Giovanni Galizzi and Luciano Venturini The food industry has been characterized by several and profound changes in its structure and competitive environment in the last decades. Although it is not a research-oriented industry, there is no arguing that technological change and particularly product innovations are crucial determinants of ftrms' performance and In recent years food manufacturers have accelerated the consumers' welfare. development of new products, by using new ingredients, processing and packaging techniques. Thus, food markets are increasingly characterized by competitive environments where relevant flows of innovative products, quality improvements and new technologies provide new consumption trends, food habits, market opportunities and ftrms' strategies. However, the issue of product innovation in the food industries has been rather neglected by economists. Few works have explicitly addressed this issue. After the pioneering book of Buzzell and Nourse (1967), one can count few contributes. Connor (1981) examined the empirical determinants of new food products introductions. Padberg and Westgren (1979) provided crucial insights about the nature of food innovation through their notions of consumer inertia, technological redundancy and incremental product innovation. Some case-studies provide useful empirical materials, but they are generally sparse.

One of the most enduring questions in economics involves how a nation could accelerate the pace of its economic development. One of the most enduring answers to this question is to promote exports -either because doing so directly influences development via encouraging production of goods for export, or because export promotion permits accumulation of foreign exchange which permits importation of high-quality goods and services, which can in turn be used to expand the nation's production possibilities. In either case, growth is said to be export-led; the latter case is the so-called "two-gap" hypothesis (McKinnon, 1964; Findlay, 1973). The early work on export-led growth consisted of static cross-country com parisons (Michaely, 1977; Balassa, 1978; Tyler, 1981; Kormendi and Meguire, 1985). These studies generally concluded that there is strong evidence in favour of export-led growth because export growth and income growth are highly correlated. However, Kravis pointed out in 1970 that the question is an essen tially dynamic one: as he put it, are exports the handmaiden or the engine of growth? To make this determination one needs to look at time series to see whether or not exports are driving income. This approach has been taken in a number of papers (Jung and Marshall, 1985; Chow, 1987; Serletis, 1992; Kunst and Marin, 1989; Marin, 1992; Afxentiou and Serletis, 1991), designed to assess whether or not individual countries exhibit statistically significant evidence of export-led growth using Granger causality tests."

The common topic of this collection of studies is the interaction between innova tive activity of firms and industrial structure. I call this interaction technological competition. Firms invest into R&D in order to open up new or enlarge existing profit opportuni ties for the future. A successful R&D-project leads to an innovation. An innovation introduced into the market changes the competitive structure of the industry. At the same time the structure of the industry shapes the incentives to invest into R&D. What matters for these incentives is not so much the existing structure but the expected dynamic evolution of that industry which is again dependent on the innovative choice of firms. Amongst other things, the dynamic of industry evolution is therefore rooted in the dynamics of ongoing innovative activity. Of course, this is not always the whole sto ry. There are (more or less) exogenous factors, like knowledge spillovers from other sectors of the economy, technological breakthroughs in basic research that directly influence the state of competition in an industry by providing additional profit op portunities, etc. The same is true for exogenous changes in upstream markets or demand conditions. My main interest here is not primarily to understand these exogenous forces, but to develop a theory of how the process of firms' innovative activity is shaped by competition and in turn shapes future competition between firms in an industry."

Visualization is nowadays indispensable to get insight into the huge amounts of data pro duced by large scale simulations or advanced measurement devices. The use of com puter graphics for scientific purposes has become a well established discipline, known as Scientific Visualization. Many problems still have to be solved, and hence the field is a very active area for research and development. This book represents results of the sixth in a well established series of international workshops on Visualization in Scien tific Computing organized by the EUROGRAPHICS Association in collaboration with CRS4 (Center for Advanced Studies, Research and Development in Sardinia), held from May 3 to May 5,1995, in Chia, Italy. The thirteen contributions selected for this volume cover a wide range of topics, ranging from detailed algorithmic studies to searches for new metaphors. A rough di vision can be made into the parts interaction, irregular meshes, volume rendering, and applications. Interaction in three dimensions is a challenging area for research. The use of three dimensional user interfaces for more natural manipulation of three-dimensional data and their visualization is natural, but is far from trivial to realize. Pang et al. investigate the use of common objects such as spray cans and carving knives as metaphors for visualiza tion tools, in order to provide an intuitive and natural three dimensional user interface. Gibson uses a voxel-based data representation, not only for visualization, but also for physical modeling of objects. A prototype system under development for haptic explo ration is discussed."

