyysien mukaan tyypillisiä silloin, kun niiden toiminta liittyy t&k:hon, markkinointitoimintoihin tai ICT teknologiaan. Sitä vastoin vähemmän epävarmuutta sisältävissä tuotantotoimintaan liittyvissä alliansseissa pääomasidonnaiset allianssijärjestelyt ovat tyypillisempiä ja kansainvälistyminen suhteellisesti vähempää strategisten allianssien näkökulmasta

The global dispersion of innovative activities: The case of Finnish multinationals

The internationalisation of R&D of multinational firms is an important ingredient in the ongoing trend towards globalisation. Previous research on Finnish multinationals has mainly relied on R&D expenditure data. In this paper we provide new insights into how the internationalisation of R&D of these Finnish multinationals is also reflected in their innovative output as measured by patenting. The results indicate that inventor teams have grown in size over time, especially through the entry of US, German, Swedish and UK inventors. Contrary to what the extant literature predicts, the share of patents with foreign inventors is lower for Finnish multinationals when com-pared with multinationals from other industrialised countries. However, foreign patents of Finnish multinationals score higher in terms of originality and point to the domina-tion of home-base-augmenting R&D strategies over home-base-exploiting ones. – internationalisation ; Finnish multinationals ; inventors ; patentingMonikansallisten yritysten t&k-toimintojen kansainvälistyminen on oleellinen osa menneillään olevaa globalisoitumiskehitystä. Aikaisemmissa suomalais-ten monikansallisten yritysten innovaatiotoiminnan kansainvälistymistä käsitelleissä tutkimuksissa on aihetta analysoitu pääosin t&k-menojen avulla. Tässä tutkimuksessa hyödynnetään sitä vastoin patenttitietoja, jotka kuvaavat paremmin innovaatiotoiminnan tuloksellisuutta. Suomalaisten monikansallisten yritysten innovaatiotoiminta on paten-toinnin valossa kansainvälistynyt viime vuosikymmenten aikana, etenkin keksijöiden määrä USA:sta, Saksasta, Ruotsista ja Iso-Britanniasta on lisääntynyt. Ulkomaisten yk-siköiden osuus patentoinnissa on kuitenkin edelleen alhaisempi kuin monissa muissa teollisuusmaissa. Patenttien teknologista merkitsevyyttä kuvaava tunnusluku oli sen sijaan keskimäärin korkeampi yritysten ulkomaisten t&k-yksiköiden patenteissa koti-maisten t&k-yksiköiden patentteihin verrattuna. Tämä viittaa siihen, että ulkomaisten t&k-yksiköiden toiminta on edesauttanut suomalaisten monikansallisten yritysten tekno-logisen perustan vahvistumista. – kansainvälistyminen ; monikansalliset yritykset ; patentointi ; keksijä

Alliance capitalism and the internationalisation of Finnish firms

The global surge in strategic alliances has led observers to coin the concept ”alliance capitalism” and suggest that they amount to a new logic of international business organisation and strategy. From the viewpoint of Finland, as a small and open economy, these developments can have far‐reaching implications for the internationalisation strategies of firms, industrial renewal and competitiveness. Extant research points to a high degree of internationalisation of Finnish firms as measured by high‐tech exports, international patenting and FDI. Nonetheless, little is known about the extent, nature and challenges of their alliance activities. This paper applies international business theories to give new insights into the role that alliances play in the overall internationalisation of major Finnish firms, the main motives and challenges that firms perceive in this context. It uses a new database on strategic alliances and traces the broader developments and nature of the international alliances of these Finnish firms. This is complemented with in‐depth interviews of R&D managers. The results point to a rapid increase especially in the number of explorative alliances of ICT firms, and suggest that Finland participates in ”alliance capitalism” mainly as an explorer rather than exploiter of technologies. The main motives for forming alliances relate to risk and cost sharing and to complementary assets. Managerial and IPR issues provide the greatest challenges. The paper concludes with a discussion on implications for innovation policy

Industrial renewal and growth through nanotechnology? An overview with focus on Finland

Hardly any other field has received so much public R&D investments globally in such a short time as nanotechnology. Nanotechnology can be considered as an umbrella term for R&D at the nanometer scale (1‐100 nm) where unique phenomena enable novel applications. The interest given to nanotechnology is largely due to its perceived, and partly also over‐hyped, generic nature and potentials to renew industries in a revolutionary way. Nonetheless, the field is still in a fluid and nascent phase without clear indications of how and where commercial breakthroughs will emerge on a larger scale. This paper aims to conceptualize nanotechnology in the literature on the economics of technological change, review the extant empirical research towards this end, and provide a brief overview and new insights into the development of nanotechnology in Finland. It discusses to what degree nanotechnology fits the criteria of a general purpose technology (GPT) and, in this context, highlights some important issues related to technology transfer, industrial dynamics and organisation. The case of Finland is interesting due to recent and relatively significant nanotechnology policy initiatives and the competitive position that it holds in many traditional industries. Although new firms also are emerging, Finnish nanotechnology primarily appears to be driven by scientific developments and the role of large firms is still small. Patenting is picking up from a low level, and process engineering and chemicals are emerging as the main application fields

Overcoming a technological discontinuity: The case of the Finnish telecom industry and the GSM

The emergence of the Finnish telecom industry is to a significant extent based on the unprecedented success of Nokia. The case of the GSM is interesting in this context because it is at present the most widely diffused telecom standard in the world, and largely accounts for the international breakthrough of Nokia. Moreover, the GSM was discontinuous to the equipment suppliers compared to previous standards, thereby disrupting the industry. The purpose of this paper is to identify the nature and consequences of these discontinuities to the Finnish industry, and to analyses the conditions and processes that contributed to Nokia’s ability to develop the competencies necessary to overcome them. The paper applies the framework of technological systems towards this end and concludes with a discussion on the implications of the findings also to present and future developments of the industry. – GSM ; Finnish telecom ; discontinuity ; design space ; business opportunitiesSuomeen on syntynyt vahva teleala jossa Nokialla on merkittävä asema. GSM-standardi on yleisin telealan standardi, ja se myötävaikutti keskeisesti Nokian menestykseen. Laitevalmistajien kannalta GSM oli osittain epäjatkuva teknologia ja sen syntyminen ja kehittyminen muokkasivat telealan yritysrakenteita. Tämän työpaperin tarkoitus on tarkemmin analysoida GSM:ään liittyviä teknologisia epäjatkuvuuksia ja paneutua näiden epäjatkuvuuksien luomiin haasteisiin ja mahdollisuuksiin Suomen telealan synnyn ja kehityksen sekä Nokian menestymisen näkökulmista. Lähtökohdaksi on otettu kehikko, jossa korostetaan osaamisten, verkostojen ja taloudellisten tekijöiden vuorovaikutusta yritysten ja toimialojen kehityksessä (nk. teknologinen järjestelmä). Tutkimuksen loppuosassa käydään keskustelua myös telealan nykyhetken tilasta ja kehityksestä. – GSM ; Suomen teleala ; teknologia ; epäjatkuvuus ; taloudelliset mahdollisuude