Innovation systems, innovation policy and the future of university-industry knowledge exchange
7 August 2008
On 14 August 2008 Professor Alan Hughes will be giving a public lecture presented by the National Academies Forum at the John Curtin School of Medical Research in Canberra. The presentation will provide an analysis of the nature of university-industry knowledge exchange in innovation systems.
Workshop in honour of Professor Dennis C. Mueller
26 June 2008
A workshop entitled “The Economics of Corporate Governance & Mergers” was held in honour of Professor Dennis Mueller on occasion of his formal retirement in Vienna on 20-22 June 2008.
Dennis has been a CBR research associate for many years and has been a project leader on “Corporate Governance & Investment: An International Research Network” within the CBR programme. He will continue in this role and is actively involved in the coordination of the Corporate Governance Network in which the CBR is a partner.
The workshop was held in Vienna’s Haus der Industrie.
Find out more
Visit Professor Dennis C. Mueller’s profile on the University of Vienna website
Dr Andrea Mina wins DRUID Best Paper Award 2008
21 June 2008
Dr Andrea Mina, who was nominated for the DRUID Best Paper Award for his paper entitled “The Emergence of New Knowledge, Market Evolution and the Dynamics of Micro-Innovation Systems”, has won the prize at the 25th DRUID Celebration Conference 2008 of Entrepreneurship and Innovation held in Copenhagen on 17-20 June 2008.
Cambridge team launch search for hidden R&D
2 June 2008
A group or researchers at the University of Cambridge is launching a survey of East of England companies to try to find out how much research and development goes unrecorded in official statistics because it is paid for – explicitly or implicitly – by customers.
Science and technology based companies have a crucial role to play in the future of the British economy,” says David Connell, who is leading the research team, “but much of Government policy thinking to help the sector is based on false assumptions about how it operates.
The contribution to the regional economy of the “big four” consultancies, Cambridge Consultants, The Technology Partnership, PA Technology and Sagentia, is well known. Together with their spin-offs, they have directly generated over 7,000 jobs. But the team have already identified many other, more specialist, firms across the region with a similar approach to R&D. They are operating in fields as diverse as biotechnology and automotive engineering.
“A good deal of R&D is unrecorded by the official statistics,” says David Connell, “either because it takes the form of a paid contracts, or because it is included in the purchase price of specialised, custom products whose development is only completed once the sale is made. This kind of R&D often provides the basis for substantial growth later on.”
The team plans to survey some 800 companies across the region and believes the project will have an important impact on government policy. It already has a good track record in this regard. Professor Alan Hughes, Director of the Centre for Business Research which is undertaking the project, is a member of the Council for Science and Technology which advises the Prime Minister; and David Connell’s proposals for a programme of US style public sector “innovation contracts”, originally launched four years ago when he was Chairman of TTP Ventures, were adopted by the Government in March this year.
Reshaping innovation policy: an international expert view from Professor Alan Hughes
10 April 2008
The Australian Business Foundation hosted a forum with leading international researcher and government adviser Professor Alan Hughes in conjunction with the Australian Government’s Review of the National Innovation System.
Professor Hughes, who will be joining in the Australian National Innovation System Review as expert adviser, discussed his recent analysis with Vadim Grinevich of the acceleration for Australia’s productivity growth commissioned by the Australian Business Foundation, The Contribution of Services and Other Sectors to Australia’s Productivity Growth, 1980-2004.
Australian Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research invites CBR Director to act as expert adviser in Australian National Innovation System Review
2 April 2008
Professor Hughes has been invited by Senator Kim Carr, Australian Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, to participate as expert adviser in the Review of the Australian National Innovation System. The Review, which was announced on 22 January 2008, is a major opportunity for the new Federal Government to build innovation performance and to take forward a framework which is going to enhance Australia’s place in the increasingly competitive global market.
Professor Hughes’s work on the measurement of innovation, innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises, measurement and evaluation of industrial and business support policy, as well as his work on benchmarking university and industry innovation activities in the UK and the US, will provide valuable experience and an international perspective to assist the Panel in its work. The Review Panel is to consult nationally and provide a ‘Green Paper’ to the Government detailing policy options by 31 July 2008. The Green Paper will be released for public comment and used as the basis for the development of a Government ‘White Paper’.
CBR team’s report on “Absorptive Capacity & Regional Patterns of Innovation” is background paper to Innovation Nation White Paper
30 March 2008
The report Absorptive Capacity & Regional Patterns of Innovation, by CBR researchers Michael Kitson, Maria Abreu and Vadim Grinevich, and CMI’s Maria Savona, is available on the DIUS website as background paper to the Innovation Nation White Paper on Science and Innovation. The research was undertaken for DIUS and is based on an in-depth analysis of the Centre for Business Research’s 2004 Survey of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and the Fourth Community Innovation Survey (CIS4).
Find out more
Visit the Gov.uk website to download the “Innovation Nation” White Paper