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Books > Science & Mathematics > Science: general issues > Industrial applications of scientific research & technological innovation
Modern organizations must constantly adapt to survive in today's rapidly changing environment. A stagnant organization that cannot innovate to meet evolving conditions will eventually find itself no longer competitive in an increasingly complex and technologically sophisticated economy. Innovation and Knowledge Management focuses on three issues critical to success: knowledge management, innovation, and consortia. The author examines the interplay of these factors during a critical four-year period in the operation of the Cancer Information Service (CIS) - a knowledge management organization charged with delivering up-to-date, authoritative information to the public. The forerunner of many other knowledge delivery organizations, CIS was under pressure not only to distribute knowledge but to generate it. A consortium was formed between practitioners within CIS and researchers outside it to explore various innovative intervention strategies. The intersection of knowledge management, innovation and consortial arrangements at CIS provides a unique opportunity to examine no less than the future of organizations. This distinctive study will be of great interest to scholars, students, practitioners and policymakers in the fields of health, communications, knowledge management, information science and management.
This book helps power industry executives to systematically navigate the complex technological and organizational changes necessary to recreate power grids. This is especially pertinent in the current environment characterized by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity conditions. Across the globe, the electric power sector is facing many forces of change as it transitions from a fossil-based system to cleaner sustainable resources. Leaders in the power sector face unprecedented challenges in responding to these changes while continuing to provide safe, reliable, clean, and affordable electricity. Recognizing that historical and existing ways will not work, Jagoron Mukherjee and Marco C. Janssen present a new paradigm for industry leaders to tackle some of the key questions to determine the best path forward: What will the business be like in the future? What technologies will likely prevail? How should my company respond to constant change? How expensive will the transition be? Will the customer expectations be met? How fast do we need to change? Drawing on well-known management principles, the book helps industry leaders to provide a methodology to tackle these questions and sharpen their decisions as they embrace innovation, new customer expectations and digitization in their efforts to steer the energy transition. Taking a holistic problem-solving approach, which addresses the power company as a whole, Recreating the Power Grid will be a valuable resource for all professionals working in this quickly evolving field.
Many diverse materials, from man-made plastics to slurry, behave in ways that cannot be predicted using straightforward 'classical' equations. This book provides a guide, with examples, for those who wish to make predictions about the mechanical and thermal behaviour of non-Newtonian materials in engineering and processing technology. There is an emphasis on the practical solution of problems using computer methods, and on the correlation between theory and experimental work.
This authoritative book presents a selection of the most important published articles and papers on the computing industry - an industry that after five decades of growth permeates virtually all areas of modern economic activity. Many economists believe the diffusion of computing has been a catalyst and a driver of economic growth. This has stimulated research into the microeconomic determinants and consequences of computing. This collection provides a state-of-the-art survey of advances in applied and empirical approaches to the industrial economics of computing. The first section of the book presents several distinct approaches to the measurement of frontier research in computing. The second section addresses the factors shaping the industrial structure for supplying computer goods and services. The third section focuses on the determinants of the adoption and diffusion of information technology. Shane Greenstein - a leading scholar in the field - has written a new and authoritative introduction which provides a comprehensive overview of the subject. This is an important feature of the volume which will be an essential reference source for both industrial and business economists concerned with the computing industry.
This authoritative collection covers the economics and business side of the social scientific debate about the economics of 'modern biotechnology' or 'the biotechnology industry'. Biotechnology has attracted an enormous interest. Research has spawned work on a variety of theoretical issues about economic dynamics, about innovation systems and about what might be called - in the current jargon - the modern 'learning economy'. More generally, biotechnology is often perceived as one of the most important, broad, cutting-edge new technologies of the contemporary era. This collection will provide the reader with an accessible and structured understanding of the main issues which have characterized debates about the economics of biotechnology.
