Definition of a methodology to analyze and measure interactions inside Regional Innovation Systems.

The aim of the present thesis proposal is to define a methodology to measure the interactions among the agents involved in a System of Innovation, due to the fact that the literature agrees in a lack of measures in this respect. The conceptualization of Regional Innovation Systems (Cooke and Morgan, 1993) can be understood like an extension and adaptation arisen from the concept of National Innovation Systems defined in the works of Freeman (1987), Nelson (ed., 1993) and Lundvall (ed., 1992) and in the subsequent development of Edquist (ed., 1997). It consist of analyzing the existence of actors (institutions, clusters, universities, industries…) and regional competences, and the interactions into Innovation Networks among them, providing regional authorities with a tool to define policies to increase competitiveness. A first stream work in which relations and flows among the main agents of an Innovation System are shown, is the one made up by the works of Scherer, (1982), Pavitt (1984), Archibugi (1988), Galli and Teubal (1997), DeBresson (ed., 1996). Another is due to Andersen (1992, 1996) on Innovation Systems, using “graph theory” and simulation models (Andersen and Lundvall, 1997). Recently, some different research projects can be found in which relations established among the agents in Innovation Systems are studied (European Planning Studies, Vol. 8, Not. 4, 2000). Besides, diverse simulation models created to measure the characteristics of Innovation Systems in different environments (Simulating Self-Organizing innovation networks” -SEIN-) are also detailed. There is a growing need to elaborate indicators that allow to predict changes in the regional innovation capacity beyond those employed in the linear model. We have also noticed the need to measure other processes such as those related to institutional relations and the creation of networks, in order to evaluate innovation policies (Zenker, 2001; Landabaso, Oughton, Morgan, 2001; Saviotti, 1997; Archibugi, Howells and Michie, eds., 1999). This is supported by the fact that several policies fostering innovation have been defined, such as RIS, RTP, RITTS, etc… In this context, and due to the importance of co-operation practices within Regional Innovation Systems, the present research project tries to contribute with a model as well as an Indicator Scoreboard which helps quantify the interrelations that occur among the agents in an Innovation System.Regional Innovation Systems, Innovation Networks, Measures, Interactions.

Analysis and measurement of interactions in European Innovation

Innovation Systems constitute an analysis framework, which allows comprehending the socio-economic structure of a territory. It consists of analyzing the existence of actors such as government institutions, clusters, universities, industries… their main competences, and the interactions into Innovation Networks among them. Thus, authorities (regional, national, local…) are endowed of a tool that allows the creation and development of competitive and efficient Innovation Systems. In this context, and due to the importance of interactions inside Innovation Systems, the present research intends to contribute a methodology which helps us to analyze and measure these interactions produced within Innovation Networks. The methodology developed will be tested in a sector which is present in several European Territories. This way, not only the measures defined but also the differences among the Networks analyzed will be observed and tested.Innovation Systems, Interactions, Innovation Networks, Measures.

Analysis and Measurement of Interactions in Innovation Systems: A Corporative and Sectoral approach.

Innovation Systems constitute an analysis framework, which allows comprehending the socio-economic structure of a territory. In this context, and due to the importance of interactions, the present research intends to contribute a methodology and a set of indicators which help to increase the knowledge about these interactions, and their impact on the innovative capacity of the territories. The methodology developed will be tested in a multisectoral industrial sector, the Mondragón Cooperative Corporation (MCC) located in the Basque Country. This way, not only the measures defined but also the differences among the Networks that constitute its different sectors will be observed.Innovation Systems, Interactions, Innovation Networks, Measures, Mondragón Cooperative Corporation.

THE RELEVANCE OF INTERACTIONS IN INNOVATION SYSTEMS: HOW TO CONSOLIDATE THE FRAMEWORK

Innovation Systems constitute an analysis framework which tries to identify the agents, and the interactions produced among them within an innovation system, endowing thus authorities of a tool for the definition of innovation policies. Accordingly, cooperation or interaction related practices become crucial. However, there is a need for the development and implementation of a more sophisticated measures and indicators as regards these interactive patterns, both from a theoretical and a quantitative approach. This papers aims at empirically contributing to highlight the relevance of these interactions. In order to do that, we first start by offering a clear taxonomy of the Spanish regions concerning R&D and innovation activities, to then analyse the extent to which interactions are relevant or not by considering in this case Spain as the unit of analysis between 1995-2002.Innovation Systems, Interactions, Innovation Networks, Measures

