Innovation Systems and Clusters Research Papers (original) (raw)

In peer-to-peer content distribution the lack of a central authority makes authentication difficult. Without authentication, adversary nodes can spoof identity and falsify messages in the overlay. This enables malicious nodes to launch man-in-the-middle or denial-of-service attacks. In this paper, we present a trust based content distribution for peer-to-peer overlay networks, which is built on the trust management scheme. The main concept is, before sending or accepting the traffic, the trust of the peer must be validated. Based on the success of data delivery and searching time, we calculate the trust index of a node. Then the aggregated trust index of the peers whose value is below the threshold value is considered as distrusted and the corresponding traffic is blocked. By simulation results we show that our proposed scheme achieves increased success ratio with reduced delay and drop.

- by and +1
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- Clusters & Networks, User-Generated Content, Content Analysis, Content

La difusión de nuevos paradigmas tecnológicos plantea interrogantes sobre sus desafíos para promover el desarrollo y la diversificación productiva en países y territorios de la periferia. Sectores y regiones que eran centrales bajo paradigmas tecnológicos previos pierden relevancia relativa, y surgen otros espacios como lugares privilegiados de acumulación del capital. Nuevos actores, formas de articulación y de governance redireccionan los flujos de conocimientos, financieros y de bienes, así como los mecanismos de apropiación de ganancias y rentas. Este artículo pone el acento en los impactos locales /regionales de la difusión de los nuevos paradigmas tecnológicos, en particular, con la conformación de clusters de TICs y de Biotecnología, examinando experiencias de este tipo en Argentina.

- by Revista Política e Planejamento Regional (RPPR) and +2
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- Argentina, Innovation Systems and Clusters

is partner and the Head of Research and International Markets at Swedish place-branding consultancy Tendensor AB, leading research and consultancy projects in the Nordic and Baltic countries. He also serves as executive member of the board of the Association for Place Branding and Public Diplomacy. Marcus has worked for Baltic Development Forum, the Swedish Government and the European Commission, with communication and public affairs and policy areas such as cluster development, innovation and security policy. He holds an MA in Political Science from Uppsala University and an MSc. in Marketing, Business and Economics from Stockholm University School of Business.

The paper describes One among the Cluster Development Projects in Tanzania that promotes national socio-economic development. The project used Cluster Based Approach that engaged academia, research and development organization in stimulating, catalyzing and promoting the development of innovation systems and innovative clusters in Tanzania. The programme started in 2006 by piloting eight (8) Cluster Initiatives (CI). As of December 2015, the programme has facilitated the establishment of more than 70 clusters.
The project interventions included business support services, training of cluster facilitators, providing and advising new technologies/techniques on business development and provision of entrepreneurship and business skills.
The project has notable achievements, challenges as well as opportunities and recommendations towards cluster development initiatives in Tanzania.
The project has noted one important aspect of having a Cluster Development Guideline for Tanzania that will enable various Cluster Development Practitioners to use in Cluster Development initiatives.

The purpose of this doctoral thesis is to raise an analytical proposal in which the Marshallian industrial districts perspective and the innovation systems perspective can converge. The objective is justified because of the potential limitations of the district concept to capture and explain the innovative processes that happen inside it but, at the same time, the unique specificities that characterise and differentiate an industrial district from other levels of analysis.
Accordingly, the theoretical part deals with the relevant characteristics of each of the two perspectives considered and based on their resemblances and complementarities the notion of distritual innovation system has been proposed. Thus, the distritual innovation system appears as a concept that emphasizes the relevance of the territory, when an industry adopts the district form, but is also highly dependent on other elements of the innovation system.
In order to assess the appropriateness of this combined proposal the empirical part has focussed on the characterisation of the distritual innovation system of the tile in Castellón. To do it we combine different analysis that includes: the description of the value chain, mapping the innovation system, highlighting the functions that the system requires should be fulfilled, and analyzing the interaction between the different elements through research contracts and patents. By combining the aforementioned analysis we show the constraints, inertias, challenges and opportunities that the distritual innovation system faces while showing the utility of this analytical proposal.
The main conclusion from our research is that specific characteristics of the inter-organizational environments in the industrial district have to be considered for a correct systemic analysis of the innovation process. The implications for the ceramic tile producers can be, on the one hand, a certain degree of homogeneity, and on the other, the need to access district external suppliers to permit a certain degree of differentiation with respect to the rest of the local competitors.

