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on Innovation |
| By: | Spyros Arvanitis (Swiss Institute for Business Cycle Research (KOF), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH)); Ursina Kubli (Swiss Institute for Business Cycle Research (KOF), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH)); Martin Woerter (Swiss Institute for Business Cycle Research (KOF), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH)) |
| Abstract: | This study explores the factors determining the propensity of Swiss science institutions at the level of a single institute or department to interact with private enterprises in Switzerland (universities and other research institution), i.e. to get involved in knowledge and technology transfer (KTT) activities in order to provide firms with scientific knowledge in research fields which are relevant for their own innovation activities, collect practical experience for students and university staff as well as test the applicability of new research results. We are especially interested in the different forms of this interaction, not only through joint research projects but also through training, mobility of academic personnel, jointly supervised master theses and PhDs, consulting and so on. Moreover, we also study the determinants of commercialization of university research output that takes the form of patenting, licensing or spin-offs. The data used in this study were collected in the course of a survey among institutes of all three types of science institutions in Switzerland (federal institutions, cantonalal universities and regional universities of applied sciences) using a questionnaire. |
| Keywords: | knowledge and technology transfer |
| JEL: | O30 |
| Date: | 2006–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kof:wpskof:06-132&r=ino |
| By: | Mario Pianta; Andrea Vaona |
| Abstract: | The paper investigates the differences between small, medium-sized and large firms regarding their performance in the introduction of new products and processes. After a review of the relevant literature, two models are proposed and tested in search for different business strategies and innovation inputs connected to product and process innovations. The empirical analysis uses innovation survey (CIS 2) data at the industry level for 22 manufacturing sectors, broken down in three firm size classes, for eight European countries. Special attention is devoted to tackling the issues of possible endogeneity of the regressors and of unobserved sectoral heterogeneity. The results - strengthening the findings of previous studies - show that product and process innovations, though having some complementarities, are associated to different innovative inputs and strategies pursued by firms. Systematic differences also emerge between the behaviour of large firms and SMEs. |
| Keywords: | Product innovation; Process innovation; Firm size; Determinants of innovation; European industries |
| JEL: | L11 O31 O33 |
| Date: | 2006–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kie:kieliw:1284&r=ino |
| By: | Paulo Santos (MIETE, Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto); Aurora A.C. Teixeira (CEMPRE, Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Porto); Ana Brochado (Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Porto) |
| Abstract: | Although there is a considerable amount of empirical evidence on inter-firm collaborations within technology-based industries, there are only a few works concerned with R&D cooperation by low-tech firms, especially SMEs. Providing further and new evidence based on a recently built database of CRAFT projects, this study analyzes the relationship between technology and proximity in international R&D networks using Homogeneity Analysis by Means of Alternating Least Squares (HOMALS) and statistical cluster techniques. The resulting typology of international cooperative R&D projects highlights that successful international cooperative R&D projects are both culturally/geographically closer and distant. Moreover, and quite interestingly, geographically distant projects are technologically more advanced whereas those located near each other are essentially low tech. Such evidence is likely to reflect the tacit-codified knowledge debate boosted recently by the ICT “revolution” emphasized by the prophets of the “Death of Distance” and the “End of Geography”. |
| Keywords: | Research and Development (R&D); proximity; SMEs |
| JEL: | O32 R12 R58 |
| Date: | 2006–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:por:fepwps:222&r=ino |
| By: | Mario Pianta; Andrea Vaona |
| Abstract: | The labour productivity impact of innovation is investigated in this paper combining neo-Schumpeterian insights on the variety of innovation, with the importance of industrial structures and firm size; two models are proposed for explaining productivity and export success in European manufacturing industries and firm size classes. The empirical estimates are based on data from the European innovation survey (CIS 2), covering Austria, France, Italy, the Netherlands and the UK, broken down by 22 sectors and for large, medium and small firms. The econometric results, obtained adopting cross-sectional estimation methodologies able to account for unobserved industrial characteristics, show that productivity in Europe relies on product and process innovation, with the support of the efficiency gains provided by a grouped business structures. Conversely, in Italy the introduction of new machinery linked to innovation appears as the key mechanism supporting domestic productivity. When export success is considered, all countries have to rely on an innovation-based model of competitiveness. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, productivity, export performance, industries |
