Fred Gault

User Innovation and the Market

This paper proposes a way of including in official statistics consumers as user innovators who modify or develop products for their own use. The issue addressed is the role of the market in the definition of innovation in the OECD/Eurostat Oslo Manual and the exclusion by the definition of consumers who modify or develop products and then freely reveal the knowledge gained to others. A modest proposal is made for a change to the definition which also has implications for the measurement of innovation in the public sector. The policy implications of user innovation by consumers and by firms are considered along with the importance of including consumer user innovation in official statistics. The paper ends with a programme for future work.

Innovation Strategies for a Global Economy

Innovation provides a path to sustainable growth but a strategy for innovation in a global economy is no longer national. Countries must attract people and investment from abroad and participate in world markets and institutions. This book starts with the language and system framework used to discuss innovation, and the statistical indicators needed to describe the activity. It then looks at innovation strategies, their components and their management before proposing directions for new work in developed and developing countries.

THE DESIGN APPROACH TO SOCIO-ECONOMIC MODELLING

Abstract The exploration of alternative futures is an important part of socio-economic analysis. This paper describes one approach to socio-economic modelling that is intended to support this exploration by scenario analysis. The approach involves the representation of a socio-economic system by a simulation framework which has no imposed optimization. Alternative futures are explored by changing the control variables governing the simulation framework which is a loosely coupled set of physical transformation processes, each using existing design information to represent a segment of the economy. The variables that control the processes are set by the user or, alternatively, by the user in conjunction with a model of decision processes. In this way, the user is an integral part of the system and a source of novelty. A prototype representation of the Canadian socio-economic system serves to illustrate this approach and its use.

National Innovation, Indicators and Policy

This book takes stock of what is known about the process of innovation and its effects, and the policy interventions that influence both. It provides insights into future research required to support evidence-based policy-making and makes clear the need to take a systems approach to the analysis of innovation, its outcomes and its impacts.

The Oslo Manual

The ability to determine the scale of innovation activities, the characteristics of innovating firms, and the internal and systemic factors that can influence innovation is a prerequisite for the pursuit and analysis of policies aimed at fostering innovation. The Oslo Manual is the foremost international source of guidelines for the collection and use of data on innovation activities in industry. This third edition has been updated to take account of the progress made in understanding the innovation process and its economic impact, and the experience gained from recent rounds of innovation surveys in OECD and non-member countries. For the first time, the Manual investigates the field of non-technological innovation and the linkages between different innovation types. It also includes an annex on the implementation of innovation surveys in developing countries.

The path to process data

Abstract Analysis of transformation processes is a potent tool for the understanding of materials utilization, energy consumption, environmental pollution and the productivity of capital and labour. This paper introduces process analysis with emphasis on the need for physical rather than monetary data. Some uncoordinated data gathering activities relevant to process analysis are examined. Two prototype process databases are described to illustrate ways of approaching process analysis and it is noted that a process database is necessary for the next generation of economic models. Although there is as yet little progress in assembling the organization to coordinate the building of such a database, some strategies for the future are proposed.

Social impacts of the development of science, technology and innovation indicators

This paper examines the social impacts of the development of science, technology and innovation indicators. The approach deals separately with the development process and with the use of the indicators that result. Underlying the discussion is an assumption that indicators are a technology, a product, which governs behaviour, is modified by users (outside of the producer community), and develops in response to user needs. Science and technology indicators are considered separately from innovation indicators, and the importance of language based on codified and tacit knowledge is emphasized. The knowledge is codified in manuals, and the tacit knowledge is held in overlapping communities of practice that develop the manuals, gather the data, produce the indicators and use them. Finally, there is a discussion of how this process changes and renews itself.

Towards web resources for analysis of science, technology and innovation in Africa

Remarkable developments in Africa are resulting in new survey data and analysis to support policy-making in science and technology and in innovation. The most recent outcome has been the launch of the African Innovation Outlook 2010 (AU–NEPAD 2010) in Addis Ababa in May 2011 which contains new data on research and development (R&D), on innovation, and contextual bibliometric data. Nineteen countries participated in this work and a second phase was launched in May by the African Union and the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency, with support from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). While aggregate data are available in the Outlook, a new institution has been launched to house the data, to make the data accessible and to support analysis of both the data and related policies. This is the African Observatory for Science, Technology and Innovation (AOSTI) which was initiated in 2009 by the African Union Summit, and for which the foundation stone was laid at the June 2011 Summit in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea. The role of AOSTI is evolving but it has the promise to provide web access to aggregate data from surveys conducted in African countries. These outcomes, the surveys and the Outlook, which is the first in a series, result from a clear commitment to the place of science, technology and innovation in promoting economic growth and addressing social challenges such as health, education and employment in Africa. The work began in 2005 and has moved quickly and effectively from that time forward. In 2005, Africa’s Science and Technology Consolidates Plan of Action (CPA) was adopted by the African Union Ministerial Council on Science and Technology (AMCOST). Consistent with the AMCOST call for science, technology and innovation (STI) indicators to support policy-making, the CPA included a programme on African Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators (ASTII). As a result, with the support of Sida, R&D and innovation surveys were conducted in 2008–2009 and brought together in the Outlook in 2010. To make this happen, countries received training in survey methods and standards, especially those applying to R&D and to innovation, and were supported through training workshops as the surveys were done and the results analysed. The next step is to find a way to make the aggregate data widely available to researchers so that work can be done on country comparisons and science and innovation policies can be

Insights into Innovation, Indicators and Policy

This book takes stock of what is known about the process of innovation and its effects, and the policy interventions that influence both. It provides insights into future research required to support evidence-based policy-making and makes clear the need to take a systems approach to the analysis of innovation, its outcomes and its impacts.

An Introduction to Innovation and Policy

This book takes stock of what is known about the process of innovation and its effects, and the policy interventions that influence both. It provides insights into future research required to support evidence-based policy-making and makes clear the need to take a systems approach to the analysis of innovation, its outcomes and its impacts.