This paper rejuvenates the existing discussion on the importance of cluster approach to industry development strategies. Current evidences suggest that the shape of economic policy and practice is changing significantly around the world. Governments continually search for new tools and policy formulas to improve economic performance and create economic prosperity for all citizens. In this context a more proactive and strategic role for government in support of the cluster-based economic development model has emerged. This paper uses Singapore's petrochemical industry as an example to study the cluster approach to industry development. In doing so, there is much optimism to the importance of state and its institutions to play a significant role on industry development. Nevertheless, the study also raises doubts on whether the cluster-based strategy is due to the concept itself or due to other important factors.

- by Jayarethanam S Pillai
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- Innovation Systems and Clusters

The purpose of this article is to investigate effective reformism: strategies that innovation networks deploy to create changes in their environment in order to establish a more conducive context for the realization and durable embedding of their innovation projects. Using a case study approach, effective reformism efforts are analyzed in a technological innovation trajectory related to the implementation of a new poultry husbandry system and an organizational innovation trajectory concerning new ways of co-operation among individual farms to establish economies of scale. The findings reinforce the idea, emerging from a complexity perspective on agricultural innovation systems, that interaction between innovation networks and their environment is only steerable to a limited extent. Nonetheless, innovation networks can enhance effective reformism by creating tangible visions that serve as vehicles to create understanding about the innovation and mobilize support for it, and by employing several kinds of boundary spanning individuals that are able to forge effective connections between innovation networks and their environment. Because innovation networks can only partially influence their institutional environment, and because unintended consequences of actions and random events influence the course of the innovation process, innovation network actors need to continuously re-interpret the contexts in which they move. This constant reflection by the innovating actors on their position vis-à-vis their environment needs to be supported by dedicated facilitators and monitoring and evaluation methods aimed at system learning. This implies that agricultural innovation policies should, instead of aiming to fully plan and control innovation, foster the emergence of such flexible support instruments that enable adaptive innovation management.

Alors que la théorie du rattrapage se fonde sur des prémisses d’existence de systèmes d’innovation structurés et opérationnel, mais en retard, la situation que connaissent un bon nombre de pays Africains montrent à l’évidence que l’innovation technologique souffre d’un véritable blocage. Les systèmes d’innovation largement déstructurés selon l’acception conventionnelles ne peuvent en l’état exercer une impulsion suffisamment forte pour dépasser cette situation en particulier dans le domaine
industriel. La situation de plusieurs pays nécessitent d’examiner une autre démarche qui est celle du « décollage » dans une perspective de construction ex post de systèmes nationaux dans des environnements
de « capacités manquantes ». La question centrale est de ce fait quels systèmes mettre en place pour un décollage effectif de la R&D et de l’innovation ? La littérature permet de corroborer l’inapplicabilité des
SNI conventionnels et prose des approches et des modèles alternatifs qui caractérisent bien et tiennent mieux compte des contraintes que ces pays subissent. Notre contribution s’inscrit dans cette démarche de
trouver des modes alternatifs susceptibles d’impulser l’innovation dans une phase de décollage. Pour illustrer le travail, deux modes de décollage décentralisés sont examinés à titre exploratoire: l’émergence
des Technopoles et des centres techniques industriels. Une étude de terrain extensive a été menée à cet effet notamment en Algérie et des résultats empiriques sont empruntés à des études antérieures afin
d’illustrer noter propos.
Mots clés : Décollage, rattrapage, centre techniques Industriel, innovation, R&D, Maghreb, Afrique

