Browsing by Subject "Netzwerk"

Now showing 1 - 20 of 22

A taxonomy of innovation networks
(2012) Pyka, Andreas; Schön, Benjamin
In this discussion paper we develop a theory-based typology of innovation networks with a special focus on public-private collaboration. This taxonomy is theoretically based on the concept of life cycles which is transferred to the context of innovation networks as well as on the mode of network formation which can occur either spontaneous or planned. The taxonomy distinguishes six different types of networks and incorporates two plausible alternative developments that eventually lead to a similar network structure of the two types of networks. From this, important conclusions and recommendations for network actors and policy makers are drawn.
Ambidextrie in Netzwerken komplexer Produkte : Exploration und Exploitation in der Luftfahrtindustrie
(2016) Guffarth, Daniel; Pyka, Andreas
Since over 100 years, no comparable product exists that is so strongly related with engineering skills, pioneering spirit and the complex combination of materials, technique and knowledge, while being a prototypical example for high development and production cost at the same time. During the last century, industry changed dramatically through evolutionary and revolutionary technical and structural changes with government intervention playing a key role for industrial evolution. Today’s aircraft industry is in a growth phase which is determined by ramping up production scales which leads, in combination with the potentially new competitors from Asia and uprising regional aircraft manufacturers, to a situation in which the duopolists Airbus and Boeing are forced to shape their supply chains more efficient and effective. At the same time continuous technological novelties in subsystems and the high R&D-intensity are further recent challenges. With this dissertation a new industry evolution framework is developed which is coping with the complex products industries requirements by considering demand, state intervention and technological mechanisms. In complex product systems different subsystems of the artefact aircraft are in different stages of the technological life cycle at the same time. This is the reason why the classical implications between technology, product, and industry life cycle stages do not hold for complex products industries. I.e. solely focusing on the manufacturer level of an industry is not sufficient. Therefore in this dissertation, industry is defined as network. The design of this network as exploration or exploitation network focusing on product or process and/or both depends on time and manner. As permanently changing requirements are characteristic for complex products, organizations have to be able to be ambidextrous, i.e. to balance exploration and exploitation which is a decisive success factor in organizational long term survival. This requirement is analyzed on three levels within the R&D network of the European aircraft industry: knowledge development, structural and network topology, as well as on regional development. Key findings are the extension of ambidexterity in the network as well as in the supply chain over time. Therefore a change from cyclical to permanent ambidexterity is directed towards the suppliers. Additionally exploration is crowded out from the core of the network as routines and fossilized structure are established over time by repeatedly cooperating with other core actors. Therefore core actors use network peripheries as a vehicle to realize explorative projects and being permanently ambidextrous. As a consequence success factors for the sustainability of the European aircraft industry are the orchestration of network stability and network heterogeneity as well as the maintenance of the SME structure and interindustry linkages for usage of explorative learning.
Avoiding evolutionary inefficiencies in innovation networks
(2011) Pyka, Andreas
Innovation policy is in need for a rational which allows the design and evaluation of policy instruments. In economic policy traditionally the focus is on market failures and efficiency measures are used to decide whether policy should intervene and which instrument should be applied. In innovation policy this rational cannot meaningfully be applied because of the uncertain and open character of innovation processes. Uncertainty is not a market failure and cannot be repaired. Inevitably policy makers are subject to failure and their goals are to be considered as much more modest compared to the achievement of a social optimum. Instead of optimal innovation, the avoidance of evolutionary inefficiencies becomes the centrepiece of innovation policy making. Superimposed to the several sources of evolutionary inefficiencies are socalled network inefficiencies. Because of the widespread organisation of innovation in innovation networks, the network structures and dynamics give useful hints for innovation policy, where and when to intervene.
