International Journal of Technology, Policy and Management (12 papers in press)

Regular Issues

• The role of government in the innovation ecology of high-tech industries: A case study of Chinas new energy vehicle industry  
  by Xuefeng Liu, Wangxing Liu, Yuying Xie, Guowei Lai 
  Abstract: The new energy vehicles (NEVs) are an important direction of technological and industrial development and the new energy vehicle industry (NEVI) is heavily supported by governments around the world. Not only is replacing fossil-fuel-powered vehicles with NEVs an important measure to deal with the energy and environmental challenges in China but the development of the NEVI is also an important strategy to leap forward in the larger automotive industry. Based on the analysis of the development process and industrial policy changes in Chinas NEVI, this paper reveals the evolution of industrial development under the dynamic financial and non-financial policy support. It also identifies the unique role and effective mechanism of the government in the development process of NEVs from technology incubation to large-scale market application. Learning from the governments prior successes and failures in the NEVI innovation ecology, we make recommendations on how the government can better support the development of NEVI.
  Keywords: industrial policy; high-tech industries; innovation ecology; the NEVI.
  
  
• Assessment of interregional divides in digital development as a basis for the policy of overcoming the Russias digital lag  
  by Evgeniya Karpunina, Olga V. Zabelina, Svetlana V. Lupacheva, Farida I. Mirzabalaeva, Patimat R. Alieva 
  Abstract: Purpose of the article is the identification and assessment of divides in digital development between Russian regions as the reasons for the country\'s digital lag in the international space, as well as the formation of the conceptual foundations of the state policy of interregional digital alignment. A method for calculating the digitalization coefficient allows authors to assess the level of digital development of Russian regions. It is proved that the level of regional digitalization affects the human potential realization by almost 50%, while the link between the level of digitalization and knowledge is weak. The digital divide, the knowledge divide, and the divide in the human potential realization between the regions of Russia are estimated using a decile scale. It is argued that the methodology for assessing existing divides between regions should be the basis for the policy of interregional digital alignment.
  Keywords: digital lag; region; divide in digital development; digital divide; divide in the human potential realization.
  
  
• MANAGING TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER AND UNIVERSITY-INDUSTRY LINKAGE IN A DEVELOPING COUNTRY: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM NIGERIA  
  by Caleb Muyiwa ADELOWO, Wilie Owolabi Siyanbola, Dan-Azumi Mohammed Ibrahim 
  Abstract: Knowledge institutions are key drivers of national competitiveness. The expectations from these institutions now include knowledge transfer to support industrial development. To coordinate these efforts, technology transfer offices (TTOs) become plausible strategy. In Nigeria, these offices are mandated to manage intellectual property assets, create IP awareness and engage industry for research uptakes. This paper provides a baseline assessment of how TTOs have performed in Nigeria, including key challenges confronting them. Primary data were collected with the aid of a structured questionnaire. Results show that IP sensitization, IP strategy promotion and collation of completed and on-going R&D outputs were prominent activities of these offices. Industry visitation and technology open day strategies were deployed to promote technology transfer. Some TTOs performed better than others in IP assets creation, while five of them reported six spin-off products. The paper concludes with key challenges confronting them and propose appropriate policy recommendations for effective management.
  Keywords: Technology transfer; industrial linkage; Innovation; knowledge institutions; Commercialisation.
  
  
• Industrial Policy and Cluster Development: A Literature Review  
  by Liu Xuefeng, Zhang Ao, Xie Yuying 
  Abstract: The cluster policy plays an important guiding and supporting role in the development of industrial clusters. We first review and summarize the relevant research on policies relating to the development of industrial clusters, divide them into resource-provision policies and environment-improvement policies, and identify the impacts of the different policies on industrial clusters. Then, we summarize the important factors that influence the outcome of the policies in different circumstances. Last, inspired by the prior studies, we propose a dynamic comprehensive policy formation process that can enhance the effectiveness of policy support and strengthen the sensitivity and responsiveness of the policy to the dynamic changes in the rapid development of industrial clusters.
  Keywords: policy; industrial policy; cluster; innovation.
  
