Innovation Networks

Cooperatives serve both social and economic collective purposes and the members of a cooperative are at the same time both owners and users of the cooperative. This dual character leads to ambiguity, and the contradictory activities of cooperatives can make their coordination problematic, especially when they involve multi-level innovation networks with diverse stakeholders. Specific problems include coordinating multi-level stakeholders with different interests, competing institutional frameworks and different professional backgrounds or cultures. It is also necessary to resolve the paradoxes associated with the users of cooperatives being accountable to themselves as the owners. Further problems relate to maintaining the stable participation of members in complying with contract conditions (e.g. production and quality demands) while opening the network to new members according to the principle of open ownership. The paper explains how innovation networks that cooperate with smallholder farmers are coordinated to balance exploration and exploitation when tackling challenges in an innovation process, and the governance coordination mechanisms that are used. It is based on six study cases of farmer groups involved in different configurations of innovation networks, research and development interventions and multi-stakeholder innovation platforms that aim to tackle challenges in the potato netchain in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Uganda. It uses and adjusts social network and value chain analyses (netchain analysis) to track relational-structural governance dynamics with a longitudinal approach, introducing the concept of innovation netchain as a variant of innovation networks. It finds that in the paradigm of open innovation, more open governance and management mechanisms emerge to respond to globalized and complex societal challenges. The paper proposes the concept of mobile hubs of innovation networks and their dynamic meta- governance and a typology of different modes of management mechanism for innovation networks. It concludes that the dynamic orchestration of activities facilitated by the multi-level fora of multi-stakeholder innovation platforms (i.e. a mobile hub of innovation networks) democratically at the farmer, national, regional and even the virtual levels should decide on the modes of governance and leadership required for coordinating activities. Ambidextrous management of the multi-stakeholder cooperative balances the exploration and exploitation dynamics of an innovation process. Published on: http://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/a9e9b1ac-59d4-4cce-84e5-13535312bbb1 In book: FAO. 2016. Enabling more inclusive and efficient food and agricultural systems in Africa . FAO session at the IFAMA World Forum, 18 June 2014, Cape Town, South Africa, by Da Silva, C., Mpagalile, J., van Rooyen, J. & Rizzo, C. Rome, Italy., Chapter: 9, Publisher: Published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and Stellenbosch University, pp.131-154

This thesis analysis the characteristics, importance and role of tourism innovation developed at territorial level and its impact on destination development. It is a multidisciplinary study based on an extensive literature review on development, innovation and territorial innovation models. Grounded on the main conceptual findings, the model of regional innovation systems is considered to be the most adequate for the tourism system, and the networks as important structures for its operationalisation. From this theoretical approach, a framework for the analysis of tourism innovation systems is developed, and several hypotheses are advanced and tested through the analysis of the results from the empirical part of the thesis. Two distinct but complementary empirical studies are conducted in the regions of Douro and Aveiro. The first is directed at tourism firms and the second to regional tourism organisations and innovation institutions. The results gathered allow unveiling important conclusions on the innovative performance of tourism firms and regions, the networking patterns developed within innovation processes, the importance of regional knowledge and regional specific factors for tourism innovation and the perception of tourism firms regarding the innovation environment and the contribution of innovation in the evolution and success of tourism destinations. The thesis makes use of a quantitative approach including descriptive and inductive statistics and social network analysis methods (sociometry). The combination of methods brings important insights on tourism innovation, with a special focus on regional tourism innovation systems. It allows advancing implications and suggestions for future research on the topic and for tourism destinations’ management, as it contributes to a better and in-depth understanding of the phenomenon of interactive tourism innovation at regional level. The results highlight that different regions present distinct regional innovation systems and thus there is no single inflexible framework to be applied to all tourism destinations. There are, however, conclusions that indicate that specific patterns and practices improve their functioning, increasing innovation performance and overall destination competitiveness.

