In the late 1980s, a new conceptual framework appeared in the science, technology, and innovation studies: the National Innovation System. The framework suggests that the research system's ultimate goal is innovation, and that the system is part of a larger system composed of sectors such as government, university, and industry and their environment. The framework also emphasized the relationships between the components or sectors, as the ``cause'' that explains the performance of innovation systems. Most authors (...) agree that the framework came from researchers like Freeman, Nelson, and Lundvall. In this article, the author want to go further back in time and show what the ``system approach'' owes to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and its very early works from the 1960s. This article develops the idea that the system approach was fundamental to OECD work, and that, although not using the term National Innovation System as such, the organization considerably influenced the above-mentioned authors. (shrink)

The innovation systems approach has swiftly spread out worldwide in the last three decades and stood as an important framework for policy-making in the fields of science, technology, and innovation. At the same time, there have been serious and untreated concerns in the literature about the theoretical soundness of this approach. Our discussion in this paper is based on the belief that a detailed analysis on epistemological foundations of the approach could shed a judgmental light on the (...) aforementioned concerns. To provide that analysis, we reconstructed and studied the nature and evolution of innovation systems approach as a case of conceptual revolution against the more established traditions in economics of innovation. Our analyses show that the rise of the systemic view of innovation include radical changes in conceptual structures pertaining to orthodox view of innovation. These developments also go so far as to include significant shifts in epistemological foundations of the old paradigm. These later shifts provide us with an epistemological base from which we can shelter the innovation systems approach from the hard criticisms rooted in a quasi-positivist point of view. That epistemological base also shows the path for the future development of the approach towards more robustness and precision. (shrink)

Cet article étudie l’apparente convergence qui s’opère, depuis quelques années, entre l’ approche en termes de Systèmes Nationaux d’Innovation et la théorie évolutionniste du changement technologique. Ce processus s’appuie sur une conception spécifique du processus d’innovation lui-même. Dans ce contexte, l’innovation est un processus cognitif, qui s’exprime à plusieurs niveaux – local, national, sectoriel et international – et dans de nombreuses dimensions – technologique, organisationnelle et institutionnelle. Cette approche attribue un rôle central aux acteurs publics et aux (...) institutions mais révèle, dans le même temps, les difficultés intrinsèques à toute tentative de synthèse entre des théories souvent hétérogènes.This paper examines the apparent convergence between the National Systems of Innovation approach and evolutionary theories of technological change. This convergence is organized around a complex and specific conception of the innovation process itself In this context, innovation is a cognitive, a multilevel – i.e. local, national, sectorial and international –, a historical and multidimensional – i.e. technological, organizational and institutional – process. This conception gives a central place to public actors and institutions but shows the strong difficulty inherent to the elaboration of a coherent evolutionary theory of economic change. In effect, it seems difficult to articulates heterogeneous concepts within a global framework. (shrink)

Ethiopian agriculture is changing as new actors, relationships, and policies influence the ways in which small-scale, resource-poor farmers access and use information and knowledge in their agricultural production decisions. Although these changes suggest new opportunities for smallholders, too little is known about how changes will ultimately improve the wellbeing of smallholders in Ethiopia. Thus, we examine whether these changes are improving the ability of smallholders to innovate and thus improve their own welfare. In doing so, we analyze interactions between smallholders (...) and other actors to provide new perspectives on the role played by smallholder innovation networks in the agricultural sector by drawing on data from community case studies conducted in 10 localities. Findings suggest that public extension and administration exert a strong influence over smallholder networks, potentially crowding out market-based and civil society actors, and thus limiting beneficial innovation processes. From a policy perspective, the findings suggest the need to further explore policies and programs that create more space for market and civil society to participate in smallholder innovation networks and improve welfare. From a conceptual and methodological perspective, our findings suggest the need to incorporate rigorous applications of social network analysis into the application of innovation systems theory. (shrink)

This paper leads to apply some recent developments in the economic literature dealing with the concept of innovation systems to the problem of economic cohesion in Europe. Starting from a definition of innovation systems, it allows to consider firms and sets of intstitutions as two main but different types of innovation systems. This distinction is the source of a discussion about the nature of the coordination problems which appear when considering the European diversity of (...) innovation systems. The different combinations between innovation systems developed in the paper are a useful means of discussing European policy intervention and its ability to favour (or not) economic cohesion. (shrink)

