, electronics and software. SMES that focus on the middle or end of the life cycle may be specialized equipment suppliers. 2. 3 SME Strengths and Weaknesses and Required Capabilities for Innovation Yap et al.
and engineering tools (CAD), prototypes, customization, etc. Further, SMES often have an inadequate knowledge of their competitors and their products.
and eventually the entire car interior including door panels and dashboards. These companies now have much more leverage over their customers, the automobile companies.
For example, software service providers may offer homogeneous products that are produced not or consumed simultaneously, and manufacturers increasingly offer products that are accompanied by services, such as repair and maintenance (de Jong et al.,
Whatever problems are solved at a franchisee's location are fed into the software package which has been devised by Chemstation
and it has the necessary software and framework in place to interpret the results and distribute the data.
but supplement these services elsewhere with a 24/7 help desk and self-diagnostic software where applicable.
and interpret them for particular future instances replacing the cheese taster above with a computer program.
and research labs R&d ACTIVITIES Invest significantly in research (75%invest more than 20%of Invest on average about 11%of their turnover in R&d Invest less than 5%of their turnover in R&d 8 Biotechnology, electronics and telecommunication, industrial software applications, new
yet contribute considerably to innovation in newly emerging industries like biotechnology and computer software (Audretsch, 1995).
and accounting management software systems that enhance organisational and management capabilities, while at the same time reduce the high costs associated with managing SMES.
Clusters of firms have experienced high levels of investment into process technologies, particularly in manufacturing automation, NC, CAD-CAM,
Close to 80%of all new technology startups are in information technologies--software, Internet, and telecommunication software.
Because these firms are focused more on providing a service and face much shorter development times,
analysis uj L Ultimate average life span aj L Accumulated average life span s n Number of segments in the SIC os n Segment
In Allam Ahmed (ed.),World Sustainable Development Outlook 2009: The Impact of the Global Financial crisis on the Environment, Energy and Sustainable Development, Part VII, Chapter 30,287 294.
Lakhani and von Hippel (2003) listed different types of incentives that drive the firm to use open source management.
Managing Innovation in e-Globalized Economy Defining the Open Capital This paper was published in Allam Ahmed (ed.),World Sustainable Development Outlook 2009, The Impact of the Global Financial crisis on the Environment, Energy
Open source biopharmaceutical innovation a mode of entry for firms in emerging markets. Journal of Business Chemistry 6 (1), 11 30.
How open source software works: Free user-touser assistance. Research Policy 32 (6), 923 943. Laven, F. 2008.
OUTLOOK, Doi: 10.1038/nrd2131, Advanced Online Publication published 18th august, pp. 1 7. Neale, W c. 1984.
These are presented in figure 3. 7 OECD Science, Technology and Industry Outlook 2012, Highlights 8 Innovation Union Scoreboard 2011, Research and Innovation Union Scoreboard, EU
) Mercia Fund Mgmt (public-private VC) Fondo Toscana (public VC) Expert Panel (public grants) Lw Sil Trust fund (public VC) R&d
Expert panel report. 2009. Link. Innovation to strengthen growth and address global and social challenges.
OECD Science, Technology and Industry Outlook 2012. Link. PERIA Good Practice Report. Link Public Procurement for Innovation (PPI) as Mission-oriented Innovation Policy, Charles Edquist.
Head of the Country Studies and Outlook Division, provided overall guidance and support for the project
and by organising regional panels, the national government gets engaged in intensive consultation with regional stakeholders,
Growers participate in regional Annual General Meetings and elect panel representatives. The prioritisation process is made up by three regional panels collecting grower priorities
and synthesising these at the National Panel. The regional panels are composed of grain growers, agribusiness practitioners, scientists and the GRDC's Executive Managers,
with a possibility for other industry experts to participate as appropriate. The National Panel is composed of the chairs of the three regional panels, the Managing director and the GRDC's Executive Managers.
Source: OECD-TIP case-studies on smart specialisation These new challenges may help to explain why smart specialisation strategies are still in an early phase in most countries both from a policy development and deployment perspective.
Market conditions Beside the governance challenges resulting from policy processes and capacities, changing market conditions require new,
High Value-added service industry (Global healthcare, Global education services, Green financing, Contents and software and Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Events and tourism industry) Brainport Eindhoven Region
Some national governments, such as Finland and Australia, organise regional panels to detect direct needs and to identify emerging opportunities at regional level.
