Ciara Fitzgerald

Technology transfer offices as a nexus within the triple helix: the progression of the university's role

The prospect of increased revenue and spillovers has influenced the mission of the university to reflect an increasingly commercial orientation. This paper focuses on university commercialisation in three countries (Ireland, New Zealand and the USA), through 58 semi-structured interviews with technology transfer officers and a quantitative assessment of university patenting trajectories. Using interviews with technology transfer office executives and university patent applications as proxies for commercial orientation, the study uncovers explanations to the heterogeneous commercial orientation apparent in all three regions. Findings indicate that path dependency; university leadership; technology transfer office scale and connectivity are critical determinants of commercial orientation. The paper concludes by surmising how path dependency might strongly dictate the other determinants and outlines some implications for literature and policy development.

Citizen participation in decision-making: can one make a difference?

Abstract Big Data promises benefits for society as well as business. Do policy makers know how best to use this scale of data driven decision-making in an effective way for citizens? Citizen participation is portrayed in literature as a key component in policy decision-making. Yet, this decision-making process to date is often driven by other stakeholders such as scientific experts, academic institutions, national and international governing bodies, to name but a few. Furthermore, there is scant literature on the best way to create policy for new technology, taking into consideration the voice of the citizen. The prevailing question, therefore, is what extent does citizen participation in decision-making make a difference to shaping policy for technology? Our paper explores an experimental method for citizens to make a difference to European policy decision-making on the future of technology and the impact on society. Employing a case study of Irish citizens as part of the CIMULACT (Citizen and Multi-Actor Consultation on Horizon 2020) project this paper reports a new methodology for gathering citizens’ perspectives on future decision-making policies on technology. The findings reveal key advantages and disadvantages to this methodology. This paper makes a number of contributions to both the academic and practitioner communities.

Social complexity and team cohesion in multiparty information systems development projects

Abstract Despite the proliferation of Critical Success Factors (CSFs) for Information Systems Development (ISD), the rate of ISD project failure continues to remain exorbitantly high. In particular, social complexity is increasingly seen as an innate feature of multiparty ISD projects which make them less amenable to being ‘tamed’. However, an understanding of the intricacies of social complexity and how it impacts team cohesion in multiparty projects remains nascent. In this paper we offer findings from the case study of a funded academia-industry collaboration to investigate the elusive phenomenon of social complexity. A theoretical framework is developed to reveal the factors which contribute to social complexity and its impact on team cohesion in multiparty ISD projects. The findings derived from the application of this lens reveal the numerous challenges to team cohesion that arose from the interplay between macro- and micro-level factors. Theoretical and practical implications from the paper are also outlined.

Impacts of Openness on the Success of Information System Development Research Projects

Information Systems Development (ISD) research projects are those in which the conduction of research is not possible without the development of a tangible ICT solution. ISD research projects face inherent tensions between the need for exploration (i.e. radical innovation) and exploitation (i.e. incremental innovation). This requires varying degrees of openness to balance the exploration of new opportunities and exploitation of existing capabilities. In this paper, we investigate the management of openness in ISD research projects and their impact on project success. Findings from three ISD research projects are outlined which offer contrasting approaches to the management of openness. Each management approach is then evaluated according to the perspectives of success in the balance scorecard for projects i.e. Financial, Customer, Internal Business, and Learning and Innovation. Finally, key learnings from the projects are presented, as well as concluding remarks on success in ISD research projects.

Assessing Policy Making for ICT Innovation: A Decision Support Research Agenda

Our study explores European telecare policy and considers the different types of uncertainties for policy makers when addressing ICT innovation. We specifically examine 14 European countries in our study using document analysis, expert interviews and workshops. The findings reveal nuances in how policy makers are reacting to the uncertainty of telecare technologies as a representative of ICT innovation. Our contribution lies in exploring decision support as per Alter’s contention that to improve the quality of decision making we most focus on broadly defined avenues for decision support rather than exclusively Decicion Support Systems [1]. Following Earl and Hopwood (1980), we analyse the case of European telecare policy and outline implications to strengthen policy making for ICT innovation [2]. Our study is pertinent to policy makers as we argue that they will increasingly be challenged to consider ‘responsible innovation’ in their policy making efforts.

Towards the institutionalisation of parliamentary technology assessment: the case for Ireland

Purpose – This paper aims to consider the case study of Ireland with regards to the implementation of a formal parliamentary technology assessment (PTA) capability. With emphasis on innovation and knowledge-based economies, society faces a proliferation of technological challenges with far-reaching unpredictable impacts. Elected representatives need unbiased scientific knowledge to underpin evidence-based policy-oriented decision-making. PTA is directed at policy-oriented decision-making processes within the parliament. It identifies the role played by existing agencies and the gaps that remain to be filled in the current landscape. It explores the feasibility of potential future institutional arrangements in a country without a recognised formal PTA agency. Design/methodology/approach – An embedded case study approach was utilised based on three main sources of evidence: relevant published documents pertaining to science and technology governance; interviews with key decision-makers; and illustrative cas...