Investigating the Relationship between Governance and Key Processes of the Iran IoT Innovation System

Despite the emergence of unique opportunities for social-industrial growth and development resulting from the use of the Internet of Things (IoT), lack of a well-posed IoT governance will cause serious threats on personal privacy, public safety, industrial security, and dubious data gathering by unauthorized entities. Furthermore, adopting a systemic governance approach, particularly for the IoT innovation system, requires a precise clarification on the concept and scope of IoT governance. In this study, by employing the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach, the role of governance in the Iran IoT innovation system is investigated. Contacting respondents across the seven industries, including Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Healthcare, Transportation, Oil and Gas, Energy, Agriculture, and Banking over the course of three months, the authors performed statistical analysis on 319 fulfilled questionnaires using SPPS and Smart PLS software. Findings show that all IoT-related TIS processes have been affected by IoT governance functions. The main result of this study is the proposition of particular governance functions, including policy-making, regulation, facilitation, and service provision with more notable impact on the indicators of the key processes in the IoT-based TIS.

Is There a Smart Sustainability Transition in Manufacturing? Tracking Externalities in Machine Tools over Three Decades

Only one third of studies on the Industry 4.0–sustainability link have been conducted in manufacturing, despite its centrality to “ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns” (UN Sustainable Development Goal nr. 12). The European Ecodesign Directive singled out machine tools as key to the sustainability transition, not least due to their high energy usage and their increasingly becoming enmeshed in cyber-physical production systems. This paper aims to find out whether the digital transformation underway in machine tools is sustainable as well as to identify its central technological pathways. Externalities in machine tools are tracked over three decades (1990–2018) by means of a multi-method setting: (1) mapping the Technological Innovation System (TIS) of machine tools; (2) co-occurrence analysis of transnational patent families, in order to reduce geographical and market distortions (Questel’s FAMPAT); and (3) analysis of the incidence of digital and sustainable technologies in machine tools patent applications (WIPO PATENTSCOPE). A smart sustainability transition is currently not hampered by a lack of smart technologies but rather by the sluggish introduction of sustainable machine tools. Cyber-physical and robot machine tools have been found to be central pathways to a smart sustainability transition. Implications for harnessing externalities reach beyond the machine tools industry.

On (Dis)Connections and Transformations: The Role of the Agricultural Innovation System in the Adoption of Improved Forages in Colombia

Feeding improvement strategies are key in increasing cattle productivity and reducing its environmental footprint. Nevertheless, Colombian tropical cattle systems still feature serious deficiencies in both forage quality and availability. As a result of past and on-going forage Research and Development (R&D) processes, institutions have released 23 grass and legume cultivars of superior characteristics in terms of forage quality, supply, or adaptation to different soil and climate conditions, while providing numerous environmental benefits. However, low levels of adoption are observed: although R&D processes are a necessary condition for adoption, they are still not sufficient to guarantee agricultural technification in Colombia. The ultimate success occurs only when end-users make effective use of a technology–a link constantly interrupted. Agricultural innovation requires complex processes of interaction in which knowledge is shared amongst organizations involved in the Agricultural Innovation System (AIS), namely: suitable links, attitudes, practices, governance structures, and policies. The objective of this study is to identify limitations and opportunities in R&D, adoption, and diffusion of forage technologies in Colombia from an AIS perspective. Particularly, we present a study case pertaining to research institutions only, to (a) map the involved actors and describe their roles and links, and (b) identify the events that marked the evolution of the AIS and the course of forage R&D in its research-related components. We applied a qualitative methodology based on focus group discussions, in-depth interviews, literature review, and historical analysis. Results show that the complex nature of institutions and the interactions between them determine the historical transformation of diffusion of forage technologies. The lack of connection between institutions and the weak intensity of the relationships, prevent the convergence of interests and objectives, leading to vicious cycles that hamper technology adoption. Insufficient synchronization between institutions of different nature (and even between those that share similar objectives) results in efficiency losses due to an unnecessary repetition of activities and processes. We provide recommendations for policy- and decision-makers that will help in both a restructuration of the AIS and a better allocation of funds for R&D, and thus support the development of more effective pathways for forage adoption and scaling.

Persistent Developmental Limits to Devising Policy Innovation for Innovation Policies in Emerging Economies

Promising industrial profiles of Southeast Asian emerging economies have met their developmental limits in the face of the Asian Financial Crisis in the late 1990s. However, following the crisis, they have not been successful in upscaling the technological competitiveness of their industries. By applying the national innovation system approach originally developed in advanced western economies as an institutional mechanism of policy innovation in light of developmentalism, I seek to explain these persistent developmental limits in Malaysia and Indonesia. My qualitative research examines literature discussing policy coordination mechanisms in innovation policies and policy documents containing coordination mechanisms involving firms, universities, and government agencies; then, how these issues implicate innovation policies in the two countries. I employ a comparative institutional analysis between them focusing on institutional characteristics of the national innovation systems, specifically their institutional obstacles occurring within development paths amidst prevailing political environments. I suggest that persistent developmental limits in Malaysia and Indonesia result from systemic failures of achieving developmental aims regardless of their politico-administrative regimes. Existing institutional frameworks of the national innovation systems, entrenched in the socio-economic prevalence of the two countries, have not fit the nations’ developmental aims pursued upon innovation upgrading.

Knowledge Transfer on Digital Transformation: An Analysis of the Olive Landscape in Andalusia, Spain

The global economy, and agriculture, in particular, faces significant challenges and transformation pressures. A major challenge, and opportunity, is the transformation towards digital agriculture or agriculture 4.0, where knowledge transfer (KT) has an important role to play not only in ensuring that digital innovations reach end-users, but also that these innovations contribute to development in rural landscapes. This paper analyses the role of KT in the framework of digital transformation (DT) in the Andalusian olive landscape. Thus, from the perspective of knowledge-generating agents, the main knowledge emitting and receiving actors in the DT are identified by using Social Network Analysis techniques (SNA). Subsequently, the performance of the Technological Innovation System (TIS) in KT is evaluated by using the multi-criteria Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method. The results suggest that the knowledge-generating agents, the knowledge transfer actors, and the scientific and dissemination media actors are the main knowledge emitters and highlight their role as cohesive actors of the social network. The main knowledge receivers are olive growers, cooperatives and non-cooperative groups. The results also indicate that the global performance of the TIS in the KT function is medium/low. Furthermore, in the KT sub-functions where the TIS in DT performs best is the quality of the transfer processes of DT, and where it performs worst is the sufficiency of spaces for KT.

Development of Innovation System in Bioinformatics Using Blockchain Platforms

It is reasonable to use digital technologies to organize and support an innovation system that simplify and promote interactions between innovation activity participants by performing a situational analysis of big volumes of structured and unstructured data on innovation activity subjects in the regions. The aim of the article is to substantiate the essence, peculiarities and features of integrating blockchain platforms with Big Data intelligent analytics for regional innovation development. The study was carried out as based on materials describing the development of this concept both in the whole world and its spread in the Russian economy.