Dienstleistungsnetzwerke im Kontext der Servicetransformation - Barrieren, Erfolgsfaktoren und Wirkungsmodell
(2017) Weigel, Sabrina; Hadwich, Karsten
Manufacturing firms face major challenges due to the commoditization of products and increasing competitive pressure, which causes them to develop new business models. In order to secure their competitive position, they offer additional services or innovative combinations of products and services in addition to their products. Due to limited capacities, however, it is often not possible for a single company to offer its customers not only products but also services or complete solutions. This is why many companies join forces with other companies in order to be able to provide services to customers in so-called service networks. A major challenge in the context of service networks during servitization is to ensure a consistent, high quality of service for the customer. Furthermore, working with other companies in a service network is a challenge, so that in some cases the expected benefits of the network are not achieved or the cooperation might even fail. Despite the great relevance of the topic, there is still a lack of literature on service networks in the context of servitization, so the aim of this thesis is to contribute to scientific research on service networks in the context of servitization and to provide relevant recommendations for the successful management of service networks in business practice. Therefore, the thesis focuses on a detailed analysis of the relationships and interactions between the various network partners in order to identify key points that enable a service network in the context of servitization to operate successfully and to provide customers with high-quality services that contribute to the success of the service network in the context of servitization. The work is divided into five chapters. After an introductory chapter on definitions, chapter 2 examines the barriers in the quality management of service networks in the context of servitization. To this end, an empirical qualitative investigation (n = 6) is carried out. The qualitative study aims to identify specific barriers in the quality management of service networks that prevent the creation of high quality service. That way, starting points are worked out on how to ensure high quality in service networks during servitization. Chapter 3 is devoted to the goal of identifying factors that lead to successfully operating service networks in the context of servitization. For this purpose, interviews with senior executives from companies in these service networks are conducted in a qualitative study (n = 25) in order to identify success factors for service networks during servitization. These levers provide companies in the process of servitization with important insights to increase the success of their service networks. The aim of the fourth chapter is to demonstrate the relationship between the identified success factors and the desired positive results of service networks in the context of servitization. To this end, a theoretical hypothesis model is developed, which is examined in a quantitative study (n = 257). Based on the results, factors can be deduced that have to be increased in order to realize a high-performance and customer-attractive service network in the context of servitization. Chapter 5 is the conclusion. In this chapter, the key results of the work are first summarized by succinctly answering the research questions. Then concrete recommendations are derived for corporate practice. In addition to limitations of this thesis, further research is provided. Overall, the thesis provides essential empirical findings on barriers, success factors and cause and effect relationships in service networks during servitization, from which relevant implications for theory as well as for an effective and successful management of these service networks in the context of servitization can be derived.
Distal embedding as a technology innovation network formation strategy
(2012) Pyka, Andreas; Paredes-Frigolett, Harold
Although the area of innovation economics dates back to the early twentieth century with the seminal contributions of Schumpeter (1911), it is only recently that governments have understood the role of a comprehensive approach towards public sector economics that puts innovation systems in the eye of public policy decision makers. Although well researched in academia in recent years, the role that innovation networks play in driving successful processes of innovation and entrepreneurship has been less understood by policy makers. Indeed, so far public policy makers have been concerned with the macro level of public policy in a way that has been rather ?disconnected? from the meso level of innovation networks. Not surprisingly, overall strategies for innovation network formation have not been on the radar screen of public policy. The academic community, on the other hand, has been devoting more attention to the study of innovation networks in an attempt to understand the role they play as a catalyst of innovation and entrepreneurship. By and large in the research community, the process of innovation network formation has been left rather unattended. Indeed, the question of how these networks are formed and what strategies can be developed to ignite processes of innovation network formation has been largely absent from the academic debate. In this article, we make a contribution in this area and present ?distal embedding" as one of three generic innovation network formation strategies. We also show why ?distal embedding'' is particularly well suited for emerging regions of innovation and entrepreneurship. Our contributions lie at the macro-meso interface and can shed light on public policy at the macro level aiming to have a direct impact at the meso level of innovation network formation.
Ethnic networks, information, and international trade : revisiting the evidence
(2009) Felbermayr, Gabriel; Jung, Benjamin; Toubal, Farid
Influential empirical work by Rauch and Trindade (REStat, 2002) finds that Chinese ethnic networks of the magnitude observed in Southeast Asia increase bilateral trade by at least 60%. We argue that this estimate is upward biased due to omitted variable bias. Moreover, it is partly related to a preference effect rather than to enforcement and/or the availability of information. Applying a theory-based gravity model to ethnicity data for 1980 and 1990, and focusing on pure network effects, we find that the Chinese network leads to a more modest amount of trade creation of about 15%. Using new data on bilateral stocks of migrants from the World Bank for the year of 2000, we extend the analysis to all potential ethnic networks. We find, i.a., evidence for a Polish, a Turkish, a Mexican, or an Indian network. While confirming the existence of a Chinese network, its trade creating potential is dwarfed by other ethnic networks.
