International Journal of Innovation and Regional Development (5 papers in press)

Regular Issues

• Investigation of Regional Development in Brazil: a Patento-Scientometric Approach  
  by Gustavo Da Silva Motta, Pauli Adriano De Almada Garcia, Maxwel De Azevedo-Ferreira, Mariana Passos Neves Gomes, Camila Carvalho Oliveira Santos 
  Abstract: Brazils underdevelopment can be partly blamed on a low level of investments in research and development, causing its technology structure to be relatively backward in terms of innovation. The Metal-Mechanical Complex, located in the South Fluminense Mesoregion (SFM) of the state of Rio de Janeiro, is recognized for its high economic importance to the country due to the presence of factories owned by large multinational and national companies and the corresponding group of firms supplying goods and services to them. The objective of this study was to assess the mesoregions technological development through comparison of eight high-tech projects (four in the SFM and four in other parts of the state) that received financial support from the funding agency FAPERJ to produce innovative products or processes. This analysis first relied on computing scientometric and indicators and then involved comparing the efficiencies of the new firms by data envelopment analysis (DEA). The results revealed that the SFM, although highly industrialized, does not have a compatible level of technological development.
  Keywords: innovation; technological development; technology-based projects; South Fluminense Mesoregion; Brazil; patento-scientometric approach; bibliometrics.
  
  
• Social Capital, Regional Development and Innovation in Greece: An Interregional Analysis  
  by DIMITRIOS IERAPETRITIS 
  Abstract: The term social capital tends to appear more and more in international literature as a major factor for accessing new sources of knowledge and information, creating innovation and supporting regional innovation systems. The main objective of this paper is to contribute insights to this stream of research by testing empirically the impact of social capital on innovation at the level of NUTS-2 and more specifically, on the thirteen (13) regions of Greece. The paper begins by defining social capital along with the various forms that this can acquire, the ways that social capital is measured internationally as well as its role in regional development. The above is followed by a close study of the contribution of social capital to the diffusion of knowledge and the strengthening of regional innovation. Finally, by evaluating and exploiting the results of the recent researches by the European Social Survey (E.S.S.) and the Regional Innovation Scoreboard (R.I.S.) on the thirteen (13) Greek regions (NUTS-2) the paper will firstly present the available social capital reserves, secondly the most recent regional innovation performance and thirdly it will test to what extent social capital can be a source of high performance of regional innovation.
  Keywords: innovation; social capital; regional social capital performance; Greece.
  
  
• Differences in Creating Product Innovations versus Process Innovations across European Industries  
  by Matthias Will, Robert B. Mellor 
  Abstract: The innovative performance of 1,200 representative firms in the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania and the Slovak Republic was analyzed. The study differentiates between product innovation and three different forms of process innovations. This data was joined to the quality of societal institutions of the country containing the firms. Results show that institutional quality is correlated with the innovative performance of firms through different channels. With respect to product innovations, institutional quality exhibits mediate effects through financing of R&D and the design of the organizational structure, with larger technical / R&D departments being found in firms in environments of high societal quality. However when investigating process innovations, the pattern is surprisingly different: firms located in European countries with a relatively low score regarding institutional quality, develop predominantly more process innovations. We speculate that this is the result of the characteristics of competition in countries with a relatively poor quality of institutions. With regard to industrial sector, the data reveals that firms in the wholesale and trade areas follow quite different patterns compared to firms involved in manufacturing/production. Manufacturing firms make predominantly product innovations and these are often financed by external sources, whereas firms in wholesale and trade make more process innovations and these tend to be financed by internal sources.
  Keywords: Innovation Management; Product Innovations; Process Innovations; Institutions; SEMs.
  
  
• Innovation and performance among firms in Finland: The impact of firm-level characteristics  
  by Hannu Littunen, Jari Huovinen 
  Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to analyse the role of firm-level characteristics together with the perfor-mance of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) associated with the introduction of different types of innovation (product/process/market/organisational). The paper is based on data from 830 firms located in Finland, and describes the development of a model for testing the firm-level factors that increase the innovativeness of SMEs. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to determine asso-ciations between innovativeness and the different explanatory factors put forward. The results show that the creation of novel product and process innovation appears to be associated with manufactur-ing industry, but on the other hand the creation of market innovation is linked to the field of trade. Furthermore, we found that the creation of process innovation was related to the location of firms, and innovation activity appears to be more common in rural areas than in central regions. The results also show that the creation of product/process/market/organisational innovation is positively associ-ated with a firm's growth.
  Keywords: innovation; firm size; firm sector; location; SMEs; firm performance.
  
  
• Integrating civil society into regional innovation systems a social foresight lab approach  
  by Fabian Schroth, Hannah Glatte, Simone Kaiser 
  Abstract: In this article, we address the challenge of embedding local knowledge in non-spatially defined innovation systems. We argue that this can be achieved via the inclusion of local civil society in innovation processes. The local population has knowledge of local challenges and potential, and is capable of developing locally relevant ideas. Embedding this knowledge in innovation processes requires a special set of methods that enable local actors to gain access to innovation processes and develop ideas, formulate challenges and identify potential opportunities on equal footing with other innovation actors. In this paper, we present such an approach in the form of a social foresight lab, as used in the context of technology transfer in rural areas to facilitate the identification of local challenges and potential, the collaborative development of ideas, and the regional embedding of non-spatially defined innovation processes. The principles underlying the above are experimentation, collaboration and real-world embeddedness.
  Keywords: regional innovation system; quadruple helix; social foresight lab; participatory innovation process; civil society; rural areas.