Biogas innovation processes and innovation system: lessons from Davao del Sur, Philippines

This paper examines biogas innovation system and processes in two farming communities in Davao del Sur, Philippines. Innovation histories were traced through workshops, semi-structured interviews, observations and document analysis. The paper shows that there were diverse innovation actors both from public and private sectors. Restrictive attitudes and practices resulted in weak and limited interactions among actors. Multi-actor interaction was weak, signifying a lack of innovation actors that focus on creating, developing and strengthening linkages, networks and partnerships. The lack of support in the socio-organisational institutions that constitute the enabling environment within which innovation actors operate may lead to systemic failure.

An investigation of the required skills for the delivery of low and zero carbon buildings within a region

The United Kingdom is committed to a raft of requirements to create a low-carbon economy. Buildings consume approximately 40% of UK energy demand. Any improvement on the energy performance of buildings therefore can significantly contribute to the delivery of a low-carbon economy. The challenge for the construction sector and its clients is how to meet the policy requirements to deliver low and zero carbon (LZC) buildings, which spans broader than the individual building level, to requirements at the local and regional levels, and wider sustainability pressures. Further, the construction sector is reporting skills shortages coupled with the need for ‘new skills’ for the delivery of LZC buildings. The aim of this paper is to identify, and better understand, the skills required by the construction sector and its clients for the delivery of LZC buildings within a region. The theoretical framing for this research is regional innovation system (RIS) using a socio-technical network analysis (STNA) methodology. A case study of a local authority region is presented. Data is drawn from a review of relevant local authority documentation, observations and semi-structured interviews from one (project 1) of five school retrofit projects within the region. The initial findings highlight the complexity surrounding the form and operation of the LZC network for project 1. The skills required by the construction sector and its clients are connected to different actor roles surrounding the delivery of the project. The key actors involved and their required skills are: project management and energy management skills required by local authority; project management skills (in particular project planning), communication and research skills required by school end-users; and a ‘technical skill’ relating to knowledge of a particular energy efficient measure (EEM) and use of equipment to implement the EEM is required by the EEM contractors.

Interactive learning in UK construction practice: examining the role of BIM process standards

From a construction innovation systems perspective, firms acquire knowledge from suppliers, clients, universities and institutional environment. Building information modelling (BIM) involves these firms using new process standards. To understand the implications on interactive learning using BIM process standards, a case study is conducted with the UK operations of a multinational construction firm. Data is drawn from: a) two workshops involving the firm and a wider industry group, b) observations of practice in the BIM core team and in three ongoing projects, c) 12 semi-structured interviews; and d) secondary publications. The firm uses a set of BIM process standards (IFC, PAS 1192, Uniclass, COBie) in its construction activities. It is also involved in a pilot to implement the COBie standard, supported by technical and management standards for BIM, such as Uniclass and PAS1192. Analyses suggest that such BIM process standards unconsciously shapes the firm's internal and external interactive learning processes. Internally standards allow engineers to learn from each through visualising 3D information and talking around designs with operatives to address problems during construction. Externally, the firm participates in trial and pilot projects involving other construction firms, government agencies, universities and suppliers to learn about the standard and access knowledge to solve its specific design problems. Through its BIM manager, the firm provides feedback to standards developers and information technology suppliers. The research contributes by articulating how BIM process standards unconsciously change interactive learning processes in construction practice. Further research could investigate these findings in the wider UK construction innovation system.

Brussels French une fois: Transfer-induced innovation or system-internal development?

In language contact studies, specific features of the contact languages are often seen to be the result of transfer (interference), but it remains difficult to disentangle the role of intra-systemic and inter-systemic factors. We propose to unravel these factors in the analysis of a feature of Brussels French which many researchers attribute to transfer from (Brussels) Dutch: the adverbial use of une fois. We compare the use of this particle in Brussels French with its occurrence in corpora of other varieties of French, including several that have not been influenced by a Germanic substrate or adstrate. A detailed analysis of the frequency of occurrence, the functions and the distribution of the particle over different syntactic positions shows that some uses of une fois can be traced back to sixteenth-century French, but that there is also ample evidence for overt and covert transfer (Mougeon and Beniak, 1991) from Brussels Dutch.