This book is the final outcome of the Eurographics Workshop on Design, Specification and Verification of Interactive Systems, that was held in Bonas, from June 7 to 9, 1995. This workshop was the second of its kind, following the successful first edition in Italy in 1994. The goal of this ongoing series of meetings is to review the state of the art in the domain of tools, notations and methodologies supporting the design of Interactive Systems. This acknowledges the fact that making systems that are friendlier to the user makes the task ever harder to the designers of such systems, and that much research is still needed to provide the appropriate conceptual and practical tools. The workshop was located in the Chateau de Bonas, in the distant countryside of Toulouse, France. Tms location has been selected to preserve the quiet and studious atmosphere that was established in the monastery of Santa Croce at Bocca di Magra for the first edition, and that was much enjoyed by the participants. The conversations initiated during the sessions often lasted till late at night, in the peaceful atmosphere of the Gers landscape.

Experts from university and industry are presenting new technologies for solving industrial problems and giving many important and practicable impulses for new research. Topics explored include NURBS, product engineering, object oriented modelling, solid modelling, surface interrogation, feature modelling, variational design, scattered data algorithms, geometry processing, blending methods, smoothing and fairing algorithms, spline conversion. This collection of 24 articles gives a state-of-the-art survey of the relevant problems and issues in geometric modelling.

Artificial neural networks and genetic algorithms both are areas of research which have their origins in mathematical models constructed in order to gain understanding of important natural processes. By focussing on the process models rather than the processes themselves, significant new computational techniques have evolved which have found application in a large number of diverse fields. This diversity is reflected in the topics which are subjects of the contributions to this volume. There are contributions reporting successful applications of the technology to the solution of industrial/commercial problems. This may well reflect the maturity of the technology, notably in the sense that 'real' users of modelling/prediction techniques are prepared to accept neural networks as a valid paradigm. Theoretical issues also receive attention, notably in connection with the radial basis function neural network. Contributions in the field of genetic algorithms reflect the wide range of current applications, including, for example, portfolio selection, filter design, frequency assignment, tuning of nonlinear PID controllers. These techniques are also used extensively for combinatorial optimisation problems.

1. 1 Purpose of the Study When the Agreement for the Foundation of the European Economic Community (EC Treaty) was extended and changed by the Single European Act (SEA), ratified by all the Member States of the European Community (EC) in July 1987, research and techno logical development were placed for the first time on an equal footing with other politi cal competences of the EC. In the newly added Articles 130 f - q of the EC Treaty the aims and policy measures are clearly formulated, thus giving the EC a real competence to act. The main aim of European research and technological development policy (RID policy) is (according to Article 130f of the SEA) to strengthen the scientific and technical basis of European industry and the development of its international competitiveness, to support transnational cooperation between industry and science, and to integrate the area of research and technological development into the general concept for the realisation of the internal market of the European Community. The main instruments of European RID policy are the "Community Framework Pro grammes," running for several years, in which the aims, priorities and fmancial dimen sions are defmed for a period of four to five years."

Founded in April, 1992 and financed by the State of Bavaria and the Bavarian Re search Foundation, the Bavarian Consortium for High Performance Scientific Comput ing (FORTWIHR) consists of more than 40 scientists working in the fields of engineer ing sciences, applied mathematics, and computer science at the Technische Universitat Munchen and at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universitat Erlangen-Nurnberg. Its inter disciplinary concept is based on the recognition that the increasing significance of the yet young discipline High Performance Scientific Computing (HPSC) can only be given due consideration if the technical knowledge of the engineer, the numerical methods of the mathematician, and the computers and up to date methods of computer science are all applied equally. Besides the aim to introduce HPSC into the graduate degree program at the universi ties, there is a strong emphasis on cooperation with industry in all areas of research. Direct cooperation and a transfer of knowledge through training courses and confer ences take place in order to ensure the rapid utilization of all results of research. In this spirit, FORTWIHR annually organizes symposiums on High Performance Scientific Computing and Numerical Simulation in Science and Engineering."

In Japan, the Delphi method is applied since 1971 to foresee possible technological developments. The same approach was used in Germany in 1992 for the first time. The German expert survey about the development of future technology was based on the Japanese survey conducted in 1991 and discussed the same topics.
In this book, the results of both studies are compared and analysed. From the comparison, conclusions can be drawn on the relevance of certain technology fields or disciplines not only for public technology policy but also for companies. Possible times of realization, constraints on the realization, the current R&D level of nations or the necessity of international co-operation give hints about tomorrow's technology and its economic and societal impacts.