During the Soviet period, the microelectronics industry in the former Soviet Union (FSU) owed its existence to the political and military objectives of the Communist Party. Consequently, investment in the industry was planned to meet the security needs of the Cold War international environment. Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, there has been a reduction in emphasis away from the mass production of electronic devices suited to military and defense needs. The emergence of a huge rise in consumer demand (...) for non-Soviet electronic goods has prompted a fundamental shift in production regimes to meet civilian, customer demands rather than military, political objectives. The electronics industry is being re-created because its original raison d’être has disappeared. In the process, many issues facing other sectors and countries during the transition are borne out. This article assesses the potential for innovation in the microelectronics sector in the FSU. (shrink)

Competing models of innovation informing agricultural extension, such as transfer of technology, participatory extension and technology development, and innovation systems have been proposed over the last decades. These approaches are often presented as antagonistic or even mutually exclusive. This article shows how practitioners in a rural innovation system draw on different aspects of all three models, while creating a distinct local practice and discourse. We revisit and deepen the critique of Vietnam’s “model” approach to upland rural (...) development, voiced a decade ago in this journal. Our analysis of interviews with grassroots extension workers and extension managers reveals how they have received government, donor, and academic discourses on participation, user-orientation, and private sector involvement in innovation. Extension workers as well as managers integrate the reform discourses into the still-dominant transfer of technology model. We show how extensionists draw selectively on these diverse discourses to foster interaction with outsiders and clients, and bolster their livelihood strategies. We conclude that the conceptual framework suggested by the innovation systems (IS) approach is broadly appropriate for analyzing the Vietnamese case, but that the IS approach in the contemporary Vietnamese context requires adaptation for taking into account the blurred line between private and state sectors, and recognizing the hegemonic position of state-based networks. Improving extensionists’ ability to mediate between the conflicting principles of farmers’ self-organization and government control is identified as a key challenge for increasing innovative capacity in rural upland Vietnam. (shrink)

When in Africa we speak and dream of and work for, a rebirth of that continent as a full participant in the affairs of the world in the next century, we are deeply conscious of how dependent that is on the mobilisation and strengthening of the continent's resources of learning. Nelson Mandela Address at Harvard University, September, 1998 quoted in East African, September 1-7, 2003 A paradigm can, for that matter, even insulate the community from those socially important problems that (...) are not reducible to the puzzle form, because they cannot be stated in terms of the conceptual and instrumental tools the paradigm supplies. Thomas Kuhn The Structure of Scientific Revolutions p. 37 Africa suffers from a pessimism of description as well as a pessimism of prescription it has suffered for over 500 years from a condescending and often violent gaze from diagnosis to destiny. The usual Eurocentric style in reflecting about Africa has always had an underlying tone of reproach and even moral condemnation. There is a need to protest and resist against this negative projection. We need to start to converse about Africa's problems and challenges with the inclusion of hope as an ontological need for change. Withoug hope, there will be no possibility to struggle on. Hope is an important variable in the way we wish to think, talk, reason, debate and mount intellectual reflection about Africa Re-thinking African development through innovation, social-invention, systems mental images and the logocentric imagination of the productive Africa-nation, and not through market exchange, Smithian or Ricardian comparative advantage can generate a hopeful departure from received approaches to theorising about Africa. The making of African productive power, building the capital of the mind, organising institutions within the progressive imagination of the Africa-nation is a critical launching pad for a new intellectual and research orientation hihgly needed when Africans want to make their history with the revival of the Pan-African ideal and the African renaissance. The article proposes that the national system of innovation provides the metaphor of hope, the heuristics of what is significant data to investigate, and the criticism of conventional and pessimistic theorising and finally the emancipatory knowledge resources for a post-pessimist turn to bring about the cognitive praxis of a post-colonial liberation of Africa as a whole. (shrink)