  
• Identification of the information and communication technology (ICT) sector in the city of Medell  
  by Vanessa García Pineda, Jackeline Andrea Macías Urrego 
  Abstract: Purpose In recent years, the dynamism of society and the different economic sectors have been forced to change their modes of operation, activities, and functioning due to the emergence of new technologies, which have directly impacted the economy and the different organizations; this phenomenon is known as Industry 4.0. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to identify the level of incorporation of elements and technologies of Industry 4.0 through the innovation capabilities in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector. Design/methodology/approach To achieve the objective of this study, we characterized the ICT sector in the Medell
  Keywords: industry 4.0; ICT sector; innovation capabilities; organizational structure.
  
  
• Development of MSMEs in India: Challenges vs Govt Policies  
  by Pooja Nanda, Vikas Kumar 
  Abstract: Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) have been recognized as a global engine for growth and employment. They are a major contributor to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), exports and jobs, playing a crucial role in improving the socio-economic profile of a country. Thus, it is vital to increase the competitiveness of MSMEs through the creation of an efficient legal, regulatory and administrative system. This can enhance their accessibility to finance, technology and skilled human resource. Present work highlights the challenges faced by MSMEs in India and their associated impact. The aspects covered include the technology, human resource, operations and policies. These challenges have been mapped to the policies and schemes of Govt of India, which can contribute to the development of MSMEs. Need for the effective implementation of policies as well as better coverage of MSMEs have been recommended.
  Keywords: MSME; Technology Adoption; Govt Policy; Small Business; Make in India.
  
  
• Profiling regulatory governance framework to strengthen industry performance: Application of the fuzzy analytical hierarchical process  
  by BRAJESH MISHRA 
  Abstract: The study proposes a novel regulatory governance profiling technique, using mixed method approach, to strengthen industry performance. This profiling technique, although developed in the context of Indian domestic electronics industry, can be easily adopted to strengthen performance of other industries. The study uses document analysis and thematic analysis to identify eight regulatory governance parameters, eighteen sub-parameters and industry performance indicators, respectively. Next, the study adopts the fuzzy analytical hierarchical process to rank the importance of the identified macro regulatory governance parameters and sub-parameters. The market access and IC ecosystem/supporting infrastructure have emerged as top two crucial parameters. The equitable market access, market distortion, IC ecosystem, R&D supported domestic manufacturing, and foreign direct investments are among top ranked sub-parameters, constituting a combined weights of 60%. Increased focus of policy makers on these five regulatory governance sub-parameters may transform the regulatory governance framework and enhance Indias participation in the global value ecosystem.
  Keywords: Regulatory governance; parameters; fuzzy AHP; market access; IC ecosystem; Indian electronics industry.
  
  
• Research on the Impact of Environmental Decentralization and Environmental Regulations on Agricultural Pollution  
  by Zhiyong Liu, Weiping Jia 
  Abstract: Environmental regulation (ER) is critical to achieving emission reduction of agricultural pollution, and environmental decentralization (ED) is the foundation of establishing ER. Based on the panel data of 30 Chinese provinces from 2006 to 2018, this article employs the dynamic panel model to investigate the relationship between ED, ER, and agricultural pollution. It uses the panel threshold model to explore the nonlinear effect of ER on agricultural pollution when ED is greater than or less than a specific threshold value. The results show that, first, ER is very important to restrain agricultural pollution, ED and environmental supervision decentralization (ESD) and environmental monitoring decentralization (EMD) have significant positive effects on agricultural pollution, while environmental administrative decentralization (EAD) has negative impact on agricultural pollutions; second, ED aggravates agricultural pollution and leads to green paradox effect, in which the impact of ESD and EMD is particularly prominent; third, from the regional level, the green paradox effect caused by ED in the central and western regions is significant, while that in the eastern region is not significant; and finally, the impact of ER on agricultural pollution presents threshold characteristics with the change of ED. Therefore, differentiated ED policies should be formulated; EAD should be appropriately expanded; ESD and EMD should be gradually reduced, and ED in the central and western regions should be reduced. At the same time, a long-term and dynamic agricultural pollution monitoring system should be established throughout the country to form a collaborative governance pattern among regions. The measures taken by the Chinese government to control agricultural pollution can provide references for many different areas so that this research can be used in other areas in practice.
  Keywords: Environmental decentralization (ED); Environmental regulation (ER); Agricultural pollution.
  
