WARN-Count in xref table is 0 at offset 829292 Luminiå£a Nicolescu, Ciprian Nicolescu ISSN 2071-789x RECENT ISSUES IN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Economics & Sociology, Vol
and approaches in SMES as they are seen as part of the organisational learning that is a contributing factor to the increase in company innovative performance (Laforet and Tann, 2006).
Furthermore, highly innovative firms were found to place great emphasis on employee development training (Laforet and Tann, 2006, p. 366),
and this is also the case in some Romanian SMES that were found to have invested in training half of their employees (24%in 2010)( Nicolescu, Nicolescu and Nicolae, 2012).
trainings of SMES on topics related to innovative business thinking, innovative marketing, innovative management, etc; supporting the larger and faster adoption of IT in SMES by facilitating financially and from the know-how point of view the IT integration;
there is a felt need to emphasize more on the process of organisational learning. This includes looking for less costly ways to innovate,
While learning from good practices elsewhere and benchmarking ourselves against the best in the world is important,
but also by ensuring that Ireland is equipped with the best education, training, entrepreneurial supports and a conducive regulatory framework.
and Double the number of Phd graduates in science, engineering and technology to nearly one thousand per annum by 2013.
Graduate schools Establish a number of graduate schools to provide high-quality training of researchers, and equip them with generic and transferable professional skills that are relevant to a modern knowledge-based enterprise economy;
and Strengthen the Intellectual Property/Commercialisation functions within Higher education Institutes and provide them with expertise to translate research into applications.
and Double the number of Phd graduates in science, engineering and technology to nearly one thousand per annum by 2013.
Graduate schools Establish a number of graduate schools to provide high-quality training of researchers, and equip them with generic and transferable professional skills that are relevant to a modern knowledge-based enterprise economy;
and Strengthen the Intellectual Property/Commercialisation functions within Higher education Institutes and provide them with expertise to translate research into applications.
high-quality people †a supply that cannot be met by the education system alone: suitably qualified researchers will have to be attracted to Ireland from abroad.
Higher Education†Industry linkages We are supporting a number of specific initiatives to develop these vital links between higher education and enterprise.
and innovation †these Centres involve research partnerships between Irish universities, leading multinational companies and SMES.
The provision of Innovation Vouchers that enable businesses to collaborate with higher education †knowledge providers†to obtain an innovative solution to an enterprise need †these vouchers offer SMES the opportunity to forge new relationships
with higher education institutions and, ultimately, to develop new products and services. Innovation in Ireland Summary 2008 Building knowledge partnerships Our development agencies are attuned fully to keeping innovation at the core of their strategies and policies.
and facilitating partnerships and projects between businesses, higher education institutions and graduates. Innovation in Ireland 2008 9 Innovation in Ireland 2008 10 Initiatives stimulating research by industry We are encouraging the exploitation of research by industry through several other initiatives:
and on high-quality, continuous education. Individuals need to respond to the increasing pressures of globalisation by embracing a culture of lifelong learning and employability;
firms have to respond by improving and sustaining training opportunities. The current Social Partnership Agreement, Towards 2016, recognises this need, from both an economic and a social perspective.
Better skilled and better educated employees are good for the economy as a whole and for the firms that employ them.
and employers to increase levels of workplace learning and upskilling. Lifelong learning Education and training can no longer be seen as a phase that individuals go through before their career starts;
it must be integrated into career development, and continue throughout the working life. Adult and Further Education Programmes are targeted at providing second-chance education opportunities
and training designed for early school leavers and others who are disadvantaged educationally or lack basic skills.
The National Training Fund will provide opportunities for people already in employment to be given improved access to training,
opportunities to develop new skills, acquire recognised qualifications and continually progress to higher-level qualifications. Lifelong learning and the National Skills Strategy Skills Development Innovation in Ireland 2008 12 The Minister of state with special responsibility for lifelong learning
Sean Haughey, TD, coordinates the lifelong learning agenda across both the Departments of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and Education and Science.
The Minister chairs a new Interdepartmental Committee to oversee implementation of the National Skills Strategy
and, at the same time, provide authoritative accreditation of qualifications in which all stakeholders can have confidence. The National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ) provides a single unified framework with the potential to cover all awards in the State.
and is designed to ensure access, transfer and progression for learners. Over time, as similar developments take hold in other Member States,
the European qualifications framework (EQF) will enable the levels of qualifications within various countries to be aligned within a meta-framework.
Increasing the participation rate in upper secondary education to 90 percent; and Increasing the progression rate to third level from 55 to 70 percent.
