Smart Cities and the UN's SDGs explores how smart cities initiatives intersect with the global goal of making urbanization inclusive, resilient, and sustainable. Topics explored include digital governance, e-democracy, health care access, public-private partnerships, well-being, and more. Examining smart cities concepts, tools, strategies, and obstacles and their applicability to sustainability, the book exposes key structural problems that cities face and how the imperative of sustainability can bypass them. It shows how smart city technological innovation can boost citizens' well-being, serving as a key reference for those seeking to make sense of the issues and challenges of smart cities and SDGs.

This volume is the last (IV) of four under the main themes of Digitizing Agriculture and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The four volumes cover rapidly developing processes including Sensors (I), Data (II), Decision (III), and Actions (IV). Volumes are related to 'digital transformation" within agricultural production and provision systems, and in the context of Smart Farming Technology and Knowledge-based Agriculture. Content spans broadly from data mining and visualization to big data analytics and decision making, alongside with the sustainability aspects stemming from the digital transformation of farming. The four volumes comprise the outcome of the 12th EFITA Congress, also incorporating chapters that originated from select presentations of the Congress. The focus in this volume is on the directions of Agriculture 4.0 which incorporates the transition to a new era of action in the Agricultural sector, represented by the evolution of digital technologies in 4 aspects: Big Data, Open Data, Internet of Things (IoT), and Cloud Computing. Under the heading of "Action," 14 Chapters investigate the implementation of cutting-edge technologies on real world applications. It will become apparent to the reader that the penetration of ICT in agriculture can result in several benefits related to the sustainability of the sector and to yield the maximum benefits, successful management is required. The entire discussion highlights the importance of proper education in the adoption of innovative technologies starting with the adaption of educational systems to the new era and moving to the familiarization of farmers to the new technologies. This book covers topics that relate to the digital transformation of farming. It provides examples and case studies of this transformation from around the world, examines the process of diffusion of digital technologies, and assesses the current and future sustainability aspects of digital agriculture. More specifically, it deals with issues such as: Challenges and opportunities from the transition to Agriculture 4.0 Safety and health in agricultural work automation The role of digital farming on regional-spatial planning The enrollment of Social Media in IoT-based agriculture The role of education in digital agriculture Real-life implementation cases of smart agriculture around the world

This book introduces readers to state-of-the-art cases and tools for managing innovation in today's rapidly changing business environment. It provides a wealth of methodological knowhow and guidance on practical applications, as well as case studies that reveal various challenges in technology and innovation management. Written by a mix of academic scholars and practitioners, the respective chapters present tools and approaches for the early detection of emerging fields of innovation, as well as relevant processes and resources. The contributing authors hail from leading innovative companies including Google, Amazon, Intel, Daimler-Benz, and NASA.

The innovation systems (IS) approach emerged as a theoretical framework in the industrialized world in the mid-1990s to explain innovation and growth in the developed world. This Handbook is the first attempt to adapt the IS approach to developing countries from a theoretical and empirical viewpoint. The Handbook brings eminent scholars in economics, innovation and development studies together with promising young researchers to review the literature and push theoretical boundaries. They critically review the IS approach and its adequacy for developing countries, discuss the relationship between IS and development, and address the question of how it should be adapted to the realities of developing nations. Spanning national, sectoral and regional innovation systems across Asia, Latin America and Africa, and written by the world's leading scholars within the field, this comprehensive Handbook will strongly appeal to academics, researchers and students with an interest in innovation and technology in developing countries.

The normal enterprise, contrary to widespread prejudice, can do well out of intense knowledge, without bothering with snobbish high-tech delusions. In this respect, the present book deals with all the questions you might have been afraid to ask. It offers explanation, policy and practical conclusions in an international perspective. It is a compelling read!' - Arndt Sorge, Professor Emeritus, WZB, GermanyThis book contributes to the discussion about the relevance of knowledge-intensive entrepreneurship for industrial innovation in the context of traditional low-technology industries. There is a widespread assumption that low-tech industries offer limited opportunities for entrepreneurial activity due to their mature character. Yet there are indications that the phenomenon is finally emerging in these traditional sectors. This detailed book contributes to the ongoing political debate on relevant policy measures to promote future industrial innovation. It extends awareness of the relevance of low-tech industries for future economic and societal development, linking both scientific and political perspectives. Detailed chapters identify the typical patterns, prerequisites and impacts of knowledge-intensive entrepreneurship, as well as the distribution of entrepreneurial activities in low-tech sectors. The authors conclude with policy recommendations to promote such activities. This book will appeal to social scientists, economists and students of innovation and entrepreneurship studies. Policy-makers and company representatives will also find much of interest in this book, with its surprising insights into a field that has been so far neglected in the scientific as well as the policy-oriented debate. Contributors: Y.D. Caloghirou, T.F. Fernandes, M.M. Godinho, A. Havas, H. Hirsch-Kreinsen, G. Karagouni, I. Kastelli, R.P. Mamede, A. Protogerou, I. Schwinge, A. Tsakanikas, A.Y. Yudanov