Innovation Networks in Knowledge-based Firms explores corporate strategic management in an information and communication technology (ICT) environment, and illustrates the significance of new business models based on 'boundary innovation' management through broadband networks as fixed and mobile wireless infrastructures. The author bridges theory and practice and provides international scope; he seeks to make transparent the mechanisms behind the processes that generate product and service innovation in ICT industries, such as search and advertising (Yahoo, Google), music distribution (Apple iPod) and gaming (Sony Playstation, Nintendo DS). He develops new business models based on 'boundary innovation' management and explains the innovation networks formed via three types of knowledge innovator - platform, process, and content. These knowledge innovators play an important role in merging different technologies (including ICT) and business models to develop new business value chains and new industries that span various industrial fields. Highlighting new theoretical and managerial insights and implications in the realm of ICT, this book will be invaluable to academics, students and practitioners with an interest in business, management, ICT and high-tech industries.
The follow-up to the acclaimed Organizations in the Computer Age this book, originally published in 1996, reveals that since computers had become increasingly linked in networks which span the world, information could be transmitted instantaneously to all parts of the organization. It describes the experiences of six organizations and draws lessons which apply very widely. The issues raised include: the impact on employment levels and organizational structure; the effects of network technology and organization structure and control; the extent of management choice; the role of change agents. This book shows that the introduction of computer networks raises new challenges concerning how the process of change is managed. The lessons from these cases could be widely applied in other organizations undertaking similar large-scale investments in new technology at the time.
The Lisbon Agenda aims to prepare Europe for globalization by updating European policies for research, innovation, competition, trade, employment, education, social protection, environment and energy at both the European and national levels. Designed to inspire the new cycle of the Lisbon Agenda until 2010 and beyond, this timely and significant volume explores the intellectual elaboration of the agenda for the coming years. With contributions from some of Europe's leading scholars, this book explores new developments in the European agenda for globalization, addressing four critical areas: European policies, their adaptation to national diversity in Europe, their implications for the external action of the European Union and, finally, their implications for EU governance. This book presents the outcome of an organized dialogue between the political and research communities. Europe, Globalization and the Lisbon Agenda will undoubtedly prove an outstanding addition to the current literature and will be an invaluable resource for European policy-makers, governments and academics from a wide range of disciplines who are concerned about the future competitiveness of Europe.
Knowledge Policy illustrates how the production of knowledge has become central to economic life, and that competitiveness in the 21st century market place is characterized by the ability to translate scientific and technological knowledge into innovation. Does this therefore render cultural and social knowledge unimportant? The contributors attempt to answer this and other important questions using a broader epistemological base for the term 'knowledge'. Policy implications are then developed from this perspective. By examining long-term challenges, this unique book explains what we actually mean by the term 'knowledge' and raises fundamental critiques of existing conceptions of knowledge. It argues that fresh policy thinking is needed not only in more obviously knowledge-intensive sectors, but also across all areas of knowledge production. By way of illustration, the effects of the different dynamics of the knowledge era on defence, health, employment, environment, indigenous and international relations, multiculturalism and urban policy are explored. The book then addresses the enduring question of whether it is possible to produce too much knowledge at the expense of wisdom. Providing a thorough treatment on the meaning, production and application of knowledge, this book will provide a fascinating read for academics, researchers, students, practitioners and policymakers with an interest in public policy and knowledge-based economies.