""In networked or open innovation processes, so-called innovation communities have been identified, in which innovation champions from different levels in the innovation system supposedly act as a team. Connecting the literature on innovation network orchestration and the role and position of different kinds of champions as brokers in innovation networks, the purpose of this article is to unravel the interaction between champions and what this entails in terms of role complementarities and conflicts as regards innovation network orchestration. This is done by using an explorative multiple case study approach in which three innovation journeys are analyzed. The results indicate that a distinction can be made between primary innovation communities, who act as aggregated orchestrators of the overall innovation network, and who in turn orchestrate secondary innovation communities in certain sub-networks. Here different kinds of champions complement each other and act as a team, but these complementarities are not a given: they are negotiated over time in interaction, and lack of reflection on each other’s roles may result in role conflicts. The main conclusion is that an oversimplified notion of innovation communities as a unified team of champions should be avoided: innovation communities themselves need a form of orchestration.

Keywords: innovation champions, innovation intermediaries, innovation brokers, innovation networking, network orchestration""

This study aims at describing and analyzing the network formation of technological innovation. Studying this research phenomenon as processes generally and as sociomaterial processes specifically calls for a holistic and process driven research approach. This approach is captured by adopting material constructionist research philosophy and consequently materially relativist style of thinking as well as the basic ideology of case study research. These research philosophical stances give an opportunity for me to become sensitized to materiality, process, conflicts, and interests when scrutinizing the network formation of technological innovation. The study is situated in the context of construction; I draw analytical insights from many sources and use these in describing and analyzing the network formation of technological innovation. These sources include the network studies in business context – business networks, social networks and entrepreneurial networks – as well as actor-network theory and the empirical case called the intelligent paper in the study period of approximately 13 years, thus from 1997 to 2009. The intelligent paper is a technological innovation and a network as I regard it in this study. It concerns cost-effective, high-volume and roll-to-roll production of printable optics and electronics which enables novel, intelligent functionalities onto printed matter. It is part of the emerging printed intelligence markets, which is located at the crossroads of several industries, namely paper and printing, optics, and electronics.

I identify two ways to describe and analyze the network formation of technological innovation, namely the concepts of network trajectory and translation. The first is the concept of network trajectory. It enables capturing simultaneously a network, that is, actors and their relationships and a path of movement of this network across space and time. From the previous network studies in business context, I identify three network trajectories: the goal-based, opportunity-based and integrated network trajectories. The contemplation of these trajectories leads to three shortcomings of this view: (1) heavy emphasis has been put on humans and their relationships as principal carriers of technological innovation activities, (2) non-humans and their relationships have only been treated as instruments in these activities, and (3) the human parties have rather deterministically and linearly been seen to influence and be influenced by the networks within which they are embedded while engaging in technological innovation activities.

These shortcomings are transcended in this study by introducing actor-network theory and adopting the concept of translation. The concept of translation shifts the focus onto sociomateriality involved in the network formation of technological innovation. It allows detecting the network formation of technological innovation as continually unfolding sociomaterial processes during which some actors – by becoming involved in network formation/technological innovation and chained together in a logical succession – succeed in pursuing a character while others remain objects of other actors’ actions. At the same time, the underlying power relationships between them become revealed.

In the empirical part of the study, I discuss the case of the intelligent paper using heuristically Callon’s (1986a) four-phase translation model. Additionally, I complement the model with introducing certain relational and somewhat metaphorical words (i.e., pack and filtering). As a result, I narrate the network formation of technological innovation. This narration provides a multifaceted and empirically grounded understanding of the network formation of technological innovation, which is full of noise and disturbances. It displays several competing heterogeneous networks and consequently several competing packs including multiple human and nonhuman actors, their actions, and their interconnected relationships to each other while forming the network and consequently the technological innovation. It also reveals multiple phases during which these heterogeneous networks get continually reconfigured, transformed, and finally revitalised into one more coherent heterogeneous network as well as different strategies through which actors continually try to stabilise these configurations.

Interpreting the case of the intelligent paper through the concepts of network trajectory and translation, I build a revised understanding of the network formation of technological innovation. I broaden the networks as processes view generally and the strong process view to networks specifically by arguing that the network of technological innovation concerns continually unfolding sociomaterial processes and consequently continually unfolding heterogeneous networks (packs), which are equipped with entanglements of humans (individuals, firms and organizations), nonhumans (e.g., machines, methods and apparatuses of many sorts) and their interconnected relationships. The formation of these heterogeneous networks plays out as a process of translation and gets depicted as a sociomaterial network trajectory.

