The traditional innovation function, focusing on extrinsic motivations such as economic benefits and returns, has neglected the side of intrinsic values and public motivations for innovation function. Recent innovation examples in an era of mobile network and web-based information environment pursue open connected innovations such as open source movement and crowding source. Such open, collective and social innovations result from strong public motivation and trust network. Although previous studies argue the potential effects of intrinsic values on innovative attitude, research has not yet provided a comprehensive empirical evidence on how innovative attitude is associated with intrinsic and public motivations. Little empirical research remains for the impact of public motivations and intrinsic values on innovative attitudes. This study, relying on nationally represented survey (n = 3,188) in South Korea, explores an empirical link between public motivations and innovative attitudes to explore and allow new ideas. We found that public interest, empathy, altruism and job involvement facilitate innovative attitude to pursue and accept new ideas and suggestions. This implies that both intrinsic values (job enjoyment and satisfaction) and public motivations (public interests, empathy and altruism) are crucial factors to promote innovative attitudes. We also found strong non-linear relationships between satisfaction, trust and innovative attitude. We discuss implications for future innovation function of intrinsic and public motivations in terms of the process of social construction.
The main objective of this article is to answer the question: How does one make a ‘new’ business model framework in a knowledge-based economy? In an effort to advance this issue, we built a research framework based on literature reviews. In addition, we performed social experiments at DGIST during 2011–2015 to arrive at a new business model framework. There are four different active business model-building processes. First is the customer open innovation-based business model developing circle. Second is the user open innovation-based business model developing circle. Third is the social entrepreneurship-based business model developing circle and fourth is the engineer open innovation-based business model developing circle. Empirical research to confirm the operation status of business model approaches, the study makes use of patents database.
Developing talented human resources through learning entails nurturing innovation and improving competitiveness; to achieve innovation, tech-based SMEs within or around Korean technoparks must undertake learning organisation activities (LOAs). Our results demonstrate that six dimensions of the LOA model have more validity or a better model fit than the previous seven dimensions of the LOA model. Furthermore, three important sub-variables of LOAs (i.e., creating continuous learning opportunities, establishing systems to capture and share learning and providing strategic leadership for learning) have a positive and significant effect on learning transfer. Finally, transferring LOAs was found to mediate the relationship between LOAs and innovativeness by creating continuous learning opportunities (and future directions) and by providing strategic leadership for learning.
The purpose of this study is to empirically investigate the firm- and regional-level determinants of a firm’s adoption of open innovation practices. In particular, we categorise sixteen Korean regions into seven regional innovation types to account for each regions’ varying innovation conditions. Using data from the Korean Innovation Survey and a hierarchical linear model, we find that firm-level factors such as firm size, R&D innovation capability and the number of networks for absorbing external knowledge and regional-level factors such as local government R&D funds matching had a significantly positive effect on open innovation. We also find that of the firm-level determinants, the number of networks had a strong effect on open innovation, and that this differed by regional innovation type. Based on these findings, we argue that innovation policy should strive to stimulate open innovation through measures that take each region’s innovation resources and environment into account, rather than attempting to look for a single optimised model for all regions.
User innovation is a new economic paradigm that has the ability to create a new engine for social and economic development. Furthermore, many users are not limited to their role as a user but evolve into business starters, thus becoming user entrepreneurs. This study aimed to reveal the important factors of successful user entrepreneurship by closely investigating two successful Korean user entrepreneurship cases. Based on this study’s findings, the importance of an entrepreneur’s caliber and networking ability was found. An entrepreneur’s innovation ability from expert knowledge and great familiarity and experience with the business as a user coupled with a strong will to entrepreneurship was the most important success factor at the early stage. In further developing user innovation technologically and commercially, the most important factor was an entrepreneur’s networking ability that can give access to complementary assets for successful development and commercialisation. With this, the innovation community—composed of related users and producers—has played a crucial role in the successful entrepreneurial process.
This study examines factors affecting the performance of basic research in South Korea. Creative Research Program (CRP), which is one of the major basic research programmes, is a study target. The survey of N = 120 researchers from universities and research institutes was conducted in 2010. Basic research performance which is the dependent variable was measured by subjective survey questions. The data were analysed using factor analysis and multiple regression. The result shows that leadership is the most important factor affecting the basic research performance based on the regression coefficient (β). Knowledge sharing, autonomy, collaboration and creativity in sequence were also statistically valuable factors that impact on the performance of basic research in South Korea.
While open innovation has become a popular strategy to enhance innovation in firms, open innovation in the context of entrepreneurship is not yet well understood. Particularly in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the necessity of understanding the role of entrepreneurship combined with open innovation is much greater. This research focuses on the role of entrepreneurship in the open innovation process and its impact on innovation performance. Our primary research question is: What are the impacts of open innovation, entrepreneurship and their synergy effects onto innovation performance, especially onto Korean Information Technology (IT) SMEs? To answer this question, a survey was conducted about open innovation, entrepreneurship orientation, business models and sales, and innovation performance for approximately 400 Korean SMEs in the IT sector. The regression results and findings from the analysis are presented and discussed.