We have long recognized technology as a driving force behind much historical and cultural change. The invention of the printing press initiated the Reformation. The development of the compass ushered in the Age of Exploration and the discovery of the New World. The cotton gin created the conditions that led to the Civil War. Now, in Beyond Engineering, science writer Robert Pool turns the question around to examine how society shapes technology. Drawing on such disparate fields as history, economics, risk analysis, management science, sociology, and psychology, Pool illuminates the complex, often fascinating interplay between machines and society, in a book that will revolutionize how we think about technology. We tend to think that reason guides technological development, that engineering expertise alone determines the final form an invention takes. But if you look closely enough at the history of any invention, says Pool, you will find that factors unrelated to engineering seem to have an almost equal impact. In his wide-ranging volume, he traces developments in nuclear energy, automobiles, light bulbs, commercial electricity, and personal computers, to reveal that the ultimate shape of a technology often has as much to do with outside and unforeseen forces. For instance, Pool explores the reasons why steam-powered cars lost out to internal combustion engines. He shows that the Stanley Steamer was in many ways superior to the Model T--it set a land speed record in 1906 of more than 127 miles per hour, it had no transmission (and no transmission headaches), and it was simpler (one Stanley engine had only twenty-two moving parts) and quieter than a gas engine--but the steamers were killed off by factors that had little or nothing to do with their engineering merits, including the Stanley twins' lack of business acumen and an outbreak of hoof-and-mouth disease. Pool illuminates other aspects of technology as well. He traces how seemingly minor decisions made early along the path of development can have profound consequences further down the road, and perhaps most important, he argues that with the increasing complexity of our technological advances--from nuclear reactors to genetic engineering--the number of things that can go wrong multiplies, making it increasingly difficult to engineer risk out of the equation. Citing such catastrophes as Bhopal, Three Mile Island, the Exxon Valdez, the Challenger, and Chernobyl, he argues that is it time to rethink our approach to technology. The days are gone when machines were solely a product of larger-than-life inventors and hard-working engineers. Increasingly, technology will be a joint effort, with its design shaped not only by engineers and executives but also psychologists, political scientists, management theorists, risk specialists, regulators and courts, and the general public. Whether discussing bovine growth hormone, molten-salt reactors, or baboon-to-human transplants, Beyond Engineering is an engaging look at modern technology and an illuminating account of how technology and the modern world shape each other.
The recent renaissance in the use of prizes to spur innovation and extraordinary novel performance warrants close attention. Luciano Kay does so through a series of compelling case studies which shows the potential of prizes, the range of factors that influence their performance and the importance of understanding their non-pecuniary dimensions, even when there is a substantial purse. This is an important contribution to the innovation literature.' - David J. Teece, University of California, Berkeley, US'In the last decade innovation prizes have caught the imagination of policy makers and rich donors alike; those who actually care about the process and outcome of prizes and not only the hype, would do well to read Luciano s new book.' - Dan (Danny) Breznitz, Georgia Institute of Technology, US Inducement prizes - in which cash rewards are offered to motivate the attainment of specific targets - have long been used to stimulate scientific discovery and technology research and development. This volume presents an empirical investigation of the effect of these prizes on innovation. In this in-depth study, Luciano Kay focuses on three recent cases of prize competitions in the aerospace industry: the Google Lunar X Prize, the Ansari X Prize and the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. Using a combination of real-time and historical analysis based on personal interviews, workplace visits and questionnaire and document data analysis, the author examines the particular dynamics of the prize phenomenon and offers a comprehensive discussion of the potential of prizes to induce innovation. This fascinating volume also sets out a systematic method to studying prize incentives, offering a concrete innovation model and case study design approach that will prove highly useful to further research efforts in the field. Scholars, policymakers and corporate officials interested in incentives for innovation and the practical implementation of prize competitions will find this an invaluable resource. Potential prize sponsors and entrepreneurs, professionals and other individuals or organizations interested in participating in such competitions will also find much of interest in this groundbreaking book. Contents: Foreword 1. Introduction 2. Innovation, Policy and Prizes 3. Key Questions and Hypotheses 4. Methodological Aspects 5. A First Approach: The Ansari X Prize and the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge 6. A Closer Look: The Google Lunar X Prize 7. Discussion 8. Theory, Policy and Research Implications 9. Conclusions Appendix References
Charles Townes, a Nobel laureate, is one of the leading figures in twentieth-century physics, inventor of the maser and the laser, and one of the pioneers in the use of spectroscopic techniques to determine the atomic composition of stars. This book is the memoir of a life devoted to scientific research, and also to the application of this research in the public sphere.