La Política de Compra Pública como Estímulo a la Innovación y el Emprendimiento

RESUMEN: En los últimos años se ha produciendo una creciente tendencia hacia la incorporación de instrumentos de articulación de la demanda. Uno de los instrumentos que mayor atención ha recibido es el de la compra pública. En este artículo tratamos de ilustrar cómo el sector público puede comportarse de una manera estratégica, considerando la innovación como uno de los principios fundamentales a la hora de realizar dichas compras. Todo ello queda reflejado por medio de cuatro iniciativas de compras públicas como estímulo a la innovación. Además de ello, ofrecemos un marco conceptual en el que se relaciona la innovación con el emprendimiento y se analiza el potencial de la compra pública para estimular ambos fenómenos. Palabras clave: compra pública, innovación, emprendimiento. ABSTRACT: In recent years a major use of demand side instruments to innovation policy has been witnessed, one of this instruments being public procurement. This article aims at providing some evidence on how the public sector can adopt a strategic behavior, considering innovation as one of the main rationales in their public procurement processes. We illustrate this role by analyzing four cases that shed some light on how public procurement for innovation can take place. In addition, we also introduce a conceptual framework relating innovation to entrepreneurship, and the potential role of public procurement as an effective instrument fostering both activities is analysed. Keywords: public procurement, innovation, entrepreneurship

The process of the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)

Firm growth is a central topic in the literature on entrepreneurship, strategic management and industrial organization, among others. For an individual entrepreneurial firm, growth is an evidence of the return of the entrepreneur’s investment and self-fulfillment. Growth is also a condition of survival for young and small businesses, as growing firms are found less vulnerable to failure than non-growers (Stam et al., 2006). The macroeconomic importance of firm expansion was recognized in the 1980s, when the phenomenon of gazelles or high-growth firms was first described as those capable of intense size increases within a limited time span (Birch, 1981; Birch & Medoff, 1994; Birch et al., 1994; Storey, 1994; Coad, 2009; Acs et al., 2008). According to empirical research gazelles form a small fraction of business population. However, they represent a disproportionally large share in new job creation (Storey, 1994; Coad 2009; Stam et al., 2006; Acs et al., 2008). Growing firms are also more likely to generate innovations, specifically product innovations involving technological advancements (Coad, 2009; Schreyer, 2000; Storey, 1994; Smallbone et al., 1995). Both researchers and policy makers interested in expansion, focus on rapidly growing firms and on small and medium-sized enterprises. This interest in high-growth enterprises is justified by the observation that the remaining population either grows slowly or does not perform any expansion (Coad, 2009). At the same time, gazelles are predominantly young, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The dynamics and economic contribution of firms’ growth are negatively associated with age and size, which corresponds to the observation that job losses are generated mainly by the established, large and non-growth firms (Acs et al., 2008). As firm expansion and growth have proved to be a condition for competitive advantage both at the level of individual firms and at the level of the economy at large, the phenomenon of firm growth has become a focus of research. One of the main purposes of this increasingly preeminent research stream is to provide recommendations for firm management and for economic policy, undergoing the risks and challenges in achieving expansion. However, in order to provide these recommendations, we need to better comprehend the entrepreneurial motivations and the attitudes towards growth, the stimuli and impediments to company growth, the potential mechanisms to firm growth and modes of expansion. This special issue seeks to contribute to the knowledge base on the growth process of entrepreneurial firms, which is an emerging stream of research on firm growth. This emerging stream complements the existing perspectives on expansion, which are more focused on: 1) companies’ internal adaptation mechanisms, as reflected in life cycle models, and on 2) determinants and predictors of firm growth (Dobbs & Hamilton, 2006; McKelvie & Wiklund, 2010). We present the focus provided in this special issue as complementary to existing approaches, aiming also to contribute with new findings in addressing some yet underexplored areas. The emerging stream of growth process refers to why and how growth is implemented through proactive entrepreneurial actions and decision-making processes, which are presented in complex organizational and environmental contexts, including cause-effect mechanisms in the history of company development. This holistic approach is a constituent feature of studies on the growth process. It differentiates from the currently dominating focus on the determinants of individual firm’s growth and from the earlier stage models of internal adaptation to the challenges imposed by expansion. In the following sections of this introductory paper, we discuss first the stream of research on the growth process in connection with the extant literature on firm growth. Then we highlight the contribution of the individual papers included in this special issue as well as the contribution aimed at by the entire issue as a whole. Finally, the conclusion delineates some potential pathways for further research as a result of the findings provided by the special issue

Who leads research productivity change? Guidelines for R&D policy-makers

We rely on efficiency and productivity analysis based on Malmquist indices to evaluate to what extent policy-makers have been able to promote the creation and consolidation of comprehensive research groups that contribute to the implementation of a successful innovation system. We suggest that this dynamic evaluation offers relevant information to current ex-post policy evaluation methods, helping decision makers to readapt and reorient policies and their associated means, most notably resource allocation (financial schemes), to better respond to the actual needs of promising research groups in their search for excellence (micro-level perspective), and to adapt future policy design to the achievement of medium-long term policy objectives (meso and macro level perspectives). We apply this methodology to the case of the Spanish R&D Food Technology Program finding that a large size and a comprehensive multi-dimensional research output are the key features of the leading groups exhibiting high efficiency and productivity levels. Identifying these groups as benchmark, we conclude that the financial grants allocated by the program, typically aimed at small-sized and partially oriented research group, have no succeeded in reorienting them in time so as to overcome their limitations.Innovation Policy; Management; Malmquist Index.