Among the most pressing energy and environmental strategic challenges today is to identify and deploy viable alternatives to fossil-fuel-based energy systems The barriers to deployment are systematic, leading to a state of affairs described as ‘carbon lock-in’ (Unruh
2000; Neuhoff 2007). Simply stated, even if alternative energy systems are cost-competitive in theory, the prime movers that control their diffusion throughout society –
for example, conversion and distribution infrastructure; financing mechanisms; skilled labour force; attitudes toward particular kinds of energy production activities and energy services – exhibit a preference for incumbent carbon-intensive fossil energy resources. Carbon lock-in represents path dependencies within energy systems including sunk-cost in prevailing infrastructure and entrenched political interests along with positively reinforcing relationships with broader system dynamics, from global financial logics that continue to monetise unburned carbon through energy
futures contracts to our everyday practices and expectations about mobility, comfort, and overall
well-being that underpin regular visits to the gasoline station. All of this is to say that energy systems are sociotechnical in nature, characterised by deep and often subtle interdependencies between technological, social, political-economic, and cultural processes which operate across the energy supply chain and at all scales of energy system operation (Miller, Richter, and O’Leary 2015).

- by Kean Birch
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- Bioengineering, Geography, Human Geography, Political Geography and Geopolitics

Entrepreneurial ecosystems are receiving growing attention. However, prior research has primarily focused on the physical characteristics and artifacts of such systems. The social construction of entrepreneurial ecosystems, and particularly the discourse involved in their creation, evolution, and promotion, has not been examined. To address this omission in prior research, this conceptual paper builds on work from several disciplines on a specific type of discourse: narratives. Theory is developed regarding the types of narratives constructed in entrepreneurial ecosystems and their functions. The theorizing draws from and synthesizes multiple streams of research, including work on sensemaking, identity construction, legitimacy, and attention.

- by Philip Roundy
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- Entrepreneurship, Organizational Communication, Narrative, Discourse
- by Pablo Bereciartua
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- Geography, Development Economics, Economic Geography, Development Studies

O estudo dos clusters está associado à competitividade das empresas numa determinada região. A sua essência fundamenta-se em fatores de inovação, criatividade, transferência de conhecimento e capitais, pelo que a sua justificação no tecido empresarial (como rede) é importante e carateriza-se pela criação de externalidades entre as empresas e outras instituições pertencentes ao cluster. O objetivo deste artigo é demonstrar que a avaliação dos clusters tanto em termos qualitativos como quantitativos contribui para a avaliação do impacte e do desempenho em determinada região. Por último, espera-se que em regiões onde exista pouca eficiência em estratégias de criação de valor nas empresas, a criação de clusters possa contribuir para um melhor aproveitamento de recursos naturais, económicos e sociais.

The literature on clustering that has developed over the last two decades or so has given us a wealth of information on the formation and competitiveness of places in the global economy. Similarly, the systems literature on innovation has been valuable in moving the debate around technology from a focus on the entrepreneur to one than encompasses institutions, government, suppliers, customers and universities. However, there remains an important limit to this research; the borders of political jurisdictions, usually nation states, typically delineate the studies. It is argued in this paper that during an era when the international architecture of production relationships is changing, this view of systems is hindering its further development. This paper briefly examines what we have learnt of innovation systems, including clustering and also explores the limitations of this work. From this foundation it is proposed in this paper that a framework which understands clusters as nodes within extra-territorial networks is a promising approach for internationalising the systems of innovation perspective. The advantage of the approach presented here is that it can simultaneously capture regional specialisations and be disaggregated enough to apply on a technology / sectoral basis. Another principle advantage is that such a framework goes someway towards an understanding of interregional and international trade that is consistent with what other studies have shown of the development of innovation within particular geographic locations. The paper draws from extensive data analysis of industrial interdependencies that cross national borders to support the case for cluster complexes that transcend regional and national borders.

