Innovation models and interdisciplinarity in science, technology and innovation policy in Costa Rica

Purpose This paper aims to analyse innovation models and interdisciplinarity in science, technology and innovation (STI) policy in Costa Rica between 2015 and 2021. The core focus is to evaluate the public policy in light of the groundwork that sustains the designed and proposed actions. Design/methodology/approach The authors applied a qualitative approach to build a set of dimensions and conducted content-analysis of selected documents. The analysis encompasses all current STI public policy documents in Costa Rica, including the planning instruments of the Central Government and the National Policy on STI. Findings The main findings show that STI policy in Costa Rica is based on different innovation models, but the projects and instruments themselves show the predominance of the reductionist model. Innovation receives a residual role. In turn, interdisciplinarity is based on the concept of convergence, which limits disciplinary collaboration to the natural, physical and engineering sciences, minimising contributions from other fields of knowledge to an instrumental role in innovation processes. Practical implications The authors conclude that the interlinkage between open innovation models, the participation of diverse societal actors and the inclusion of an interdisciplinary perspective leads to inclusive and more democratic public policy, allowing more sectors and organisations to benefit from innovation processes. This would imply a greater reach and impact of the policy, conditions that translate into innovation achievements and a better return on public investment. Originality/value This paper contributes to current discussions on STI policy by studying the implications of the link among policies, innovation models and interdisciplinarity.

Innovation Dynamics Through the Encouragement of Knowledge Spin-Off From Touristic Destinations

The present approach aims to explore the innovation dynamic that may lead to knowledge opportunities in a specific regional cluster characterized by a strong touristic positioning. The new technology-based companies, namely the spin-out created from university research, represent a possible and reliable approach to the economy stimulation. This said, it is mandatory to explore the topics that will allow a reflection on the networks associated with innovation processes, developed from the relations between the public universe (including universities and research centers), and the new technology or humanistic based companies. This chapter intends to be a contribution to the discussion of innovation clusters and sets the preliminary issues to discuss and implement an innovation ecosystem. This chapter explores and reflects the importance of regional innovation clusters dynamics, setting and describing the steps and specific strategical procedures in order to implement an innovation ecosystem, using as example a specific touristic territory.

Performance Determinants in Family Business

Family businesses (FBs) are central to economies: in Portugal the impact of these structures reaches 2/3 of the GDP, 1/2 of the labour force, and 4/5 of the firms in operation, most of them being SMEs. These organisations play a central role in terms of job creation, local development, knowledge transfer, and territorial cohesion. Innovative activities are key factors for competitive economies; yet innovation increases risk exposure and FBs are conservative and risk adverse, resisting change, relying on internal factors rather than opening to the external environment, consequently postponing innovation and thus pledging their future. Their embedded culture reduces innovative propensity; still, the existence loyalty trust and informal networks enhance individual or collective innovation processes. Using a dataset of 110 FBs innovation and internationalization along with other structural characteristics are connected to their economic performance, shedding light on the determinants FB economic efficiency. Given their importance, made-to-measure policy schemes should be designed.

An organisational approach to meta-governance: structuring reforms through organisational (re-)engineering

This article outlines an organisation theory approach to meta-governance by illustrating how public organisations may organise policy change and reform by (re-)designing organisational choice-architectures. First, it outlines an organisational approach to meta-governance and, second, it offers an illustrative case of meta-governance by examining how public innovation processes are shaped by organisational designs. Two arguments are proposed: (i) first, that public meta-governance is an accessible tool for facilitating policy change, and (ii) second, that meta-governance may be systematically biased by organisational structuring. Examining conditions for meta-governance is important since governments experience frequent criticism of existing inefficient organisational arrangements and calls for major reforms of the state. The contribution of this article is to suggest how an organisational approach to meta-governance might both explain meta-governance and make it practically relevant for solving societal challenges in the future.

Project management relationship to green innovation processes in sustainable fabric companies

The concept of green innovation refers to innovation that seeks to make radical or progressive improvements to products or processes that contribute to sustainable development. Green innovation can improve the global image of a business and lead to better market performance. Green innovation projects can contribute to economic growth and a positive quality of life without negatively affecting the environment. Consequently, this study aims to examine the relationship between the development of green materials resulting from green innovation and project management. To achieve the research objective, we conducted a multi-case study with companies developing green innovation derived textile. The findings show that the firms surveyed do not use formal project management to execute their green innovation projects and that their project management is intuitive. Although the companies surveyed are concerned with sustainable development and strive to innovate to satisfy their customers responsibly, their project management practices are informal. This study contributes to the practice. It is possible to introduce project management into enterprises to enhance green innovation while adapting practices or using less formal and bureaucratic techniques.

Formation of principles of innovative development management in the context of globalization and digital transformation processes

The article deals with theoretical and methodological issues of improving innovation development management systems. Special attention is paid to the impact of scientific and technological progress on the transformation of patterns and principles of justification of effective innovation solutions in the paradigm of digitalization, digital transformation and globalization. It is substantiated and proved that digitalization and digital transformation have predetermined the need to take into account such new patterns of innovation processes development as turbulence, delocalization, desynchronization, temporality, humanization, high level of corporate culture in the process of innovation activities.

Cognitive Models for Gastronomic Creation and Innovation

Based on the reflections of super-chef Ferran Adrià and his team at el Bulli restaurant, thispaper explores how certain creative mechanisms, techniques and procedures surroundingavant-garde gastronomy can be analysed from an enactivist model of cognition in order to:(1) understand creativity in the kitchen; (2) characterise culinary innovation processes; (3)establish whether some of these processes are general enough to be re-used in other fieldsand so broaden our theoretical understanding of the processes and mechanisms involvedin creation and innovation. We present those features that are specific to gastronomy as acreative process to distinguish them from others that are generic enough to form part of alarger family of creative processes. The paper seeks to present new perspectives on bothsubject-specific and generic creation processes in haute cuisine.

Design Function in Innovation Processes

Some words emerge at a given moment to catalyse ideas and give new meaning to old terminology. Innovation and design are two such words. Innovation has traditionally been linked with the Applied Sciences, especially technology, whereas advances in the PureSciences tend to be termed discoveries, inventions, or creations. However, for decades now, innovation has been a leitmotiv in all fields of scientific knowledge in both the Pure and the Applied Sciences. Design has also emerged from the niche it once occupied for decades (andeven centuries) at least insofar as its impact on the History of Science and of Philosophy is concerned. In fact, design’s introduction into the academic world has gone hand-in-hand with Art and its impact on our daily lives. This paper analyses innovation processes in boththe Pure and the Applied Sciences to discover how far new design theories over the last few decades have influenced innovation in fields such as Epistemology and Technology. We focus on Design Epistemology and methodological innovation, specifically in connectionwith design simulations and methodological models. We also look at the underlying design technologies and the key role they play in innovation processes.