Title: Organisation innovation and entrepreneurship: the role of the national laboratories in promoting industrial development

Authors: Ta-Hsien Lo, Shyhnan Liou, Benjamin Yuan

Addresses: Institute of Management of Technology, National Chiao Tung University, Bldg. 51, 195 Sec. 4, Chung Hsing Rd., Chutung Hsinchu, Taiwan. ' Department of Labor Relations, National Chung Cheng University, 160, San-Hsing, Ming-Hsiu, Chia-Yi, Taiwan. ' Institute of Management of Technology, National Chiao Tung University, 7th Floor, Assembly Building1, No. 1001, Ta Hsueh Rd., Hsinchu, Taiwan

Abstract: The development of IC industry in Taiwan began with a technology transfer from the USA based RCA Company, which was conducted by Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI). ITRI|s Technology Transfer Team (TTT) members were first incubated in the National Laboratories at ITRI, and then dispatched to spin-off companies in the Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park (HSIP). Many of these TTT members are now the CEOs of leading companies within the IC industry. The aim of this study is to examine how ITRI|s Electronics Research and Service Organization (ERSO) shaped R&D engineers into technical entrepreneurs (Technopreneurs) and how ERSO has promoted Taiwan|s industrial development. This study uses in-depth interviews with 16 TTT members, combined with critical incident analysis of historical documents to support the following themes: 1. ERSO/ITRI|s organisational innovation inspired IC technopreneurs to realise the ||Innovative Spirit|| and ||Technopreneurship||. This was done by ERSO|s adoption of new-enlightened experimentation procedures, by ERSO|s cultivation of the ||Innovative Spirit|| of technopreneurs under transformational leadership and by ERSO|s innovative climate. Besides, the all-purpose training of operation executives was conducted in an environment that simulated market and business operations, which perfected the managing skills of these ||technopreneurs||. 2. As national laboratories in Taiwan, ERSO has contributed human capital and social capital to the development of IC industry in Taiwan and it has also effectively linked Taiwan|s common innovative infrastructure with the geographical advantages of individual industrial clustering, thus creating the national innovative capability of Taiwan|s IC industry.

Keywords: organisational innovation; technopreneurship; innovative spirit; IC industry; Taiwan; semiconductor industry; entrepreneurship; technology transfer; industrial development; transformational leadership; training; management skills; industrial clusters; innovative capability.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTM.2005.006352

International Journal of Technology Management, 2005 Vol.30 No.1/2, pp.67 - 84

Published online: 23 Feb 2005 *

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