Euro-Commentary: The Role of Urban RTI Policy in Stimulating Innovation in the Local Economy: The Case of the City of Vienna

2007 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Kaufmann

Innovation networks have been analysed at several spatial levels, from the local to the global, with increasing interest in innovation systems below the national level.A wide range of regions has been studied including cities as major centres of innovation. But there is often a difference between the importance of a city as a location of innovation activities and to what extent they can be influenced by politics and public institutions at the city level.This commentary focuses on Vienna, the capital of Austria. Analysing the innovation networks of firms located in Vienna shows the potential scope and limits of the city’s influence on innovation relations. Data from an innovation survey of the Viennese economy lead to the conclusion that only a minor share of the innovation relations of local firms can be influenced directly by the city’s institutions. The results give some indication of where and how the city could be able to increase its influence on the innovation activities of the local economy, reducing Vienna’s dependence on Austria’s federal research, technology and innovation policy.

2020 ◽  
pp. 102452942093241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cecilia Rikap

This article elaborates on intellectual monopoly theory as a form of predation and rentiership using Amazon as a case study. By analysing Amazon’s financial statements, scientific publications and patents, we show that Amazon’s economic power heavily relies on its systematic innovations and capacity to centralize and analyse customized data that orients its business and innovations. We demonstrate how Amazon’s innovation activities have evolved over time with growing importance of technologies related to data and machine learning. We also map Amazon’s innovation networks with academic institutions and companies. We show how Amazon appropriates intellectual rents from these networks and from technological cooperation with other intellectual monopolies. We argue that Amazon, as other data-driven monopolies, predates value from suppliers and third-party companies participating in its platform. One striking characteristic of Amazon is the low rate of reported profits. The centrality of innovations leads us to suggest an alternative calculation that shows that Amazon’s profits are not as low as they appear in Annual Reports. We also argue that lower profits are coherent with Amazon’s rentiership and predatory strategy since they contribute to the avoidance of accusations of excessive market power. Finally, the paper offers preliminary observations on: (i) the complementarities between financial and intellectual rentierism and (ii) how data-driven intellectual monopoly expands big corporations’ political power. Going beyond the specific case of Amazon, we thus contribute to a better understanding of the role of lead firms and power dynamics within innovation networks.


2006 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 367-392
Author(s):  
Jeremy J. Rossiter

This paper looks at the evidence for housing in Carthage in the period from Diocletian to the Arab conquest (4th–7th centuries A.D.). A wide range of evidence is examined including excavation reports, representations of houses in art, and a variety of relevant literary texts. The paper offers a new synthesis of this evidence, with the aim of bringing discussion of Roman and late antique housing in Carthage up to date. It incorporates much new information from recent house excavations in and around the ancient city. Although the emphasis is mainly on 諩te housing, the smaller quantity of evidence for non-諩te housing in Carthage is also discussed. In addition, the paper looks at some of the evidence for late antique housing outside the city and considers the nature of rural settlement in the Carthaginian hinterland. The paper concludes with a discussion of the role of the traditional Roman ‘villa’ in the countryside around Carthage, raising questions about the future directions of housing studies in North Africa


Author(s):  
E Gregg ◽  
C Hill ◽  
M Hollywood ◽  
M Kearney ◽  
D McLaughlin ◽  
...  

AbstractAt the request of the UK Department of Health, samples of 25 commercial UK cigarette brands were provided to LGC Ltd a for smoke analysis. The brands reflected a high market share (58% in July 2001) and included a wide range of blend and product styles manufactured and imported into the UK.= 0.76), suggesting a minor role of other design features on constituents yield variability. This was confirmed by the application of multiple regression analysis to the data. A subset of five brands, retested at another laboratory, gave between-laboratory differences in mean constituent yields of as much as 2.5-fold. Consideration of these results, other likely sources of analytical variation in this study and a review of other studies, clearly indicates that any tolerance values to be associated with individual smoke constituent measurements will be greater than those for NFDPM, and in some cases, much greater. Consistent with the reported results from other large studies it is concluded that, under ISO smoking conditions, smoke constituent yields are largely predictable, if NFDPM and CO yields are known, for a standard cigarette. Given these observations and the likely limitations of analytical determination, the need for routine measurement of smoke constituent yields, other than NFDPM, nicotine or CO, on standard cigarettes, is questionable.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-58
Author(s):  
G. A. Shcherbakov