More specifically, this study contributes to actor-network theory by providing a more refined understanding of the phases and sub-phases involved in the process of translation. In doing so, it also elaborates the use of certain relational and somewhat metaphorical words not previously used in actor-network theoretical accounts (or network studies in business context), namely packs as heterogeneous networks and filtering. The study also provides a few strategies to lock actors into their places in the network as well as to keep them locked. These strategies have not previously been discussed in actor-network theoretical studies while scrutinizing the translation process, namely the technology developers’ personal career development opportunities and the collaborative work. Additionally, the study enhances the understanding on concrete development paths opened up and guided by the nonhuman actors in technological innovation processes.

Besides pursuing the thought that the network of technological innovation concerns continually unfolding sociomaterial processes and consequently continually unfolding heterogeneous networks (packs), this study also contributes to the network studies in business context by providing the sociomaterial network trajectory. This trajectory complements the other three network trajectories identified from the network studies in business context in terms of heterogeneous networks and the continual power plays of actors occurring while forming the network of technological. It also offers a broader explanatory frame to potential and actual courses of network formation of technological innovation.

The study has implications for practitioners who wish to better master networked innovation activities they are engaged with. These implications help them to better understand long-term, heterogeneous technological innovation processes and especially the important role of nonhumans in, and the effects of the collaborative work and the individuals’ career development opportunities on, these processes.

KEYWORDS: Network, technological innovation, actor-network theory, trajectory, translation, sociomaterial, material constructionism

O presente estudo tem por objetivo estabelecer os princípios básicos para a configuração de uma rede de inovação tecnológica voltada ao segmento madeireiro da Amazônia Legal. Dessa forma, é possível criar oportunidades para o estabelecimento de um ambiente colaborativo que maximize a canalização de conhecimento e investimentos de recursos, materiais e humanos, das organizações, assim como estimule as ações integradas entre governo, setor produtivo e a comunidade de pesquisa, desenvolvimento e inovação (P,D&I) para promover o desenvolvimento deste segmento na região.

This paper examines how and why news organizations are deploying open Application Programming Interfaces (so-called “open APIs”) as part of their online strategy, connecting this phenomenon with the “open innovation” paradigm (Chesbrough, 2003) popular in the business management and technology literature. Up to now, the news industry has both under-funded R&D efforts and underappreciated the wisdom of external ideas. But this is beginning to change, as some major news organizations—including four studied here: the Guardian, The New York Times, USA Today, and National Public Radio—have deployed publicly available APIs, which can be seen as the first manifestation of open innovation in the news industry. Through qualitative interviews with key developers, we examine the nature of this phenomenon: the relative motivations, benefits, and challenges associated with using open APIs in the context of online news. Our findings offer a fresh perspective on the business strategy and the process of innovation, both for news organizations and the profession broadly.

Innovations have become indispensable in global intercity competition. Local actors must be able to forge links to different domains of global innovation in order to be able to gain access to and benefit from global flows of values. In this article, we analyse metropolitan governments’ strategies for global innovation networking, drawing empirical evidence from the case of the city of Helsinki, Finland. Helsinki focusses in its global innovation networking on three activities: participating in international city networks, utilising networks to attract innovative companies and talent to the city, and connecting the local innovation environment to global innovation ecology. Helsinki relies on learning by doing in its quest to reap benefits from innovation networking. Its special challenges are to cope with the multidimensionality of global innovation networking, develop a shared vision, and create collaborative mindset in order to get rid of obstacles caused by institutional silos and enclaves.

The number of publicly funded initiatives to establish or strengthen networks and clusters, in order to enhance innovation, has been increasing. Returns on such investments vary, and the aim of this study is to explore to what extent the variation in benefits for firms participating in networks or clusters can be explained by their dynamic capabilities (DC). Based on survey data from five Norwegian networks, the results suggest that firms with higher DC are more successful in harvesting the potential benefits of being member of a network.