- by Brian Wixted
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- International Trade, Innovation Systems and Clusters

This book offers an innovative examination of how 'low-technology' industries operate. Based on extensive fieldwork in India, the book fuses economic and sociological perspectives on information sharing by means of informal interaction in a low-technology cluster in a developing country. In doing so, the book sheds new light on settings where economic relations arise as emergent properties of social relations. This book examines industrial innovation and microeconomic network behaviour among producers and clusters, perceiving knowledge diffusion to be a socially spatial, as much as a geographically spatial, phenomenon. This is achieved by employing two methods-simulation modelling and (quantitative, qualitative, and historical) social network analysis. The simulation model, based on its findings, motivates two empirical studies-one descriptive case and one network study-of low-tech rural and semi-urban traditional technology clusters in Kerala state in southern India. These cases demonstrate two contrasting stories of how social cohesion either supports or thwarts informal information sharing and learning. This book pushes towards an economic-sociology approach to understanding knowledge diffusion and technological learning, which perceives innovation and learning as being more social processes than the mainstream view perceives them to be. In doing so, it makes a significant contribution to the literature on defensive innovation and the role of networks in technological innovation and knowledge diffusion, as well as to policy studies of Indian small firm and traditional technology clusters. Anant Kamath is currently faculty at

This Science-Fiction Prototype ruminates on a post-singularity world, where transhumanism practices are in widespread use. In particular, the discussion focuses on a form of transhumanism that involves reengineering the brain, and associated reality experiences, as part of an educational process. The paper uses two short SFPs to explore some consequences of transhumanism for immersive education ideas (the focus of the host conference). The article concludes by postulating that we may, perhaps unwittingly, already be on a path to such a future with the advent of technologies like augmented reality glasses and wonders where we might draw a line that we shouldn’t cross.

- by Victor Callaghan
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- Creative Writing, Fiction Writing, Future Studies, Philosophy of Science

- by Indrek Ibrus
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- Engineering, Cultural Policy, Clusters & Networks, Media Policy

The life sciences is an industrial sector that covers the development of biological products and the use of biological processes in the production of goods, services and energy. This sector is frequently presented as a major opportunity... more

- by Kean Birch
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- Sociology, Geography, Human Geography, Urban Geography

Current debates in science and technology studies emphasize that the bio-economy—or, the articulation of capitalism and biotechnology—is built on notions of commodity production, commodification, and materiality, emphasizing that it is possible to derive value from body parts, molecular and cellular tissues, biological processes, and so on. What is missing from these perspectives, however, is consideration of the political-economic actors, knowledges, and practices involved in the creation and management of value. As part of a rethinking of value in the bio-economy, this article analyzes three key political-economic processes: financialization, capitalization, and asseti-zation. In doing so, it argues that value is managed as part of a series of valuation practices, it is not inherent in biological materialities.

- by Kean Birch
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- Business, Entrepreneurship, Management, Business Administration

El concepto de sistema de innovación ha tenido un protagonismo
creciente en el debate sobre los determinantes de la innovación
y sus implicaciones en las políticas de innovación. El sistema de
innovación identifica los agentes y sus interrelaciones en diferentes
contextos: territorios, sectores o tecnologías y ha permitido un avance significativo en la comprensión de cómo funcionan los procesos innovadores.
Sin embargo, frecuentemente el acotamiento puede no resultar
el espacio en el que se desarrollan las relaciones más significativas para explicar los procesos de innovación. En nuestra propuesta, el Sistema Distritual de Innovación, tratamos de integrar la perspectiva sistémica y de aprendizaje a través de las interacciones provenientes de los sistemas de innovación con el concepto de distrito industrial, concepto ya consolidado que, si bien no ha considerado la innovación como un elemento clave, sí propone una delimitación del ámbito relacional que consideramos apropiada para el estudio de la innovación. Esta propuesta conceptual sugiere una serie de conclusiones e implicaciones
relevantes en este debate sobre los procesos de innovación.

