Hugh Cameron

THE USE OF CO-NOMINATION ANALYSIS IN THE EVALUATION OF COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH

Summary An experimental approach for assessing links between researchers in a collaborative programme is described. Co-nomination analysis was carried out in the Man-Machine Interface area of the United Kingdom Alvey Programma for Advanced Information Technology. Researchers were sent a questionnaire inviting them to nominate those researchers whose work was most similar or relevant to their own. On the basis of the responses networks were constructed by assuming that links existed between co-nominated researchers and that the strength of the link was proportional to the frequency of co-nomination. The networks were then subjected to expert analysis. Results were realistic and encouraging. The technique is particularly useful in areas where bibliometric approaches are inappropriate.

Manganese nodules and marine technology

Abstract This article examines the problems and prospects of manganese nodule mining. The technological requirements for the exploitation of nodule deposits are considered, superimposed on an interdisciplinary policy-oriented approach. The technological dimension is emphasized because its crucial importance is often underrated when deep ocean mining is assessed. This dimension cannot be divorced from the interactions between economics, international law and oceanography. The technological problems and opportunities of nodule mining are diverse. Provided delays at the UN and economic uncertainties do not channel some of the interest into land-based alternatives, this could be an important area of future technical development.

Evolving Systems of Intellectual Property Rights Collaborative R&D as a Generator of New IP Structures

Existing frameworks of intellectual property rights (iprs) are the result of centuries of evolution. Compromises between the rights of originators and users of newly generated intellectual property (IP) have resulted in diverse national systems of protection, resulting from different emphases on rights and objectives. New technologies have created the need for new forms of IP, and regulations have increasingly struggled to cope with the rapidly changing technological environment. However, the growth in size and importance of international trade, and the growth of “knowledge-based” industries, has created the need for harmonisation of frameworks, thus creating a “selection environment” in which unified regulations will be accepted throughout the world. But IP frameworks consist of more than the formal corpus described in law textbooks. This paper considers the growth of collaborative research and development as a generator of new frameworks. These rely on the existing formal ipr systems, but are at present creating a new, additional set of practices and procedures, themselves evolving to meet the needs of participants in collaborative projects and programmes.

A Model of Market Dynamics

A simple model of market dynamics is produced in which several key concepts in business and innovation are integrated in a consistent and unambiguous way: the product life cycle, the innovation diffusion curve, and the new product adoption curve. The model can help explain the variety of product life cycles generated by empirical studies, and also direct the attention of innovation analysts to transitions between products, rather than the rare case of ?new products? usually depicted in diffusion studies.

Production limits -- who benefits?

One of the main issues contributing to the US-instigated hiatus in negotiations on the Draft Convention for the Law of the Sea has been the question of production controls for manganese nodule mining. As the text stands, production controls cover both the total amount of metals produced from nodules in any year and also the maximum quantity which any single operator will be licensed to produce annually. Both types of control use the nickel content of nodules mined as the specified limit. The overall controls relate production to projected growth in world nickel consumption. In this note, some of the implications of the methods used to calculate production ceilings are explored. The likely success of the regulations in achieving their stated objectives can then be discussed.