Genetische Diversität von Echinococcus granulosus sensu stricto
(2017) Ebi, Dennis; Mackenstedt, Ute
The dog tapeworm Echinococcus granulosus sensu stricto, distributed worldwide, is the most important agent of human Cystic Echinococcosis, a zoonotic disease which is considered as one of the priority ‘neglected zoonotic diseases’ by the World Health Organisation. The parasite is known from a large number of host species and is conventionally subdivided into several genotypes. The epidemiological consequences of the variation, however, are still unknown. In the last years several studies on the intraspecific variation of this parasite were published. Most of these studies were based on small numbers of isolates from geographically restricted regions, so that the relevance of that diversity concerning pathogenicity, host specificity, transmission cycles and biogeography is still little understood. To achieve a comprehensive estimate of its genetic diversity, 1085 isolates of E. granulosus s.s. from humans and animal hosts originating from widely different regions of the world were analyzed for the sequence polymorphism of a 1609 bp fragment of the mitochondrial cox1 gene. For analysis haplotype networks, diversity and neutrality indices of subpopulations of different geographic origin were compared. To improve the analytical efficiency of the sequence-data, a LabVIEW application was written. It could be shown that most diverse sub-population is found in the Middle Eastern region and that the genetic diversity is lower in the other analyzed regions, which confirms a previous tentative hypothesis on the origin of the domestic cycle of E. granulosus s.s. in that region. Records of identical haplotypes in different regions, inclusion of published data, calculation of parameters of population genetics and haplotype network analysis led to hypotheses explaining the distribution history of E. granulosus s.s.. This in line with fossil and molecular data on domestic sheep as the principal final host. A set of new and easily calculable genetic diversity indices were developed and their added value was explained. Additionally, a statistical resampling experiment was programmed which showed that at least 40 well distributed samples are necessary to provide a reliable estimate of the genetic diversity of the parasite in a region. Using an extension for that software, it was shown that the newly developed diversity indices do not strongly depend on the number of analyzed samples, and provide appropriate tools to assess the genetic diversity of parasite populations.
Inter-firm R&D networks in pharmaceutical biotechnology : what determines firm's centrality-based partnering capability?
(2013) Schwalbe, Ulrich; Riedel, Nadine; Krogmann, Yin
This paper analyses the inter-firm R&D network formed in the pharmaceutical biotechnology industry during the 1990s from different perspectives: theoretical network formation, firm's structural positions and its collaborations at the entire network level, and the determinants for firm's centrality-based partnering capability. The results indicate that pharmaceutical biotechnology industry has experienced a significant evolutional change in size and structure during 1991-1998. By considering individual structural positions, the descriptive statistics show that in the 1990s, established pharmaceutical companies developed into dominant star players with multiple partnerships while holding central roles in the R&D network. In the network analysis that emphasized aggregate network level, the degree-based and betweenness-based network centralization were not high implying that the distribution of overall positional advantages in the pharmaceutical biotechnology industry is, to a large degree, not unequal and even though most firms in this sector are linked to the R&D network, some of them are more active than others. The current analysis also shows that firm's efficiency, firm's dependency on its complementary resources and firm's experiences at managing partnerships are important determinants for firm's centrality-based partnering capability, which has important managerial implications for understanding firm's strategic partnering behaviour.
Inter-firm R&D networks in the global pharmaceutical biotechnology industry during 1985?1998 : a conceptual and empirical analysis
(2011) Krogmann, Yin; Schwalbe, Ulrich
This paper analyses a large database on inter-firm R&D cooperation formed in the pharmaceutical biotechnology industry during the period 1985?1998. The results indicate that network size largely grows, whereas the density of the network declines during the periods. In the network analysis that emphasizes individual structural positions, the empirical results show that small biotechnological companies had a crucial bridging role for the large pharmaceutical firms in the second half of the 1980s. In the 1990s, the bridge role of biotechnology companies became less important and established pharmaceutical companies developed into dominant start players with many collaborators while holding central roles in the research network. The current analysis also shows that degree-based and betweenness-based network centralization are both low implying that the overall positional advantages are relatively equally distributed in the inter-firm R&D network of the pharmaceutical biotechnology industry.