Second tier high-tech regions are taking a different path than their well-known counterparts such as Silicon Valley or Route 128 around Boston. They may lack many prerequisites of growth such as a world-class research university or high levels of venture capital funding. Often, however, they can successfully leverage anchor firms and entrepreneurial spinoffs. This book explores the evolution of these regions in the United States. The author critically examines how they evolved as knowledge-based economies, how they leveraged entrepreneurship and innovation, and ultimately how they employed public policy to support economic growth. Filling a gap in the literature, the book speaks to researchers and policy makers across the fields of entrepreneurship, economic geography and economic development planning. Entrepreneurship researchers will find this book interesting because it focuses on the role of new venture creation in regional economic development.

Innovation analytics is an emerging paradigm that integrates information/knowledge, analytics, digital twins and artificial intelligence to support and manage the entire lifecycle of a product and process from inception, through engineering design and manufacture, to service and disposal of manufactured products. Innovation analytics is to become an integral part of the innovation lifecycle to help make smart, agile decisions and accelerate business growth.Innovation Analytics: Tools for Competitive Advantage provides a comprehensive overview of the challenges and opportunities behind:In exploring the impact of emerging developments in the current climate, researchers and academics will be able to gain insights into real-world usage of analytics for innovation and contribution toward society.

This book discusses the effect that artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) have on industry. The authors start by showing how the application of these technologies has already stretched across domains such as law, political science, policy, and economics and how it will soon permeate areas of autonomous transportation, education, and space exploration, only to name a few. The authors then discuss applications in a variety of industries. Throughout the volume, the authors provide detailed, well-illustrated treatments of each topic with abundant examples and exercises. This book provides relevant theoretical frameworks and the latest empirical research findings in various applications. The book is written for professionals who want to improve their understanding of the strategic role of trust at different levels of the information and knowledge society, that is, trust at the level of the global economy, of networks and organizations, of teams and work groups, of information systems and, finally, trust at the level of individuals as actors in the networked environments. Presents research in various industries and how artificial intelligence and Internet of Things is changing the landscape of business and management; Includes new and innovative features in artificial intelligence and IoT that can help in raising economic efficiency at both micro and macro levels; Examines case studies with tried and tested approaches to resolution of typical problems in each application of study.

Research efforts in the past ten years have led to considerable advances in the concepts and methods of smart manufacturing. Smart Manufacturing: Concepts and Methods puts these advances in perspective, showing how process industries can benefit from these new techniques. The book consolidates results developed by leading academic and industrial groups in the area, providing a systematic, comprehensive coverage of conceptual and methodological advances made to date. Written by leaders in the field from around the world, Smart Manufacturing: Concepts and Methods is essential reading for graduate students, researchers, process engineers, and managers. It is complemented by a companion book titled Smart Manufacturing: Applications and Case Studies, which covers the applications of smart manufacturing concepts and methods in process industries and beyond.

Research efforts in the past decade have led to considerable advances in the concepts and methods of smart manufacturing. Smart Manufacturing: Applications and Case Studies includes information about the key applications of these new methods, as well as practitioners' accounts of real-life applications and case studies. Written by thought leaders in the field from around the world, Smart Manufacturing: Applications and Case Studies is essential reading for graduate students, researchers, process engineers and managers. It is complemented by a companion book titled Smart Manufacturing: Concepts and Methods, which describes smart manufacturing methods in detail.