This state-of-the-art study argues that reforms to intellectual property (IP) should be based on the ways IP is interacting with new technologies, business models, work patterns and social mores. It identifies emerging IP reform proposals and experiments, indicating first how more rigor and independence can be built into the grant of IP rights so that genuine innovations are recognized. The original contributions illustrate how IP rights can be utilised, through open source licensing systems and private transfers, to disseminate knowledge. Reforms are recommended. The discussion takes in patents, copyright, trade secrets and relational obligations, considering the design of legislative directives, default principles, administrative practices, contractual terms and license specifications. Providing contemporary empirical studies and covering public administration, collective and open approaches, and regulation of private transactions, this comprehensive book will prove a stimulating read for academics and students of law, business and management and development studies. Government policy makers and regulators as well as IP managers and advocates will also find much to provoke thought.
This authoritative collection presents the most important and influential contributions to the study of entrepreneurial opportunity. The first section investigates the nature of entrepreneurial opportunity. The second presents the best work of the last ten years on the dynamics and nature of opportunity emergence. The careful selection of articles, alongside an original introduction by the editors, concludes by highlighting the varying contexts in which entrepreneurial opportunity can occur and strategies for researching it.
Strategic Innovation in Small Firms is an investigation of the commercialization practices of small firms across a wide range of industries in nine OECD countries. The authors examine the perspective of these firms managers on their national innovation systems and on their firm s innovation management practices. The research is focused on understanding the process of innovation management both from the perspective of the small firm and from a broader strategic perspective. Drawing on a database of 567 cases, the contributors examine the commercialization practices of small to medium sized firms across a wide range of industries. They suggest that there are more similarities than differences to be found between countries and industries with size, level of R&D intensity and type of innovation project being important points of difference. The need for increased formality in the commercialization of radical innovations is shown, although they find that most small firms are not characterized by such formality within their innovation management processes. This multinational study in which a common methodology and case study survey protocol is employed, will strongly appeal to academic researchers and research students as well as policy makers engaged in the support for innovation commercialization in SMEs. Entrepreneurs and small business owners will also find plenty of invaluable information in this unique and important resource.
Governments and regional authorities often express the belief that
the key to prosperity and economic expansion is related to the
ability of countries to sustain regional clusters of
competitiveness and innovation. The book reviews the most important
conceptual approaches to the analysis of the emergence, growth and
evolution of clusters of innovation. Drawing from the different
experiences of industrial districts and high-tech regions such as
Silicon Valley, Boston's biotech region and Hsinchu-Taipei, the
contributions in this book offer a broad interpretative framework
and policy implications for the creations and strengthening of
competitive clusters.
Freeze-drying, in the past popular in the food industry, has more recently been adopted by the pharmaceutical industry as a standard method for the production of stable solid preparations. Freeze-drying of Pharmaceuticals and Biopharmaceuticals is the first book to specifically describe this process, as related to the pharmaceutical industry. The emphasis of this book is on the properties of the materials processed, how effective formulations are arrived at, and how they are stored and marketed. Beginning with a historical overview of the process, Freeze-drying of Pharmaceuticals and Biopharmaceuticals briefly describes the processes and equipment involved, including: the physics, chemistry and biochemistry associated with freezing, aspects of formulation development, primary and secondary drying; the economics and engineering of scaling up; and, most importantly, attributes of the dried product. It also discusses in detail the science behind freeze-drying, such as the properties of crystalline and amorphous solids. The book concludes with selected case studies and discusses the future of freeze-drying, advances in alternative drying methods, and concludes with an extensive bibliography. This book, written by a leading expert in the field, is aimed primarily at product and process developers in the biopharmaceutical industry and academia.
