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on Project, Program and Portfolio Management |
| By: | Simen G. Enger (TIK Center for Technology, Innovation and Culture, University of Oslo and Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research, Department of Research, Oslo, Norway) |
| Abstract: | This study presents an analysis of 2 216 European higher education institutions (HEIs) from 27 countries. It investigates determinants of participation in the European Union’s Framework Programme for research and innovation (EU FP), Horizon 2020, and empirically assesses how cumulative advantages affect the chances of applying for and receiving funding in collaborative projects. Having a strong, influential network position in collaborative EU research is found to affect participation in H2020 greatly – suggesting ‘closed clubs’, to the detriment of less influential HEIs. Greater access to resources and capabilities significantly moderates the effect of network position on EU FP participation. Results indicate that these organizational factors are central in the feedback process whereby large, well-reputed institutions accrue further advantages. |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tik:inowpp:20170703&r=ppm |
| By: | Frietsch, Rainer; Schubert, Torben; Rothengatter, Oliver |
| Abstract: | Within this study we provide descriptive as well as multivariate evidence on the effects of the German Excellence Initiative on universities. Thereby, we will focus on the question whether the Excellence Initiative has led to a sharpening of the participating universities' scientific profiles in terms of technology fields they are active in. To this end, we have created an integrated panel dataset consisting of various indicators at the level of universities. The data for the panel was collected from various sources, e.g. DESTATIS, the DFG, Web of Science by Thomson Reuters as well as PATSTAT. The results show the funding by the Excellence Initiative has been relatively concentrated with about half of the universities. In the group of universities having received funding, a few universities, often conceived as top-performers, have been successful in acquiring a substantial number of projects in all three tracks of the Excellence Initiative. A breakdown of the graduate schools and the excellence clusters by field/subject shows that the largest share of projects was awarded mathematics/natural sciences. Although we there a considerable differences between the funded and non-funded universi-ties, only few effects seem to be causally driven by the funding of the Excellence Initiative, in particular as concerns quality-related bibliometric or patent indicators. We do, however, find strong evidence that the funding of the Excellence Initiative has strongly increased the subject concentration of students and the field concentration of scientific publications. It therefore stands to reason that the Excellence Initiative has contributed to sharpening the profiles of the funded universities. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:efisdi:112017&r=ppm |
| By: | Dirk Schoenmaker |
| Abstract: | The issue of sustainable development has multiple aspects, all of which need to be considered if sustainability is to be guaranteed. On the environmental front, climate change and depletion of natural resources are two factors that are threatening the earth’s ability to regenerate. On the economic front, development that does not pay sufficient attention to income inequality and provision of basic needs to all is a process in danger of imploding. This essay explores the role that finance can play to ensure that investment protects the environment and promotes economic systems that are internally sustainable. Dirk Schoenmaker argues that seeing the role of finance as one of allocating funding to productive investments in a narrow sense is no longer appropriate. What constitutes ‘productive’ cannot be independent of a project’s environmental and socio-economic impact because there are often trade-offs between short-term profits and long-term impact. What might appear to be a profitable project over a given time period could have negative impacts that might only become apparent in the longer term. This essay discusses these trade-offs in the context of the conflicting objectives of shareholders and other stakeholders - the motivation of the former to generate profits might at times jeopardise the long-term interests of the latter. This essay shows how that is a consequence of short-termism and a failure to act with the collective interest in mind. But if sustainability is paramount, as it should be, then the shareholders’ and stakeholders’ motives need to be better aligned. This essay provides a framework for moving in this direction and offers guidelines to counter short-termism, with an emphasis on incentive-compatible measures for all. Moving from traditional to sustainable finance means having to counter attitudes that are embedded in the ways our economic systems are organised. Shifting away from them requires both new ways of operating but, importantly, new underlying principles that put sustainability centre stage to guide our thinking. It is important that we put this process in motion, and the earlier the better. Maria Demertzis, Deputy Director of Bruegel Brussels, July 2017 |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bre:esslec:21249&r=ppm |
| By: | Dawid, Herbert (University of Bielefeld); Pellegrino, Gabriele (EPFL, Lausanne); Vivarelli, Marco (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore) |
| Abstract: | While the extant innovation literature has provided extensive evidence of the so-called "demand-pull" effect, the possible diverse impact of demand evolution on product vs process innovation activities has not been yet investigated. This paper develops a formal model predicting a larger inducing impact of past sales in fostering product rather than process innovation. This prediction is then tested through a dynamic microeconometric model, controlling for R&D persistence, sample selection, observed and unobservable individual firm effects and time and sectoral peculiarities. Results are consistent with the model and suggest that an expansionary economic policy may benefit the diffusion of new products or even the emergence of entire new sectors. |
| Keywords: | technological change, R&D, demand-pull innovation, dynamic two tobit |
| JEL: | O31 |
| Date: | 2017–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10846&r=ppm |