Purpose: the main purpose of this article is to present and develop a cyclic approach in the theory of innovation. This section of economic theory is based on the understanding of the innovation process as a dynamic system that develops (depending on the type of innovation) within the medium or long-term cycle. The cyclic approach has an insufficiently studied subject of research. In theoretical and practical aspects, this approach is very poorly developed, despite its prospects for this method. The application of the cyclic approach in the practical sphere will increase the effectiveness of activities planning in the field of the state innovation policy, as well as increase the efficiency of the state resources using.Methods: a set of methods of theoretical research is used, including: logical, system and abstract methods, as well as specific scientific (special) research methods. Based on the study of a wide range of scientific literature, as well as statistical and factual information on innovative issues, models (modeling method) were drawn up, which were graphically fixed in the figures illustrating the main provisions of the article.Results: this article develops the cyclic approach to the innovations study, proposed in the works of foreign and domestic scientists. The article describes and presents a scientific method of innovative processes management, called "triad of innovative and transformative activity". The article also contains a brief overview of the cyclic method development in the works of domestic and foreign researchers, giving a general idea of the elaboration degree of the scientific question.Conclusions and Relevance: the analysis of the main theories and concepts in the field of innovation, gives reason to argue that scientific views on the implementation of the innovation process contain a serious omission. It consists in the fact that it does not take into account the influence of cyclical conditions of various medium-term cycle phases or long-term cycle stages. In practice, this leads to asynchronous processes that prevent the effective innovation activities.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (92) ◽  
pp. 67-90
Author(s):  
Hanna Shevtsova ◽  
◽  
Vitaliy Omelyanenko ◽  
Olha Prokopenko ◽  
◽  
...  

The relevance of the research topic is due to the need to solve the problem of developing conceptual issues of digital transformation management in the context of innovation trends, taking into account the overarching impact and large-scale prospects of digitalization processes. The paper deals with the analysis of the digital aspects of innovation policy, in particular, based on the use of international rankings, the definition of features of building the digital component of innovation networks and the deepening of scientific and methodological approaches to digital support of innovation processes. An overview of modern scientific and methodological approaches to defining the impact of digital transformation on innovation process is presented. Digital transformation can be seen as a factor in access to information and new opportunities that can improve technological capabilities. To assess the impact of digitalization on the development of innovation processes, the data of the Global Innovation Index and the ICT Development Index were used. Based on results of calculations, significant values of the positive correlation with the key components of the innovation system and the level of cluster development were obtained. The study identifies marketing, communication, infrastructural, international dimensions of digitalization of innovation processes. It is shown that the increasing availability of ICTs necessitates a timely rethinking of many processes in the innovation sphere. On the basis of world experience, the role of universities has been substantiated, which should take on a significant part of the responsibility for the formation of a new technological order through improving the quality of researches and their results’ introduction into the real economy within the framework of S2B-B2S networks (Scіence-to-Busіness – Busіness-to-Scіence). As a result of the study, the conclusion is substantiated that an integrated approach to the creation of digital innovation ecosystems requires the study of both institutions and participants, their interaction networks, the specifics of the environment, resources, technologies, etc. It is proposed to consider the role of ICTs in the development of innovation networks on the basis of combining such modern approaches to the development of innovations, in particular – multidisciplinary engineering analysis, system design methodology and parallel engineering methodology. The analysis and deepening of scientific and methodological approaches to the digital support of innovation processes made it possible to identify other promising areas of digitalization of innovation processes, for example, within the framework of the activities of public authorities that ensure the introduction of electronic government technologies.


Author(s):  
E.V. Alzemeneva ◽  
◽  
Yu.V. Mamaeva

Modern research on the sustainability of the urban environment mainly focuses on environmental factors like water, air, energy and transport, while urban identity rarely attracts attention. The concept of sustainability, which includes the identity of the urban environment, combines a wide range of factors, including urban planning and architectural objects, natural, geographical, cultural products and social norms. With modern architectural and urban development and globalization, cities are increasingly facing the problem of losing their original identity. In the context of the concept of the identity of the urban environment considered in this study, the role of urban planning objects, architecture and culture in the formation and maintenance of the unique identity of the city of Astrakhan and the need for considerable attention to the resource of identity for the development of the city and the region is stressed.