This book details polysaccharides and other important biomacromolecules covering their source, production, structures, properties, and current and potential application in the fields of biotechnology and medicine. It includes a systematic discussion on the general strategies of isolation, separation and characterization of polysaccharides and proteins. Subsequent chapters are devoted to polysaccharides obtained from various sources, including botanical, algal, animal and microbial. In the area of botanical polysaccharides, separate chapters are devoted to the sources, structure, properties and medical applications of cellulose and its derivatives, starch and its derivatives, pectins, and exudate gums, notably gum arabic. Another chapter discusses the potential of hemicelluloses (xylans and xylan derivatives) as a new source of functional biopolymers for biomedical and industrial applications. The algal polysaccharide, alginate, has significant application in food, pharmaceuticals and the medical field, all of which are reviewed in a separate chapter. Polysaccharides of animal origin are included with separate chapters on the sources, production, biocompatibility, biodegradability and biomedical applications of chitin (chitosan) and hyaluronan. With the increasing knowledge and applications of genetic engineering there is also an introduction in the book to nucleic acid polymers, the genome research and genetic engineering. Proteins and protein conjugates are covered, with one chapter providing a general review of structural glycoproteins, fibronectin and laminin, together with their role in the promotion of cell adhesion in vascular grafts, implants and tissue engineering. Another chapter discusses general aspects of a number of industrial proteins, including casein, caseinates, whey protein, gluten and soy proteins, with emphasis on their medical applications, and with reference to the potential of bacterial proteins. Another natural polymer resource, microbial polyesters, although small compared with polysaccharides and proteins, is also gaining increasing interest in biomedical technology and other industrial sectors. One chapter, therefore, is devoted to microbial polyesters, with comprehensive coverage of their biosynthesis, properties, enzymic degradation and applications. By dealing with biopolymers at the molecular level, the book is aimed at the biomedical and wider materials science communities and provides an advanced overview of biopolymers at the graduate and postgraduate level. In addition it will appeal to both academic and industrial life scientists who are involved in research and development activities in the medical and biotechnology field.
Catalysis underpins most modern industrial organic processes. It has become an essential tool in creating a 'greener' chemical industry by replacing more traditional stoichiometric reactions, which have high energy consumption and high waste production, with mild processes which increasingly resemble Nature's enzymes. Metal-Catalysis in Industrial Organic Processes considers the major areas of the field and discusses the logic of using catalysis in industrial processes. This popular book, now available as softback, provides information on oxidation, hydrogenation, carbonylation, C-C bond formation, metathesis and polymerization processes, as well as on the mechanisms involved. In addition two appendices offer a concise treatment of homogeneous and heterogenous catalysis. Numerous exercises referring to problems of catalytic processes, and research perspectives complete the book. This definitive reference source, written by practising experts in the field, provides detailed and up-to-date information on key aspects of metal catalysis.
As featured on CNN’s Amanpour & Company and BBC Radio 4’s Start the Week with Andrew Marr One of the Financial Times’ best books of 2021 In this compelling journey through twenty-six countries, Simon Mundy traces how the struggle to respond to the climate crisis is rapidly reshaping the modern world – shattering communities, shaking global business and propelling waves of cutting-edge innovation. Telling unforgettable human stories, meeting scientists and business tycoons, activists and political leaders, this is an account of disaster and survival, of frantic adaptation and groundbreaking innovation, of hope, and of the forces that will define our future. More praise ‘Urgent reading … A truly global journey’ SOPHY ROBERTS ‘Vivid and informed’ ADAM NICOLSON ‘I took a great sense of hope’ RICHARD POWERS ‘Reads like a thriller’ MARK LYNAS ‘An inspiring piece of work’ MICHAEL E. MANN ‘Utterly unlike any book yet written in this field’ ANAND MAHINDRA ‘Gripping … A must-read for every concerned global citizen’ NANDAN NILEKANI
Which kinds of growth lead to increased employment and which do not? This is one of the questions that this important volume attempts to answer. The book explores the complex relationships between innovation, growth and employment that are vital for both research into, and policy for, the creation of jobs. Politicians claiming that more rapid growth would remedy unemployment do not usually specify what kind of growth is meant. Is it, for example, economic (GDP) or productivity growth? Growing concern over 'jobless growth' requires both policymakers and researchers to make such distinctions, and to clarify their employment implications. The authors initially address their theoretical approach to, and conceptualization of, innovation and employment, where the distinction between process and product innovations and between high-tech and low-tech goods and services are central. They go on to address the relationship between innovation and employment, using empirical material to analyse the effects that different kinds of innovations have upon job creation and destruction. Finally, the volume summarizes the findings and addresses conclusions as well as policy implications. This book will be of great interest to those involved in research and policy in the fields of macroeconomics (economic growth and employment), industrial economics and innovation.