Promoting the recognition of prior learning and accreditation for skills acquired outside the formal learning environment; and Targeting of specific groups for skills development, through analysis of sectoral and occupational groupings.
Government funding for upskilling those in employment has increased significantly in recent years, from â 8 million in 2004 to â 70 million in 2007.
which provides financial supports for training employees. It is focused particularly on the needs of people in low-skilled occupations.
and facilitation of learning as a key element in sustaining Ireland†s national competitiveness. Skillnets supports over 150 networks of enterprises in Learning Networks,
which are led and managed by the enterprises themselves. Between them, these two programmes trained approximately 46,500 people in 2006.
We have provided also funding for a strategic alliance between FÃ S and several training providers
This intensive programme is delivered at Stanford Graduate school of Business California. Innovation in Ireland 2008 13 Innovation in Ireland 2008 14 A number of further mechanisms to accelerate implementation of the National Skills Strategy are currently being investigated,
The provision of individual learning accounts funded jointly by the State, employers and employees; Improving arrangements for employee training leave;
and Brokerage systems to help companies source appropriate training. Innovating through the Structural Funds Structural funding,
and in particular, the European Social Fund (ESF), has presented always opportunities to pilot innovative approaches to upskilling, training and new employment areas.
Networks of firms, public institutions and educational institutions provide focus and efficiencies that deliver a competitive edge.
Close linkages between industry and higher education; Effective knowledge flows between suppliers and customers; and Collaborative, focused attention to common problems.
the research and learning institutions are becoming more significant economic players at local, regional and national levels,
The principal role of the third-level education sector in this context is to develop skilled,
The development agencies are working closely with the Universities and Institutes of Technology to enhance their ability to support industry at regional level with training,
education and R&d. In addition, Expertise Ireland provides businesses with access to expertise in all the Colleges and learning Institutions in Ireland and Northern ireland.
Innovation in Ireland 2008 Innovation in Ireland 2008innovation in Ireland 2008 20 Innovation in Ireland 2008 21 As Ireland invests heavily in R&d,
we must ensure that the fruits of that R&d are exploited optimally. That means that the intellectual property arising from the research must be identified,
Maximising return on investment Intellectual Property Protection and Management Innovation in Ireland 2008 Exploitation of research results Two codes of practice have been published relating to the management of intellectual property arising from publicly-funded research
These codes of practice provide certainty, confidence and consistency to all stakeholders and underpin Ireland†s attractiveness as a location for R&d and its subsequent exploitation.
Enterprise Ireland†s Intellectual Property Fund for the Higher education Sector and the Intellectual Property Assistance Scheme provide advice
and support entrepreneurial and enterprise innovation activities, by providing direct funding, information, training, advice and facilities.
technology acquisition, training and consultancy. We also help companies find suitable sources of equity finance, for example through the HALO Business Angels Partnership.
The innovation future Entrepreneurship and Business Expansion Innovation in Ireland 26 Access to know-how The State has invested in a number of schemes to ensure that developing businesses have access to the information, training and advice that they need.
and training delivered by experienced entrepreneurs; the Skillnets programme is designed to enhance management capability in SMES;
the Enterprise Platform Programme provides entrepreneurs with a structured one-year training and support programme. Enterprise Ireland, for example, in its Leadership 4 Growth programme and its International Selling Programme, is working with companies to ensure they have world-class management teams with skills in the critical areas of sales, marketing
and immigrants), reinforcing entrepreneurial thinking in the educational system and enhancing the culture of entrepreneurship. The County and City Enterprise Boards encourage female entrepreneurship by promoting successful female entrepreneurs as role models
They have also been very successful in attracting women to participate in training programmes, such as Start your Own Business courses and Management Development Programmes.
The County and City Enterprise Boards promote programmes such as the enterprise in second-level schools through Student Enterprise Awards.
and interactive learning. Ensuring they reach their full potential requires a new innovation policy approach that facilitates entrepreneurship and SME innovation.
and their advisors with direct responsibility for entrepreneurship and SME policy or working in other policy domains such as education,
and incremental innovations, participating in interactive learning processes and working in different modes of innovation. The major policy implications are pulled then out.
Rather, innovation today tends to be carried out in collaborations among universities, research organisations, customer supplier and competitor firms and consumers, with costs and roles shared,
pervasive and generates an aggregate learning curve effect that increases the productivity of new knowledge investments.
Some of the ideas driving economic growth may be the result of scientific breakthroughs in large firms and universities,
and SMES that participate in knowledge transfer networks with universities, large firms and other players.
External ideas for innovation can come from many places †from collaborations with universities and other firms or business angels, from labour mobility among firms and organisations and from informal social capital contacts.
universities and research organisations, requiring both innovation competencies and international connections. One of the ways of achieving this is through participating in globalised value chains and networks of innovation.