Transitie in de Openbare Bibliotheeksector en het doel om de vernieuwingskracht van bibliotheekorganisaties te versterken heeft geleid tot een netwerk brede innovatieagenda. Hierin zijn  netwerksamenwerking, netwerkrollen en verantwoordelijkheden vastgelegd. Organisaties in het netwerk hebben hiermee aangegeven gezamenlijk te willen optrekken en de krachten te bundelen. Vanuit dit perspectief lijkt dat de basis voor een sterk netwerk aanwezig is en dit de opmaat is voor innovaties die bijdragen aan het succes van Openbare Bibliotheken. Desalniettemin lijken er binnen het netwerk factoren te zijn welke hier wel of niet aan bijdragen.

Deze scriptie gaat in op de literatuur over de relatie tussen het managen van een netwerk en innovatiesucces door te beoordelen welke invloed de factoren kennismobiliteit, netwerkstabiliteit en innovatie “appropriability” in een netwerk hebben op innovatiesucces.

Door een aselecte steekproef onder 79 bestuurders van Openbare Bibliotheken te analyseren, bevestigt deze studie niet dat deze drie factoren invloed hebben op innovatiesucces van Openbare Bibliotheekorganisaties. Regressieanalyse toont dat er geen invloed is van deze factoren op innovatiesucces. 
Dit onderzoek laat, door het uitvoeren van correlatieanalyse, wel zien dat er een sterk positief verband is tussen de factoren kennismobiliteit, netwerkstabiliteit en innovatie “appropriability”, wat de theorie hierover ondersteunt. Daarnaast wordt aangetoond dat deze factoren in lichte tot enige mate aanwezig zijn binnen het netwerk. Bovendien laat het onderzoek zien dat innovatiesucces aanwezig is bij Openbare Bibliotheekorganisaties, waarbij productinnovaties het hoogste scoren. Ook zijn communicatie-, proces- en organisatie-innovaties in enige mate aanwezig. Deze innovaties worden veelal zelf of samen met het netwerk ontwikkeld. In sterk mindere mate worden deze innovaties alleen door het netwerk ontwikkeld.

Deze studie biedt theoretische en beleidsimplicaties. In een theoretisch perspectief wordt aangetoond dat het onderzoek naar het managen van netwerken en de invloed op innovatiesucces nog weinig empirisch onderbouwd is. Daarnaast kan vervolgonderzoek binnen de publieke sector aantonen of de eerdergenoemde factoren of andere factoren van belang zijn bij het managen van een netwerk.
Vanuit beleidsperspectief geeft het uitleg over de resultaten en adviseert het netwerk welke acties te ondernemen om het netwerk te versterken en de rol van het netwerk bij ontwikkeling van innovaties.

El artículo propone un modelo para la gestión del conocimiento en el tema de bioetanol. La propuesta consiste en una plataforma denominada BIOred, que está construida usando el modelo propuesto por Nonaka & Takeuchi, en la cual se presenta la circulación del conocimiento a partir de las fases de combinación, socialización, interiorización y exteriorización. En el Sur occidente Colombiano existe gran dispersión de conocimiento relacionado con alternativas energéticas y uso de productos agrícolas para la obtención de bioetanol, lo que impide la eficiente colaboración entre productores e investigadores. El modelo se construyó utilizando la técnica de análisis estructural, que permitió la identificación y valoración de
los actores claves que constituirían la red y de las factores críticos que soportan la plataforma virtual, finalmente se logró que cada componente de la red se articulara alrededor de una finalidad encaminada a la gestión del conocimiento. El modelo permitirá a los actores involucrados en la producción de bioetanol establecer relaciones de colaboración y cooperación con los investigadores tanto de los centros de investigación como de las universidades de la región.

Gegenstand des Projektkberichts ist die Zusammenarbeit von Stiftungen und Staat auf dem Gebiet der Schulreform.

Es geht dabei um die Frage, welche Rolle sektor-übergreifende Netzwerke für Innovationsprozesse in komplexen sozialen Systemen wie dem Schulbereich spielen.

Darüber hinaus wird die Anwendbarkeit des ‚Strategischen Nischenmanagements‘ auf Phänomene sozialer Innovation demonstriert.

Dynamic capabilities (DC) Theory highlights the need for organizations to constantly innovate their service offerings. With growing digitalization, service innovation processes (SIP) are particularly reliant on sensing capabilities of the organization, as they allow a firm to derive and disseminate the necessary insights for the development of more compelling value propositions. In this respect, contemporary research often highlights the role of information systems (IS) for innovation success. However, so far little effort has been made to understand this role more precisely. Drawing on the results of a systematic literature review, we investigate the relationship between IS and the SIP and present seven application areas for IS that support sensing capabilities. In this way, we bridge the prevailing gap between DC theory and IS research. Our results shine the light at potential application areas for the use of IS, thus allowing practitioners to improve the sensing capabilities of their organizations.