Lokale Kommunikation und Lokalmedien im Online-Zeitalter : Kommunikationsräume im Stadt-Land-Vergleich
(2021) Brückner, Lara; Schweiger, Wolfgang
Although the theoretical importance of the municipal level is undisputed, little research has been done to date on how local communication spaces are shaped in the online age. This is where the present study comes in and comparatively examines local communication spaces in urban and rural contexts. To this end, a theoretical framework based on sociological theories and (more recent) theories of the public sphere has been developed; it distinguishes between a structuring and an action dimension of communication spaces. The structuring dimension comprises macro-, meso-, and micro-level communication structures (e.g., competition in the local newspaper market or communication resources of actors). The action dimension comprises observable communicative action and can be characterized by two aspects: the communication networks of actors and their public communication with a large audience. Subsequently, n=49 guideline interviews with journalists and interest-led actors (politicians, administrative staff, active citizens, etc.) have been conducted on a total of six topics in three municipalities – two large cities and one small town. The actors were asked how they communicate with other actors and citizens on local political issues and what role traditional local media (still) play in this process. In all the communication spaces studied, the local or regional daily newspaper domi-nates as the most important local medium. From the point of view of the actors, the newspaper is still the central medium with which they inform citizens and reach people outside their topic-specific communities and filter bubbles. They also attribute to the newspaper a great influence on public opinion and – especially in the large cities – political decision-making. At the same time, the actors perceive that the newspapers reach is constantly decreasing and that they hardly reach young people in particular. Even if they are not seen as a substitute for local newspapers, online-only offers and blogs are useful channels for actors to address younger people who are particularly interested in the topic. In rural communication areas, actors who focus their public relations on traditional media and the press dominate. Digital tools and channels are hardly used – neither for public relations nor for communicating with other actors in the field. On the one hand, the actors argue with concerns about the users’ privacy; on the other hand they argue a lack of resources. For example, there is a lack of time and personnel to use additional online channels and to observe or even moderate user discussions. Another aspect is the lack of know-how of the mostly older local politicians, administrative staff, and journalists in dealing with digital tools. Actors who deliberately orchestrate different communication channels (online and offline, earned and owned media), digitally bring together knowledge and expertise from local, regional, and national networks and use these networks strategically for their public relations work are generally rare and predominantly found in urban communication spaces. Interest-led actors and journalists should make even greater use of the network logic of todays communication spaces. This means, for example, that interest-led actors should not only focus on journalists in their communication work but also on other central network nodes such as bloggers, politicians, and active citizens, and regularly provide them with information via topic-specific mailing lists. Journalists should make themselves visible as contact persons, adapt their work to the requirements of the respective communication networks - e.g., strengthen the voice of actors who receive little attention, bring together the arguments and positions of actors who have not been in contact so far - and more thoroughly examine options for (project-related) cooperation with other media in order to pool resources and create new buying incentives for readers by offering investigative content.
Multiagent resource allocation in service networks
(2014) Karänke, Paul; Kirn, Stefan
The term service network (SN) denotes a network of software services in which complex software applications are provided to customers by aggregating multiple elementary services. These networks are based on the service-oriented computing (SOC) paradigm, which defines the fundamental technical concepts for software services over electronic networks, e.g., Web services and, most recently, Cloud services. For the provision of software services to customers, software service providers (SPs) have to allocate their scarce computational resources (i.e., hardware and software) of a certain quality to customer requests. The SOC paradigm facilitates interoperability over organizational boundaries by representing business relationships on the software system level. Composite software services aggregate multiple software services into software applications. This aggregation is denoted as service composition. The loose coupling of services leads to SNs as dynamic entities with changing interdependencies between services. For composite software services, these dependencies exist across SN tiers; they result from the procurement of services, which are themselves utilized to produce additional services, and constitute a major problem for resource allocation in SNs. If these dependencies are not considered, the fulfillment of agreements may become unaccomplishable (overcommitment). Hence, the consideration of service dependencies is crucial for the