Technical change is produced by the interaction of a large number of technical, economic, social and institutional factors. One of the starting points is the concept of national innovation systems. The aim of this book is to take Finland as an example illustrating the challenges faced by small countries. The characteristics and performance of the Finnish national innovation system of the last couple of decades are analyzed. The Finnish experience is put in a broader context by comparing it with a few other countries. The development paths possible in the near future are assessed. According to the results, many problems remain despite favourable developments in several technology indicators. The rigidities of the social institutions created during the 1970s and 1980s seem to have become obstacles for economic and technological development. There are fairly large differences between the countries studied, and even between the culturally and historically close Nordic countries. However, Finland and Sweden seem to share the same kind of encompassing collective risk-sharing systems, which may have detrimental effects on, for instance, incentives related to innovativeness. Increasing globalisation requires further development of the national system of innovation. Technology policy must be seen as one part of more encompassing social and economic policies, and the role of factors such as well-functioning institutions, appropriate education and sound incentive systems is highly important. The papers of this book are written by experts of various research disciplines. They reflect the respective views on the issue how technical change in Finland can be explained. It is also discussed how Finland fares in comparison to Denmark, Sweden, Japan and the United States.

Industrial robots as a kind of a mechatronic system were the objects for intensive scientific research in the last years. Kinematics and kinetics, advanced control algorithms, flexible robots, mobile robots, cooperation of robots were research topics. Meanwhile the industrial robot is more or less a tool on the shop floor level like NC- and CNC-machines, transportation and storage devices. The current research landscape on industrial robots can be divided in two directions. The first direction is the scientific one and topics like fuzzy control, applications of neuronal networks, application of methods of artificial intelligence for robot control, optimal path planning are currently headlines in this field. On the other hand the application oriented research goes in the direction to develop and create new low-cost concepts including industrial robots applicable in a commercially efficient way mainly in small and medium sized companies. The industry in most of the member countries of the Alpe-Adria Group are dominated by small and medium sized companies. Industrial robots together with the appropriate CIM-concepts are a very efficient tool for increasing the flexibility of such companies. At the first meeting in Portoroz (June 1992), a first overview on robotics research and applications in Alpe-Adria countries was given. First steps were done in the direction of a broader cooperation in science, development, production and level of education among these countries.

Over the last few years, multimedia hardware and applications have become widely available in the personal computer and workstation environments, and multimedia is rapidly becoming an integral part of stand-alone, single-user sy stems. In contrast, the problems encountered when moving to open, distributed environments are only just beginning to be identified. Examples are the trans mission of dynamic data (video, sound) over large distances and cooperative work. Following on from two successful workshops on multimedia, EG-MM '94 concentrates on topics related to multimedia/hypermedia in open, distributed environments. The goal of this symposium was not only to give a comprehensive overview of the current state of research, development, and standardisation in the field, but also to provide an opportunity for live demonstrations to experience directly the presented results. The symposium program consists of two invited keynote speeches, eight tech .nical sessions, one tutorial, and one demonstration session. A workshop following immediately after the symposium provides an opportunity for in-depth discussi ons of open problems among experts. It is intended to fill a gap often experienced at larger meetings and conferences: the lack of time to discuss in detail issues raised during the event, such as the characteristics of different approaches to a certain problem. It is intended that the results of the workshop be published as a Eurographics Technical Report."

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.

In this volume experts from university and industry are presenting new technologies for solving industrial problems as well as important and practicable impulses for new research. The following topics are treated: - solid modelling - geometry processing - feature modelling - product modelling - surfaces over arbitrary topologies - blending methods - scattered data algorithms - smooting and fairing algorithms - NURBS 21 articles are giving a state-of-the-art survey of the relevant problems and issues in the rapidly growing area of geometric modelling.