Ao longo dos últimos dois séculos, o Brasil enfrentou diversas mudanças e instabilidades no seu contexto institucional em Saúde Pública. Visando amortecer essas instabilidades, foi introduzida pelo Governo Federal uma política de indução à criação de redes de colaboração entre universidades, institutos de pesquisa, agências de fomento e a iniciativa privada com o objetivo de formação de um Sistema Nacional de Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação no Brasil. Essas iniciativas foram motivadas pelas pressões contidas na dimensão simbólica da realidade social, impactando, também, na dimensão material da realidade social. Em meio a esse contexto, surgiu no Paraná uma iniciativa de estratégia de desenvolvimento da área de Biologia Molecular fora do eixo Rio-São Paulo, o chamado Instituto de Biologia Molecular do Paraná (IBMP), que ao longo dos anos evoluiu para a criação de uma unidade própria da Fiocruz no Paraná, o Instituto Carlos Chagas (ICC), formando o então chamado arranjo Fiocruz Paraná. Deste modo, foi visado compreender como evoluiu a formação e a institucionalização desse arranjo, assim como a sua estruturação em forma de rede de inovação de ideias, em meio às instabilidades presentes na dimensão simbólica (ambiente institucional) e na dimensão material (ambiente técnico) da realidade social em que esse arranjo estava imerso. Para cumprir o objetivo destacado, foi optado pela adoção de métodos qualitativos de análise de conteúdo temática no que se refere à análise institucional, com recortes quantitativos no que se refere à análise da rede interorganizacional em que o arranjo é hub, a partir de uma investigação exploratória retrospectiva compreendendo o período entre os anos de 1999 (fundação do IBMP) e 2014 (passando pela fundação do ICC no ano de 2008). Os resultados demonstraram que a formação da rede foi possibilitada pelo contexto institucional, contudo, foi por critérios técnicos de eficiência (devido ao campo estar em formação) e do peso institucional das organizações que formaram o arranjo, que o mesmo adquiriu legitimidade. No que se refere à rede de inovação de ideias, observou-se que a estruturação de acordo com o modelo proposto, em seis arenas de pesquisa interconectadas, pode ser preditiva de inovação. Dentre as contribuições, destacou-se que a estruturação da rede de inovação de ideias como redes densas no que se refere à conectividade intra-arenas é favorável à inovação, ao passo que as redes esparsas e com buracos estruturais no que se refere à conectividade interarenas é a condição mais propícia para ocorrer inovação.

This case study assessed local food stakeholders’ use of Facebook and Twitter to support interaction and build their networks of innovation in Ontario. Data were collected using Netlytic − an online data mining tool from the social media platforms−and key informant interviews. Findings revealed that stakeholders could be more innovative in their use of social media, but they would
be unlikely to do so, without tapping into beneficial interactions of weak ties, as well as fostering strong ties. They also need to utilize the high brokerage role of key facilitating organizations and develop a social media strategy by integrating both ‘online’ and ‘offline’ interactions.

Firms situated within innovation networks require specific abilities to acquire, from their network partners, the knowledge and the complementary assets that facilitate their innovation performance. Drawing on the resource-based view and social network theory, this study identifies two types of network capabilities: network structural capability and network relational capability. The purpose of this study is to deepen our understanding of the precise manner in which these network capabilities affect the networked firm’s innovation performance. Based on the data obtained from Chinese high-tech firms, this study’s findings suggest that network structural capability has a greater positive impact on innovation performance than network relational capability does within an exploration-orientated network. However, network relational capability is more positively associated with innovation performance within an exploitation-orientated network.