allocation of service providers resources to fulfill customer requests in SNs. However, existing resource allocation methods, which could consider these dependencies -- such as combinatorial auctions with a central auctioneer for the whole SN -- are not applicable, since there are no central coordinating entities in SNs. The application of an allocation mechanism that does not consider these dependencies might negatively affect the actual service delivery; results are penalty payments as well as a damage to the reputation of the providers. This research is conducted in accordance to the design science paradigm in information system research. It is a problem-solving paradigm, which targets the construction and evaluation of IT artifacts. The objectives of this research are to develop and evaluate an allocation protocol, which can consider multi-tier service dependencies without the existence of central coordinating entities. Therefore, an interaction protocol engineering (IPE) perspective is applied to solve the problem of multi-tier dependencies in resource allocation. This approach provides a procedure model for designing interaction protocols for multiagent systems, and is closely related to the well-established area of communication protocol engineering. Automated resource allocation in SNs is analyzed in this research by representing the actors as autonomous software agents in the software system. The actors delegate their objectives to their software agents, which conduct the negotiations for service provision on their behalf. Thus, these agents communicate concerning the resource allocation; in this process, the sequence of communication interactions is crucial to the problem addressed. Interaction protocols define a structured exchange of defined messages between agents; they facilitate agent conversations. When multiple agents have to reach agreements by negotiation and bargaining, such as in case with allocating scarce resources, game theory provides means to formalize and analyze the most rational choice of actions for the interacting agents. Based on a formal framework for resource allocation in SNs, this research first performs a game-theoretic problem analysis; it is concerned with the existence, as well as the complexity of computing optimal allocations. In addition, Nash equilibria are analyzed for optimal allocations. Second, a distributed, auction-based allocation protocol, which prevents overcommitments and guarantees socially optimal allocations for single customer requests under certain assumptions, is proposed. Therefore, a game-theoretic model and an operationizable specification of the protocol are presented. Third, it is formally verified that the protocol enables multi-tier resource allocation and avoids overcommitments by proofs for the game-theoretic model and by model checking for the interaction protocol specification; using the model checker Spin, safety properties like the absence of deadlock are as well formally verified as the protocol enabling multi-tier resource allocation. Fourth, the efficacy and the benefits of the proposed protocol are demonstrated by multiagent simulation for concurrent customers. The experimental evaluation provides evidence of the protocols efficiency compared to the socially optimal allocation as a centralized benchmark in different settings, e.g., network topologies and different bidding policies.
Network evolution, success, and regional development in the European aerospace industry
(2014) Barber, Michael J.; Guffarth, Daniel
The success breeds success hypothesis has been mainly applied to theoretical network approaches. We investigate the European aerospace industry using data on the European Framework Programmes and on Airbus suppliers, focusing on the success breeds success hypothesis at four levels of analysis: the spatial structure of the European aerospace R&D collaboration network, its topological architecture, the individual actors that make up the network, and through a comparison of the Airbus invention and production networks. On the spatial level, SBS is favored: successful regions maintain their position and grow on a large scale, especially so for regions that have strongly participated from the very beginning. The regional hub structure is mirrored in the architecture of the European aerospace R&D collaboration network, where well-connected hub organizations play a key role in shaping the structure of the network through their many collaborative partnerships and do so in a way that strategically positions themselves with greater ability to access and regulate knowledge flows, as assessed by several centrality measures. Only successful organizations have the ability to form so many ties, with success thus breeding success in the European aerospace R&D collaboration network. The importance of the core organizations made clear through the centrality analysis is further supported by the analysis of weak ties, where we observe that the core organizations are connected to the rest of the network with many weak ties, thereby confirming their outstanding positions in the European aerospace R&D collaboration network as being able to access knowledge or other resources. With the combination of the R&D collaboration network and the Airbus production network on a spatial level, we see additional support for SBS, as those regions whose actors are frequent participants in both networks show the greatest share of successful actors. The European aerospace industry shows an ambidextrous character as a whole, which is nonetheless insufficient to avoid recent and future challenges demanding a strong emphasis on production skills.