‘OECD Regional Outlook: Building Resilient Regions for Stronger Economies'.'Paris, OECD Publishing OECD (2011),‘Regions and Innovation Policy, OECD Reviews of Regional Innovation'.
and Industry Outlook 2012, OECD publishing http://dx. doi. org/10.1787/sti outlook-2012-en OECD (2012g),
Growers participate in regional Annual General Meetings and elect panel representatives. The panel prioritisation process occurs by regional panels collecting grower priorities
and synthesising these at a National Panel. The GRDC's three regional panels cover the northern, southern and western grain growing regions of Australia.
They are made up of grain growers, agribusiness practitioners, scientists and the GRDC's Executive Managers,
with provision for other industry experts to participate as appropriate. The National Panel is composed of the chairs of the three regional panels
the Managing director and the GRDC's Executive Managers. Five year strategic research and development plans are developed by the GRDC in consultation with growers in order to capture the medium and long term priorities for the industry in a series of key themes.
The GRDC priority setting process utilises a structure of regional panels and grower consultations to establish the key issues for its 24 000 end-users (grain farmers).
The experience of DSP Valley (a Flemish-Dutch technology network organization focusing on design of hardware and embedded software technology) shows that collaboration is possible
Electronics and Embedded Software etc. Lessons learned and conclusions for policy The lessons learned can be grouped as follows:
Höglinger (2010 b), Innovation and knowledge sourcing of modern sectors in old industrial regions-A comparison of software firms in Moravia Silesia and Upper Austria, Paper to be presented at the 8th
and strategic lead-market themes for the development of its innovation ecosystem and industrial outlook in the future.
Now, the Multiklaster groups television and film studios, producers and suppliers of mobile solutions, software for companies, advanced internet applications as well as interactive marketing agencies.
as a proxy indicator for technological innovation Patents cover virtually every field of technology useful for the analysis of the diffusion of key technologies (excepted software,
Value-added service industry Global healthcare Global education services Green financing Contents and software Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Events and tourism industry Life science, biotech, biomedicine
18 6) Policy and research outlook...23 Bibliography...24 Glossary...25 Contents Innovation in urban mobilit y-polic y making
In addition, a software tool was developed to assess the accessibility level of buses, stations and hubs,
Based on open ICT software systems, prototypes and applications have been developed for activities such as truck access control, dynamic tunnel access control,
These tools are based on open ICT software onboard equipment, heterogeneous wireless communication infrastructure and CALM (platform for vehicleto-vehicle and road-to-vehicle communication) implementation in on-board and on-cargo units.
Policy and research outlook The EU acknowledges its role in supporting urban transport authorities to meet the manifold challenges posed by the increasing demand for passenger and freight transport.
a successful combination of hardware, software and orgware, viewed from a societal and/or economic point of view.
and software concerns the knowledge in terms of manuals, software, digital content, tacit knowledge involved in the innovation.
as well as their consequences for research and management of innovation processes. 3. Sliding panels 3. 1. Introduction Innovation processes are complex societal phenomena that are linked strongly to the factors of time and context.
The emergence of knowledge-intensive services (engineering firms, software houses, knowledge-intensive consultants) plays an important role in this respect.
analysis from a panel of French SMES 4. 1. Research methodology The firms of our sample received public funds to partly finance their innovative activities.
food-processing industry, software industry, building industry and agriculture. The projects which did not fit into this classification belong to the‘other'category.
BASF Market research Sony Supplier evaluation General motors Community advisory panels: chemical industry Product stewardship guidance: SCJ External advisory board:
but may also be anticipated in other health-related fields as well as nanotechnology, communications and electronics, entertainment, and software.
One example is the open architecture of computer operating systems in the software industry. Businesses within the pharmaceutical industry are looking to different models for addressing human needs in developed as well as developing countries.
The types of innovation are also comparable to innovations in the furniture, software and bamboo industry in Indonesia (Brata 2009, Greenhuizen and Indarti 2005, Indarti 2010.
In the past both global buyers and open sources were located primarily in Europe and the USA. As European designs are about year IHS Working Paper 27.2013.
Supporting specialized hubs in the bangalore software industry. Chen, J.,Y. Chen, and W. Vanhaverbeke. 2011.