Reputation is often overlooked in the geography of innovation studies, but may represent a relevant outcome of the participation in multi-scalar research and innovation networks. To date, a limited number of studies have outlined how collaborations in inter-organisational networks contribute to build academic reputation and scientific excellence, generally without distinguishing between the two concepts. This paper aims at assessing to what extent the degree of participation in the European Union nanotechnology network contributes to determine the reputation of universities as captured by renowned university rankings. Reputation is conceptualised as either the opinion of other academics about a given university ('academic reputation') or scientific achievements ('scientific excellence'). The findings presented in this paper suggest that cooperation in international inter-organisational networks is not only essential for securing research funds and acquiring new relevant knowledge, but also for positively contributing to shape academic reputation and enhance scientific excellence.

In this paper we introduce a novel entrepreneurial model for funding and managing future intelligent educational environments and other academic business enterprise; the Faculty-Cooperative. The goal of this model is to create a business mechanism where academics are both the owners and customers of the IPR they generate, thereby providing synergy to optimize the educational product for the market, provide an embedded sales team and offer a source of investment for the enterprise. Our model is inspired by the cooperative ethos that has historically existed in universities. In addition we draw on parallels with the Western Cooperative movements and Chinese collectives but in a more virtualised form within the university system. To illustrate the Faculty-Cooperative approach we examine how it might be applied to the formation of an academic enterprise, FortiTo (a manufacturer of the technology that underpins intelligent educational environments and a producer of learning tools for stu...

This paper focuses on the innovation networks of high-technology Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) within a Science and Technology Park (STP). More specifically, the study examines the role of network ties in high-technology SMEs by focusing on the linkages employed by small businesses to learn, adapt to technological change, and innovate. The paper presents evidence from a recent survey of Brisbane Technology Park (BTP) and this illustrates how the competitiveness of local high-tech firms will be enhanced by the suggested model, which describes the need for oscillation between weak and strong ties at different stages of the innovation process and diffusion.

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Netzwerke sind beliebte Lösungsansätze für komplexe Probleme im Bildungsbereich. Was sollten vernetzungswillige Stiftungen und ihre Partner rund um die Gründung und Durchführung eines Netzwerks bedenken? Für welche Art von Problem eignet sich welche Netzwerk-Struktur und mit welchen Ergebnissen ist dabei zu rechnen?

Economic geographers have recently made important contributions to understanding of the relationship between regional transformation , industrial specialisation and innovation networks in the emergence of new industries. However, most contemporary research has focused on the influence of networks on regional trajectories, paying lip service to how regional trajectories also influence network configurations. Furthermore, international comparative research on how specific regional innovation system (RIS) trajectories may shape innovation networks in new industrial sectors is underdeveloped. The paper investigates how the trajectories of Bangalore and Beijing RISs influence the objectives and geographical configuration of innovation networks in the new media industry. The co-evolution of different elements of the RIS trajectory points to the unfolding of a politically and institutionally driven trajectory in Beijing, and a cognitively driven trajectory in Bangalore. These trajectories lead to specific barriers and opportunities for the development of innovation networks in new industries. ARTICLE HISTORY

The aim of this work is to give an overview on the development of theoretical concepts and methodological approaches to investigate innovation networks, in particular the use of social network analysis in the study of university industry relations. The structure of networks can be analysed through the lens of Social Network Analysis. This methodological approach is described and its fundamental concepts are presented. The paper then reviews the applications of this approach on the study of university industry relations. These relations can be considered as an innovation network, in the sense that the interactions established by its participants have more or less defined innovation goals. Different structures in the relations may result in different innovation outcomes, and the use of SNA may be particularly useful to understand differential outcomes. It is thus important to take stock of the knowledge concerning the efforts that have been made to probe the complex phenomena of university industry relations and, in particular, how approaches based on social network analysis have been used to understand it. This work is based on a review of available literature on the topics. The paper aims at systematizing the information and knowledge related to the application of SNA on university industry networks, highlighting the main research pathways, the main conclusions and pointing possible future research questions.