NESTA (2007) examines how such innovation (â€oehidden innovationâ€) occurs in so-called â€oelow-technology sectors†such as construction, retail banking, and education.
and inputs to ideas generation that are exploited by large firms, universities/research organisations and other small firms.
universities and research organisations. This type of knowledge spillover process is at the heart of the logic of endogenous growth theory, the lens through
Knowledge built up in universities, large firms and research organisations does not spill over automatically, however.
This largely occurs as individuals leave universities research organisations and large corporations to start enterprises based on knowledge they developed there in the form of â€oespin-off†companies,
alongside the more traditional patent and licensing routes and the publishing and teaching activities of universities.
In the USA, for example, the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 increased incentives to universities to invest in the commercial exploitation of their knowledge by giving them control of the intellectual property arising from the federal government funded research they undertake.
the University of British columbia has a venture fund, the University of Guelph has raised money for commercialisation by listing its intellectual property portfolio on the stock market,
and a range of â€oeentrepreneurship boot campsâ€, mentoring programmes, entrepreneurship resource centres and entrepreneurship courses for researchers have been introduced (Mcnaughton, 2008).
which seems to have one of the highest rates of university spin-offs, only two spin-offs were created per research institution per year.
Neither are university spin-1. INTRODUCTION SMES, ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATION Â OECD 2010 35 offs high-growth firms on average,
While forefront research establishments like Oxford university in the UK, the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in the USA,
and the University of Waterloo in Canada are key drivers of entrepreneurship in their areas through spin-offs (84 spin-offs in Madison;
and an additional one-sixth are spin-offs from universities. They also appear to be increasing in frequency over time
The relationship may involve not just the role of new start-ups in exploiting knowledge themselves but also the role of new enterprises and SMES as participants in knowledge exchange networks within innovation systems, stimulating knowledge transfers from universities and other
Interactive learning One of the major developments in innovation in recent years is the increasing importance of networks.
This is interactive learning. SMES and start-ups are important participants in interactive learning networks †both exploiting knowledge developed elsewhere
and contributing to knowledge development. Their role is documented by a substantial literature on SMES and inter-firm and university-industry linkages (e g.
Branscomb et al. 1999; Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff, 2000; Freel, 2003; Mansfield, 1995; Potter, 2008; Potter and Miranda, 2009;
This framework examines the interactions among sets of organisations including firms, universities, venture capitalists and public agencies mediated by institutions that set the rules of the game,
such as intellectual property regulations and rules and norms influencing the relations between universities and firms.
which universities and research organisations are the central players, and the knowledge exploitation subsystem, in which new and small firms are key players along with larger firms.
The use of the innovation systems approach permits the identification of a range of potential policy problems or system failures affecting interactive learning (Potter, 2005.
For example, they may include lack of infrastructure for knowledge generation and transfer (e g. universities and science parks;
and lack of complementarity between the knowledge exploration and exploitation sub-systems (e g. lack of fit between university research
which R&d in universities and large firms is critical and exploitation through knowledge-based spin-offs and high-technology collaborations between firms and universities and research institutes has an important role to play.
The result is innovation that in principle could be applied in other firms and contexts and protected through intellectual property rights such as patents and licenses.
The DUI mode, on the other hand, is driven a user approach that relies on experienced-based know-how and informal processes of adaptive learning.
Whereas the managed economy implied an innovation policy that could be focused on encouraging basic research in universities
Large-scale research subsidies to national champions, other large firms and basic-research silos in national universities and research organisations are not the most effective way to generate innovation in an environment where knowledge
For example, education systems, the media and business support organisations can help foster entrepreneurial motivations (Potter et al.
often exploiting new science developed in universities and research laboratories. They make up an important component of the high-employment-growth firm sector.
It suggests the need for DUI-mode policy support focused on a wider set of institutions affecting learning and innovation,
Examples of relevant policy approaches include creation of science parks and business incubators, encouraging mobility of staff between universities and industry,
and facilitating knowledge exploitation through licenses, patents and university and corporate spin-offs, and shared foresight and strategy development activities (OECD, 2004;
This may be achieved through better access to formal training, but also through informal methods such as the creation of problem-solving work teams and engagement with external knowledge intensive service activity providers such as consultants (OECD, 2010a, forthcoming).