Prediction of protein-protein complexes by combining size exclusion chromatography and mass spectrometric analysis
(2021) Gilbert, Max; Schulze, Waltraud
Two major objectives were pursued and met in this study. First, the goal was to add to the scientific toolbox a diligent method for uncovering PPi dynamics on a proteomic scale, with a focus on plant membranes. There are large-scale or high-throughput approaches, but they rely on genetically modified proteins or heterologous expression systems to describe PPi outside of their natural context. Similarly, those methods are incapable of describing the dynamics of protein interactions. In course of this study, a co-elution based approach was combined with modern mass spectrometric label free quantification in order to investigate PPi and interaction dynamics on a proteomic scale. A rigorous data processing pipeline was developed to not only address known fallacies of using co-elution based methods (such as for example random co elution), but also to access and utilize meta-information in form of protein abundance and protein network connectivity to draw conclusions not only on proteomic scale, but also for individual proteins. In total, 6.928 individual proteins extracted from Arabidopsis thaliana root membranes were detected under different nutritional conditions (full nutrition, nitrogen starvation and nitrogen resupply). The data processing pipeline described in this study was used to predict and discover connectivity information for at least 2.058 of these proteins. Each step in data processing was validated by comparison to database confirmed interactions to improve filtering criteria. Protein abundance was evaluated through a unique ranking system, allowing a seamless integration as network attributes for each condition. From the suggested interaction data, an interactome network of the various nutritional conditions was reconstructed. Using different network parameters from graph theory, protein significance and dynamic conditional changes were described. Second, this study applied the aforementioned approach to identify relevant proteins involved in nitrogen signaling in Arabidopsis thaliana root membranes. Through correlation analysis and network reconstruction, receptor kinase AT5G49770 was identified as a component of the nitrogen signaling network that collaborates with co-receptor QSK1, BAK1, the nitrogen transporter NRT2.1 and proton pump AHA2. In response to nitrogen deficiency, the network parameters of AT5G49770 reacted strongly and its involvement was demonstrated by a phenotypic similarity to knock-out lines of NRT2.1, NRT1.1 and AHA2 during a root growth assay of Arabidopsis seedlings. The interaction between QSK1 and BAK1 was further confirmed using FRET/FLIM microscopy and pulldown assays. These findings show that combining a co-elution based approach with a rigorous data processing pipeline and network analysis is suitable to study the protein interaction environment and signal response dynamics in plant root membranes. The modular experimental design allows for a simple adaptation to study different stimuli and the unbiased proteomic approach yields results for proteins regardless of the individual scientific focus. Meta-information such as protein abundance and network connectivity parameters can be used to prospect and identify important proteins involved in stress response dynamics. The author of this study is confident that the proteomic data produced can be utilized in further research and contributes to the understanding of nitrogen signaling in plant root membranes. Through integration of the data processing pipeline and adaptation to different scientific scenarios, valuable information beyond protein interaction is gained. Thus, this work makes an important contribution to the advancement of proteomic analysis and data interpretation methodology.
Simulating knowledge diffusion in four structurally distinct networks : an agent-based simulation model
(2015) Kudic, Muhamed; Mueller, Matthias; Bogner, Kristina; Buchmann, Tobias
In our work we adopt a structural perspective and apply an agent-based simulation approach to analyse knowledge diffusion processes in four structurally distinct networks. The aim of this paper is to gain an in-depth understanding of how network characteristics, such as path length, cliquishness and the distribution and asymmetry of degree centrality affect the knowledge distribution properties of the system. Our results show – in line with the results of Cowan and Jonard (2007) – that an asymmetric or skewed degree distribution actually can have a negative impact on a network’s knowledge diffusion performance in case of a barter trade knowledge diffusion process. Their key argument is that stars rapidly acquire so much knowledge that they interrupt the trading process at an early stage, which finally disconnects the network. However, our findings reveal that stars cannot be the sole explanation for negative effects on the diffusion properties of a network. In contrast, interestingly and quite surprisingly, our simulation results led to the conclusion that in particular very small, inadequately embedded agents can be a bottleneck for the efficient diffusion of knowledge throughout the networks.
The co-evolution of innovation networks : collaboration between West and East Germany from 1972 to 2014
(2016) Mueller, Matthias; Buchmann, Tobias; Yi, Seung-Kyu; Jun, Bogang
This paper describes the co-evolution of East and West German innovation networks after the German reunification in 1990 by analyzing publication data from 1972 to 2014. This study uses the following four benchmark models to interpret and classify German innovation networks: the random graph model, the small-world model, the Barabási–Albert model, and the evolutionary model. By comparing the network characteristics of empirical networks with the characteristics of these four benchmark models, we can increase our understanding of the particularities of German innovation networks, such as development over time as well as structural changes (i.e., new nodes or increasing/decreasing network density). We first confirm that a structural change in East–West networks occurred in the early 2000s in terms of the number of link between the two. Second, we show that regions with few collaborators dominated the properties of German innovation networks. Lastly, the change in network cliquishness, which reflects the tendency to build cohesive subgroups, and path length, which is a strong indicator of the speed of knowledge transfer in a network, compared with the four benchmark models show that East and West German regions tended to connect to new regions located in their surroundings, instead of entering distant regions. Our findings support the German federal government’s continuous efforts to build networks between East and West German regions.