The range of inter-organisational innovation networks existing in the global economy today show a wide variance in structure, purpose, location, lifespan and maturity. These differences between network instantiations highlight the need for deeper understanding of the operation of these networks in order to enable efforts to improve network performance. These efforts include strategic management routines for network leadership, as well

Recent agenda-setting exercises in the national innovation systems and industrial dynamics literatures have highlighted the unresolved methodological challenges faced by those seeking to explore the innovation process in a co-evolutionary perspective. The paper seeks to contribute to this debate by drawing upon the research methods and presentational conventions of business historians. The empirical study concerns the emergence of radical innovations in the design and manufacture of sailing dinghies in mid-20th century Britain. This period saw the displacement of small, highly localised firms engaged in traditional craft practices by a new generation of designers, manufacturers and promoters in pursuit of volume production. The findings are presented in the form of a historical narrative, contrasting the configurations and dynamics of two competing innovation networks in this sector. It shows how actors in each network drew differently on newly-available platform technologies, probes their distinctive approaches to design, manufacturing and marketing, and assesses their longer-term impact on the sector. The concluding section relates the findings to the previously-discussed theoretical constructs and reflects on the potential contribution of historically-informed methodologies.

In this assignment, we have studied the topic of lead users as a source of innovation. For this study, we have used the course literature as well as other articles and books available on the subject.
Due to the extent of the research done on lead users, we do not cover all the different aspects. In 2011 Ivy Eisenberg wrote an article about the history of lead user research, and to not repeat her, our main focus in the theoretical research section are concepts she does not cover in extent. The assignment is divided into four parts. In the first part, we look at the treatment and evolution of the term lead user. We present the introduction of the concept as well as how it has been developed in literature and in practice. In the second part, we present theoretical research and the most important findings of these. In the third part, we present empirical testing and research of lead users and how this empirical research support or does not support the theory. In the final part, we discuss our findings and present our suggestion on a further research topic.

This chapter discusses responses to severe structural problems faced by post-industrial cities in developed countries. The driving force behind this development is deindustrialization and related need to find ways to compensate the job losses in manufacturing. The research question is: how can smart platforms support innovative local economic restructuring? The chapter starts by discussing the restructuring challenge and introducing smart city as a framework for responding to such a challenge. The following section directs attention to platforms that support local policy making and governance, shedding light on the question of how platform approach contributes to the success of urban restructuring. Discussion is explorative and thus mainly theoretical, but utilizes exemplifications of local platform design. In addition, discussion is concretized by taking a closer look at one of the ‘innovation factories’ of Tampere, the New Factory and one of its platforms, Demola, which exemplify the new trend in platform building. They highlight how platforms may help in increasing smartness in local economic restructuring.

Nanotechnology is an emerging interdisciplinary field that, according to the European Commission, represents one of the
world’s new technological frontiers. Nanoscience and nanotechnology play a key role in European Union research policies;
they have been included among the “seven priority thematic areas” of the Sixth Framework Programme and the “nine themes”
of the Cooperation Programme of the Seventh Framework Programme. The purpose of this study is to assess the role of
Italian organisations in the existing European nanotechnology innovation network and to illuminate several aspects of relational
and geographical dynamics as well as the scientific and economic effects of these partnerships in Italy. Using an official
document issued by the European Commission entitled “Mapping Portal for Nanotechnology Research” and adopting
social network analysis techniques, statistics and qualitative interviews, it is determined that Italy plays a central role in the
European nanotechnology network, that Italian organisations have tended to replicate satisfactory prior collaborations,
that other factors have been more significant than geographical proximity in creating research groups and developing projects,
and, finally, that scientific effects have been substantially more significant than economic effects at the national leve

This paper examines the roles for managing in business nets. The roles are studied by applying an initial conceptual framework built on network management research and role theory. The study empirically grounds the framework by using the case of a new mobile service development net. The article answers the question of what are the managerial action-based roles for managing in business nets. The empirical data of the study consists of fifteen interviews and a seven-month participant observation in a net that created and piloted a ...

Purpose of investigation work that is presented was to study, with focus of Study of Knowledge Networks, integration among a group of projects of Central University Marta Abreu of Las Villas (UCLV) and Municipal University Center (MUC) of Camajuaní, to actions of local development in municipality. Methods and technical of theoretical and empiric levels were applied. Plan of actions was elaborated starting from theoretical references and results obtained in investigations and field work by students of MUC and UCLV and knowledge of university projects. With this research a work way is contributed that contributes to local development in economic and socio-cultural, heading to endogenous development of Camajuaní municipality. It was determined evolution, map and channels of interactions, actors and their benefits in local knowledge and innovation network arisen around university projects in Camajuaní municipality.