The strategic value of new university technology and its impact on exclusivity of licensing transactions: An empirical study

Commercialization of new university technology within the new product development process is an important tool by which established firms can expand their innovative capabilities. The strategic importance of the university technology to the firm, however, can vary considerably. An exclusivity agreement is a useful tool to protect the firm’s investment and help ensure that value is appropriated through the commercialization process. An empirical study of 66 technology transfer projects in the information and communications technology industry reveals that licensing transactions are usually secured by some form of exclusivity agreements when the product innovation enabled by the new university technology is new-to-the-firm or new-to-the-market and the firm’s perception of the strategic value of the new technologies is high.      

SMEs in Regional Innovation Systems and The Role of Innovation Support--The Case of Upper Austria

In the past large firms were regarded as the main driving forces for innovation, but, more recently, the interest has shifted to SMEs as well as networks of firms. It has been recognized that SMEs innovate in a specific way and that they face size-specific barriers. To be able to rely on innovation partners and to be involved in regional or national innovation systems seems to be of critical importance for SMEs. This paper presents the empirical results of a firm survey in Upper Austria, a region with a long industrial tradition in Austria, investigating the extent to which SMEs are actually engaged in innovation networks and the role of public innovation support in this context. The findings show that SMEs which have received innovation support are more successful innovators than those which have not, and that innovation cooperations are rather rare. Most external relations are with other firms and within the region, very few with knowledge providers from science and technology. At present, innovation support instruments do not sufficiently target the deficits of non-innovative SMEs and the problems in linking up with innovation networks and broadening firms' relations beyond the region.     

Form and Substance in European Constitutional Law: The ‘Social’ Character of Indirect Effect

This article proposes to understand the constitutional discourse about individuals, rights and enforcement, as developed in the courtrooms, in relation to historic and contextual circumstances. It focuses on the interface between indirect effect and social policy, and argues that the creation of indirect effect has been integral to a judicial strategy centred on the key concern for sustaining the balance between market freedom and interventionism as achieved in the political process.     

Social web knowledge sharing and innovation performance in knowledge-intensive manufacturing SMEs

This paper develops an integrative research model to assess the effect of different factors on social web knowledge sharing and its effect on innovation performance in manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In addition, this study analyzes whether social web knowledge sharing may be a mediator in the relationship between human resource (HR) practices and innovation performance. The proposed research model and its associated hypotheses were tested by using partial least squares structural equation modeling on a dataset of manufacturing SMEs. This study contributes to research seeking to understand the factors affecting social web knowledge sharing by demonstrating that technological and organizational factors have greater impact than environmental factors on social web knowledge sharing. It also contributes to research by exploring the indirect effects of the social influence of HR practices on organizational innovation performance by offering evidence on the mediating effect of social web knowledge sharing in the relationship between HR practices and organizational innovation performance in manufacturing SMEs.     

The Trade Barriers Regulation: The European Union as a Player in the Globalisation Game

The Trade Barriers Regulation can be seen as an example of the European Union's role in the international trading system. A neoliberal wave of thought notwithstanding, countries continue to be characterised by the existence of different market economy models. From an external point of view, this implies a need for the EU to influence strongly the developments of the international trading legal framework. Unfair trade instruments such as the Trade Barriers Regulation, can be one way of doing this. From a domestic point of view, market diversity within the EU implies a constant conflict during the definition of EU trade interests. The shifting balance between domestic diversity and the need for external efficiency has lead to a Common Commercial Policy characterised by an ambiguous system of multilevel governance and second-best outcomes as reflected in the Trade Barriers Regulation.     

The role of openness in explaining innovation performance in a regional context

We investigate the role of search strategy in shaping firms’ innovation performance. Firms use a wide range of external actors and sources to help them achieve and sustain innovation. In particular, the extension (breadth) and the relevance (depth) of such sources determine firms’ ability to extract and exploit knowledge and new ideas and, thus, to be innovative. Using a sample of firms in a regional context active in R&D, we built separate measures of breadth and depth for local (on a regional scale) and global (outside the regional context) search. This allows us to investigate whether localized or global knowledge spillovers are in place. We find that a wider set of partners increases coordination costs, while greater depth in search strategies contributes to innovation. We find that a more diversified search strategy at the local level (greater breadth of search) results in significant payoffs in terms of innovation, while diversifying the partnership with Italian partners has a smaller, although still positive, effect. In contrast, the benefits of depth of innovation are greatest at the global level. In addition, a broader set of information sources for R&D projects has a significant positive effect on innovation. Finally, firms that resort to R&D subsidies are less innovative.     