  
• A Combined Prediction Model of Cross-Border e-Commerce Export Volume Based on BP Neural Network and SVM  
  by Haidong Zhong, Jinhui Zhang, Shaozhong Zhang 
  Abstract: China's cross-border e-commerce (CBEC) is developing rapidly in the last several years and is widely considered as a developing trend of the nations foreign trade. The prediction of CBEC export volume can effectively reduce the risks, such as goods backlog and long cross-border logistics time, for related enterprises in many ways. However, due to the complex composition of many affecting factors, the prediction accuracy of the most existing methods is usually limited. In the paper, we propose a joint prediction approach that combines the back propagation (BP) neural network model and the support vectorrnmachine (SVM) method. And then a case study with publicly available data in Hangzhou, China, indicates a relative error of less than 1% with the proposed joint predication approach, which is less than the relative error obtained from either BP neural network predication or SVM predication alone.
  Keywords: cross-border e-commerce export volume predication; BP neural network; SVM algorithm; grey correlation analysis.
  
  
• Scientific Production and Patent Applications on Prebiotic Ingredients: Evidence from Brazil  
  by Maria Geovânia Dantas Silva, Heliana Mary Da Silva Quintino, Ana Karla De Souza Abud 
  Abstract: This study aims to evaluate the impact of scientific research on the technological development of prebiotic functional ingredients used in Brazils food sector. Data were collected from the scientific databases Web of Science, BVS, Scopus, SciELO, and Derwent Innovations Index from 1996 to 2019. Bibliometric methods and a distributed lag regression model were used. The results show fewer patent applications regarding scientific production by Brazilian residents. A total of 16.9% of inventors published scientific articles on prebiotic ingredients. The study illustrates the dependence of patent application filings on scientific research and demonstrates that the influence of scientific knowledge lasts for at least five years. Further, industrial protection through patent applications has a more significant impact about three years after scientific production. However, these impacts are considered moderate, requiring public measures and policies promoting scientific knowledge.
  Keywords: Scientific production; Patents; Prebiotics; Distributed lag model; Brazil; intellectual property assets; scientific documents; technological development; prebiotic functional ingredients; techno-scientific production.
  
  
• How Greenwashing Influences Formal and Informal Institutional Benefits in China  
  by Qiong Yao, Mubin Chen, Yizhun Feng 
  Abstract: Enterprises are likely to adopt the greenwashing approach to obtain institutional benefits under imperfect institutional background. Using a panel data of Chinese enterprises from 2010 to 2015, we examine the possibility of enterprises obtaining formal and informal institutional benefits through greenwashing in China. Moreover, from the perspective of government enterprise relationship and social enterprise relationship, we show that government enterprise relationship positively regulates the relationship between greenwashing and formal institutional benefits, and public attention will weaken the positive relationship between greenwashing and informal institutional benefits. These results provide important implications for the relationship between greenwashing and institutional benefits, and further highlight the value of government guidance and supervision of enterprises’ greenwashing.
  Keywords: greenwashing; formal institutional benefits; informal institutional benefits; government enterprise relationship; social enterprise relationship.
  DOI: 10.1504/IJTPM.2024.10054730
   
  
• Triple helix revisited: Community development by innovative knowledge transfer to local small businesses with a role of university students as catalyst  
  by Hiroko Oe, Takuji Takemoto 
  Abstract: Focusing on entrepreneurship, innovation, research and development, and regional development, this study examines avenues for social contribution through the support of Japanese universities and regional projects from a management and policy perspective. In particular, it examines the potential and prospects for university students' contribution to regional development through the triple helix approach from the perspective of the SDGs. Comprehensive support for regional entrepreneurship through industry-government-academia collaboration has long attracted the attention of many researchers and policy makers, but very few studies have focused on the attitudes and actions of university students themselves, who are the hub of industry-government-academia collaboration and networks with society. In this study, we focus on this research gap and propose a sustainable community development model based on the awareness and case studies of university students who have participated in community development activities.
  Keywords: local small businesses; sustainability; entrepreneurship; university students; public sector intervention; triple helix; value co-creation; stakeholders collaboration; modelisation; conceptual model.
  DOI: 10.1504/IJTPM.2023.10054923