- by Kean Birch
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- Sociology, Economic Sociology, Geography, Human Geography

There has been growing interest in understanding innovation in developing countries. This is in recognition of the fact that low- and middle-income economies typically have ‘developing’ innovation systems characterized by relatively weak institutions and fragmented actor constellations that restrain interactive learning. The current innovation systems literature tends to overestimate the role of governments as agents of resource allocation while underestimating the importance of civil society in improving basic institutions of the market economy. This literature tends to overlook the particularly important role of non-governmental actors, such as grassroots civil societies in grassroots innovation. This paper seeks to address two basic questions: How important is the role played by civil society organizations in low-carbon innovation systems? What are the specific roles and what challenges do they face in performing these roles? The paper analyses the role of civil society through the lens of low-carbon innovation. Empirical data were generated using both structured and semi-structured questionnaires targeting innovators in a low-carbon innovation country: Kenya. The paper shows that civil society plays a crucial role in low carbon innovation in terms of learning and competence-building in Kenya. The study recommends major interventions in terms of a policy framework to recognize and institutionalize civil society as important players in innovation at the grassroots level.
Keywords: innovation; low-carbon development; civil society; grassroots innovation; Kenya

- by Anne Kingiri and +1
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- Climate Change Adaptation, Renewable Energy Policies, Natural Resource Management, Renewable energy resources

El hecho de que las pymes se aglomeren gracias a la promoción de iniciativas clúster, por parte de diversos organismos internacionales, no garantiza que operen eficientemente de manera conjunta; requieren establecer vínculos basados en confianza mutua para generar y aprovechar el capital social derivado de la interrelación de los actores del clúster. Esta investigación se encuentra en proceso y pretende establecer el uso dado por las pymes, integradas en clúster, al capital social generado por ser parte del mismo, así como su impacto en la capacidad de innovación de este tipo de empresas. El estudio se llevará a cabo bajo el enfoque cuantitativo y sus unidades de análisis serán las empresas integrantes del clúster del sector tecnológico del estado de Sinaloa. Las técnicas propuestas para la recolección de datos son: encuesta, entrevista semi-estructurada y análisis de documentos. Se espera encontrar un uso limitado del capital social al que podrían tener acceso, debido a la falta de confianza mutua derivada de la artificiosa constitución del clúster, lo que redunda en baja cooperación y una capacidad de innovación deficiente.
Palabras clave: Capital Social, Clúster e Innovación

- by Blas Valenzuela Camacho
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- Innovation Systems and Clusters, Capital social

Одним из направлений инновационной политики в России стало формирование технологических платформ (ТП), в рамках которого проводится масштабный проект по выявлению центров превосходства и созданию на их базе центров научно-технологического прогнозирования в инновационных отраслях экономики. В данной работе будет рассмотрен опыт применения Форсайт-методологии для исследования перспектив приоритетного направления рационального природопользования

This paper examines the linkages and interactive learning processes between foreign and local actors in an innovation system in Tanzania. Specifically, the importance of a mediator organization to absorb and transfer knowledge from the foreign to the local sector is examined. The potential application of emerging knowledge spillovers to wider local users is thus evaluated. Empirical evidence suggests that although the potential exists for the wider application of technology and knowledge spillovers, a number of key constraints partly hinder the achievement of this potential and the proper functioning of an innovation system. Tel: +46 (0) 46 2227468 Mobile: +46 (0) 709 767667 Fax: +46 (0) 46 2224161

This research investigates a relevant gap in the academic literature on enterprise policy—namely, the nature of discretion and the causes that permit it during policy implementation. We found in our case studies that the programme workers who deliver policies exerted considerable discretion. Further evidence suggests that the main influences on what we call informal discretion—discretion clearly outside programme objectives—include the design of programme evaluation and audit as well as the influence of evaluators and auditors in these processes. We also found evidence of formal discretion—discretion allowed within programme objectives—through broad and ambiguous policies and procedures. Our findings and theoretical framework illustrate how discretion cannot be so easily curtailed by the market logics and strict rules of the new public management practice. Instead, we conclude that the possibility of refraining policy statements and evaluation as a learning process, from programme successes and failures, would transform our approach to policy implementation. This would require a number of institutional and incentive changes for policy actors and the public.