This is an original and very well structured and informative book. Its particular interest stems from the multidimensional and detailed analysis of a set of core technologies and their uneven diffusion process in eight countries of quite different levels of development. It challenges received ideas about what really matters to democratize the access to new technologies and provides evidence-based suggestions for policy design. Scholars and students interested in the technological side of inequality will read this book with delight.' - Judith Sutz, Universidad de la Republica, UruguayInequality is one of the main features of globalization. Do emerging technologies, as they spread around the world, contribute to more inequality or less? This unique interdisciplinary text examines the relationships between emerging technologies and social, economic and other forms of inequality. Susan Cozzens, Dhanaraj Thakur, and the other co-authors ask how the benefits and costs of emerging technologies are distributed amongst different countries - some rich and some poor. Examining the case studies of five technologies across eight countries in Africa, Europe and the Americas, the book finds that the distributional dynamics around a given technology are influenced by the way entrepreneurs and others package the technology, how governments promote it and the existing local skills and capacity to use it. These factors create social and economic boundaries where the technology stops diffusing between and within countries. The book presents a series of recommendations for policy-makers and private sector actors to move emerging technologies beyond these boundaries and improve their distributional outcomes. Offering a broad range of mature and relatively new emerging technologies from a diverse set of countries, the study will strongly appeal to policy-makers in science, technology and innovation policy. It will also benefit students and academics interested in innovation, science, technology and innovation policy, the economics of innovation, as well as the history and sociology of technology. Contributors: B. Beckert, I. Bortagaray, L. Brito, R. Brouwer, S. Cozzens, M.P.Falcao, S.D. Gatchair, J.A. Holbrook, L.A. Pace, D. Thakur

The aim of this edited book is to provide a comprehensive overview of the opportunities and challenges related to innovation for sustainability. Combining work from both emerging and established scholars in different academic fields, this book provides an integrated understanding of the topic from four perspectives. First, the big picture: frameworks, types, and drivers; second, strategy and leadership; third, measurement and assessment and fourth, tools, methods and technologies. Chapter 11 of this book is available open access under a CC BY 4.0 license at link.springer.com. The editors donate their remuneration for this book to conservation organisation the WWF.

This book provides an overview of the science, technology, and innovation (STI) policies in Vietnam in a globalized world. Science, technology and innovation policies play important roles in boosting research and development, promoting entrepreneurship and building national innovation systems, especially in developing countries. The author offers in-depth analyses and insights on the STI system of Vietnam and provides comparisons with the major STI development trends around the world. Each chapter of the book includes intensive studies and analyses of the STI system and policies in Vietnam, providing valuable arguments and essential tools for students, researchers, and policy makers in the field of science and technology management, political science, public policy and business studies. The author then addresses potential challenges and proposes policy recommendations to overcome them to improve the performance of the Vietnam's STI system in the context of globalized economies and international integration of science and technology.

When is international patent law cooperation and harmonization welfare-enhancing? What is the role of international institutions - WIPO and the WTO - in furthering such harmonization? This book explores these questions from a global welfarist, rationalist perspective. It grounds its analysis in innovation theory and a examination of patent law and prosecution, incorporating the uncertainty of patent law's impact on welfare at a detailed level, dynamic changes, the skewed nature of patent value and the difficulty of textually capturing patent concepts. Using tools from new institutional economics, it explores future design implications for international institutions, analyzing grounds for international cooperation as collective action problems and applying historical, political and transaction cost analyses. Academics, students and practitioners interested in international economic law, specifically in respect of patents, innovation and intellectual property, the TRIPs Agreement, the WTO and WIPO will find this book essential. It will also prove insightful for researchers whose primary background is in international relations or international political economy, but are seeking an introduction to the patent and intellectual property field. Contents: Introduction Part I: Welfare-Enhancing Harmonization 1. Domestic Patent Law, Autarchic Analysis 2. The Value of Diversity: Relaxed Autarchy 3. Bases for Harmonization Part II: International Patent Law Institutions 4. History 5. International Patent Cooperation as Collective Action 6. Institutional Analysis: WIPO and the WTO Conclusions and Implications References

The emergence of new firm-level data, including the European Community Innovation Survey (CIS), has led to a surge of studies on innovation and firm behaviour. This book documents progress in four interrelated fields: investigation of the use of new indicators of innovation output; investigation of determinants of innovative behavior; the role of spillovers, the public knowledge infrastructure and research and development collaboration; and the impact of innovation on firm performance. Written by an international group of contributors, the studies are based on agriculture and the manufacturing and service industries in Europe and Canada and provide new insights into the driving forces behind innovation.