It implies the need for a change in curriculums, pedagogies, structures and strategies in education and training systems to better import these skills (Potter, 2008).
l Social entrepreneurship and social innovation. Entrepreneurship is not only about profit-making. Social entrepreneurship and social innovation are important features of a broader vision of innovation
They may be imparted through school education, universities and vocational training colleges. Training in SMES is also very dependent on relationships with the public sector
because while large firms have in-house training mechanisms SMES generally do not. Thus while SME skills may be imparted by in-house training
and other skills-upgrading activities, small enterprises tend to do less than large firms and there is a particular SME skills gap among older and routine workers.
These problems need to be addressed. Finally, Chapter 5 examines social innovation and social entrepreneurship. While there is a growing interest in the area
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(2004), â€oethe Model of the Entrepreneurial Economyâ€, International Journal of Entrepreneurship Education Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 143-166.
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New Evidence from Micro Data, Ch. 1, pp. 15-82, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
University-Industry Linkages in Japan and the United states, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. Callan, B. 2001), â€oegenerating Spin-offs:
and Profiting from Technology, Harvard Business school Press, Boston, Massachusetts. Chiarvesio, M.,E. Di Maria and S. Micelli (2010), â€oeglobal Value Chains and Open Networks:
), â€oetotal Factor Productivity and the Role of Entrepreneurshipâ€, Jena Economic Research Papers 2008-19, Friedrich Schiller University and the Max Planck Institute of Economics, Jena.
from National Systems and †â€oemode 2†to a Triple Helix of University-Industry-Government Relation, Research Policy, Vol. 29, pp. 109†123.
Kirzner, I. 1973), Competition and Entrepreneurship, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. Kirzner, I. 1997), â€oeentrepreneurial Discovery and the Competitive Market Processâ€, Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. 35, pp. 60-85.
Knight, F. 1921), Risk, Uncertainty and Profit, Chicago University Press, Chicago. Jensen, M.,B. Johnson, E. Lorenz and B. Lundvall (2007), â€oeforms of Knowledge and Modes of Innovationâ€, Research Policy, Vol. 36, No. 5, pp. 680-693.
in J. Potter (ed.),Entrepreneurship and Higher education, Ch. 10, pp. 235-254, OECD, Paris. Lundvall, B. and S. Borrã s (1997), â€oethe Globalising
Learning Economy: Implications for Innovation Policyâ€, Report to the European commission, Directorate General Science, Research and development, Brussels. Malecki, E. 2008), â€oehigher Education, Knowledge Transfer Mechanisms and the Promotion of SME
Innovationâ€, in J. Potter (ed.),Entrepreneurship and Higher education, OECD, Paris Ch. 9, pp. 213-234.
Mansfield, E. 1995), â€oeacademic Research Underlying Industrial Innovations: Sources, Characteristics, and Financingâ€, The Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 77, No. 1, pp. 55-65.
Mcnaughton, R. 2008), â€oetechnology Commercialisation and Universities in Canadaâ€, in J. Potter (ed.),Entrepreneurship and Higher education, Ch. 11, pp. 255-234-269, OECD, Paris
Key Issues and Policy Considerations, OECD, Paris. OECD (2010a forthcoming), Leveraging Training and Skills Development in SMES, OECD, Paris. OECD (2010b forthcoming), High-Growth Enterprises:
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An International Comparison, Ann arbor, University of Michigan Press, pp. 24-38. Schumpeter, J. 1934), The Theory of Economic Development:
Shane, S. 2004), Academic entrepreneurship. University Spinoffs and Wealth Creation, Edward Elgar: Cheltenham, UK. Stangler, D. and R. Litan (2009), â€oewhere Will the Jobs Come From?
â€, Kauffman Foundation Research Series: Firm Formation and Economic growth Paper No. 1, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, WASHINGTON DC.
UK public policy and open innovation Charles Levy and Benjamin Reid September 2011 The Big Innovation Centre is an initiative of The Work Foundation and Lancaster University.
universities and public bodies to research and propose practical reforms with the ambition of making the UK a global open innovation hub as part of the urgent task of rebalancing and growing the UK economy,
a major initiative from The Work Foundation and Lancaster University, will examine how the UK can position itself to be a major global innovation hub in 2025.
and investigation undertaken by the Big Innovation Centre, a groundbreaking new initiative from The Work Foundation and Lancaster University.
including SMES and Universities, although the concept of open innovation needs to be shifted slightly from that frequently articulated. •Finally,
Open innovation In his seminal book on open innovation, UC Berkeley Business school Professor Henry Chesbrough highlighted a fundamental divide between firms
nuclear reactors, mainframe computers Largely internal ideas Low labour mobility Little venture capital activity Few, weak start-ups Universities unimportant Examples of industries:
PCS, movies Many external ideas High labour mobility Active venture capital Numerous start-ups Universities important Source: Chesbrough (2003) With open innovation such a widely deployed term for describing organisational activities,
mismatch Network Long term Dynamic learning potential Static inefficiencies Source: Tidd et al. 2005) In some literature this boundary has been described as the difference between being open to external ideas,
The evolving focuses of our universities (exemplified by the changing impact assessment guidelines) and the open nature of the Technology Strategy Board or research funding applications are good examples of this.