Plant variety protection, innovation, and transferability: Some empirical evidence

Under the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, all member-countries of the World Trade Organization are required to provide an "effective" system of plant variety protection within a specific time frame. In many developing countries, this has led to a divisive debate about the fundamental desirability of extending intellectual property rights to agriculture. Empirical studies on the economic impacts of plant variety protection, especially its ability to generate large private sector investments in plant breeding and to facilitate the transfer of technology, have been very limited. This paper examines two aspects of the international experience of plant variety protection: (a) the relationship between legislation, research, and development expenditures and plant variety protection grants, i.e., the innovation effect and (b) the role of plant variety protection in facilitating the flow of varieties across countries, i.e., the transferability effect.

Mapping IT innovation in Facilities Management

Over the past decade there has been significant growth in the facilities management (FM) sector resulting in a diverse and highly competitive marketplace. This marketplace engages contractors, in-house teams, suppliers, consultants and professional institutions. Many of these organisations have had to innovate to differentiate themselves from competitors. The subject of this paper is facilities management innovation. More specifically, it examines the introduction of information technology (IT) to support such innovations. Our understanding of how such innovations are brought about is scant. The intention of this paper is to examine the motivations and factors which have brought about ‘information system’ innovations in the sector based on an examination of a small but diverse collection of case studies. The study specifically considers the route by which the selected innovations came about and the way in which the innovation has diffused throughout the rest of the organisation. The IT innovations identified in case studies include whole life cost modelling, a content management solution, open book partnering, management information portal (fmNet), RFID technology, and capacity and capability planning. Taken together they characterise a sector that is using IT to codify and standardise information such that useful knowledge becomes widely dispersed.

Developing a system for assessing the costs associated with different procurement routes in the construction industry

In developing techniques for monitoring the costs associated with different procurement routes, the central task is disentangling the various project costs incurred by organizations taking part in construction projects. While all firms are familiar with the need to analyse their own costs, it is unusual to apply the same kind of analysis to projects. The purpose of this research is to examine the claims that new, ways of working such as strategic alliancing and partnering bring positive business benefits. This requires that costs associated with marketing, estimating, pricing, negotiation of terms, monitoring of performance and enforcement of contract are collected for a cross-section of projects under differing arrangements, and from those in the supply, chain from clients to consultants, contractors, subcontractors and suppliers. Collaboration with industrial partners forms the basis for developing a research instrument, bused on time sheets, which will be relevant for all those taking part in the work. The signs are that costs associated with,with tendering are highly variable, 1-15%, depending upon what precisely, is taken into account. The research to date reveals that there are mechanisms for measuring the costs of transactions and these will generate useful data for subsequent analysis.

Horses for courses: Relating innovation diffusion concepts to the stage of the diffusion process

The research uses a sociological perspective to build an improved, context specific understanding of innovation diffusion within the UK construction industry. It is argued there is an iterative interplay between actors and the social system they occupy that directly influences the diffusion process as well as the methodology adopted. The research builds upon previous findings that argued a level of best fit for the three innovation diffusion concepts of cohesion, structural equivalence and thresholds. That level of best fit is analysed here using empirical data from the UK construction industry. This analysis allows an understanding of how the relative importance of these concepts' actually varies within the stages of the innovation diffusion process. The conclusion that the level of relevance fluctuates in relation to the stages of the diffusion process is a new development in the field.

Understanding construction competitiveness: the contribution of system dynamics

Purpose – Construction sector competitiveness has been a subject of interest for many years. Research too often focuses on the means of overcoming the “barriers to change” as if such barriers were static entities. There has been little attempt to understand the dynamic inter-relationship between the differing factors which impinge upon construction sector competitiveness. The purpose of this paper is to outline the benefits of taking a systems approach to construction competitiveness research. Design/methodology/approach – The system dynamics (SD) modelling methodology is described. This can provide practitioners with “microworlds” within which they can explore the dynamic effects of different policy decisions. The data underpinning the use of SD was provided by interviews and case study research which allowed an understanding of the context within which practitioners operate. Findings – The over-riding conclusion is that the SD methodology has been shown to be capable of providing a means to assess the forces which shape the sustained competitiveness of construction firms. As such, it takes the assessment of strategic policy analysis in the construction sector onto a higher plane. The need to collect data and make retrospective assessments of competitiveness and strategic performance at the statistical level is not now the only modus operandi available. Originality/value – The paper describes a novel research methodology which points towards an alternative research agenda for construction competitiveness research.