Evidence from furniture and software-small-and medium-sized enterprises in indonesia. University Library Groningen.
and transmits real-time data to a central server, where it can be analysed by sophisticated prediction and decision-making models.
variable message panels and traffic light status displayed in their vehicles. New V2v interfaces would also enable them to exchange requests and recommendations,
OECD Science, Technology and Industry Outlook 2012 identification of the problem and strategic alternatives 2 2. 1. SWOT-analysis Based on a detailed analysis, the strengths, weaknesses
and providing benefits (network modernization, network connection, fit software houses to task and size). 2) The development and use of innovative ICT applications and knowledge in the fields of RDI and corporate management,
panel data evidence for the OECD countries. OECD Economic Studies No. 33,2001/II. http://www. oecd. org/economy/productivityandlongtermgrowth/18450995. pdf Baumol, William (2005:
Empirical Evidence from Firm-level Panel Data. Institute of technology and Regional Policy-Joanneum Research. http://www. tip. ac. at/publications/schibany0304 rd%20financing. pdf Sveikauskas, Leo (2007:
Outlook and Strategic Plan to 2015 Forfás July 2013 Annual Report 2012 Forfás July 2013 National Skills Bulletin 2013 EGFSN July 2013
, software. The lion's share of productivity growth for almost all nations, especially larger ones,
in other words, the use of more and better machinery, equipment, and software. Indeed, new growth economics accounting suggests that the lion's share of productivity stems from the use of more and better tools. 30 PAGE 10 THE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION FOUNDATION JUNE 2014 And in today's knowledge-based economy,
although that itself drives growth. 31 They include hardware, software applications, and telecommunications networks, and increasingly tools that incorporate all three components in them,
and software are associated positively with multi-factor productivity. 44 Hitt and Tambe find that the spillovers from IT nearly double the impact of IT investments. 45 Rincon, Vecchi,
which requires search engines to delete certain links based on individual requests, is likely to raise compliance costs significantly.
the increased provision of software through cloud-based services may change that somewhat, but scale benefits are not likely to disappear,
when servers are located not domestically (although the Norwegian decision was rescinded). 183 There has been talk as well by European leaders of building a European network for communication so that data never physically crosses the Atlantic. 184 By definition,
Another example is the right to be forgotten rule implemented by the European union. 186 The rule allows citizens to request that any information about them held by search engines be removed. 187 Such a rule might sound good in theory,
graphic symbols and typographic typefaces but excluding computer programs. It also includes products that are composed of multiple components,
graphic symbols and typographic typefaces but excluding computer programs. It also includes products that are composed of multiple components,
The report of the High Level Panel on the Measurement of Innovation3 has provided ample support for the use of an indicator on fastgrowing innovative firms.
report of the High Level Panel on the Measurement of Innovation established by Ms Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, European Commissioner for Research and Innovation.
graphic symbols and typographic typefaces but excluding computer programs. It also includes products that are composed of multiple components
requiring more elegant machines and software, according to the technophiles'arguments. Nor is it mostly a behavioural problem,
ZDNET Australia 15 dec 2008. http://www. zdnet. com. au/news/software/soa/E-Health-Australia-s-5bn-blackhole/0, 130061733,339293816
It can be accessed through the Europa server http://europa. eu/.JRC79478 EUR 25964 EN ISBN 978-92-79-29828-8 (pdf) ISSN 1831-9424 (online) doi:
for example, hardware and software research activities belong to different R&d types (for a full list of R&d types considered in this study see Table 4). This, together with the above point on the corporate control and location of R&d centres, leads
Technology Hardware & Equipment 3 1, 75 10 0, 31 19 Software 2 1 17 31 0, 95 20 Construction & Materials 1 0, 58 8 0, 25 21 Industrial Machinery 1 0, 58 15
Regarding R&d types, hardware, software and components are the most common ones performed in the R&d centres included in the dataset. 17 Table 4:
2 Wireless 389 16.30 2 Software 833 28.13 3 Industrial 348 14.59 3 Components 530 17.90 4 Consumer 272 11.40
the majority of countries in the core are developed countries with a relatively 3 This algorithm is implemented in UCINET software Borgatti, S. P.,Everett, M. G. & Freeman, L. C. 2002.'
Software for Social network Analysis.'Harvard, MA: Analytic Technologies..30 high level of GDP and a sound R&d landscape.
Software for Social network Analysis.'Harvard, MA: Analytic Technologies. Boutellier, R.,Gassmann, O. & von Zedtwitz, M. 2008.
It can be accessed through the Europa server http://europa. eu/.JRC81448 EUR 25961 EN ISBN 978-92-79-29825-7 (pdf) ISSN 1831-9424 (online) doi:
and the EU in flat panel displays of all types, used for mobile phones, tablets, computers, TVS and other consumer electronics devices.
19 Skype key lessons...20 XING-key lessons...21 2. 2 Display technologies...21 Cambridge Display Technologies (CDT) key lessons...
