Accelerating innovation development and scaling processes for agricultural transformation

At the 5th Global Science Conference on Climate-Smart Agriculture in Bali, CCAFS, IFAD and USDA-FAS organized the Side event “Accelerating innovation development and scaling climate-smart agriculture to drive a transformation in food systems”. High-level representatives of > 20 governments, research, donor, financial and policy institutions, civil society and private sectors discussed their previously shared insights and agreed to act as an “Insight Group” for further related CCAFS research and action. This Info Note summarizes the groups’ first findings, along with a short proposal for next steps

Innovation network building in the Hungarian region of South Transdanubia

The economic attraction of the regions depends on the spatially balanced network-based co-operation of different research bases, SMEs and organisations involved in innovation development these days. The research on regional innovation examines the correlation between regional innovation development, innovation potential and the innovation networks. This study summarises the research trends on the innovation network theory and introduces experiences of the European network building in order to gain best practice in the introduction of network-oriented regional innovation development for the Hungarian region of South Transdanubian . After the introduction of the innovation endowments of the region I discuss the database of the potential network actors and organisations, the possible phases of the regional network building and the preparatory works of the regional innovation strategy under implementation.

Regional production system driven by innovation development: case of Siberia, Russia

Rozdział z: Functioning of the Local Production Systems in Central and Eastern European Countries and Siberia. Case Studies and Comparative Studies, ed. Mariusz E. Sokołowicz.This paper deals with the problems of development of regional innovation systems. The creation of effective innovation systems, capable to widen and increase the innovation activities, is proclaimed as one of the urgent needs for Russian economy. By now, Russian innovative activities are ranked rather low, when compared to other developed countries. According to The Global Competitiveness Report 2012–2013, Russia is ranked 67th among 144 countries. During the last decade, there were a number of state initiatives focused on increasing innovation activity. However, the achieved results were not sufficient. The most dramatic expression of this problem seems to be a low level of demand on innovations from the domestic corporate sector. During the period 2000–2012, not more than 10% of industrial enterprises implemented innovations. The problems of Siberian innovation system are rather typical for the whole country. In this research, information about the largest innovation projects which are planned to be implemented in Siberia, are accumulated and the process of its implementation is analyzed. This analysis shows that in the medium-term Siberian economy is likely to continue to have the status of the resource-driven economy.Monograph financed under a contract of execution of the international scientific project within 7th Framework Programme of the European Union, co-financed by Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education (title: “Functioning of the Local Production Systems in the Conditions of Economic Crisis (Comparative Analysis and Benchmarking for the EU and Beyond”)). Monografia sfinansowana w oparciu o umowę o wykonanie projektu między narodowego w ramach 7. Programu Ramowego UE, współfinansowanego ze środków Ministerstwa Nauki i Szkolnictwa Wyższego (tytuł projektu: „Funkcjonowanie lokalnych systemów produkcyjnych w warunkach kryzysu gospodarczego (analiza porównawcza i benchmarking w wybranych krajach UE oraz krajach trzecich”))

CONVERGENCE OF REGIONAL INNOVATION INFRASTRUCTURE OF UKRAINE AND THE EU

The article deals with regional innovation infrastructure as an innovative component of the EU policy, analyzes its components, the possibility of integration of its structural elements into the infrastructure of Ukrainian regions as well as participation of Ukraine in European policies to stimulate innovation development

How Does Positive Work-Related Stress Affect the Degree of Innovation Development?

Many studies sustain that work-related stress exerts pervasive consequences on the employees’ levels of performance, productivity, and wellbeing. However, it remains unclear whether certain levels of stress might lead to positive outcomes regarding employees’ innovativeness. Hence, this paper examines how the five dimensions of work-related stress impact on the employees’ levels of innovation performance. To this aim, this study focused on a sample of 1487 employees from six Italian companies. To test the research hypotheses under assessment, we relied on the use of the partial least squares (PLS) technique. Our results reveal that, in summary, the stressors job autonomy, job demands, and role ambiguity exert a positive and significant impact on the employees’ levels of innovativeness. However, this study failed to find evidence that the supervisors’ support–innovation and colleagues’ support–innovation links are not statistically significant. View Full-Tex

Living labs as a driver for change in regional television

Traditional television production and distribution organizations are increasingly being challenged by a rapidly changing technological environment. These evolutions force the television industry to leave their comfort zone. This context in mind, regional television broadcasters often lack the resources, knowledge and organizational flexibility to cope with this external pressure. In this paper, we discuss the use of Living Labs as ‘innovation intermediaries’ and ‘change facilitators’ that foster and enable user-centric innovation development processes, both inside and outside the organization. This phenomenon is approached from both an open innovation and a user innovation point of view. This paper considers Living Labs as open innovation ecosystems, enabling organizations to reach out and collaborate with their (potential) audience and other external actors, but also as an open ‘battle arena’ for the organization itself. The Living Lab process governs different expectations and enables conflicting opinions to come together and to steadily grow towards a mutual solution. Moreover, the innovation development process in the Living Lab seems to have innovation spill-over effects on the organizational level, catalyzing a broader organizational change

Drivers for end-users' collaboration in participatory innovation development and living lab processes

Design for users often uses user-centered methods and methodologies. However, this requires an active participation of these users. In this article we explore the motivation and drivers for users to collaborate in innovation processes within a Living Lab environment and approach. We do this by means of data gathered during the course of four years of Living Lab-activity by iMinds-iLab.o on three levels: macro-level (general panel activity), meso-level (activity and motivation within a Living Lab), and micro-level (activity and motivation in a Living Lab-project)

Pan-European survey on the implementation of robotic and laparoscopic minimally invasive liver surgery

BACKGROUND: Laparoscopic and robotic minimally invasive liver surgery (MILS) is gaining popularity. Recent data and views on the implementation of laparoscopic and robotic MILS throughout Europe are lacking. METHODS: An anonymous survey consisting of 46 questions was sent to all members of the European-African Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association. RESULTS: The survey was completed by 120 surgeons from 103 centers in 24 countries. Median annual center volume of liver resection was 100 [IQR 50-140]. The median annual volume of MILS per center was 30 [IQR 16-40]. For minor resections, laparoscopic MILS was used by 80 (67%) surgeons and robotic MILS by 35 (29%) surgeons. For major resections, laparoscopic MILS was used by 74 (62%) surgeons and robotic MILS by 33 (28%) surgeons. The majority of the surgeons stated that minimum annual volume of MILS per center should be around 21-30 procedures/year. Of the surgeons performing robotic surgery, 28 (70%) felt they missed specific equipment, such as a robotic-CUSA. Seventy (66%) surgeons provided a formal MILS training to residents and fellows. In 5 years' time, 106 (88%) surgeons felt that MILS would have superior value as compared to open liver surgery. CONCLUSION: In the participating European liver centers, MILS comprised about one third of all liver resections and is expected to increase further. Laparoscopic MILS is still twice as common as robotic MILS. Development of specific instruments for robotic liver parenchymal transection might further increase its adoption