When in Africa we speak and dream of and work for, a rebirth of that continent as a full participant in the affairs of the world in the next century, we are deeply conscious of how dependent that is on the mobilisation and strengthening of the continent’s resources of learning. Nelson Mandela Address at Harvard University, September, 1998 quoted in East African, September 1–7, 2003A paradigm can, for that matter, even insulate the community from those socially important problems that are (...) not reducible to the puzzle form, because they cannot be stated in terms of the conceptual and instrumental tools the paradigm supplies. Thomas KuhnThe Structure of Scientific Revolutions p. 37Africa suffers from a pessimism of description as well as a pessimism of prescription it has suffered for over 500 years from a condescending and often violent gaze from diagnosis to destiny. The usual Eurocentric style in reflecting about Africa has always had an underlying tone of reproach and even moral condemnation. There is a need to protest and resist against this negative projection. We need to start to converse about Africa’s problems and challenges with the inclusion of hope as an ontological need for change. Withoug hope, there will be no possibility to struggle on. Hope is an important variable in the way we wish to think, talk, reason, debate and mount intellectual reflection about Africa Re‐thinking African development through innovation, social‐invention, systems mental images and the logocentric imagination of the productive Africa‐nation, and not through market exchange, Smithian or Ricardian comparative advantage can generate a hopeful departure from received approaches to theorising about Africa. The making of African productive power, building the capital of the mind, organising institutions within the progressive imagination of the Africa‐nation is a critical launching pad for a new intellectual and research orientation hihgly needed when Africans want to make their history with the revival of the Pan‐African ideal and the African renaissance. The article proposes that the national system of innovation provides the metaphor of hope, the heuristics of what is significant data to investigate, and the criticism of conventional and pessimistic theorising and finally the emancipatory knowledge resources for a post‐pessimist turn to bring about the cognitive praxis of a post‐colonial liberation of Africa as a whole. (shrink)

Collaborative research and development (R&D) activities between public universities and industry are of importance for the sustainable development of the innovation ecosystem. However, policymakers especially in developing countries show little knowledge on the issues. In this paper, we analyse the level of university–industry collaboration in Malaysia. We further examine the fundamental conditions that hinder university–industry collaboration despite the government’s initiatives to improve such linkages. We show that the low collaboration is a result of an R&D gap between the entities. (...) While the universities engage in basic and fundamental R&D, the private sectors involved in incremental innovation that requires less R&D investments. The different nature of the industries’ R&D requires closer cooperation between firms namely buyers, suppliers and technical service providers and not the universities. Among others, the lack of an intermediary role, absorptive capacity and collaborative initiative by the industry also contribute to the problem. The study suggests that the collaborative activities can benefit both if deliberate and effective efforts on reducing the R&D mismatch are made between the universities and industry. Likewise, proper institutional arrangements in coordinating these activities are required. This result seems to reflect the nature of many developing countries’ national innovation systems, and therefore, lessons from Malaysia may serve as a good case study. (shrink)

In this paper, we engage with the widespread and influential approach of National Innovation Systems (NIS). We discuss its adequacy to non-OECD countries, especially in Latin America where it tends to be reified. Although the NIS approach is meant to address the most pressing needs of the economies it applies to, we argue that it would benefit from developing a more encompassing scope, allowing integration of greater diversity and complexity. By retracing the history of regimes of science, technology (...) and innovation in Latin America, we explore the following paradox: whereas numerous Southern scholars urge the pressing need to develop an innovation agenda for Southern countries with a “Southern framework of thought”, they continue to heavily rely on a reductionist version of the NIS-approach that prevents such a “Southern perspective” to fully emerge. This creates problems for actors willing to use NIS more reflexively, and it also affects the effectivity of science, technology and innovation (STI) policies in non-OECD countries. We formulate a research agenda with three suggestions for further engaging NIS both conceptually and practically. Using such analytical perspectives, we argue, might benefit both to scholarly work about NIS, but could also allow for a better articulation with STI regimes in Southern countries. (shrink)

