Knowledge communication and translation- A knowledge transfer model

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a process model for knowledge transfer in using theories relating knowledge communication and knowledge translation. Design/methodology/approach – Most of what is put forward in this paper is based on a research project titled “Procurement for innovation and knowledge transfer (ProFIK)”. The project is funded by a UK government research council – The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). The discussions are mainly grounded on a thorough review of literature accomplished as part of the research project. Findings – The process model developed in this paper has built upon the theory of knowledge transfer and the theory of communication. Knowledge transfer, per se, is not a mere transfer of knowledge. It involves different stages of knowledge transformation. Depending on the context of knowledge transfer, it can also be influenced by many factors; some positive and some negative. The developed model of knowledge transfer attempts to encapsulate all these issues in order to create a holistic framework. Originality/value of paper – An attempt has been made in the paper to combine some of the significant theories or findings relating to knowledge transfer together, making the paper an original and valuable one.

Internationalisation, innovation and productivity: how do firms differ in Italy?

This paper addresses the issue of intra-industry heterogeneity and internationalisation. We show that, after controlling for sector, location, firm age and size, Italian manufacturing companies exhibit different economic and innovative performance according to their involvement in foreign activities. In particular, exporters show intermediate innovative performance between non-internationalised firms and those carrying out foreign production. Multinationals with a lower commitment to foreign markets, i.e. with non-manufacturing activities abroad only, exhibit a higher productivity than exporters but they do not appear to innovate more than the latter. Heterogeneity in productivity is robust to controlling for innovation inputs and outputs, suggesting that the difference in economic performance cannot be entirely attributed to different innovative activities, and that the involvement in international operations can be a distinct channel of knowledge accumulation.

Innovation and entrepreneurial opportunities with internet ventures

This paper discusses innovation and entrepreneurial opportunities of Internet ventures. In the last decade the Internet has become an important communication tool as well as a platform for new business enterprises. Internet businesses are global, easy to set up with little or no capital requirements and innovative. These businesses range from intermediary services such as financial service providers supporting online payments and e-markets facilitating buying and selling in horizontal and vertical markets, to new enterprises selling unique products. However, the Internet age has seen a rise in startup dot.coms, a failure of dot.coms and an increasing trend in consolidation of the digital economy. Entrepreneurial opportunities on the Internet are highlighted in this paper with a review of literature on entrepreneurship opportunities, characteristics and and challenges. It includes case studies demonstrating the opportunities and challenges of Internet innovations and discusses characteristics of cyber entrepreneurs identified from the case studies. The relevance of technical knowledge such as computing and programming skills, perseverance and the ability to set up business with little or no capital are important traits of cyber entrepreneurs discussed in this paper. The other issues apparent from the case studies are an opportunistic and innovative mindset, and an ability to create value where there was none before. This paper highlights that Internet ventures are a type of e-business that are easy to implement, have no barriers to entry and for which technical knowledge is an asset.

Finding and filling the gaps in the Australian governments' innovation and entrepreneurship support spectra

A national innovation system is concerned with the full process of converting new knowledge into commercially viable results. Governments are policy-active in trying to create productive national innovation systems. This paper reviews ways of thinking about entrepreneurship as the commercialisation component of Australia’s innovation system. The paper explores the impact and relevance of selected existing Australian Commonwealth, and to a lesser extent State government, programs for the commercialisation channels so identified, using four frameworks for the analysis: financial, management/start-up, innovation and entrepreneurial. The analysis indicates program initiatives covering the later development and commercialization phases, but serious gaps in the support available for the entrepreneurship phase involving the act of new entry. This gap is covered by research provider business development people and to a limited extent by incubator and State government initiatives. A critical issue has been and is access to smaller amounts of seed finance. The critical human component is the education of public servants and politicians about the nature and operation of entrepreneurship.

Access to knoledge in Brazil: new research on intellectual property, innovation and development

The present volume is the fruit of a research initiative on Access to Knowledge begun in 2004 by Yochai Benkler, Eddan Katz, and myself. Access to Knowledge is both a social movement and an approach to international and domestic policy. In the present era of globalization, intellectual property and information and communications technology are major determinants of wealth and power. The principle of access to knowledge argues that we best serve both human rights and economic development through policies that make knowledge, knowledge-creating tools, and nowledgeembedded goods as widely available as possible for decentralized innovation and use. Open technological standards, a balanced approach to intellectual property rights, and expansion of an open telecommunications infrastructure enable ordinary people around the world to benefit from the technological advances of the information age and allow them to generate a vibrant, participatory and democratic culture. Law plays a crucial role in securing access to knowledge, determining whether knowledge and knowledge goods are shared widely for the benefit of all, or controlled and monopolized for the benefit of a few.

Windows of opportunities and knowledge networks: implications for the catch-up in developing countries

This document represents a doctoral thesis held under the Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration of Getulio Vargas Foundation (EBAPE/FGV), developed through the elaboration of three articles. The research that resulted in the articles is within the scope of the project entitled “Windows of opportunities and knowledge networks: implications for catch-up in developing countries”, funded by Support Programme for Research and Academic Production of Faculty (ProPesquisa) of Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration (EBAPE) of Getulio Vargas Foundation.