《著作权法》第三次修改是国情巨变的要求

为了应对时代的挑战和国情的巨变,著作权法第三次修改工作已经拉开序幕。要进一步推进著作权制度的改革和发展,就必须将之放在我国甚至全球政治、经济、文化等社会大环境和我国著作权司法发展大背景中来考量,秉承积极、稳妥、科学和理性态度,正确处理好技术进步导致的经济关系变革、市场经济的要求和文化发展等重要问题之间的关系,努力实现权利保护、作品传播和正当使用之间的协调和平衡。如此,方能构建起完善的著作权法律体系,培育国民对知识产权的普遍信仰。     

The Takeover Directive: Is a Little Regulation Better Than No Regulation?

This article examines Directive 2004/25/EC on Takeover Bids through a regulatory lens in order to determine its effectiveness as a regulatory mechanism. A central regulatory problem for European legislators is to determine the optimal balance between harmonisation and diversity, and the directive reflects the balance which was struck. The article questions whether the resulting 'light regulatory touch' may have jeopardised the existing efficient self-regulatory regime which operates in the UK (the largest European takeover market), while simultaneously undermining the directive's goal of facilitating takeovers and yielding a level playing field.     

COMPETITION POLICY IN CHINA AND ITS RELEVANCE TO SMES

Competition policy has great relevance to all the firms in any economy. Even though it is unlikely that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have enough market power to constrain competition through a misuse of such power, they may still face prosecution if they are involved in a boycott of competitors or suppliers, price-fixing, output-restriction and other monopoly agreements. This article discusses antitrust issues pertaining to SMEs with a focus on China’s Anti-Monopoly Law (AML) and its implementation rules. Contrary to the popular view that SMEs benefit from competition laws, evidence shows that they are reluctant to get involved in antitrust litigation against large firms partly because of the high legal costs involved. There is an urgent need to promote an awareness of antitrust compliance in China and to educate SMEs about the need to avoid breaching the new antitrust law and its associated regulations. In the meantime, SMEs should take full advantage of the antitrust laws to fight against the abuse of market dominance directed at them, and to gain equal opportunities to market access.     

Predatory Innovation: A Step Beyond? (Understanding Competition in High-technology Markets)

The idea of a direct relationship between innovation and progress must be reconsidered. Innovation, in other periods of History merely pursued for the sake of Mankind, eventually turned into an grail for companies willing to see their sales increased. The last decades had witnessed another turn of the screw in that identification: innovation may be used as a weapon to destroy rivals and take over a market, regardless of any considerations of progress. Competition law is not foreign to these new circumstances. The inclusion of innovation as a variable in the context of an exclusionary strategy entails not only an important aggression to free competition, but to social welfare. Due to the novelty of these practices, competition law is still adapting itself to the new scenario. This paper explains the underlying complexity of the study of predatory innovation, establishing the foundations for its proper understanding and subsequent approach of the conclusions to market operators, legislators, judges and to society itself.     

新型工业化与制度创新初探

实现新型工业化是我国现代化进程中艰巨的历史任务,不仅需要结构创新、技术创新,更需要制度创新。制度创新是一个带有根本性、全局性、稳定性和长期性的问题,它决定了工业化道路的选择。经典学者对制度创新与经济发展的关系作出了精辟的论述,认为在市场经济中,制度至关重要。国外工业化进程中制度创新的实证经验,为我国走新型工业化道路提供了启示和借鉴。我国要实现新型工业化,必须选择制度创新的正确战略,通盘考虑,重塑制度,构建中国特色新型工业化的制度体系,从制度上为实现新型工业化铺平道路。     

中小企业融资的风险及对策分析

中小企业是推动国民经济发展,构造市场经济主体,促进社会稳定的基础力量。在中小企业经营与发展中,融资问题一直是困扰中小企业发展的关键因素。因此,研究中小企业融资的风险情况,对于管理者来说是不可或缺的。本文将基于中小企业的主要特征和现状,分析中小企业融资过程中面临的主要风险形态,探讨通过提高融资效率来规避融资风险的问题。     

网络时代的资本市场及监管法制之重塑

互联网技术正日益渗透于资本市场各个环节,并深刻影响着资本市场的结构和运行模式。网络技术与资本市场的高度融合预示着一个资本市场网络时代的到来,这需要我们重新审视已有的监管理念和监管规则,以更加从容的心态加以应对,改变以简单控制为主的监管思路和监管策略,采取积极引导、强化监管的指导思想,在发挥技术革新优势和有效监管之间积极地寻求平衡,以推动我国资本市场的成功转型。     

Will firms consider a European optional instrument in contract law?

The diversity of contract laws is said by the Commission to discourage cross-border trade and hinder the development by SMEs of a pan-European commercial policy. An optional instrument containing both facilitative general contract rules and mandatory consumer protection rules, one of the solutions proposed by the Commission, is gaining rapid support from key stakeholders. Drawing from firms?? own views on the problems of legal diversity, and insights from organisational science, this article sets out the circumstances in which firms will likely consider a European optional code. Results are mixed: some firms may consider it, while others may ignore it. Much depends the firm??s aspirations (i.e. SMEs cannot be assumed as-yet to have pan-European aspirations), how the firm perceives the problems of legal diversity, and how it searches for and decides upon solutions. It would appear that a European optional instrument may not be as useful or widely considered as its proponents would like to believe.     

