Local Innovation System in Emerging Economies

Systems of innovation are highly dependent on local conditions, where national boundaries give the general platform to it, but local systems play a key role in the path to development. In the developing world this is even more important. Córdoba, Argentina, is the case of a developing region in a developing country. The study goes in the direction of gathering and interpreting data from the three mayor players of its innovation system: government, universities, and private companies, assessing the links among them and establishing conclusions about how they work as a system. Finally, it makes a proposal for the improvement of the local system of innovation to the different forces and the policymakers of the province. The study shares a common ground with similar regions around the world, and its lessons are applicable to them.

Research into the Path Evolution of Manufacturing in the Transitional Period in Mainland China

Manufacturing transition is an important part of industrial upgrading. At present, Chinese scholars study the problem of manufacturing chiefly from two perspectives: The first is to discuss the status quo of Chinese manufacturing from the perspective of industrial competitiveness, with countermeasures put forward against manufacturing upgrading. The second is to directly discuss the upgrading of manufacturing from the perspective of global value chain, with the following proposal put forward: Chinese manufacturing upgrading should stretch from the low end to both ends of value chain. In addition, a discussion is also made to the role of producer services in promoting manufacturing, and the role of governmental regulations in upgrading manufacturing. Although these two perspectives are rational, they have some defects: Both of them are based on the hypothesis that the institutional environment in which manufacturing lies is stationary, and manufacturing is considered and measured with systems as exogenous variables; so the impact of institutional environment on manufacturing upgrading is overlooked. Based on reviewing previous literature, this chapter analyzes and discusses the path evolution of manufacturing in the transitional period in mainland China.

Radical Innovation and Technology Diffusion in Traditional Clusters

Academic literature has emphasized how firms in regional clusters exploit both place-specific local resources as well as external, world-class knowledge respectively to strengthen their competitiveness expanding the influence of regional systems of innovation. Innovation based in more complex technologies tends to be based in more open systems utilising the clusters external networks. However, in general, cluster literature has associated clusters with incremental innovation. This chapter analyses the determinants of radical innovation development in traditional (low and medium tech) clusters caused by high-tech located industries. It analyses the case of the development of breakthrough innovation and its diffusion in the tile ceramic Spanish cluster. It examines how market demands, customer orientation, technology diffusion from other industries, and industry competitiveness, as well as cluster internal and external networking facilitate the development of a complex technology within a common set of social capital, shared cognitive schemes, and understandings.

Creative Regions in Europe

This chapter examines the existence of regional agglomerations of manufacturing, service and creative industries, and the relationship between these industries and the wealth of regions. Through an analysis of 250 European regions, three important conclusions can be inferred from the results obtained in this chapter. The first is that creative industries play an important role in the wealth of the regions. The second is that the most creative regions are characterized by having more high-tech manufacturing industries than the rest of the regions, although the number of low-tech manufacturing firms is similar. Lastly, in the richest regions, a greater share of high-tech manufacturing industries coexists with a greater share of creative industries. The importance of this chapter resides in the fact that up until now no analysis has demonstrated that creative industries are the most important industries in regional wealth.

Innovation by Imitation?

In the hope to boost regional competitiveness, public authorities increasingly try to imitate success stories of regional innovation. For most areas, Silicon Valley is the dream scenario. Against this background, the chapter discusses the usefulness of benchmarking success stories of regional innovation. For this purpose, the authors review insights from Schumpeterian innovation theory, economic geography, and public policy studies. On the basis of this overview, they conclude that especially in the field of regional innovation, it is hard to reproduce the success of best practices. Therefore, the authors plea for more realism in regional innovation policy: regions may draw inspiration from success stories, but cannot turn themselves in a second Silicon Valley. Thus, the guiding principle for public authorities should be: don’t imitate – innovate!

Dynamic Competitive of Geographic Clusters (Such as Micro Regional Systems) in the Generation of Innovative Capabilities

Innovation is understood as an interactive process of learning, and its usefulness in a region is reflected in the social, cultural, institutional, and territorial. From this point of view, the region’s competitive advantages are based on the development and subsequent use of resources and skills generated there. The author of this chapter analyzed the geographic clusters, to support local and regional development, assuming that each variety of these is different, both in its essence, its origins, and functions, to generate knowledge and innovation within a (micro) regional system of innovation.

Internationalization Strategies of Chinese Pharmaceutical Firms

China’s pharmaceutical market value is about USD 110 billion in 2009, and it has become the world’s second largest market. Chinese pharmaceutical firms are becoming a growing player in the global pharmaceutical chain. Through empirical research, this chapter summarizes the internationalization experience of Chinese pharmaceutical firms, finds that the effective strategies of international market entry are product upgrading along the industrial chain, international certification and cooperation, outsourcing and licensing, and other paths of overseas expansion, and presents that pharmaceutical firms in emerging markets should choose suitable entry paths and strategies according to their own advantages, learn the experience of internationalization from leading firms in emerging market, and gradually enter the standard market.

International Development Partnerships and Diffusion of Renewable Energy Powered Lighting Technologies in Off-Grid Communities in Developing Countries

Worldwide, 1.4 billion people virtually live in darkness after sunset. New lighting technologies, such as light emitting diodes (LED), powered by renewable energy allow non-electrified communities to access for the first time in their lives clean, durable, affordable, and higher quality lighting service. The international NGOs play an important intermediary role in diffusion of these technologies to off-grid communities and commonly operate via development partnerships. With the goal of providing insights into the nature of these partnerships and factors that influence their effectiveness, the exploratory case study was conducted which examined and compared development partnerships promoting renewable energy powered lighting technologies in off-grid indigenous communities in Talamanca, Costa Rica. The study acknowledged the catalytic role of the international NGOs and emphasized the centrality of locally embedded organizations and their capacities in successful implementation of development interventions. A set of factors was identified that contribute to the effectiveness of the development partnership in renewable energy in off-grid communities.

Cluster of Berries in Chile

This chapter analyzes the dynamic sectors that have largely contributed to the advancement of the region in terms of innovation by scientific knowledge and competencies. The author is interested in them from the start, current development, and future expansion. The chapter explores the patterns that resulted in a dynamic sector, trying to establish the conditions that make its growth possible through an analysis of the major scientific and technological capability in the Southern Region. In this way the form of relationships which has helped to generate virtuous circles in the competitive sectors of regional economies can be established, as well as discovery of what can be done to improve it. The conditions to actually set up a cluster in Berries are currently inadequate because of the lack of communication between the different “actors.” There is a lack of innovation by the producers, lack of information flow relating to the market requirements by the companies, and a lack of effective transfer of knowledge from the public sector and research bodies. These, amongst other factors, affect the competitiveness of the sector.

Organizational and Personal Innovativeness

The main objective of this research is to highlight the need to reconceptualize the theoretical constructs of innovativeness. This chapter examines the existing definitions of innovativeness, and provides a conceptual framework that considers this topic from an organizational to a personal perspective. The similarities and differences of each are reviewed, and a synthesized conceptualization of innovativeness is offered. A literature review examines innovativeness, taking a broad perspective of the topic in terms of research and practice as well as conceptualizing the relevant personal constructs. This study is limited in taking a marketing perspective. Implications for future research in innovativeness in practice are recommended.