•Universities †face the challenge of rethinking their position within the value chain to identify additional revenue streams;
Journal of International Business studies, Vol. 35, No. 2, pp. 124-141 25 Missing an open goal?
Universities Arguably, universities have been practicing a form of open innovation practice since their mediaeval origins:
and through the dispersal of knowledge into the broader economy by educating students who go on to work outside academia.
This perspective on universities†role in the innovation ecosystem suggests a deeper and more complex engagement with †open†innovation than the slogan of a recent shift by UK universities from †ivory towers to knowledge brokersâ€
UK Public policy and open innovation Nonetheless, changes to innovation value chains wrought by the changes labelled †open innovation†do present challenges to universities,
Universities in the UK are challenged increasingly †particularly by government †to diversify funding streams,
†publications/reports, informal interaction, public meetings or conferences, contract research, consulting, joint or cooperative research, patents, personnel exchange, licenses, recently hired graduates
For example the 1980 Bayh-Dole Act in the US sought to encourage entrepreneurial spin-off companies from US universities by allowing them to retain intellectual property rights from research activities which were funded originally government.
Some UK universities have looked, in turn to follow this model, and shift their role in the innovation value chain from creation to a greater degree of innovation value capture,
and exploitation role has provided undoubtedly a challenge for universities to reposition themselves in relation to their multiple roles in the innovation ecosystem.
Universities also have a greater level of tension in relation to national policy, some voices pressuring universities to †pay their way†more directly †that they should look to protect their native IP as much as possible â€
while others suggest that they should act as purely open †public good†institutions, the better to allow maximum outflow of knowledge and innovation into the national economy.
university activities to support development of innovation, or to support use of innovation, are most effective according to where they operating at different points within innovation value chains and networks.
The challenge for universities is to be able to make decisions regarding the balance of openness in their role between the value to business and the value to the national economy. 16 Cohen, Wesley, M.,Nelson, Richard, R.,Walsh
The Influence of Public Research on Industrial R&dâ€, Management Science, Vol. 48, No. 1, pp1-23 17 Lambert, R. 2003) Lambert Review of Business-University Collaboration:
Towards a Theory of Innovation and Interactive Learning, London: Pinter, see also Ramstad, Elise (2009) †Expanding innovation system and policy-an organisational perspectiveâ€, Policy Studies, Vol 30, No 5, pp533-53 30 Missing
and recently appointed Professor John Kay to lead a review of the effect of UK equity markets on the competitiveness of UK business. 21 But the impact of these activities-and of any planned changes-on the national innovation system
++o+XVI Organised diffusion+++o/++Education policy XVII General stimulation+++XVIII Entrepreneurship education+o o o Labour market policy XIX Aim for flexibility+o
Harvard Business school Press 27 Herstad, Sverre, J.,Bloch, Carter, Ebersberger, Bernd, Van de velde, Els (2010) †National innovation policy. and global open innovation:
An important first step will be for the government to implement the recommendations of the Hargreaves Review on Growth and IP. 28 As the Big Innovation Centre†s Director, Professor Birgitte Andersen, recently noted:
The Big Innovation Centre, a major new initiative from The Work Foundation and Lancaster University, will be driving forward this analysis and commentary.
3. Universities and public research organisations as interactive partners within the innovation system †will consider the support/incentives offered to universities here
Harvard Business school Press Ciravegna, L. 2011) †Outsourcing of New Product Development and the Opening of Innovation in Mature Industries:
A New Perspective on Learning and Innovation, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol 35, pp128-152 Cosh, A.,Zahng, J.,Bullock, A. and Mllner,
Journal of International Business studies, Vol. 35, No. 2, pp. 124-141 Lambert, R. 2003) Lambert Review of Business-University Collaboration:
UK Public policy and open innovation Acknowledgements This report is a publication from the Big Innovation Centre, an initiative from The Work Foundation and Lancaster University.
The Big Innovation Centre is supported by the following companies, public bodies, universities and private trusts. 44 Missing an open goal?
UK Public policy and open innovation We are supported by a university consortium. 45 Missing an open goal?
. biginnovationcentre. com www. theworkfoundation. com Contact details All rights reserved  Big Innovation Centre (The Work Foundation and Lancaster University.
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