A review of the use of demonstration projects to achieve widespread adoption of innovative practices

The UK construction industry has embarked on one of the largest experiments in the implementation of innovative technologies and practices in its history. Following Rethinking Construction[1], generally known as the Egan Report, the Movement for Innovation was established with the aim of using demonstration projects as practical examples of innovation in order to encourage others to follow the example. The number of demonstration projects has exceeded the original plans and more are being added. This paper reviews the approach in terms of the practice of using demonstration projects to achieve widespread take up of innovation, the modifications to the programme and its management and considers future developments to improve its, effectiveness.

Informal communication networks and the diffusion of innovations in UK construction projects: A research design

The UK industry has been criticised for being slow to adopt construction process innovations. Research shows that the idiosyncrasies of participants, their roles in the system and the contextual differences between sections of the industry make this a highly complex problem. There is considerable evidence that informal social networks play a key role in diffusion of innovations. The aim is to identify informal communication networks of project participants and the role these play in the diffusion of construction innovations. The characteristics of this network will be analysed in order to understand how they can be used to accelerate innovation diffusion within and between projects. Social Network Analysis is used to determine informal communication routes. Control and experiment case study projects are used within two different organizations. This allows informal communication routes concerning innovations to be mapped, whilst testing if the informal routes can facilitate diffusion. Analysis will focus upon understanding the combination of informal strong and weak ties, and how these impede or facilitate the diffusion of the innovation. Initial work suggests the presence of an informal communication network. Actors within this informal network, and the organization's management are unaware of its' existence and their informal roles within it. Thus, the network remains an untapped medium regarding innovation diffusion. It is proposed that successful innovation diffusion is dependent upon understanding informal strong and weak ties, at project, organization and industry level.

The challenges facing privatization of infrastructure projects in Libya

Libya with its strategic location and natural resources stands as a crucial link between the Arab world, Europe, and Africa. The people of Libya have an optimistic outlook with regard to the Libyan economy after the suspension of the United Nations sanctions in 1999 that had been imposed on Libya in 1992, as well as the recent emphasis on privatization from the government. Since then, local and foreign investors have been encouraged to take a more prominent role in order to help privatize some of the state run-industries; the attention to privatization is aimed to help Libya’s economic growth and reduce its heavy dependency on oil revenues. Considering the economic situation, Libya is a rich country. However, it needs to modernize, it needs more and better infrastructure, it needs non-oil based financing, furthermore, it needs to develop a financial model for development and investment from the private sector. Although the Libyan government is working on the improvement of the business environment to make it more attractive for foreign investors in a way to move towards privatization, they have ignored some of the challenges that privatization will be facing in Libya. Privatization can not be implemented overnight. They have taken this for granted without careful consideration of its challenges. This paper attempts to investigate and discuss the challenges that need to be taken into account before privatization of infrastructure projects can be introduced in Libya. This paper is based on interviews with senior technical officials in the government.

The relative success of recognition-based inference in multichoice decisions

The utility of an "ecologically rational" recognition-based decision rule in multichoice decision problems is analyzed, varying the type of judgment required (greater or lesser). The maximum size and range of a counterintuitive advantage associated with recognition-based judgment (the "less-is-more effect") is identified for a range of cue validity values. Greater ranges of the less-is-more effect occur when participants are asked which is the greatest of to choices (m > 2) than which is the least. Less-is-more effects also have greater range for larger values of in. This implies that the classic two-altemative forced choice task, as studied by Goldstein and Gigerenzer (2002), may not be the most appropriate test case for less-is-more effects.