62 Skype...66 XING AG...71 6 A1. 2 Display technologies...74 Cambridge Display Technology (CDT...
and the EU in flat panel displays of all types, used for mobile phones, tablets, computers, TVS and other consumer electronics devices.
with web services estimated at about €70 billion, flat panel displays worth about €75 billion and robotics valued at about €19 billion.
However, this is not its only role it should also endorse open source intellectual property in designs and software.
The policy suggestion is that much stronger affirmative action for open source is necessary, due to the advantages for innovating enterprises of a solid IP base at minimal cost,
This indicates that orienting public procurement towards open source software and design libraries to encourage common shared intellectual capital as a general basis for innovation in Europe has advantages for innovators and governments.
with web services estimated at about $92 billion (about €70 billion), 3 flat panel displays worth about $99 billion (about €75 billion) 4 and robotics valued at about $25 billion
Clearly US companies have acquired a dominant position in web services, quickly building on innovative breakthroughs in software, design and new business models (e g.
Skype. In the robotics sub-sector, while US firms have established a position with military robots (e g. irobot),
both the USA and the EU have lost ground in flat panel display screen production. Initially both the USA and the EU have contributed significant technological developments in display technologies,
4 UK Trade and Investments, 2010, Flat Panel Displays, quotes Displaysearch, 2009 figures. 5 SCF Associates Ltd, 2010.6 Unfortunately the United states lags behind other countries
as the case study of Skype shows. But Skype was seeded by US VC investors and eventually acquired by leading USA web services players, first ebay and now Microsoft.
In the following sections we analyse in more detail the development of companies in the three sub-sectors,
to buy servers and support programmers'costs (Kirkpatrick, 2010). Costs will rise in stages but overall the finance needed for a web services business will typically be millions or tens of millions of dollars,
The tangible deliverable is web software during the early stages. Most capital demands are restricted to web server farms (see the web services value chain in Appendix 2) and even these can be hosted by third party data centres who offer website services for start-ups.
Second, in the web services sub-sector, a successful venture will reach break even and commercial viability relatively quickly, usually less than five years.
Skype, for instance, is an example of a successful European web start-up that achieved global pre-eminence
Thus the web service, at its inception, was coupled to the software (Apple's ios) and its hardware, the ipod originally,
and download from its web content server. The key lesson here is to create verticalization using web services as one component (see Appendix 2 on value chains.
Apple was the first to do it followers are Google with Android and the various Android-based apps stores (with a Google smart phone or tablet possibly soon),
Skype key lessons With Skype first the entrepreneurial and creative impetus came from two individuals who identified the opportunity for voice over the internet.
They combined this with the Estonian engineering talent that they had identified already in a previous venture to start Skype.
It meant that Skype got the best of all worlds tax credits in Luxembourg but operations located where the human
The current generation of flat panel displays 22 (LCDS) has required tight cost controls and large amounts of capital investment.
as a bulwark against the market dominators in flat panel makers in Korea and Taiwan.
the fourth biggest LCD flat panel display maker by sales, was convicted of price fixing in a US court in March 2012 and fined up to $1 billion for participating in a display screen cartel between 2001 and 2006 (Financial times 15 march 2012).
27 dec 2011 http://www. electronista. com/articles/11/12/27/agree. to. help. prosecute. other. lcd. panel. vendors/11 Talkoled,
If so, it will be the largest active matrix OLED plant planned worldwide for small/medium panels (i e. for mobile devices.
Japanese future robotics research is fixated on android services robots for a potential future in care and domestic service, for its aging population,
dependent upon open source software and libraries; producing a source of high quality staff from academic research.
Open source software (e g. from Willow Garage, DLR and others) is to be preferred, especially for government supported R&d projects,
as our case studies of Google, Skype and XING show especially for US VCS, characterized by rapid payback with low entry costs
http://www. thecityuk. com/research/our-work/reports-list/sovereign-wealth-funds-2012/37 Sovereign funds can spur entrepreneurial activity owing to their abundant capital resources and long-term outlook
(which include software and business models) and their permitted generality combined with ease of filing make the threat of overlap litigation more probable.
Also with the inadmissibility of patents on software, business models or processes, the field for innovators appears more open
The two leading open innovation structures are patent pools (Shapiro, 2001) and open source, which have different functions, applications, levels and modes of use.
The use of open sources in technology or software has a major impact on innovation as they reduce the cost of entry to a business,
of creating the asset once (be it software or designs or other IPR) realized across the many enterprises who exploit that asset (and again leverage) for their own production.