Author(s):  
Abigail Brundin ◽  
Deborah Howard ◽  
Mary Laven

The Sacred Home in Renaissance Italy explores private devotional life in the Italian Renaissance home between 1400 and 1600, and suggests that piety was not confined to the Church and the convent but infused daily life within the household. Books, buildings, objects, spaces, images, and archival sources help to cast light on the practice of religion in the home. Acts of devotion, from routine prayers to extraordinary religious experiences such as miracles and visions, frequently took place at home amid the joys and trials of domestic life—childbirth, marriage, infertility, sickness, accidents, poverty, and death. The book moves beyond traditional research on the Renaissance in important ways. First, it breaks free from the usual focus on Venice, Florence, and Rome to investigate practices of piety across the Italian peninsula. In particular, new research into the city of Naples, the Marche, and the Venetian mainland offers fresh insights into the devotional life of the laity. Moreover, it goes beyond the study of elites to include artisanal and lower-status households, and points to the role of gender and age in shaping religious experience. Drawing on a wide range of textual, material, and visual sources, this book recovers a host of lost voices and compelling narratives at the intersection between the divine and the everyday. Its multidisciplinary approach enables unprecedented glimpses through the keyhole into the spiritual lives of Renaissance Italians.


Author(s):  
Marcus Conlé ◽  
Wei Zhao ◽  
Tobias ten Brink

Abstract China has long struggled to make science and technology useful for industry. One essential element in overcoming this problem is vigorous knowledge infrastructure development. This article focuses on the most salient outcomes of recent organization-building initiatives in Guangdong: the ‘New R&D Institutes’ (NRDIs). We employ a process tracing approach including a mix of methods to systematically study NRDIs, and we examine the ways in which these institutes extend, and improve upon, previous Chinese approaches to technology transfer. We observe a flexible approach that engages a wide range of intra-regional and extra-regional knowledge actors and allows for the emergence of a variety of technology transfer models—including models that are better adapted to the local setting than those discussed in the literature. The article contributes to fragmentary knowledge on the role of technology transfer in China and to the literature on innovation policy in peripheral manufacturing regions.


Author(s):  
Paulo Melo ◽  
Sérgio Maravilhas

The current paper investigates the role of interactions based on geographic proximity for the development of firm’s innovation activities. Many authors such as Porter (1998) argued that the formation of interactive linkages based on geographic proximity seem to facilitate the search for new knowledge, information and technologies able to impact the development of innovation activities inside the organization generating competitive advantages. To perform this research, the authors decided to investigate the interaction behavior of micro and small firms in the information, communication and technology (ICT) sector located inside and outside the technological park in the city of Salvador, State of Bahia, Brazil. The findings showed in general that firms which had innovation activities, also had some kind of interactions with other agents, confirming that innovation is not a solitaire phenomenon. However, the empirical evidences did not confirm that interactions based on geographic proximity were relevant for the development of firms’ innovative activities. The study showed that, nowadays, firms use to interact with others regardless of whether they are geographically close or not. This may happen due to the fact that with the facilitation and the intensive use of new communication technologies have helped firms to reach partners wherever they are located at. Also, the study may suggest that arguments such as the role of geographic proximity and business agglomerations based on spatial proximity may need to be revised


Author(s):  
Per Gunnar Røe ◽  
Inger-Lise Saglie

In the 1970s it was argued that suburban centres in the US had developed into “minicities”, offering a wide range of possibilities for consumption, cultural events and a sense of the urban. In this article we explore to which extent this description of minicities may be valid in two cases in the suburban hinterland of Oslo. We further discuss whether the “urbanization” of these suburban centres may contribute to a more sustainable urban development, with respect to everyday travel. We conclude that the growth of these minicities may reduce car travel, either because of their excellent public transport connection to the (big) city centre and other nodes in the increasingly decentralized urban region, or because they may serve as a substitute for the city centre. However, an empirical investigation of the role of minicities must be based on a deeper understanding of the social and cultural processes that guide the everyday life of today’s sub­urbanites.


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