The aim of the 1989 GAMM Workshop on 3D-Computation of Incompressible Internal Flows was the simulation of a realistic incompressible flow field in an important industrial application. In view of the difficulties involved in formulating such a test case, requiring the availability of an experimental data base, extreme care had to be taken in the selection of the proper one. Professor I. L. Ryhming's proposal, that the flow through a Francis turbine configuration or parts thereof would be feasible as a test case, because of the numerical challenges as well as the possibility to produce an experimental data base by using the experimental facilities of the Hydraulic Machines and Fluid Mechanics Institute (IMHEF) at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), was accepted by the GAMM Committee in April 1987. A scientific committee, formed under the chairmanship of Professor I. L. Ryhming, met a few times to decide on the Francis turbine configuration, the test case specifications, etc. , whereby the design input came from the water turbine experts. This committee decided to restrict the studies to the three following typical applications for the best operating point of the turbine: * simulation of the 3D flow in a Francis runner in rotation * simulation of the 3D flow in the distributor (stay and guide vane rings) of this turbine * simulation of the 3D flow in an elbow draft tube The simultaneous computation of two or three of these geometries was encouraged.

This cohesive collection brings together David J. Teece's most important work on the nexus of innovation and competition policy. He was one of the first to flag the importance of innovation issues to competition policy 25 years ago. He has also pioneered the application of economic and organizational principles to issues in the management of innovation. Throughout these essays, Professor Teece shows how technological advances, the advent of the Internet and other recent shifts in the global business landscape have placed businesses in a radically altered situation from even just a few decades ago. He clearly elucidates the need for both businesses and policymakers to adapt to this rapidly evolving landscape by embracing and fostering next-generation competition policies. Topics discussed include antitrust policy, technology strategies, competition policy, market power and intellectual property issues. Students and professors of business and management, innovation studies, intellectual property and competition lawyers will find this volume a critical asset to their work. Policymakers and regulators will also benefit immensely from this lucid and comprehensive collection.

A machine vision system should be able to analyze images and produce descriptions of what it "sees." The descriptions should capture the aspects of the objects being imaged and be useful for accomplishing some specific tasks. In this volume a number of subjects are discussed. They include theoretical aspects which focus on shape analysis, special architectures, 3-D image decomposition, inspection by machine vision, and others. Applications include geophysical image analysis, robotics, sparse image understanding, biomedical applications. An ample survey of the present industrial applications is also provided.

During the past years, elliposometry, a non-destructive and contact-less optical surface analysis technique, has gained increased importance in industrial areas, such as the technology of electronic devices, when simple instruments, many of them computer-controlled and automated, became available. The potential users of such instruments are, however, frequently aware neither of the inherent possibilities of this technique, nor of its accuracy limitations. This book endeavors to point out some of the less obvious features and possibilities of ellipsometry, particularly of dynamic "in situ" measurements, and reviews its applications in research and manufacturing of semiconductor and thin film devices. A comprehensive discussion of various error effects typical particularly for simple ellipsometers and of their impact on measured sample parameters is provided. Error correction or (numerical) calibration procedures are given wherever possible, and design and operation guidelines for high-speed instruments suitable for dynamic "in situ" measurements are suggested.

'Due to their economic characteristics and also to their consequences on many aspects of collective life, information networks have always been at the edge of regulatory innovations and at the center of policy debates. The contributors of this volume combine long term visions of the factors determining regulatory policies with up-to-date analyses of technicalities to be dealt with, to provide the reader with an extended understanding of the issues and constraints shaping the future of digital networks. - Eric Brousseau, Universite Paris-Dauphine, France and the European University Institute, Italy Digital markets worldwide are in rapid flux. The Internet and World Wide Web have traditionally evolved in a largely deregulated environment, but recently governments have shown great interest in this rapidly developing sector and are imposing regulations for a variety of reasons that are changing the shape of these industries. This book explores why the industrial organization of broadband ISPs, Internet backbone providers and content/application providers are in such turmoil. The expert contributors straddle the turbulent past of the telecoms sector and also contribute to its exciting - though unpredictable - future via positive analysis of past communications policies, which is then utilized to deduce lessons to guide future policy making decisions. It is illustrated that broadband ISPs no longer simply provide a conduit for service delivery; they are also involved in producing content and transaction services themselves, in competition with content and delivery providers. The blurring of the traditional lines between these three sectors, as each enters into the others' markets, is highlighted. The conclusion is that we are witnessing the emergence of powerful, competing platforms, linked in complex ways that challenge traditional economic analyses. Exploring governance issues, regulation and investment, next-generation service markets and wireless communication, this book will prove a fascinating and illuminating read for scholars, researchers, post-graduate students and policy makers with an interest in ICT, technology and innovation, economics and industrial organization.