| JEL: | O31 O33 O41 |
| Date: | 2006–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kie:kieliw:1283&r=ino |
| By: | Alessandro Goglio |
| Abstract: | The Czech government considers innovation policy a key component of the effort to improve the business environment. This paper underscores the importance for the Czech Republic of expanding R&D activities that have a potential for commercial innovation. It also points to the relevance of good general business conditions in encouraging research and ensuring that the economy benefits from the international diffusion of innovation. Concerning targeted policies, the need for structural reforms to improve the research and innovation environment is described. The paper looks at options to create a coherent governance framework for public R&D and to make the allocation of research funds efficient. Assessment of changes in R&D tax allowances and the strategy for giving direct support to innovative SMEs is also made. Finally, the paper considers what reforms are needed to help the creation of stronger science-industry links and the take-off of the venture capital and "business angels" market. This Working Paper relates to the 2006 OECD Economic Survey of the Czech Republic (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/Czech). <P>Politiques visant à encourager l?innovation en République tchèque <BR>Le gouvernement tchèque considère que la politique d'innovation est un élément clé des efforts menés pour améliorer les conditions de fonctionnement des entreprises. Ce document souligne l'importance que la République tchèque accorde au développement des activités de R-D pouvant déboucher sur une innovation commerciale. Il souligne aussi la pertinence de bonnes conditions générales pour encourager la recherche et tirer parti des avantages économiques de la diffusion internationale de l'innovation. S'agissant des politiques ciblées, la nécessité de réformes structurelles pour améliorer les conditions de la recherche et de l'innovation est soulignée. Le document examine les options en vue de la création d'un cadre de gouvernance cohérent pour la R-D publique et de l'allocation efficiente des fonds destinés à la recherche. Sont évaluées également les modifications des aides fiscales à la R-D et la stratégie visant à apporter une aide directe aux PME novatrices. Enfin, le document passe en revue les réformes qui sont nécessaires pour favoriser la création de liens plus forts entre la science et l'industrie et encourager le développement de l'activité du marché du capital-risque et des investisseurs providentiels. Ce Document de travail se rapporte à l'Étude économique de l'OCDE de la République tchèque 2006 (www.oecd.org/eco/etudes/tcheque). |
| Keywords: | OECD, transition economies, OCDE, économie en transition, Czech Republic, République tchèque, innovation processes and incentives, management of innovation and R&D, processus d'innovation, incitations à l'innovation |
| JEL: | O3 |
| Date: | 2006–07–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:498-en&r=ino |
| By: | Anne Branciard (LEST - Laboratoire d'économie et de sociologie du travail - [CNRS : UMR6123] - [Université de Provence - Aix-Marseille I][Université de la Méditerranée - Aix-Marseille II]) |
| Abstract: | L'objet de cette recherche a été d'étudier les processus politiques et institutionnels de construction des sciences et des techniques en biologie moléculaire et en génétique, et de leur inscription, dans le contexte sociétal français des années 1980'-90', dans des espaces productifs qui sont articulés à ces domaines par l'innovation, via les biotechnologies. Les modalités, et les conséquences sur l'espace industriel (groupes industriels, PMI et start ups) et l'espace professionnel académique et biomédical, des interactions entre des dispositifs institutionnels visant à un couplage science-innovation, et les configurations d'acteurs porteuses des logiques d'interdépendance scientifique et technique, sont étudiées sur une première période 1985 – 1996. Ces mécanismes institutionnels sont analysés comme un exemple de politique S§T de court terme, discontinue, et sans anticipation dans un contexte d'incertitude, n'ayant pas les effets attendus de spirale vertueuse économique et de co-production de connaissances entre action publique, recherche et industrie. Mais en même temps que les dispositifs institutionnels, mis en place par l'acteur significatif qu'est l'Etat, dessinaient un fonctionnement des activités de R/D privée et publique formellement organisées et financées, les cadres mêmes de ce fonctionnement se trouvent modifiés sous l'impulsion d'une autre dynamique. En effet, les processus d'avancées scientifiques et technologiques, l'interférence avec le niveau international de la R/D et la concurrence avec d'autres systèmes de recherche et d'innovation, les impacts indirects des institutions et des arrangements organisationnels au niveau mondial, créent par leurs interactions un changement cumulatif et irréversible de long terme, des effets de système, qui génèrent des modifications de la configuration nationale des relations science/monde socioéconomique et de leurs référents. Les changements sont étudiés sur les plans technologique, cognitif, et de l'organisation scientifique. Sur cette première phase, il est mis en évidence que les mécanismes d'incitation et de