Open innovation and user s involvement in new product development: a case study in the automotive sector

Innovation is an essential factor for obtaining competitive advantages. The search for external knowledge sources for product creation, which can contribute to the innovation process, has become a constant among companies, and users play an important role in this search. In this study, we aimed to analyze user’s involvement in the product development process based on open innovation concepts. We used the unique case study research method. This study was carried out in an automotive company that has developed a project of a concept car involving user’s through the Web 2.0. With such scope, the research demonstrates that users can contribute not only with generation of ideas but also with the innovation process itself.

Rationale and knowledge for the universal implementation of sanitation in areas of social vulnerability

The adoption of principles of equality and universality stipulated in legislation for the sanitation sector requires discussions on innovation. The existing model was able to meet sanitary demands, but was unable to attend all areas causing disparities in vulnerable areas. The universal implementation of sanitation requires identification of the know-how that promotes it and analysis of the model adopted today to establish a new method. Analysis of how different viewpoints on the restructuring process is necessary for the definition of public policy, especially in health, and understanding its complexities and importance in confirming social practices and organizational designs. These are discussed to contribute to universal implementation of sanitation in urban areas by means of a review of the literature and practices in the industry. By way of conclusion, it is considered that accepting a particular concept or idea in sanitation means choosing some effective interventions in the network and on the lives of individual users, and implies a redefinition of the space in which it exercises control and management of sewerage networks, such that connected users are perceived as groups with different interests.

Real options in the context of innovation and development policies and practices. ACES Working Papers, 2012

This paper proposes to build on previous research on the use of real options in strategic decision making (Carayannis and Sipp, 2010) and instill some real options-related concepts stemming from systems design, more particularly engineering. It also builds on previously-established concepts of strategic knowledge serendipity and arbitrage and strategic knowledge co-opetition, co-evolution and co-specialization developed by Carayannis (2009). The application of real options “in” system and real options to innovation and innovation policies demonstrate how embedded real options can more effectively be identified and therefore the decision to execute them or not more effectively made.

Innovation and Development in the Age of Climate Change Adaptation: Open or Closed?

Change Adaptation: Open or Closed? Paper read at the Second African International Economic Law Network Conference, 7-8 March 2013, Wits School of Law, Johannesburg, South Africa. In a time of rapid convergence of technologies, goods, services, hardware, software, the traditional classifications that informed past treaties fail to remove legal uncertainty, or advance welfare and innovation. As a result, we turn our attention to the role and needs of the public domain at the interface of existing intellectual property rights and new modes of creation, production and distribution of goods and services. The concept of open culture would have it that knowledge should be spread freely and its growth should come from further developing existing works on the basis of sharing and collaboration without the shackles of intellectual property. Intellectual property clauses find their way into regional, multilateral, bilateral and free trade agreements more often than not, and can cause public discontent and incite unrest. Many of these intellectual property clauses raise the bar on protection beyond the clauses found in the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). In this paper we address the question of the protection and development of the public domain in service of open innovation in accord with Article 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) in light of the Objectives (Article 7) and Principles (Article 8) set forth in TRIPS. Once areas of divergence and reinforcement between the intellectual property regime and human rights have been discussed, we will enter into options that allow for innovation and prosperity in the global south. We then conclude by discussing possible policy developments.

Innovation and internationalization of Latin American services

Innovation and internationalization in services are key drivers of structural transformation, productivity growth and overall economic performance in Latin America. The services sector accounts for two thirds of the region’s GDP and provides over 60% of its employment. These shares are higher than in other developing regions, but still lower than in countries with higher levels of per capita income. The spread of information and communication technologies in Latin America over the past three decades has vastly enhanced both the tradability of services and the sector’s propensity to innovate. Long considered unrelated processes, both internationalization and innovation are today widely recognized as key and complementary sources of firm-level competitiveness and human capital enhancement. The advent of many novel types of business and consumer services is furthermore a key factor in the rising insertion of Latin American firms in regional and global value chains and transnational production networks, which are now the predominant form of organization of international production and trade. This volume explores three different levels of interaction between internationalization and innovation in the services sector in Latin America. Part I analyses the role of services in manufacturing and other sectors’ global value chains from a theoretical perspective, drawing on the experiences of Brazil and Mexico. Part II reviews innovation and internationalization policies and their effects on the performance of the services sector. Part III presents a series of case studies on innovation and internationalization linkages in Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica and Mexico. The book concludes that, in order for Latin American countries and firms to upgrade into services value chains, public and private initiatives must generate a host of regional public goods —enhanced investment climates, supply of skills, greater access to finance, improved protection of intellectual property, better value appropriation, enhanced efforts at standardization and quality certification— to strengthen the links between innovation and internationalization.

Innovation and regional absorptive capacity:the labour market dimension

In 2003, Eurostat published an 'experimental' dataset on regional innovation levels derived from the Second Community Innovation Survey. This dataset, part of the European Innovation Scoreboard, also contains a range of regional labour market indicators. In this paper, we report an exploratory analysis of this data, focussing on how the labour market characteristics of regions shape regions' absorptive capacity (RACAP) and their ability to assimilate knowledge from public and externally conducted R&D. In particular, we aim to establish whether labour market aspects of RACAP are more important for innovation in prosperous or lagging regions of the European Union (EU). © Springer-Verlag 2006.