Suchergebnisse

Rethinking Regional Innovation and Change brings together papers from leading international scholars in the field of regional development and policy. The contributors examine the interactions between path-dependent developments, institutions, and governance structures that influence regional innovation capacity. Up-to-date case studies present diverse theoretical perspectives from economics, political science, geography, planning, and public policy.

The promotion of social innovations by non-profit and business organizations has gained increasing interest. Yet, there has been limited research on routines that organizations use to facilitate social innovations. This paper uses a dynamic capabilities framework to understand the microfoundations of dynamic capabilities for social innovation in small non-profit organizations. Through analysis of routines of 20 small organizations in five European metropolitan areas, the paper demonstrates that many microfoundation aspects resemble generic abilities of opportunity identification, alliancing, user engagement, networking, and organizational learning. However, their orientation toward public values requires incorporating commitments to social value and principles of ethics, responsibility, and sustainability, into different organizational processes. We suggest that social impact does not always require substantial investment and can be achievable through modest changes such as repurposing surplus resources. Building flexible routines that enable such incremental changes is a key element of organizational capability to adapt to changing contexts.

AbstractNanoscience and nanotechnology––involving the engineering of materials, devices, and systems at very small scales––have emerged as important priorities not only for science but also for economic development. In this article, we propose an analytical framework that considers the socioeconomic effects of nanotechnology in six key areas: institutional development, knowledge flows, and network efficiency; research and education capabilities; industrial and enterprise development; regional spread; cluster and network development; and product innovation. We apply this framework to assess the early impacts of the evolving domain of nanotechnology for development, with a focus on China and its transitioning economy, where nanotechnology is assuming an important role in breaking existing innovation system lock‐ins and historical path dependencies. We suggest that the analytical framework adds value in assessing the developmental impacts of new technologies and could be used to probe such impacts in other countries and locations.