With the struggle against apartheid achieved, South Africa faced the new struggle of overcoming the HIV/AIDS pandemic. This paper examines the response of government, the innovation system and civil society in rising to the challenge. The response included a fatal denialism concerning the etiology of AIDS, a fatalism that constitutes political market failure. This political market failure was counteracted through the emergence of social entrepreneurship in the form of the Treatment Action Campaign that mobilized civil society and like-minded health (...) practitioners and researchers within the innovation system. Dependency Theory coupled with a Quadruple Helix model of the innovation system offer possible explanations of this complex human tragedy and the way that government was compelled to embark on a massive program of providing anti-retroviral therapy that has now significantly improved life expectancy. The paper provides socio-economic context, appraisal of the innovation system, and a sketch of how the Quadruple Helix took form. Of special importance is the independence of South Africa’s ‘Republic of Science.’ Independent courts were critical in allowing TAC to obtain remedy against government, Big Pharma, and AIDS dissident scientists. It is argued that its Republic of Science met its obligation of objectivity by shifting emphasis to the cause of AIDS research in the face of official denialism. In effect, the system of innovation and social entrepreneurs are shown to have acted in concert in constituting a Quadruple Helix. (shrink)

Summary Research is regarded as transformations of complexes composed of knowledge, problems and (hardware and software) instruments. Sequences of such transformations are embedded in human settings in which they are given directions. Problems and the work of solving them are divided into empirical and theoretical ones. In an advanced science like physics empirical and theoretical work are interrelated by means of flows of problem-generating information. Empirical and theoretical researchers work also on problems of their own making. Residuals of knowledge which (...) cannot be systematized at the same rate as it is produced as well as clashes between new and old knowledge are potential starting points of new lines of research. (shrink)

A new approach in science policy making named the innovation system approach has been developed during the past three decades. Its primary goal is to better understand the processes through which scientific knowledge is produced and transferred to businesses to improve their competitiveness and develop national and/or regional economies. This approach has been adopted as an analytical framework and guideline for science policy making by numerous public sector organizations around the world. Using a case study of the Canadian and (...) Québec public sectors, our research seeks to understand why the IS approach has gained the adherence of government employees and how it has been disseminated from international organizations down to regional civil servants. Findings show that adherence to the IS approach stems from the prestige of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and its associated epistemic community, and from the cultural authority science exerts on government employees; these two factors bestow cultural authority onto the IS approach. The perceived scientific validity of the IS approach also leads government employees to consider its underlying economistic worldview as an unquestionable reality. (shrink)

Since its introduction in the 1980s, use of the innovation systems conceptual approach has been growing, particularly on the part of national governments including, recently, the Hong Kong Government. In 2004, the Hong Kong Government set forth a ‘‘new strategy’’ for innovation and technology policy making. Because it marked a significant break from the past, it was necessary to convince a wider audience to accept this new strategy, a strategy that included the IS conceptual approach. Adopting a (...) science and technology studies perspective, I show how the IS conceptual approach is being used as a rhetorical resource by the Hong Kong Government in its innovation and technology policy making in an effort to persuade its perceived audience of the efficacy of its new strategy for its policies—policies that are in fact unrelated to the basic precepts of the IS conceptual approach. The case provides a cautionary tale in the ways in which policy makers transform scholarly work and scientific discovery into rhetorical instruments in support of a political agenda. (shrink)

Universities are increasingly part of wider geographical processes including international, national and sub-national actors. Universities now find themselves having to pay attention to many more political centres than before, as seen, for example, with research grants, assessments and teaching accreditation from transnational bodies, individual states and regional authorities. As an institution, the university constitutes a place which needs to be situated within a wider space and the geography of power-relations. This article traces these spatial developments in relation to recent policy (...) changes in the Japanese context. The current university reforms, set against the development of the globalising knowledge-based economy and regionalization of innovation policies, are examined in relation to the changing role of universities in multi-spacial innovation systems. (shrink)

Literature in the area of innovation systems (IS) has been growing in importance and the IS approach has become well established. It is widely used in North America, Western Europe and Scandinavia, both in academic contexts and also as a framework or tool for policymaking. This paper examines work by sociologists, historians and others who have attempted to provide new insights into the nature of technology, in order to determine how the new sociology of technology literature—particularly social construction (...) of technology methodologies—can contribute to, and unpack the study of innovation system. (shrink)