2006) and recently this has taken new directions in‘open source goods'to solve the problems of product complexity (Wei and Wei, 2011).
and is still based on open source software for the World wide web, the internet communications and management protocols and the majority of web server operating systems (Forge, 2004).
This may be permitted explicitly, for instance with open source software licences of the UNIX BSD type. A major example is Apple's ios and Macos
which are based on developments from an open source operating system from Carnegie mellon University, Mach 3. 0. Note that where there are grey areas in the uses of IPR for web services
and their related devices (as in the web service provider verticalization model-see Appendix on business models) then major disputes are increasingly common between the dominant players,
This is the case in the Oracle plea against Google in April/May 2012 over the use of the Java language to write APIS for the Android operating system. 21 Patent pools may be used where a standard complex technology is being assembled
and its open source status has always been in a grey, relatively undefined area. The use of a programming language to create the APIS has been considered‘fair use'in the past.
From our case studies, especially in robotics it is evident that open source IPR is important in innovation, specifically for software and for standard design libraries of structured data.
under open source licences for use in commercial applications. This provides the basis for KUKA's own design libraries.
open source is based on disclosure and freedom to use the IPR built by a team of collaborators under acceptance by contract of various conditions contained in the open source licence,
of which there are many variations in legal constraints (Forge, 2004). Open source projects are collaborative developments (often of software),
where the source code as well as any updates are openly available to its users and creators. Although most related to the software industry, in theory open source can be employed to share original IPR in any sector. 23 By using open source software, in accordance with the open source licence, the SME gains significant protection from infringements on proprietary
software, ideas and copyrights, as the source code and thus its concepts are openly available to all.
Note that the freedoms and limits vary with the licence the BSD24 Unix type of licence is the most open permitting any use of any part of the code for commercial purposes,
without requirements for posting any open new improvements or additions to the original open source library (as for instance the GNU licence requires).
Perhaps it is for this reason that three of the most important operating systems in the world are, in their fundamentals, based on open source injections of IPR from various versions of the Unix operating system.
These are Apple's ios (whose origins lie in Steve jobs'Next Nextstep operating system, based on the MACH kernel from Carnegie mellon University, with Freebsd source code extensions), Linux,
and Google's Android. We may expect this importance will be amplified over the coming decades as all three figure in tomorrow's ICT world of mobile devices,
while their only rival, Microsoft's proprietary Windows, has a comparatively minor market share today in mobile
and its future here is still unclear. 22 The European commission's Interchange of Data between Public Administrations Programme (IDA) in 2002 financed an independent study on the opportunity of making software specific to the public administrations
available for reuse, by creating a place where to pool all software given by administrations,
after OSS was perceived by the EC as both a great opportunity and an important resource for the EU development,
when the EC opinion was that by focusing on open software standards(.)it may be possible to spark European creativity in this area
therefore indicating that collaborations with the OSS community should exert a positive effect on entrepreneurial ventures'innovation performance. 24 Berkeley Software Distribution a free open source licensed version of the Unix operating system from the Regents of the University
The commercial software industry is dominated by the positive feedback effects of the power of increasing returns as sales volume mounts the seller gains market power to obtain more power in the market
Over the past 20 years in the USA, this kind of market behaviour has been tolerated in software markets in ways that were not in earlier eras in sectors such as energy and rail by antitrust laws.
Software escaped notice because, early on, courts were persuaded that they could not rule first, because they did not understand software and its conflicts.
Second, the legislature did not intervene as software was seen as a peripheral product, not central to an economy,
and so was an esoteric subject on which to rule. Only over the last decade, led by the European commission in its landmark rulings against Microsoft,
Today this is no longer the case as it is increasingly recognized that software is at the heart of the modern economy based on high technology and knowledge work.
many countries will move to absolute dependence on software in all major sectors of employment and economic prosperity, from health to banking to steelmaking.
OSS becomes increasingly important as means to balance the market power of proprietary software suppliers.
to build increasingly wide de facto standards in the software market. For instance, some years ago, Microsoft added a browser
but also in endorsing open source. The latter action may be through 25 The rulings against Microsoft on bundling
and services having open source licences. This can reduces costs and increase security, especially for software for common utilities and applications
such as operating systems, web servers, databases and office systems. Note that the role of the European commission in stimulating research development and innovation, RDI,
in joint ventures has taken a new direction in 2012. Its upcoming EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, Horizon 2020 for a 2014-2020 time frame, opens a new avenue for scientific, technological and industrial research,
Skype. In most cases, beyond the discovery the company required a variety of knowledgeable and skilled people, both technical and managerial, to progress.
but also in endorsing open source IPR, research results and software. The policy suggestion is that much stronger affirmative action is necessary for public procurement to be oriented to open source software
libraries and common shared intellectual capital (Forge, 2006. Internet start-ups are ideal VC investments, as our case studies of Google, Skype and XING show having relatively low entry costs and low capital intensity.