The European aerospace R&D collaboration network
(2013) Barber, Michael J.; Guffarth, Daniel
We describe the development of the European aerospace R&D collaboration network from 1987 to 2013 with the help of the publicly available raw data of the European Framework Programmes and the German Förderkatalog. In line with the sectoral innovation system approach, we describe the evolution of the aerospace R&D network on three levels. First, based on their thematic categories, all projects are inspected and the development of technology used over time is described. Second, the composition of the aerospace R&D network concerning organization type, project composition and the special role of SMEs is analyzed. Third, the geographical distribution is shown on the technological side as well as on the actor level. A more complete view of the European funding structure is achieved by replicating the procedure on the European level to the national level, in our case Germany.
The evolution of innovation networks : the case of a German automotive network
(2013) Pyka, Andreas; Buchmann, Tobias
In this paper we outline a conceptual framework for depicting network development patterns of interfirm innovation networks and for analyzing the dynamic evolution of an R&D network in the German automotive industry. We test the drivers of evolutionary change processes of a network which is based on subsidised R&D projects in the 10 year period between 1998 and 2007. For this purpose a stochastic actor-based model is applied to estimate the impact of various drivers of network change. We test hypotheses in the innovation and evolutionary economics framework and show that structural positions of firms as well as actor covariates and dyadic covariates are influential determinants of network evolution.
The geography and co-location of european technology-specific co-inventorship networks
(2010) Christ, Julian P.
This paper contributes with empirical findings to European co-inventorship location and geographical coincidence of co-patenting networks. Based on EPO co-patenting information for the reference period 2000-2004, we analyze the spatial configuration of 44 technology-specific co-inventorship networks. European co-inventorship (co-patenting) activity is spatially linked to 1259 European NUTS3 units (EU25+CH+NO) and their NUTS1 regions by inventor location. We extract 7.135.117 EPO co-patenting linkages from our own relational database that makes use of the OECD RegPAT (2009) files. The matching between international Patent Classification (IPC) subclasses and 44 technology fields is based on the ISI-SPRU-OST-concordance. We confirm the hypothesis that the 44 co-inventorship networks differ in their overall size (nodes, linkages, self-loops)and that they are dominated by similar groupings of regions. The paper offers statistical evidence for the presence of highly localized European co-inventorship networks for all 44 technology fields, as the majority of linkages between NUTS3 units (counties and districts) are within the same NUTS1 regions. Accordingly, our findings helps to understand general presence of positive spatial autocorrelation in regional patent data. Our analysis explicitly accounts for different network centrality measures (betweenness, degree, eigenvector). Spearman rank correlation coefficients for all 44 technology fields confirm that most co-patenting networks co-locate in those regions that are central in several technology-specfic co-patenting networks. These findings support the hypothesis that leading European regions are indeed multi-field network nodes and that most research collaboration is taking place in dense co-patenting networks.
The geography and co-location of european technology-specific co-inventorship networks
(2010) Christ, Julian P.
This paper contributes with empirical findings to European co-inventorship location and geographical coincidence of co-patenting networks. Based on EPO co-patenting information for the reference period 2000-2004, we analyze the spatial configuration of 44 technology-specific co-inventorship networks. European co-inventorship (co-patenting) activity is spatially linked to 1259 European NUTS3 units (EU25+CH+NO) and their NUTS1 regions by inventor location. We extract 7.135.117 EPO co-patenting linkages from our own relational database that makes use of the OECD RegPAT (2009) files. The matching between International Patent Classification (IPC) subclasses and 44 technology fields is based on the ISI-SPRU-OST-concordance. We confirm the hypothesis that the 44 co-inventorship networks differ in their overall size (nodes, linkages, self-loops) and that they are dominated by similar groupings of regions. The paper offers statistical evidence for the presence of highly localized European co-inventorship networks for all 44 technology fields, as the majority of linkages between NUTS3 units (counties and districts) are within the same NUTS1 regions. Accordingly, our findings helps to understand general presence of positive spatial autocorrelation in regional patent data. Our analysis explicitly accounts for different network centrality measures (betweenness, degree, eigenvector). Spearman rank correlation coefficients for all 44 technology fields confirm that most co-patenting networks co-locate in those regions that are central in several technology-specific co-patenting networks. These findings support the hypothesis that leading European regions are indeed multi-filed network nodes and that most research collaboration is taking place in dense co-patenting networks.