coordination, segmentés, mais imbriquant acteurs publics et privés, mis en place par les dispositifs d'action publique, n'ont pas été mis en cohérence avec la dynamique propre des logiques de diffusion et d'interdépendance des avancées scientifiques et techniques en sciences du vivant. <br />En dépit de l'apparente inefficacité de la politique S§T pour un couplage science/innovation, des apprentissages cognitifs et organisationnels ont conduit cependant à constituer les pré-requis fonctionnels de l'émergence d'un espace d'innovation, fondé sur une nouvelle forme d'imbrication entre science et technologie, où firmes industrielles, nouvelles entreprises de biotechnologie, laboratoires de recherche publics et privés et services cliniques doivent être associés à tous les stades d'élaboration et de diffusion des produits de la recherche génomique et biomédicale (1996à). Dans cette seconde phase, un nouveau dispositif d'action publique est lancé, d'articulation science/industrie, avec cette fois un ancrage territorialisé (génopole d'Evry). <br />D'un point de vue économique et politique, les systèmes d'innovation territorialisés constituent une configuration institutionnelle de processus d'apprentissages collectifs, que l'on ne peut réduire à une fonction de coordination d'activités hétérogènes dans le cadre de formes particulières de "gouvernance" localisées. La constitution d'un pôle de recherche et de développement économique en SDV ayant une dynamique propre fondée sur un ancrage localisé, implique en effet une remise en cause du schéma mécaniste linéaire découverte scientifique -> applications technologiques -> opportunités économiques. Le problème n'est donc pas tant, comme le préconisait l'AFM, acteur privé moteur de l'émergence de la génomique en France, de participer à la résorption de "goulots d'étranglement" sur une « filière du gène au médicament », que de créer les conditions du passage, qui n'est pas fortuit, d'une concentration d'activités de recherche et développement à un système localisé d'innovation, d'un effet d'agglomération à une synergie porteuse de ressources spécifiques, valorisables à la fois dans des produits de recherche à usage industriel (biens privés) et dans des valeurs d'usage académique préservant l'éventail des développements scientifiques et techniques possibles (biens publics). |
| Keywords: | Politique S§T; Politique d'innovation; Génomique; Biotechnologies; Séquençage; Génopole; Réseau; Relations science/industrie; Start-up; Modèle Triple Hélice; France |
| Date: | 2006–07–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:halshs-00087208_v1&r=ino |
| By: | Mark Doms; Ethan Lewis |
| Abstract: | The positive correlations found between computer use and human capital are often interpreted as evidence that the adoption of computers have raised the relative demand for skilled labor, the widely touted skill-biased technological change hypothesis. However, several models argue the skill-intensity of technology is endogenously determined by the relative supply of skilled labor. We use instruments for the supply of human capital coupled with a rich dataset on computer usage by businesses to show that the supply of human capital is an important determinant of the adoption of personal computers. Our results suggest that great caution must be exercised in placing economic interpretations on the correlations often found between technology and human capital. |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedfwp:2006-18&r=ino |
| By: | Gilles Puel (GRESOC - Groupe de REcherches SOCio-économiques - [Université Toulouse le Mirail - Toulouse II]) |
| Abstract: | La fin des territoires a laissé place à des réflexions plus sérieuses sur les relations entre les TIC et la « compétitivité et l'attractivité des territoires », les « stratégies de développement". Un effet de mode conduit même aujourd'hui à parler de « territoires numériques». Comment un système territorial s'approprie-t-il la révolution technologique et la diffusion de l'innovation pour adopter une stratégie de développement économique intégratrice, assurant l'équité socio-spatiale ? |
| Keywords: | TIC ; développement; espace; territoires; innovation |
| Date: | 2006–07–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:halshs-00085836_v1&r=ino |
| By: | Louise Allsopp (The Treasury) |
| Abstract: | Previous Treasury research has identified “price and coverage” effects as playing a key role in the growth of historical health expenditure. This incorporates factors such as technological change and input prices including wages. Bryant et. al. (2004) found that between 1950-51 and 2001-02, growth in price and coverage effects was the main source of long run growth in government health expenditure and has accounted for 3-4% growth per year since the early 1990s. This paper explores how a new health technology diffuses across District Health Boards (DHBs), the price and coverage effects, and whether access is evenly spread across the population i.e. who benefits from a new device or procedure. In particular, it highlights: • the variation in clinical practice between different DHBs • the degree to which the adoption of a particular technology in one DHB impacts on neighbouring DHBs: ? a “domino” effect occurs when the adoption of a technology in one DHB leads to other DHBs following suit ? the adoption of a technology in one DHB leads to increased inter-district flows between DHBs. • differences in access between geographical regions and also ethnic groups The paper takes the example of a new procedure used in coronary care known as ‘stenting’ and examines its adoption across the different DHBs. Data used pertains to different heart procedures adopted across New Zealand over a particular time frame (1995-2004). It comprises patient details plus information relating to the DHB in which the procedure was carried out and also the patient’s domicile DHB. |