Thus web services such as Facebook, Google, ebay, Twitter, etc are favoured strongly by the VC community.
As the examples of CDT and Plastic Logic in the case studies show, however, venture capital may be less likely to have the scale in time
Forge, S. 2004), Open source Software: Importance for Europe-What Future does OSS hold for Europe today?
the economic impacts of open source software, info, Vol 8, No 3. Forge, S. Blackman C.,(2010), A Helping hand for Europe:
The Competitive Outlook for the EU Robotics Industry, Final Report for IPTS, SCF Associates Ltd, July 2010 from:
C. 2012), Is Open source about innovation? How interactions with the Open source community impact on the innovative performances of entrepreneurial ventures, Journal of Small Business Management, 50,340 364.
Porter, M.,(1985) Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance, Free Press NY, 1985. Pricewaterhousecoopers (2006), Luxembourg:
Waters, R. 2012), Court fails to settle battle over Android, Financial times, 8 may. Wei, W. and Wei, F. 2011), The impact of product complexity and heterogeneity on online open innovation practices
Following R&d injections from Xerox PARC, over the next 20 years it then developed a series of highly successful small computers with quite conventional operating systems
external appearance, expressed through complementary design of software and hardware for ease-of-use. Apple's design emphasis has profited from one of its founder's sojourns,
Apple has changed radically, turning away from pure hardware and software for computing to combining bundles of web services.
and its proprietary download software has revised the music industry. Equally, its smart phone, the iphone,
Thus Apple's major business segments have advanced out of hardware and software products for personal computing and graphics into global retail services, with chains, of both online and physical shops.
and virtually has leadership in new business models for the web platform and for its hardware and software products.
it is hiring social media directors and launching into social media and games with software development. Sources:
Initial innovation and start-up While conventional search engines ranked results by counting how many times the search terms appeared on the page,
Page and Brin's new search engine was called initially Backrub, because the system checked backlinks to estimate the importance of a site,
While Page and Brin knew they had a unique search engine, initially they had no business plan that would monetize their innovation.
because they were interested predominantly in building a better search engine unsullied by commercial consideration. Page and Brin eschewed the straightforward commercial approach of other search engines that traded higher ranking for payment;
this was 35 http://www. google. com/about/corporate/company/36 http://investor. google. com/corporate/code-of-conduct. html 37 CEO, Interactivecorp.
who wanted their search engine to produce the most relevant search results to a query. What they understood early on was mattered
or acquire a wide range of software products. It offers online productivity software, such as its Gmail email service,
and social networking tools, including Orkut and, more recently, Google Buzz and Google+.+Other applications include its web browser Google chrome, the Picasa photo organization and editing software,
and the Google talk instant messaging application. Google leads the development of the Android mobile operating system,
as well as the new Google chrome OS. In August 2011, it acquired Motorola mobility for $11. 5 billion.
Despite this activity, some analysts believe that as the company has got bigger so quickly it is finding it difficult to maintain its success. 39 Google has insisted famously that its employees be allowed to spend 20%of their time working on projects other than their core work (Innovation Time out ITO.
The Google computers and server were stored in Page's graduate residence. Stanford university seem to have extended considerable tolerance to Page and Brin, turning a blind eye to them acquiring computing resources.
Skype Skype is a software application that allows users to make voice and video calls and chat over the internet.
Skype was founded in 2003 by two Scandinavian entrepreneurs, Niklas Zennström and 67 Janus Friis, and officially headquartered in Luxembourg.
Skype was acquired by ebay in September 2005 for $3. 1 billion, but relations between the founders and ebay soured as growth targets were missed.
In October 2011 the sale of Skype to Microsoft corp was completed for $8. 5 billion. 46 VOIP (voice-over-Internet protocol) has redefined the way telephone calls are made VOIP calls are made over the internet,
Skype users can use their computer to call other Skype users for free anywhere in the world,
The Skype software was developed originally by three Estonian programmers Ahti Heinla, Priit Kasesalu and Jaan Tallinn, working for a small codeshop, Bluemoon Interactive, the same team behind the controversial file sharing service, Kazaa.
Unlike other Voip services, Skype is a peer-to-peer system rather than a client server system, and makes use of background processing on computers running Skype software;
the original name proposed Sky peer-to-peer reflects this. Skype became the global leader in internet voice communications, with more than 309 million registered users within five years of launch.