Complex adaptation systems are the main development direction of China’s current green innovation research. New material industry is one of the key entry points to accelerate the construction of modern industrial system and promote innovation, green, and efficient development. Under the requirements of China’s current low-carbon development, China’s green innovation system is developing rapidly. Green innovation complicates traditional innovation models and their functions and improves economic development. The purpose of this paper is to study (...) the theoretical analysis framework of applying complex adaptive systems and to analyze and calculate the characteristics of the current status of green innovation systems in multiple industries in China’s manufacturing industry. Analysis is as follows. The experimental group and the control group are set for comparison, and the data are organized by applying complex adaptive system theory and data analysis methods. Experimental data show that the coordinated development of the green innovation systems in various industries in China is not balanced, with a difference of more than three times; the parameters of the various green innovation systems within the industry are unbalanced, and the difference is more than five times. The experimental results show that the green innovation subject can strategically interact by adjusting the ratio of resource allocation through the constructed green innovation system model. The green innovation system with complex adaptive system theory is conducive to the development of the green system. It can save about 23% of green innovation time and improve efficiency by about 15%, to promote the development of green innovation in China. (shrink)

This article summarizes the question of finding effective solutions to ensure the excellence of modern business through the introduction of managerial innovations. The main purpose of the study is to improve the theoretical and methodological approach to the implementation of managerial innovations in the system of modern business solutions. Systematization of literature sources and approaches to solving the problem of improving business management through the introduction of managerial innovations indicates the widespread use of methodological approaches and methods of managerial (...) class='Hi'>innovation, but much management issues to ensure business excellence, justification of new opportunities for its development remain unnoticed. The urgency of solving this scientific problem is that in conditions of growing uncertainty and risk, accelerating the transformation of business, the importance of ensuring its perfection in the long term economic development of Ukraine is growing. The methodological tools of research methods were a system of methods used to obtain the final results of the study: generalization and comparative analysis – to clarify the essence of the concept of «managerial innovation»; abstract-logical – to reveal the relationship between the use of information and communication technologies, business excellence and implementation of management innovations; system-analytical – in developing a model of business excellence based on the use of modern information and communication technologies. The object of research is the industrial enterprises of the modern economy of Ukraine, because they are the basis of economic formation, a source of replenishment of the country budget and form the export orientation of business. The article presents the results of abstract-logical analysis of the blocks of business excellence, which showed that at the present stage of its development, the introduction of managerial innovations should be associated with the digital transformation of business. The results of the system-analytical analysis are presented, which are the basis for the development of an economic model for business excellence. The results of the study can be useful for business structures (and in particular, business units of the industrial complex of Ukraine), which seek to increase the efficiency of decision-making in today's digital business transformation. (shrink)

Elias G. Carayannis and David F. J. Campbell, Mode 3 Knowledge Production in Quadruple Helix Innovation Systems: 21st-Century Democracy, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship for Development Content Type Journal Article Category Book Review Pages 139-142 DOI 10.1007/s11024-012-9194-6 Authors Barbara Prainsack, Department of Sociology and Communications, Brunel University, Kingston Lane, Uxbridge, Middlesex UB8 3PH, UK Journal Minerva Online ISSN 1573-1871 Print ISSN 0026-4695 Journal Volume Volume 50 Journal Issue Volume 50, Number 1.

We define social innovation as strategic decision making to improve social conditions and facilitate social changes in a desirable direction by dealing with crucial issues and solving fundamental societal problems. This paper proposes a framework that enables the decision maker to implement social innovation effectively. The framework consists of three influential theories or ways of thinking, that is, design thinking, systems thinking, and learning organization. This paper shows how these three approaches can be integrated to tackle a (...) critical social problem and develop a sustainable solution. We present a case study on an actual social issue to demonstrate its practical application. (shrink)

This study examines the extent to which enabling and controlling uses of management control systems moderate the relationship between environmental innovation strategy and organizational performance. Partial least squares structural equation modeling is used to analyze survey data collected from top managers in 175 manufacturing and services sectors representing multinational and local organizations operating in Sri Lanka. We find that while the enabling use of MCS positively moderates the relationship between environmental innovation strategy and organizational performance, in contrast, (...) the controlling use of MCS negatively moderates the relationship. We compare the results for the manufacturing and services sectors. As predicted, we find a significant positive moderating impact of the enabling use of MCS in both manufacturing and services sectors. However, contrary to our expectations, we find no significant moderating impact for both sectors for the controlling use of MCS. We conclude that environmental innovation strategy per se does not lead to performance improvements; however, the extent to which organizations use enabling and controlling MCS determines the relationship. We provide theoretical insights and practical implications concerning the importance of strategic alignment between managerial controls, environmental innovation strategy, and organizational performance. (shrink)