Efficiency in Public Research Centers: Evaluating the Spanish Food Technology Program

We rely on efficiency analysis to evaluate the Spanish R&D public policy based on financial incentives, and investigate to what extent this instrument has been able to promote a multidimensional research output mix, contributing to the articulation of a successful Spanish Food Innovation System. Introducing the use of the generalized distance function within DEA techniques, we assess whether this policy has encouraged the creation, strengthening and promotion of efficient public research units, whose activities present a balanced and comprehensive production of complementary research outputs −personnel training, science and technology results, and socio-economic collaboration with the private sector. Characterizing the alternative ways in which the different research units have been participating in the Spanish Food Technology Program, and hence their role within the innovation system, we conclude that R&D policy efforts have not succeeded in orienting research units toward a balanced output research mix due to wrong incentives and the lack of a sustained budget that would enable the consolidation of emerging research units. Furthermore, we observe that the majority of research units channel their efforts toward achieving science-technology results related to publications and submitted patents, instead of increasing socio-economic results that would strengthen the articulation and efficiency of the innovation system.Innovation System Management; Research Efficiency; Data Envelopment Analysis

Competência empreendedora: a experiência de iNNoVaNDiS

En este artículo se describe el perfil de la persona emprendedora desde una perspectiva académica, para su posterior contraste con la forma en la que dichas competencias son desarrolladas en el Título Propio de Especialización en Innovación y Emprendimiento (Programa iNNoVaNDiS) de la Universidad de Deusto en su Campus de San Sebastián (España). Este programa desarrolla y promueve el comportamiento emprendedor entre todos los estudiantes de dicho campus, trabajando en conocimientos, habilidades, actitudes, valores y emociones relacionadas con el mismo. En el artículo se comparten las bases y la filosofía del programa, y se contrasta con antiguas y antiguos estudiantes del mismo (48 estudiantes, 54% hombres y 46% mujeres) sobre qué ha supuesto para ellas y ellos participar en iNNoVaNDiS. Las respuestas obtenidas de personas que actualmente se encuentran trabajando en diferentes países, sectores y puestos permitieron identificar cuáles de las competencias que se trabajan en el programa son las más valoradas por el mercado de trabajo.This article describes the profile of the entrepreneur from an academic perspective, for its subsequent comparison with the way in which these skills are developed in the Specialization in Innovation and Entrepreneurship Degree (iNNoVaNDiS Program) of Universidad de Deusto at its San Sebastian campus (Spain). This program develops and promotes entrepreneurial behavior among all students in campus, working on knowledge, skills, attitudes, values, and emotions related to it. The article shares the bases and philosophy of the program. It also contrasts the previous bases vis a vis the alumni of the said program (48 students: 54% men and 46% women) discussing what has meant for them to participate in iNNoVaNDiS. The answers obtained from these individuals who are currently working in different countries, sectors, and positions allows to identify which of the competences that are worked in the program are most valued by the labor market.Neste artigo descreve-se o perfil da pessoa empreendedora desde uma perspectiva acadêmica, para contrastá-la com a forma em que as suas competências são desenvolvidas no Título Próprio de Especialização em Inovação e Empreendimento (Programa iNNoVaNDiS) da Universidade de Deusto em seu Campus de San Sebastián (Espanha). Este programa desenvolve e promove o comportamento empreendedor entre todos os estudantes do campus, através do trabalho centrado em conhecimentos, habilidades, atitudes, valores e emoções relacionadas com tal comportamento. No artigo compartilham-se as bases e a filosofia do programa, e contrasta-se com estudantes antigas e antigos (48 estudantes, 54% homens e 46% mulheres) sobre o que significou para elas e eles participar em iNNoVaNDiS. As respostas obtidas por parte de pessoas que atualmente trabalham em diferentes países, setores e postos permitiram identificar quais das competências que se trabalham no programa são as mais valorizadas no mercado de trabalho

‘Cookpetition’: Do restaurants coopete to innovate?

This article studies the influence of ‘coopetition’, that is, cooperation between competitors, on the innovative behaviour of restaurant firms. The analysis is based on data gathered from a representative survey conducted on Spanish small and medium-sized enterprises operating in the restaurant industry. A binary logistic regression specification is used to test the core hypotheses in the article. The results confirm that coopetition fosters product innovation in restaurant companies. Coopeting restaurants also introduce more process innovations, although this effect is not found to be statistically significant. However, participation in restaurant chains and commercialization networks is found to stimulate process innovation. Likewise, business owners with intrinsic entrepreneurial motivation favour product innovation in their restaurants. Notwithstanding, investments in ICT and in staff training are observed to be the main determinants of product and process innovation in the restaurant industry.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO). España ECO2013-42889-