Els Van de Velde

Entrepreneurial Origin, Technological Knowledge, and the Growth of Spin‐Off Companies

We contribute to the literature on corporate spin-offs and university spin-offs by exploring how different characteristics in the technological knowledge base at start-up influence spin-off performance. We investigate how the technological knowledge characteristics endowed at start-up predict growth, taking into account whether the knowledge / technology is transferred from a corporation or university. We use a novel, hand-collected dataset involving 48 corporate and 73 university spin-offs, comprising the population of spin-offs in Flanders during 1991-2002. We find corporate spin-offs grow most if they start with a specific narrow-focused technology sufficiently distinct from the technical knowledge base of the parent company and which is tacit. University spin-offs benefit from a broad technology which is transferred to the spin-off. Novelty of the technical knowledge does not play a role in corporate spin-offs, but has a negative impact in university spin-offs unless universities have an experienced technology transfer office to support the spin-off.

OPEN INNOVATION PRACTICES AND THEIR EFFECT ON INNOVATION PERFORMANCE

This paper develops an indicator framework for examining open innovation practices and their impact on performance. The analysis, which is based on Community Innovation Survey (CIS) data for Austria, Belgium, Denmark and Norway, yields a number of interesting results. First, we find that open innovation practices have a strong impact on innovation performance. Second, results suggest that broad-based approaches yield the strongest impacts, and that the collective of open innovation strategies appear more important than individual practices. Third, intramural investments are still important for innovative performance, stressing that open innovation is not a substitute for internal knowledge building.

National innovation policy and global open innovation: exploring balances, tradeoffs and complementarities

The aim of this article is to suggest a framework for examining the way national policy mixes are responding to the challenges and opportunities of globally distributed knowledge networks, cross-sectoral technology flows and consequently open innovation processes occurring on an international scale. We argue that the purpose of public research and innovation policy remains one of developing and sustaining territorial knowledge bases capable of growing and supporting internationally competitive industries. But the rules of the game have changed. Public policy now needs to carefully balance between: a) promoting the formation of international linkages for knowledge sourcing and information exposure; b) providing incentives for domestic industry intramural RD and c) sustaining domestic networking to allow accumulated knowledge to diffuse and recombine. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.

Impact of the Type of Corporate Spin‐Off on Growth

Although previous research shows that corporate spin–offs contribute to economic growth, few studies link growth to the type of corporate spin–off. We distinguish between three types of corporate spin–offs: incumbent–backed, opportunity, and necessity spin–offs. Using empirical data on 46 corporate spin–offs in Flanders, we find that opportunity spin–offs outperform the other two types. By identifying the type of corporate spin–offs, this study aims to add to our knowledge on the relationship between spin–off type and firm growth.

Improving the success of radical innovation projects within established firms: engaging employees across different hierarchal levels

Growing empirical evidence highlights the importance of radical innovation for the long-term success of established firms. Though the recognition of radical innovation projects permeates many established companies, there exists considerable uncertainty about how to best manage radical innovation projects. A detailed field study of two radical innovation projects in two 100-year-old established firms shows the importance of bringing in external support and knowledge early on. Further, this study demonstrates that the success of radical innovation projects depends on the commitment of executive management, the boundary spanning role of the head of innovation, and the selection and reward mechanisms for R&D employees, which all must be aligned with the high-risk profile of these projects.