The role of informal institutions in agricultural development : case studies from Kenya, Pakistan and Malawi
(2017) Aberman, Noora-Lisa; Birner, Regina
Why have so many countries lagged behind in terms of agricultural development, structural transformation and poverty alleviation? This thesis is based on the proposition that a lack of attention to institutions and governance is partly responsible for the limited success in meeting food security and development goals in many developing countries, in spite of significant investments in agricultural development. In particular, the interplay between formal and informal intuitions has not been thoroughly explored, in part because this interplay is not well captured in the quantitative analytical approaches that dominate the literature on agricultural development. Informal and non-market institutions play an important role especially in early phases of agricultural development. Therefore, a better understanding of informal institutions and their interaction with formal institutions is expected to provide valuable insights on how to facilitate agricultural development more effectively and to better use its potential to promote food security, and poverty reduction. Institutions can be defined as the socially constructed formal and informal rules that constrain human behaviour and provide the framework of incentives that shapes economic, social and political life. In the literature on agricultural development, institutional analysis typically builds on the theory of neoclassical economics and draws on its analytical tools, but it appears useful to explore theoretical approaches developed in other branches of the social sciences and to apply their methodological approaches to analyse the role of institutions in agricultural development. Qualitative methods are particularly promising to provide new insights into the role of institutions in agricultural development, in particular with regard to informal institutions. The main objective of this thesis is the development and application of novel methodological approaches to analysing the interplay of informal and formal institutions in agricultural development. The thesis is based on four case studies conducted in three developing countries: Malawi, Pakistan and Kenya. The case studies deal with three selected themes of institutional development in agriculture, where the interplay of formal and informal institutions is particular important. Two themes relate to specific sub-sectors of agriculture: institutions for managing irrigation systems and institutions that facilitate agricultural exports. The third theme is cross-cutting and addresses the question how gender equity can be promoted in institutions that matter for agricultural development. Considering that institutions are nested, the case studies cover different levels, including the household, farmer group, local government and national government level. Together the case studies provide insights on how institutional analysis—with an emphasis on social institutions, informal rules, perceptions, and norms—affect agricultural development initiatives. The case studies make use of methodological approaches that are relatively novel in the field of agricultural development studies and thus serve to broaden the toolkit of methods for institutional analysis. These methods include two versions of a participatory mapping tool called Net-Map and Process Net-Map. As a third approach, qualitative interviews with the inclusion of tactile power mapping exercises have been applied. As the case studies cover different levels, the data collection methods have been applied with a wide range of participants that had highly diverse social and educational backgrounds, ranging from national-level policy actors to farmers residing in remote areas. Epistemologically, these methods support a social constructionist research approach, wherein the informal and socially constructed aspects of agricultural policy and governance can be assessed. Four distinct case studies are presented here, from Kenya, Pakistan and Malawi. Taken together, the case studies show that in a developing country context, the informal rules (described as “rules-in-play”), which are based on social norms, often play a more significant role in guiding the behaviour of economic actors than the formal rules and regulations of the state. Thus, the consideration of social norms is critical when devising policy reform strategies, devolution processes, and addressing corruption. The studies identified the following factors, which should be considered when undertaking policy development or policy reform: a) the capacity of the government to enforce rules and laws; b) social norms that determine the extent to which rules-are followed; and c) the impact of additional rules that aim to promote compliance on transaction costs. The case studies also provide insights on the role of that informal institutions play with regard to gender, power and community groups. The findings indicate that gender norms are slowly changing even in the remote area of Kenya where the case studies were conducted, which is confirmed by other empirical work. The findings indicate that such change is very slow due to internal societal pressures against it. However, a better understanding of when and how informal institutions are changing provides entry points for action. The studies indicate that there is a potential for community groups to serve as a parallel institution to that of the home, governed by constitutions and by-laws, that do enable women to push the boundaries of community gender norms, although both are embedded in the same community. And although gendered participation in groups is mixed, there are drivers that can be supported to flourish by development partners and government.