'This book overturns the old paradigm ideas about natural-resource-based activities. It sheds light on the new opportunities for technological dynamism and catching-up by using science to open novel directions in traditional sectors. It should become a classic in what I expect will be a very important academic debate and a new trend in development policy.' - Carlota Perez, Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia, Cambridge University and University of Sussex, UK 'This excellent book provides a deep understanding of why and how emerging countries are able to catch-up and enter international markets in an industry that once was considered as traditional, but which has now become a relatively articulated and science-based sectoral system.' - Franco Malerba, KITeS, Bocconi University, Italy 'This excellent book demonstrates better than any other I know the strengths and limits of the concept of a national system of innovation for understanding economic development today. Any careful student of innovation or development will want to read it.' - Charles Sabel, Columbia Law School, US 'In the New World, viticulture and wine production has had to develop with verve and enthusiasm, to be able to survive and to flourish. In countries like Chile and Argentina, the continuing decline of domestic wine consumption has forced technicians and entrepreneurs to conquer the world with innovation and technology, to produce wines of international taste and to attract potential buyers to these markets. This book is a very professional account of these phenomena, which have profoundly changed the marketing of wines in the past 20 years.' - Aurelio Montes, President of Vina Montes, Chile Since the beginning of the 1990s, the supremacy of 'Old World' countries (France and Italy) in the international wine market has been challenged by new players, such as Australia, Argentina, Chile and South Africa, which are recording stunning performances in terms both of export volume and value. This book demonstrates that such a spectacular example of catch-up goes beyond simply copying new technologies; it entails creative adaptation and innovation, and introduces a new growth trajectory in which consistent investments in research and science play a key role. Contributors: K. Anderson, L. Cassi, R.A. Corredoira, L. Cusmano, E. Giuliani, M. Kunc, J. Lorenzten, G.A. McDermott, A. Morrison, R. Rabellotti, S. Tiffin

In this thought provoking and insightful book, Thomas Grebel provides the contours of a novel theoretical framework allowing us to cope with the complex nature of the creation, diffusion and normative direction of innovations in the health sector. Multi-disciplinary in scope and rigorous in technical and appreciative analysis, this book makes a major contribution to our understanding of the evolution of knowledge in general and the dynamic and complex nature of medical innovations in particular. Anyone seriously interested in theoretical and normative groundwork for an evolutionary knowledge-based approach to health economics will have to stop and listen.' - Kurt Dopfer, University of St Gallen, SwitzerlandInnovation and Health investigates both the origin and the diffusion of novelty in the field of health. It also provides a critical discussion of the methodology and theory of health economics. Neoclassical and evolutionary elements are combined to produce a comprehensive view of the commodity of 'health' beyond a pure 'market' perspective. Thus, the intangible dimension of health is taken into account. The methodological framework developed serves as a basis for several theoretical and empirical applications such as the creation of medical knowledge, the evolution of networks and the process of invention, innovation and diffusion in the health care sector. This timely resource will appeal to researchers and students working in health, innovation and evolutionary economics, as well as economic methodology. It will also appeal to health policy makers with an interest in market competition and social well-being. Contents: Preface; 1. Introduction; 2. Change in Economics; 3. Health Economics; 4. Towards a Theory of Innovation in Health Economics; 5. Knowledge Creation in Medicine; 6. Network Evolution in Medicine; 7. Technology Diffusion in Medicine; 8. Conclusion; Appendix; Bibliography; Index

The Innovation for Sustainable Development Review of Uzbekistan contains the outcomes of a policy advisory exercise that drew on the experience accumulated by the UNECE in the identification of good practices and policy lessons in the area of knowledge-based development, with particular reference to the problems of countries with economies in transition. It provides a set of recommendations and policy options to stimulate innovation activity in the country, enhance its innovation capacity and improve the overall efficiency of the national innovation system.

The research and policy evaluations presented in these papers represent a uniquely valuable evolving record of policy and research on high technology small firms through many changes in economic conditions and government policy approaches over more the a decade and a half. Specific issues in the book series cover many of the key industrial development policies adopted by developed, and developing, national governments since the early 1990's including, for example, writings on policy and practice concerning science parks, incubators, academic enterprise, industrial networking and the role of clusters in nurturing high technology small firms formation and growth. In particular, the on-going problem of early stage high technology funding has been a theme of constant concern since 1993, and because it remains resistant to amelioration, will endure into the future. Both the conference and the ensuing book series represent a pre-eminent vehicle for all the major international researchers concerned with high technology small firms to present their work to each other and the wider public.

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.