- by Arturo Vega and +1
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- Information Systems, Information Science, Information Systems (Business Informatics), Management Information Systems

The article takes a close look at the entrepreneurial practices of the Estonian film industry and at how these particular practices may be understood to influence the evolution of the film production cluster in Tallinn. It asks how these processes of institutional evolution of the local film industry may be understood to influence the specific nature of audiovisual culture in contemporary Estonia. The article is based on a study that was conducted in mid 2012. The study consisted of interviews with the repre- sentatives of the local film industry, including respondents from production companies (“studios”), post-production companies and distributors. The second phase of the study was a confirmative roundtable with the select group that included the previously interviewed filmmakers and a few additional industry insiders. The key research ques- tions were: (1) what are the existing co-operation practices between companies like and (2) considering the further evolution of the industry cluster in Tallinn, what are the companies’ specific expectations and needs. The current status of the cluster’s competitiveness was evaluated by using Michael Porter’s model for analyzing conditions of competition (Porter’s diamond). Also, development perspectives of the cluster were evaluated, considering the needs and expectations of entrepreneurs. Key results of the research were divided into two basic categories: (1) current state of clustering of AV enterprises and (2) perspectives and alternatives of further development of the AV cluster.

- by Indrek Ibrus and +2
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- Cultural Policy, Clusters & Networks, Media Policy, Creative Industries

- by Graciela Gutman
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- Argentina, Innovation Systems and Clusters

- by Brian Wixted
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- Business, International Trade, Data Analysis, Innovation Systems and Clusters

Tesis Doctoral presentada por Daniel Gabaldon Estevan en el Instituto Interuniversitario de Desarrollo Local de la Universitat de Valencia - Facultat de Geografia i Historia.-- Distribuido bajo licencia Creative Commons de... more

This work applies the systemic approach to analyze the innovation process in an industrial district through the notion of the District Innovation System. We are particularly interested in the analysis of the interactions between the productive-technological and the scientific environments through the analysis of research contracts and patents. The empirical section of the paper develops a quantitative analysis of the interactions between different actors of the system included in the district.

- by Külliki Tafel-Viia
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- Engineering, Cultural Policy, Clusters & Networks, Media Policy

The research aims to explore the drivers and barriers that influence the inter-firm competitive collaboration within clusters. In this view, a case study on the emerging apparel cluster in the Republic of Moldova was accomplished. It focused particularly on identifying the types of existing collaboration linkages between firms and evaluating the context-specific factors that inhibit or encourage these linkages. The results suggest that despite the relatively dense agglomeration of firms within the emerging cluster, this does not translate into extensive collaboration networks. Entrepreneurs manifest hesitation toward collaboration and the lack of relational capital, as a common feature of most post-socialist economies, remains a big issue in making the cluster work. This represents a missed opportunity for cluster performance, specifically as the social capital crucially matters for knowledge and innovation to be transferred more readily.

In the article the author assumes that the idea of smart specialization can stimulate the development of cluster initiatives operating in the EU. In the first part, the author explains the essence of smart specialization concept. Then, in the following sections, he describes the process of identifying smart specialization in EU regions and collates the smart specialization concept with of some economic theories, particularly with M. Porter’s theory of industrial clusters.

- by Artur Janusz
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- Clusters & Networks, Procurement, Supply Chain, Clusters