This is the first book that comprehensively describes the history of the game software industry in Japan. A major objective here is to identify the key determinants of the emergence of the business, the maturing of the market, and the changes brought about by innovations, based on the history of the Japanese industry. To date, similar books have focused only on particular topics of the game software industry, such as the success of Nintendo and Sony and the uniqueness of the Japanese industry. There are no books that interpret the development process of this industry from the point of view of innovation. To fully understand the business and derive insightful lessons from it, however, requires a careful and thorough examination of its development process. Currently, many companies aim to improve efficiency by using information and communications technology (ICT), but it is difficult to maintain a balance between the pursuit of efficiency and the encouragement of creativity. In the case of Japan's game software industry, firms have pursued higher efficiency in product development to build competitive advantage, resulting in a low rate of radical innovation and causing the slow growth of the industry. In certain situations, the development activities that target the creation of new products may, in themselves, hinder the creation of truly new products. This book conceptualizes this phenomenon as a "development productivity dilemma" and clarifies the mechanisms behind it. The dilemma, like the productivity dilemma in the manufacturing industry, evokes a certain innovation pattern and prevents potential growth. Understanding the lessons from the game software business presented in this book, managers, researchers, and policymakers can gain insight into the mechanisms leading to industrial maturity and clues to avoid the development productivity dilemma.

Extensive research conducted by the Hasso Plattner Design Thinking Research Program at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, USA, and the Hasso Plattner Institute in Potsdam, Germany, has yielded valuable insights on why and how design thinking works. Researchers have identified metrics, developed models, and conducted studies, which are featured in this book, and in the previous volumes of this series. Offering readers a closer look at design thinking, and its innovation processes and methods, this volume covers topics ranging from understanding success factors of design thinking to exploring the potential that lies in the use of digital technologies. Furthermore, readers learn how special-purpose design thinking can be used to solve thorny problems in complex fields, such as the health sector or software development. Thinking and devising innovations are inherently human activities - so is design thinking. Accordingly, design thinking is not merely the result of special courses or of being gifted or trained: it is a way of dealing with our environment and improving techniques, technologies and life. As such, the research outcomes compiled in this book should increase knowledge and provide inspiration to all seeking to drive innovation - be they experienced design thinkers or newcomers.

Ideas are ubiquitous. They are the fundamental building blocks for all aspects of life. Yet, efforts to use ideas as a basic unit of analysis in a shared framework are rare. We often find it difficult to look past the artificial boundaries that academic disciplines and specialist fields of knowledge construct. In this book, the authors address this substantial lacuna by proposing an intuitive theory of ideas that serves as a trans-disciplinary basis for studying innovation and creativity. The theory proposed shows how new ideas emerge from contexts that rely on mechanisms, which were originally built on older and more central ideas. It demonstrates how these mechanisms help instantiate different perspectives on the same idea in variegated manners. By applying their theory to a variety of bat and ball sports, the authors illustrate the role that primitive ideas have on sports innovation, and explore further avenues for employing the theory in a number of different situations. This original book will be of interest to anyone who wishes to gain a deeper understanding of the processes of innovation and creativity, developed within a complex framework of ideas.

Patient-focused healthcare, driven by COVID-19 experiences, has become a hallmark for providing healthcare services to patients across all modalities of care and in the home. The ability to capture real-time patient data, no matter the location, via remote patient monitoring, and to transmit that data to providers and organizations approved by the consumer/patient, will become a critical capability for all healthcare providers. Of all the remote patient monitoring product designs, wearable medical devices are emerging as the best positioned to support the evolving patient-focused healthcare environment. This book is for those who are evaluating, selecting, implementing, managing, or designing wearable devices to monitor the health of patients and consumers. This book will provide the knowledge to understand the issues that mitigate the risk of wearable technologies so people can deliver successful projects using these technologies. It will discuss their use in remote patient monitoring, the advantages and disadvantages of different types of physiological sensors, different wireless communication protocols, and different power sources. It will describe issues and solutions in cybersecurity and HIPAA compliance, as well as setting them up to be used in healthcare systems and by patients.