Adaptive modelling with tunable RBF network using multi-innovation RLS algorithm assisted by swarm intelligence

In this paper, we propose a new on-line learning algorithm for the non-linear system identification: the swarm intelligence aided multi-innovation recursive least squares (SI-MRLS) algorithm. The SI-MRLS algorithm applies the particle swarm optimization (PSO) to construct a flexible radial basis function (RBF) model so that both the model structure and output weights can be adapted. By replacing an insignificant RBF node with a new one based on the increment of error variance criterion at every iteration, the model remains at a limited size. The multi-innovation RLS algorithm is used to update the RBF output weights which are known to have better accuracy than the classic RLS. The proposed method can produces a parsimonious model with good performance. Simulation result are also shown to verify the SI-MRLS algorithm.

Revisiting the emergence of the modern business enterprise: entrepreneurship and the Singer global distribution system

This paper approaches the question of why entrepreneurial firms exist from a broad business historical perspective. It observes that the original development of the modern business enterprise was very strongly associated with entrepreneurial innovation rather than an extension of managerial routine. The widely-used theory of the entrepreneur as a specialist in judgmental decision making is applied to the particular point in time when entrepreneurs had to develop novel organizational designs in what Chandler described as the prelude to the ‘managerial revolution’. The paper illustrates how the theory of entrepreneurship then best explains the rise of the modern corporation by focusing on the case study of vertical integration par excellence, Singer.

Innovation in construction: a sociology of technology approach

An alternative approach to understanding innovation is made using two intersecting ideas. The first is that successful innovation requires consideration of the social and organizational contexts in which it is located. The complex context of construction work is characterized by inter-organizational collaboration, a project-based approach and power distributed amongst collaborating organizations. The second is that innovations can be divided into two modes: ‘bounded’, where the implications of innovation are restricted within a single, coherent sphere of influence, and ‘unbounded’, where the effects of implementation spill over beyond this. Bounded innovations are adequately explained within the construction literature. However, less discussed are unbounded innovations, where many firms' collaboration is required for successful implementation, even though many innovations can be considered unbounded within construction's inter-organizational context. It is argued that unbounded innovations require an approach to understand and facilitate the interactions both within a range of actors and between the actors and technological artefacts. The insights from a sociology of technology approach can be applied to the multiplicity of negotiations and alignments that constitute the implementation of unbounded innovation. The utility of concepts from the sociology of technology, including ‘system building’ and ‘heterogeneous engineering’, is demonstrated by applying them to an empirical study of an unbounded innovation on a major construction project (the new terminal at Heathrow Airport, London, UK). This study suggests that ‘system building’ contains outcomes that are not only transformations of practices, processes and systems, but also the potential transformation of technologies themselves.

UK innovation systems for new and renewable energy technologies: drivers, barriers and systems failures

A better understanding of the systemic processes by which innovation occurs is useful, both conceptually and to inform policymaking in support of innovation in more sustainable technologies. This paper analyses current innovation systems in the UK for a range of new and renewable energy technologies, and generates policy recommendations for improving the effectiveness of these innovation systems. Although incentives are in place in the UK to encourage innovation in these technologies, system failures—or ‘gaps’—are identified in moving technologies along the innovation chain, preventing their successful commercialisation. Sustained investment will be needed for these technologies to achieve their potential. It is argued that a stable and consistent policy framework is required to help create the conditions for this. In particular, such a framework should be aimed at improving risk/reward ratios for demonstration and pre-commercial stage technologies. This would enhance positive expectations, stimulate learning effects leading to cost reductions, and increase the likelihood of successful commercialisation.