Open Innovation means that valuable ideas can come from inside or outside the company and can go to market from inside or outside the company as well (Chesbrough, 2006). This concept is a decade old and is still alive and thriving concept that we need to integrate it into the broader stream of innovation literature focusing on collaboration with external partners (Vanhaverbeke, Chesbrough, & West, 2014). Society of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity (SOItmC) in conjunction with 8th Knowledge Cities World Summit (KCWS) organised a conference at Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST) in 2015. The theme of the conference was ‘open innovation, knowledge city, and creative economy’. The concrete meaning of this theme is twofold. The first leads us to motivate to make use of open innovation to build up knowledge city. The other motivates us to make creative economy, which is based on creative knowledge and technology through knowledge city. Most articles in this special issue were initially presented at this conference held at Daegu in South Korea. We triggered open innovation to motivate knowledge city and creative economy. Our conference made open innovation as the logical background of eight Korea creative economy centres.
The resource areas development is facing increasingly serious challenge in post-crisis era; it is essential to propose a reasonable approach for improving the self-innovation capability of resource area by using technology spillover of foreign direct investment (FDI) and applying absorptive capacity as the conduction medium. Based on the development characteristics of resource areas, the ‘micro-meso-macro’ view three-dimensional conceptual framework of FDI spillover, absorptive capacity and self-innovation capability was constructed. Then, the empirical analysis was conducted in three steps: first, the FDI technology spillover effects between Shanxi and three eastern provinces (Jiangsu, Liaoning and Hebei) were compared; second, the absorptive capacity and the relative factors were compared; third, by taking Shanxi province as an example, the relationship between FDI technology spillover and the self-innovation capacity was verified and the conduction medium role of absorptive capacity was investigated. Finally, by combining the theoretical and empirical analysis, three suggestions were put forward for reference.
Entrepreneurship has emerged as an important career option in several developing countries, particularly in Africa. Consequently, entrepreneurship education and training has been sought out by people who have low or no formal education. Governments and donors have tendency to consider entrepreneurship as an instrument to lift up the most vulnerable population such as uneducated women, school drop outers and people with disabilities. However, there is a shortage of technological entrepreneurship in developing countries. This paper investigated the influential factors affecting the entrepreneurial motivation, intentions and decisions among African scientists and engineers’ postgraduates from China universities since 1995 to 2014. Only 6% of respondents are in technological entrepreneurship related to their field of graduation. Conclusion remark is given to encourage technological entrepreneurship which will provide more opportunities, create jobs and improve people’s quality of life.
The triple helix of university–industry–government relations has been accepted as a significant determiner of innovation. For the economic progress of the industrialised nations, the cooperation between academia and industry is terribly crucial. For the purpose of profit maximisation by means of such cooperation, achieving a healthy and productive cooperation is of vital importance. Science and technology (S&T) cooperation platform is an original cooperative mode in East China, which is similar to the technology transfer office. This article researches the cooperation relation and makes a thorough inquiry of the influence of cooperation on high-tech firms. Based on an investigation of 552 high-tech firms and 56 universities, we found that the high-tech firms can improve economic situation via the cooperation with universities on the platform. Moreover, principal discoveries demonstrate that the economic performance of high-tech firms is positively related with the co-operation projects. Furthermore, with a view to making policies and raising probable improvements to cooperative efficiency between academia and industry, this study also finds that high-tech firms selecting distinct cooperation models on the platform will bring different effects on the economic performance of firms.
This article discusses the strengths and limitations of Actor-Network Theory (ANT) as a framework for Science and Technology Studies (STS). While ANT was originally rooted in Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) approaches, ANT has become a theoretical framework commonly used by scholars in numerous disciplines beyond STS, including Information Sciences. Although some scholars consider ANT to be now closer to sociomateriality studies, we claim that ANT differs from sociomateriality in that it suggests a different notion of power. In ANT, power results from actors’ associations enacted into being rather than the sociomateriality claim that power results from existing power structures. We draw from our work on information technologies and social movements to illustrate this important distinction, and to show how ANT can be further strengthened by including the study of histories, memories and trajectories, in order to better understand power relations as associations enacted into being. In this way, we offer a deeper understanding of ANT and its utility for STS research in general, and information studies in particular.
In this article, I have studied the impact of vehicle prices, subsidies/penalties and tax incentives that affect the hybrid car market penetration in Korea. I have adopted an agent based modelling to analyse dynamic interaction between market participants. To derive the analytical results close to the current, realistic context of Korea, I have used real statistical data from government agencies and private institutions. The analysis results show that the investigated factors affect consumer-purchase. Especially, vehicle price change has highly significant influence on the market share of hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) in Korea. Subsidy/penalty policy of Korea turns out to have rather less effect on HEV penetration. Furthermore, unlike the research findings for other countries, fuel price changes do not nearly affect the penetration rate.
The literature records that educational technologies have the power to ‘colonise’ societal cultures. However, this study asserts the co-existence of a counter power through which societal cultures may ‘colonise’ educational technologies too. This assumption of power struggle is examined by addressing the question: to what extent do societal cultures colonise educational technologies? This question is answered using a qualitative and quantitative enquiry into Israeli society. Having analysed the data, it is found that societies consist of beliefs, attitudes and behaviours that may challenge the determination of educational technologies. This could be seen as empirical evidence suggesting that, although educational technologies may seek to colonise societies, societies may seek to colonise educational technologies as well, with the two entities engaging in a politically reciprocal relationship.