Memory Detection Tests (MDTs) are a general class of psychophysiological tests that can be used to determine whether someone remembers a particular fact or datum. The P300 MDT is a type of MDT that relies on a presumed correlation between the presence of a detectable neural signal (the P300 “brainwave”) in a test subject, and the recognition of those facts in the subject’s mind. As such, the P300 MDT belongs to a class of brain-based forensic technologies which have proved popular (...) and controversial in recent years. With such tests increasingly being proffered for use in the courtroom — to either support or call into question testimony — it would behoove the legal system to have some systematic framework for ensuring that they are used responsibly. In this paper, I defend one such framework for ensuring that this is the case: the legitimacy enhancing test. According to this test, it is appropriate to make use of technologies such as the P300 MDT whenever doing so would (probably) enhance the legitimacy of the trial. I argue that this test addresses tensions between scientific and legal norms of evidence, and exhibits a number of additional virtues including unification, simplicity and flexibility. Although the test is defended by considering the example of the P300 MDT, its significance is much broader than that. If it has the virtues I claim for it, it should provide a general framework for the responsible use of technologies, and the responsible innovation of social epistemic systems. (shrink)

Society is at a crossroads. Interconnected systems, radical transparency, and rapidly increasing sophistication in skills, communications, and technologies provide a unique context for fostering social innovation at a planetary scale. We argue that unprecedented rates of systemic social change are possible for co-creating a future where humans and all life can thrive. Yet, this requires innovation in the conceptions, practice, teaching, and researching of social innovation itself to reimagine what it is and can be. As a (...) multidisciplinary group of academics, practitioners, and educators, we integrate our perspectives on social innovation and humanistic management to suggest the notion of systemic social innovation. We introduce the concept of “transformative collaboration” as central to facilitating systemic social innovation and propose a multilevel model for accelerating systems change. We then develop an integrated framework for conceptualizing systemic social innovation. Four levels of social impact are identified, and these levels are bracketed with a call for transforming individual consciousness at the micro level and new collective mindsets at the macro level. Blooom is presented as a case study to illustrate transformative collaboration, demonstrate the role of mindset shift in practice, and introduce four key ingredients to systemic social innovation. Finally, a call to action is issued for social innovation practice, teaching, and research. Most importantly, we seek to inspire and accelerate systemic social innovation that enables the flourishing of every human being and all life on earth. (shrink)

Good balance between product and service is the key in the innovative design of product service systems. In this study, the evolution route of the PSS based on Teoriya Resheniya Izobretatelskikh Zadatch ideal final result was provided. The function model of the PSS was constructed according to the service blueprint and function system diagrams. On this basis, an innovation design method of the PSS based on function incentive was established. The function incentive strategies included function synergy, function supplement, (...) and function substitution. Finally, the PSS design process of agricultural machinery based on computer-aided innovation platform was analyzed to verify this method. (shrink)

Cet article étudie l’apparente convergence qui s’opère, depuis quelques années, entre l’ approche en termes de Systèmes Nationaux d’Innovation et la théorie évolutionniste du changement technologique. Ce processus s’appuie sur une conception spécifique du processus d’innovation lui-même. Dans ce contexte, l’innovation est un processus cognitif, qui s’exprime à plusieurs niveaux – local, national, sectoriel et international – et dans de nombreuses dimensions – technologique, organisationnelle et institutionnelle. Cette approche attribue un rôle central aux acteurs publics et aux (...) institutions mais révèle, dans le même temps, les difficultés intrinsèques à toute tentative de synthèse entre des théories souvent hétérogènes.This paper examines the apparent convergence between the National Systems of Innovation approach and evolutionary theories of technological change. This convergence is organized around a complex and specific conception of the innovation process itself In this context, innovation is a cognitive, a multilevel – i.e. local, national, sectorial and international –, a historical and multidimensional – i.e. technological, organizational and institutional – process. This conception gives a central place to public actors and institutions but shows the strong difficulty inherent to the elaboration of a coherent evolutionary theory of economic change. In effect, it seems difficult to articulates heterogeneous concepts within a global framework. (shrink)