During 2010, Skype users made 207 billion minutes of voice and video calls. In the fourth quarter of 2010, video calls accounted for about 42%of all Skype-to-Skype minutes,
and in 2010, users sent over 176 million SMS text messages through Skype.‘‘While Skype is not a phone company,
they are by far the largest provider of cross-border voice communications, 'says Telegeography analyst Stephan Beckert.
Skype has shown steady revenue growth since its launch reaching $860 billion in 2010 and likely to be over $1 billion in 2011.
It has yet to make a profit. This undoubtedly led to ebay becoming disenchanted with Skype's performance
and the seeming failure of synergies to emerge with ebay and its other big acquisition, online payment system, Paypal.
History and development The basis for the start-up of Skype was the coming together of the entrepreneurial skills of Zennström
and Friis and the technological innovation of the Estonian programmers spotted by 46 Detailed infographics summarizing Skype from conception are available here:
http://toddcarothers. com/2011/05/skype-from-conception-to-acquisition-infographic; or http://www. smartfatblogger. in/2011/06/skype-coming-of age-story-infographic. html 68 Zennström and Friis.
The Estonians were at the forefront of innovation in peer-to-peer software development, using the Fasttrack protocol licensed by Joltid Ltd
(and owned by Zennström and Friis). In 2003, Bessemer Venture Partners led the A round financing at Skype.
Bessemer, the oldest venture capital practice in the United states invested $1 to $2 million in August 2003.
A second investment round in March 2004, led by venture capital firms Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Index Ventures, resulted in $18. 8 million in new funding to expand global operations
even though Skype was located in Europe and the entrepreneurial impetus and the engineering innovation were found there,
Looking back on the start up of Skype Zennström said he started his new venture capital business Atomico
Meanwhile ebay was preparing to float Skype via an IPO but Zennström and Friis were done not.
They had retained the software patents for the technology Skype used through a company called Joltid Ltd
and threatened to cease licensing the technology to Skype. Eventually the dispute was settled with Skype acquiring the patents in exchange for Zennström
and Friis joining the Skype investor group with 14%ownership. ebay then sold 70%of Skype to the investor Group led by Silver lake. 47 http://www. prnewswire. co. uk/cgi/news/release?
id=119130 48 European High-tech Startups Thrive, Says Skype Founder, Stanford Business Magazine Online, March 2011, http://www. gsb. stanford. edu/news/headlines/zennstrom europe 2011. html 69 In May 2011,
Microsoft Corporation agreed to acquire Skype Communications for $8. 5 billion. The deal was completed officially in October 2011 with Skype incorporated as a division of Microsoft,
and Microsoft acquiring all of the company's technologies, including Skype, with the purchase. As a result of this deal, Zennström and Friis received $1. 19 billion, other investors led by Silver lake received $4. 76 billion,
and ebay got most of its money back in recouping $2. 55 billion. In essence Microsoft paid about $1000 per subscriber
which some have questioned as being excessive. 49 It is being seen as a defensive move by Microsoft to avoid Skype falling into the hands of Google,
a development that would also have troubled Facebook. Both Google and Facebook were reported to have been in talks to buy Skype. 50 The battle over the coming years for the VOIP market will be between Skype in the hands of Microsoft and Google talk, Apple Facetime and Facebook Chat.
Skype had a network of locations from the outset, with offices in Luxembourg, London, Stockholm, Tallinn, Tartu,
Prague and Palo alto. Although Skype was headquartered in Luxembourg, the founders probably spent as much time in their London and Palo alto offices.
Skype's largest office has always been in Estonia. This was because of the original location of the key engineering personnel Jaan Tallinn, Ahti Heinla, Priit Kasesalu, Toivo Annus.
On the one hand, the importance of Estonia to Skype seems accidental but it has a reputation of being small, efficient and open to innovative ideas.
There is no doubt that Skype has become a kind of role model in Estonia and for other newly industrializing European states. 51 Skype has affected directly the innovative capacity of Estonia
which is now host to experienced, networked and funded talent. Former Skype personnel have founded tens of companies, primarily related to Internet services, some
of which been successful. For instance, Mikael Suvi made millions developing games for the iphone. He felt that working for Skype had become too routine.
Martin Goro ko, head of marketing for the Tallin Tehnopol technology park, says that Skype has had a bigger influence on young entrepreneurs than the Tallinn University of Technology
and the University of Tartu put together. Eighty percent of the business ideas that reach our incubator
or the general community of start-up companies are from Skype, he says. As already highlighted, there were two key relevant human capital aspects.