Chinese Wall system in large finance and market institutions

Large modern professional finance and market institutions have inevitably been subject to conflicts of interest, and the Chinese Wall has been an innovation, if not always successful, which provides a convenient solution to those problems. The Chinese Wall is designed to get a balance between commercial reality and public confidence. Attitudes towards the Chinese Wall vary from country to country, depending on the level of such balance. Experience in the relevant industries, however, has cast doubt on the effectiveness of the Chinese Wall in protection of the interest of investors, which suggests the current Chinese Wall is far from ideal, and consequently there is still a long way to improve the design and enhancement of the Chinese Wall, calling for the development of a more supplementary and enforcement mechanism.     

中美经贸协议背景下地理标志和通用名称界分研究

对于地理标志和通用名称的界分,我国当下采取的标准为“指代一类商品”标准。这一标准并不能反映地理标志和通用名称的本质区别。地理标志通用化的本质是“标示地理来源”功能的丧失,故应当引入“标示地理来源”标准。对于通用名称的判断范围,应当坚持以全国标准为主,同时严格限制相关市场标准的适用。《中美经贸协议》本质上是美方寻求更广泛的市场准入的尝试,对我国地理标志和通用名称的界分提出了新的要求。《地理标志保护中的通用名称判定指南》(征求意见稿)虽然回应了《中美经贸协议》的要求,但是提供的保护水平过低,不利于地理标志资源的开发利用。应当在符合《中美经贸协议》要求的基础上,努力寻求地理标志的高水平保护。     

知识产权制度的未来

知识经济的发展和数字网络的兴起使知识的创新与传播日益多样化，深刻地改变了知识产权制度的生态环境。生态环境的巨大变化进一步暴露了知识产权制度的先天缺陷，使知识产权制度面临前所未有的危机和挑战，改革现有知识产权制度与探索知识产权制度的补充或替代成为必然。知识创新激励制度的多样性、可替换性与环境适应性表明，单一制度无法提供所有知识领域的最佳激励，多元化成为未来知识产权制度的必然选择。     

The positioning of the Prosecution Service in the Netherlands and England and Wales: Lessons from one extreme to another

It has been widely acknowledged that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), has since it came into existence, had an unsteady start. Part of the problem relates to its relation and communication with its criminal justice partners, by which we mean courts, police and local and central government. A key issue in this respect appears to be striking a balance between independence and autonomy on the one hand, and close contact and the establishment of `partnership' on the other hand. This paper examine show this balance is struck in the Netherlands, where the Prosecution service (Openbaar Ministerie) is strikingly different in nature, but faces very similar problems. It will be argued that a slightly more relaxed attitude on the CPS's independence might open the door to more fruitful relationship with the criminal justice partners in the field. Several examples concerning this in the Netherlands will be presented and discussed. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The New City Regulators: Platform and Public Values in Smart and Sharing Cities

Cities are increasingly influenced by novel and cosmopolitan values advanced by transnational technology providers and digital platforms. These values which are often visible in the advancement of the sharing economy and smart cities, may differ from the traditional public values protected by national and local laws and policies. This article contrasts the public values created by digital platforms in cities with the democratic and social national values that the platform society is leaving behind. It innovates by showing how co-regulation can balance public values with platform values. In this article, we argue that despite the value-creation benefits produced by the digital platforms under analysis, public authorities should be aware of the risks of technocratic discourses and potential conflicts between platform and local values. In this context, we suggest a normative framework which enhances the need for a new kind of knowledge-service creation in the form of local public-interest technology. Moreover, our framework proposes a negotiated contractual system that seeks to balance platform values with public values in an attempt to address the digital enforcement problem driven by the functional sovereignty role of platforms.     

Innovating from big science research

Increasing scientific knowledge demands technological breakthroughs beyond industrial innovation activity. Using this as a basic motivation for R&D collaboration between industry and big science, the paper reports a systematic approach to exploit the technological treasures embedded in experimental basic research. Based on a systematic technology breakdown and mapping of each technological trajectory with possible application areas, the method enables one to direct joint efforts on the most prominent research topics. Yet, to achieve this active partners are needed to enter the innovative conversion process to turn scientific ambitions into commercial products. Some industrial companies practicing active R&D strategy have realized this, and the paper outlines some cases where the product innovation, is not the only motivation to enter big science collaboration. Putting all this together, and knowing the severe financial and political pressures the major scientific research labs are facing, the paper defines the practical procedures needed to initiate the process which eventually leads to better technological return from fundamental research.