The increasing significance of inter- and transdisciplinary research raises the demand for principles with respect to methodology and philosophy of science. The discussion of this question leads to the development of an interdisciplinary research process with two methodic core areas: system integration and inducement of innovation. It will be shown that interdisciplinary research can be understood as a discipline of its own, while its potential of synthesis cannot be declared as a central distinctive feature relative to other disciplines. In (...) fact the developed methodology is firstly aligned analytically, with a focus on the research potential from the area of tension between individual disciplines. This results in an interdisciplinary methodology, generating epistemological progress, which can be applied to complex and cooperation intensive research in academia as well as industry and society. (shrink)

Energy innovation offers us our best chance to solve the three urgent and interrelated problems of climate change, worldwide insecurity over energy supplies, and rapidly growing energy demand. But if we are to achieve a timely transition to reliable, low-cost, low-carbon energy, the U.S. energy innovation system must be radically overhauled. Unlocking Energy Innovation outlines an up-to-the-minute plan for remaking America's energy innovation system by tapping the country's entrepreneurial strengths and regional diversity in both the public (...) and private spheres. The authors map three waves of energy innovation to show how we can speed up the introduction of new technologies and business models and accelerate their deployment on a massive scale. "Business as usual" will not fill the energy innovation gap. Nor will wishful thinking--common enough today, with politicians and others talking up some technologies, talking down others, and claiming that if we price it, or if we mandate it, or if we simply say it often and inspiringly enough, the innovations will flow. Only the kind of systemic, transformative changes to our energy innovation system described in this provocative book will help us avert the most dire scenarios and achieve a sustainable and secure energy future. (shrink)

In May 1973 a new collaboration between NASA, the Indian Health Service, and the Lockheed Missiles and Space Company promised to transform the way members of the Papago (now Tohono O’odham) Tribe of southern Arizona accessed modern medicine. Through a system of state-of-the-art microwave relays, slow-scan television links, and Mobile Health Units, the residents of the third-largest American Indian reservation began to access physicians remotely via telemedical encounters instead of traveling to distant hospitals. Examining the history of the STARPAHC (Space (...) Technology Applied to Rural Papago Advanced Health Care) project from the perspective of NASA and its contractors, from the perspective of the Indian Health Service, and from the perspective of O’odham engineers and health professionals offers a new focus, emphasizing the American Indian reservation as a site of medical research and technological development in the late twentieth century, with specific attention to the promise of information technology to address health disparities and the role of American Indians as actors in the late twentieth-century history of science, technology, and medicine. (shrink)

Forces such as increasing globalisation, demographic change, European enlargement, and the emergence of networked organisations stimulate the emergence of new forms of organisation and collaborative working. Mobility, sharing of information and knowledge, and collaboration across organisational networks are key aspects of workplace innovations. New information and communication technologies enable a diversity of future workplace scenarios. However, coping with the human and organisational aspects involved will determine their success or failure. In order to exploit the potential of workplace innovations we, therefore, (...) must better understand their systemic nature. This article, based on the MOSAIC project, explores the potential of mobile and multi-location collaborative workplaces, investigates some future scenarios and roadmaps, and discusses the strategies and research approaches for systemic innovation. (shrink)

Basic tendencies of enterprises' innovative development management have been considered from the perspective of postfordist tranformations. It has been determined that mobility is a specificity of postfordist industrial management. Mobility provides dispersion of structural subdivisions all over the world, it doesn't need any governmental support and strict control. Total diversification of the kind allows to implement «high» technologies through global data revolution practically into all spheres of social life. The evolution of social relations types from feudalism up to Post-Fordism has (...) been provided and their specifics defined. Analytical studies carried out have enabled to discover formed world innovative centres and – from global economic perspective – those of half-peripheral countries with low level of innovative development. The directions of China management of innovative development, whose combined innovation level steadily increases, have been described. It has been determined that a great many of world countries is not currently being on the postfordist stage, since an industrial labour is characteristic for them which defines their type as traditional or early industrial pre-modern. We've also found that innovation development governance at the global level through the prism of postfordist transformations manifests itself in looking for niche, strict subordination to global market mechanisms, decentralization under control of transnational corporations; at the national level: in decentration of social space and thinking, marginalization of urban population, migration; at the meso level: in orientation on consumer needs, considerable mobility of production, individualization under global standardization; at the micro level: in project approach, faster time to market, cost minimization. It has been determined that technological breakthrough evokes such social concerns as total control, alienation, job and security loss. (shrink)

