Barbara Jones

Innovationinnovation and Skills

Maglio and Spohrer (2008) state that a work force that is capable of adaptation and problem solving requires people with capability and unique skills across many areas. While this cannot be disputed, it is clear that we still lack understanding of key skill areas within the service economy and of the relationship between skills requirements and education provision. This chapter describes the range and diversity of service and presents a forecast of the demand for higher level skills and knowledge. It examines education provision in terms of context, content and constructs and discusses the challenge for higher education in meeting the demands of a complex service economy.

Innovation Diffusion in the New Economy: the Tacit Component

1. Introduction: Why Tacit Knowledge? Why this book? 2. The Shaping of Michael Polanyis Philosophy 3. Michael Polanyis Theory of Personal Knowledge 4. Implicit, Tacit and Explicit Components of Personal Knowledge 5. The Real and False Relevance of Economic Innovation 6. Tacit Knowledge in the New Economy 7. Tacit Knowledge, Cyberspace and New Imaging Techniques 8. Conclusion: The Interface of Innovation

Tacit knowledge in rapidly evolving organisational environments

Constant renewal of the self-image and self-knowledge of the organisation becomes part of the day-to-day knowledge-in-use of front-line practitioners. The Network Enterprise is a model of business conducted by shifting alliances of partners developing innovative products and processes in close collaboration with their clients. Organisations abandon the concept of a central product, redefining themselves as providers of solutions. We draw on the experience of two ‘solution-providers’, one for-profit and one not-for-profit. The concept of a solution or transition requires practitioners to consider each individual case drawing on personal knowledge of the organisation’s accessible competencies and capacities. Choices among the possible solutions to the client’s problems can have unpredictable effects on the dynamics of the wider organisation. The necessarily personal use of heuristics magnifies the inescapable element of ‘drift’ inherent in the network enterprise. The dynamics generated by this will require the wider organisation to develop new standards and solution bundles.

La generación Google: evolución en las predisposiciones y comportamientos informativos de los jóvenes

El cambio informacional al que asistimos en la actualidad esta provocando algunas repercusiones en los habitos informativos de los individuos, configurandose un cambio cultural del que los llamados sujetos de la “generacion Google” son los maximos representantes. En este articulo se analizan las predisposiciones y comportamientos de 60 jovenes universitarios respecto a la actividad de busqueda en Internet (valoraciones, motivaciones, dificultades percibidas, desempenos en la busqueda de informacion, grado de satisfaccion con el proceso y otras atribuciones) con objeto de buscar evidencia en algunas de las caracteristicas aplicables a los sujetos de esta nueva generacion, examinando, ademas, si existen aspectos diferenciales entre alumnos de distinta edad. Los resultados permiten vislumbrar cierta evolucion en los sujetos de este cohorte, con repercusiones significativas para el ambito educativo. ----------------------------------------------------------------- In an increasingly digitised world where information is ubiquitous the “Google Generation” appear to occupy a position of prime importance when it comes to knowing how to access information. This article looks at practical evidence regarding some of the information behaviours of the subjects of this new generation, as well the differences between students of different ages. We have analyzed the predispositions and search procedures exhibited by 60 undergraduate students (evaluations, motivations, perceived difficulties, searching performances, satisfaction with the process and other valuations). The results are significant and provide new insights into how the informational aptitudes of the cohort investigated have evolved and what might be the educational impact of their new attitudes and search habits.

The impact of skill formation policies on innovation

Skills and innovation are often claimed to be the twin engines of economic growth, but there is a surprisingly limited appreciation in the literature on innovation and innovation policy of how these core features combine and interact both at the firm level and at the interface between tertiary education and industry. Because of that lack, this chapter develops a number of key analytical concepts to make the relevant links between skill formation and innovation performance. The chapter in particular reports the relative merits and challenges of two important areas of education and training policy, that is, levy schemes for enterprise training and policies for high-level skill formation. Against the background of little systematic evidence as to the link between skill formation and innovation performance, two strong key findings emerge: a positive association between innovative firms and the level of expenditures on formal and informal training compared to non-innovative firms; and that firms benefit from a significant positive effect by developing their ‘knowledge pool’. Overall, there is an apparent need for policy to support high skill-mixes as well as intermediary technical skills within firms – rather than through buy-in – through better incentives. Moreover, there is a strong need to develop improved concepts and empirical research to better understand the benefit of skills for innovation performance, not least in order to help firms to better grasp the overall benefit of skills and thus invest in them.