First the entrepreneurial creativity and risk was provided by Scandinavians, Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis. The key technical personnel were software engineers from Estonia,
/microsoft-skype-deal-facebook n 860227. html 51 Toivo Tänavsuu, ANALYSIS: Skype has turned tiny Estonia into a hub of new Mark Zuckerbergs and Bill gates's, test market, 7 january 2011,
http://www. testmarket. eu/2011/01/analysis-skype-has turned-tiny-estonia-into-a-hub-of-new-mark-zuckerbergs
-and-bill-gatess/70 location being sited in Tallinn. Tallinn was also a centre for other computer programmers and software engineers
which provided a source of skilled staff for Skype. Luxembourg was an attractive location for the official headquarters,
"Could Skype have started in the USA rather than Europe? It is conceivable and one should recognize that most of the funding came from the USA.
Estonian IT analyst, Toivo Tänavsuu, summarizes the success of Skype in this way: The company founders, Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, bid adieu to salaried work and dove headlong into enterprise.
Niklas Zennström, the Man Who Sold Skype Twice, Wall street journal: Tech Europe, 10 may 2011, http://blogs. wsj. com/tech-europe/2011/05/10/niklas-zennstrom-the-man-who-sold-skypetwice/52 Pricewaterhousecoopers, Luxembourg:
page=full http://www. crunchbase. com/person/niklas-zennstrom http://www. crunchbase. com/company/skype XING AG XING AG is a German
flat panel displays; lighting; solar power with organic photovoltaics; and printed organic electronics for all functions.
and software was largely free. Kodak's virtual monopoly in colour film was a cash cow.
for instance aiming to make existing and future robots easier to use and more adaptable with its Aware 2 cross-platform software.
AWARE 2 is a framework for creating complex robot software systems, making its robots easier to use,
The same software works on many different robots, so a single software engineer can quickly and easily program many robots without having to learn specialized languages for each one.
AWARE 2 is open source software, i e. irobot supports third-party technical development and the commercialization of the resulting work. irobot views collaboration with external developers as an essential way to provide a broad range of new capabilities to its products. irobot is happy, for instance,
In 2010, the company received undisclosed funding from the Ministry of Defence to develop a robotic hand to help defuse roadside bombs. 95 Open source platforms As we have seen elsewhere in the sector,
the use of open source software and hardware platforms is seen as fundamental. Shadow Robot joined the ranks of Willow Garage
irobot, and many other developers running the Robot Operating system (ROS. The company was already supporting the world robotics community:
Simulations for the device can be run using other ROS software. Programmers can work on the hand without buying a physical copy of it.
which new software for the device is created. Sources: Company website: http://www. shadowrobot. com/The cool hand of technology, http://www. forbes. com/2009/08/14/shadow-robot-hand-entrepreneurs-technology-robotics. html
with the launch of its first PC-based controller, entering a new era of mechatronics for KUKA, for precise interaction of software, controller and mechanical systems.
technologies and software developed by DLR, then implemented in KUKA products, for example: -KUKA uses DLR's model-based minimum cycle time algorithms for high-speed spot welding for car assembly lines.
Note also that this library is built using the open source (free) object oriented modelling language Modelica, whose model libraries cover many aspects of physical systems
This approach has advanced the robot component library mentioned above, based on the open source Modelica language. Further development took place in this international effort involving EU companies, universities,
The Competitive Outlook for the EU Robotics Industry, Institute for Prospective Technological Studies, Joint Research Centre, European commission.
Among them are service providers and other software specialist firms. The Robotdalen cluster initiative has been established to strengthen the ecosystem links among all the relevant businesses
An accurate value chain assessment shows what the primary activities that add value are, revealing flows of inputs such as materials, software, sub-systems and also information and added value flows.
while there may be very differing value among the components such as the display panel with its touch screen, the processor and the software such as a standard operating system.
what business model is likely to be most successful for instance the trend to verticalization in the web services sector from device to operating system to service as a lock in mechanism in a web market. 106 1 The Web Services value chain:
Development Business Concept & plan Operating systems (eg Android) Smartphones (eg iphone) Tablets (eg ipad, Amazon Fire) E-readers (eg Amazon Kindle) MP3 music players (eg ipod) 3rd party apps developers Set up
-electric, pneumatic, hydraulic, coherent light, coolants, etc Control, communications and coordination systems Simulation packages Software development tools 107 3a:
Overtext Web Module V3.0 Alpha
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