A concept of co-evolution is argued to complement Integrated Water Resource Management's gap in administrative integration. Co-evolution's complement to Integrated Water Resource Management is explored through issues surrounding joint water management arrangements between the Israelis and Palestinians in the late 1990s and early 21st century. How co-evolution contributes to such a water management approach highlights how we might think about what it means to encourage innovation. Conclusions of the article suggest co-evolution provides the language and description for the changing (...) interactions and political environment and therefore provides a sharper conceptualization for administrative integration. (shrink)

Volume 19, Issue 6, June 2019, Page 19-21.

Environmental crises, which are consequences of resource-intensive lifestyles and are characterized to a large extent by both a changing climate and a loss of biodiversity, stress the urgent need for a global social-ecological transformation of the agro-food system. In this regard, the bioeconomy and bioeconomic innovations have frequently been seen as instrumental in addressing these grand challenges and contributing to more sustainable land use. To date, the question of how much bioeconomic innovations contribute to sustainability objectives remains unanswered. Against this (...) background, we study four bioeconomic innovations using the case study of animal production and manure utilization in relation to their potential contributions to a social-ecological transformation. The analysis is based on the application of analytical categories derived from the literature that assess the normativity of these innovations and their implicit cultural changes. The results show that the innovations examined manifest existing thought styles and the incumbent socio-technical regime rather than contribute to a more fundamental transition. In this respect, we stress the importance of evolving alterative ideas in innovation design, applying more integrative approaches, such as embedding innovation processes into transdisciplinary processes, and developing adaptive and reflective governance approaches. In return, bioeconomic innovations should adjust towards the design mission of a social-ecological transformation and include a multitude of actors to discuss and harmonize contesting imaginaries and ethical concerns. (shrink)

EU regulations explicitly preclude recirculation aquaculture systems (RAS) for aquaculture grow-out from organic certification because they are not close enough to nature (Regulation (EEC) No. 710/2009). Meanwhile, according to another EU regulation, one criterion for organic food production is its contribution to sustainable development (Regulation (EEC) No. 834/2007). Against this background, one might argue that in spite of their distance to nature RAS are innovative solutions to sustainability issues in food production. The paper will deal with the claim that (...) RAS for aquaculture could be one innovative solution to sustainability issues. In this respect, the picture is ambivalent. In the past, the organic movement (OM) has searched for innovative alternatives to industrial forms of agriculture and food production that are non-sustainable. Hence, the majority of the OM does not feel fit to support industrial RAS, even though one might argue that these systems comply with many of the European OM’s founding principles. While there are potential positive effects for a sustainable development, we might still regard these systems as techno-scientific solutions to social problems. This paper discusses innovation narratives related to RAS from the perspective of post-normal innovation critique. It first presents potential contribution to a more sustainable food sector. It then contrasts these arguments within critical assessments of innovation narratives for sustainable development. Finally, the paper concludes by discussing moral challenges of RAS for the OM’s self-conception. (shrink)

Historically, farmers have been amongst the most innovative people in the world. However, agriculture now lags behind other sectors in its uptake of new information technologies for the control and automation of farming systems. In spite of decades of research into innovation, we still do not have a good understanding as to why this is the case. With the globalisation of food markets, IT adoption in agricultural communities is perceived to be increasingly important by policy makers. As the (...) most marginalised of rural communities, it is self-evident that agricultural communities in less developed countries are most in need of these systems. This paper proposes a new integral systems framework of e-agricultural adoption and innovation in less developed countries. It opens up a new avenue of research for control and automation systems theory and practice, which informs policy in respect of e-readiness of rural communities. (shrink)

Comment on “Systemic Social Innovation” critiques the paper as being neither particularly systemic not innovative. It lists a dozen examples of systemic collaborations now underway that are more transformative. The Comment also takes issue with the article’s creation of a fifteen-part taxonomy that it asserts is necessary to assess transformative collaborations and urges readers to engage in a little less talk and a lot more action.