| Keywords: | technology diffusion; coronary procedures; health expenditure |
| JEL: | I11 O33 |
| Date: | 2006–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nzt:nztwps:06/05&r=ino |
| By: | Fabienne Flin (LEST - Laboratoire d'économie et de sociologie du travail - [CNRS : UMR6123] - [Université de Provence - Aix-Marseille I][Université de la Méditerranée - Aix-Marseille II]) |
| Abstract: | Cet article présente l'état de cette recherche débutante entamée en septembre 2003. |
| Keywords: | Personne handicapé; Conception de produit; Gestion de l'innovation |
| Date: | 2006–07–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:halshs-00087385_v1&r=ino |
| By: | Caroline Lanciano-Morandat (LEST - Laboratoire d'économie et de sociologie du travail - [CNRS : UMR6123] - [Université de Provence - Aix-Marseille I][Université de la Méditerranée - Aix-Marseille II]); Hiroatsu Nohara (LEST - Laboratoire d'économie et de sociologie du travail - [CNRS : UMR6123] - [Université de Provence - Aix-Marseille I][Université de la Méditerranée - Aix-Marseille II]); Robert Tchobanian (LEST - Laboratoire d'économie et de sociologie du travail - [CNRS : UMR6123] - [Université de Provence - Aix-Marseille I][Université de la Méditerranée - Aix-Marseille II]) |
| Abstract: | Synthèse du "French Call Centre Industry Report 2004" |
| Keywords: | Centre d'appel; GRH - Gestion des ressources humaines; Organisation du travail; Politique de GRH; France |
| Date: | 2006–07–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:halshs-00086563_v1&r=ino |
| By: | Marc Maurice (LEST - Laboratoire d'économie et de sociologie du travail - [CNRS : UMR6123] - [Université de Provence - Aix-Marseille I][Université de la Méditerranée - Aix-Marseille II]) |
| Abstract: | There is a widespread consensus among experts as to the crucial importance of what are known as the “new information and communications technologies” (NICTs) for economic growth and employment in a new millennium characterised by the onward march of economic globalisation. Undoubtedly, the areas of activity subsumed under the general NICT heading seem much broader than the definitions adopted for the international surveys associated with the Denki Rengo. However, there is enough overlap between the various areas for them to serve as a backdrop to this report on the French situation in these sectors. The report will deal in succession with the following points : 1. some observations on the definition of the technologies as a whole and their “comparability” across countries ; 2. the French situation in the electronics, computer and telecommunications sectors, together with future trends ; 3. the evolution of employment in the various sectors ; 4. the industrial relations situation in these sectors : recent developments and new issues ; 5. some findings from the Audit of french firms. |
| Keywords: | ICT - Information and communication technologies; ICT industry; Industrial and employment relations; France |
| Date: | 2006–07–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:halshs-00087136_v1&r=ino |
| By: | Julia S. Cheney; Sherrie L.W. Rhine |
| Abstract: | This paper describes the characteristics of closed-system and open-system prepaid cards. Of particular interest is a class of open-system programs that offer a set of features similar to conventional deposit accounts using card-based payment applications. The benefits that open-system prepaid cards offer for consumers, providers, and issuing banks contribute to the increased adoption of these payment applications. Using these cards, consumers can pay bills, make purchases, and get cash from ATM networks. At the same time, consumers who hold prepaid cards need not secure a traditional banking relationship nor gain approval for a deposit account or revolving credit. By offering prepaid cards, issuing banks may meet the financial needs of consumers who may not otherwise qualify for more traditional banking products and these banks may do so with a card-based electronic payment application that essentially eliminates credit risk for the bank. |
| Keywords: | Payment systems |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedpwp:06-07&r=ino |
| By: | Ramb, Fred; Reitzig, Markus |
| Abstract: | On the basis of accounting and market data for firms and groups listed on German stock exchanges between 1997 and 2003, we show that the value relevance of R&D information under German accounting standards can be superior to that provided by US-GAAP and IAS. The results, obtained while dynamically controlling for partial freedom of firms to choose a standard in a modified Q model, show that the risk of IAS/US-GAAP misinforming investors during “bear market” periods is more relevant than their comparative advantage over the prudence principle of the German Commercial Code in “bull market” periods. Using the approach chosen for this study, it is possible not only to draw a clear dividing line between standard and selection effects but also to disentangle them along theoretical lines more clearly than in earlier studies. |
| Keywords: | Accounting sta ds, sta d selection, R&D, value relevance, Germany |
| JEL: | D82 K11 M40 M41 |
| Date: | 2005 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:bubdp1:4230&r=ino |