Clusters - regional concentrations of related firms and organizations - are seen as being an important element of economic growth and innovation. But there is little understanding of how clusters come into existence, and little guidance provided on the role of policies that are conducive to the formation of clusters. Cluster Genesis focuses on these early origins of clusters. The case histories of well-known, established clusters, as well as more recently-developed clusters are discussed, including: The Hollywood motion picture cluster, Silicon Valley, Boston and San Francisco biotech regions, The Biotech industry in China, Medicon Valley in Scandinavia, The Irish ITC sector. Leading scholars contribute chapters examining cluster genesis, the divergent processes by which clusters arise, how multinationals contribute to cluster development, and how economic development policy may promote or hinder cluster genesis. Cluster Genesis uses a variety of methodological perspectives, examines a range of policy options, and draws on a number of rich case histories, and will be key reading for academics, researchers, and students of Economics, Innovation, Sociology, Geography, and Management Studies, as well as economic development officials and policy makers.

This volume offers outstanding works of recent scholarship on Darwinism covering three major fields of enquiry: How Darwinism affects our conception of human nature and challenges long-standing assumptions such as self-interested behaviour. Analysis of the nature of socio-cultural evolution, its differences from biological evolution and whether it is Lamarckian. The possibility of generalizing core Darwinian principles to cover evolving entities in the economic and social world, as well as in biology. Exploring the huge potential impact of Darwinism on the social sciences, this collection is an insightful reference tool for scholars and others recognising the importance of new developments in this discipline.

This book provides a thorough overview of cutting-edge research on electronics applications relevant to industry, the environment, and society at large. It covers a broad spectrum of application domains, from automotive to space and from health to security, while devoting special attention to the use of embedded devices and sensors for imaging, communication and control. The book is based on the 2017 ApplePies Conference, held in Rome, Italy in September 2017, which brought together researchers and stakeholders to consider the most significant current trends in the field of applied electronics and to debate visions for the future. Areas addressed by the conference included information communication technology; biotechnology and biomedical imaging; space; secure, clean and efficient energy; the environment; and smart, green and integrated transport. As electronics technology continues to develop apace, constantly meeting previously unthinkable targets, further attention needs to be directed toward the electronics applications and the development of systems that facilitate human activities. This book, written by industrial and academic professionals, represents a valuable contribution in this endeavor.

This comprehensive two-volume set brings together important contributions providing fundamental economic analyses of social networks and the central roles they play in many facets of our lives. The first volume consists of classic articles that model network formation and games on networks, as well as those on the identification of peer effects from an econometric viewpoint. The second volume provides empirical analyses of network effects on labor, education, development, crime and industrial organization, as well as some laboratory and field experiments. This set of indispensable papers, with an original introduction by the editors, will prove an essential tool to researchers, scholars and practitioners involved in this field.

This timely book brings together cutting-edge research on the important subject of science and innovation (S&I) policies. The contributors - distinguished social science scholars - tackle the key challenges of designing and implementing public policies in the context of the new knowledge economy. They provide an extensive overview of the most advanced methods for designing, monitoring, and evaluating S&I policies, and analyze current applications in a wide-ranging selection of fields along the innovation supply chain, from legal and institutional landscapes to the industrial sector. Topics discussed include technology transfer from higher education institutions, innovation support at industry level, measures sustaining venture capital, and firm internationalization processes. Bridging policy research and policy making via authoritative 'real-world' studies, this book will be warmly welcomed by both academics and policy makers with an interest in the design and implementation of public policies supporting S&I. Contributors: C. Amorim Varum, C. Antonelli, F. Bertoni, M.G. Colombo, A. Croce, C. Franzoni, A. Geuna, L. Grilli, A. Hughes, P. Landoni, B. Lepori, B. Leten, B. Moore, S. Murtinu, L. Piscitello, E. Reale, C. Rossi-Lamastra, S. Slipersaeter, T. Ulrichsen, B. Van Looy

This is a collection of papers on industrial policy - the role of governments in promoting industrial development - and the particular significance of technology development. Two essays deal with the general debate on industrial policy and the nature of technology development; two are critical appraisals of the World Bank's approach to the debate on governments and markets; four are case studies of policy making on aspects of industrialisation, three in Asia and one in Africa.