Focusing on the design and implementation of computer-based automatic machine tools, David F. Noble challenges the idea that technology has a life of its own. Technology has been both a convenient scapegoat and a universal solution, serving to disarm critics, divert attention, depoliticize debate, and dismiss discussion of the fundamental antagonisms and inequalities that continue to beset America. This provocative study of the postwar automation of the American metal-working industry--the heart of a modern industrial economy--explains how dominant institutions like the great corporations, the universities, and the military, along with the ideology of modern engineering shape, the development of technology. Noble shows how the system of "numerical control," perfected at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and put into general industrial use, was chosen over competing systems for reasons other than the technical and economic superiority typically advanced by its promoters. Numerical control took shape at an MIT laboratory rather than in a manufacturing setting, and a market for the new technology was created, not by cost-minded producers, but instead by the U. S. Air Force. Competing methods, equally promising, were rejected because they left control of production in the hands of skilled workers, rather than in those of management or programmers. Noble demonstrates that engineering design is influenced by political, economic, managerial, and sociological considerations, while the deployment of equipment--illustrated by a detailed case history of a large General Electric plant in Massachusetts--can become entangled with such matters as labor classification, shop organization, managerial responsibility, and patterns of authority. In its examination of technology as a human, social process, "Forces of Production" is a path-breaking contribution to the understanding of this phenomenon in American society.
This Handbook provides breakthrough analyses on an important, cutting-edge topic: the connections between the legal system, both in substance and process, and innovation and growth. Arguably the most important intellectual development in legal scholarship and judicial decision-making over the past four decades has been the increasing use of economic modes of analysis in legal reasoning. The Handbook on Law, Innovation and Growth sheds new light on the linkages between innovation, growth and the legal system, answering questions that will help policymakers better understand and implement the law in an effort to advance economic welfare. This Handbook brings together many prominent scholars to examine the features of the legal infrastructure that affect both innovation and growth. Individual chapters explore different legal subject areas, in most cases offering recommendations for rule changes that could accelerate growth, primarily in the context of the US economy. The introductory chapter cohesively ties all of the contributions together and explains why it is time for legal scholarship and research to move in a new direction.Surpassing other literature on the subject, this landmark Handbook is certainly a critical volume for any student or scholar of law and economics.
In this wide-ranging collection of significant articles by leading scholars, the editors link the impact of innovation to the process by which firms and industries change over time and ultimately to economic development and growth. The books cover topics such as the impact of the product life cycle on industry evolution, the links between innovative activity and the start-up of new firms, and an analysis of the sources of diversity and the impact of diversity on economic evolution. The three key elements of the post-entry performance of firms are examined - their ability to survive, the learning process and the links between industry evolution and productivity. The books then explore the roles of turbulence and persistence in an evolutionary economy. Additional topics include the evolution of market structures, the evolution of regions and the international competitiveness of industries in an evolutionary context. Finally the books examine the implications for government policy of the links between innovation, industry evolution and economic development.
Collaborating with Customers to Innovate explores the collaborative potential offered by customers in digital environments to enhance the effectiveness of new product development. The internet has created the problem of an increasing need for innovation in a context where information is transparent, competitors are just one click away, and product lifecycles are shrinking. However, as the book demonstrates, the internet also provides the solution - enabling new forms of value creation with customers and an efficient way to harness distributed competences. Specifically, the authors highlight the role that digital environments play in allowing firms to engage customers in product design and testing. They develop a major review of web-based tools for marketing interaction and then explore the opportunities for sustaining innovation through collaboration beyond the customer-firm relationship. The book enriches an important debate in management and in academia on the new product development process. It encompasses marketing approaches and is sharply focused on the opportunities that digital technologies have created for involving customers in collaborative innovation, and actionable recommendations for putting collaborative innovation to work. The book will appeal to academics as well as practitioners in marketing and new product development as well as MBA students on marketing and new product development courses. |
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