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This paper deals with the efficiency and sustainability of Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW) management in 30 Member States of the European Economic Area (EEA) (the 28 European Union countries plus Norway and Iceland) for the period 2010–2016 using Exploratory Data Analytics (EDA) and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The first stage of the proposed methodology is EDA with already available (the CDW recovery rate) and suggested indicators (e.g., building stock characterization, dwelling occupancy ratio, macroeconomic ratios and CDW breakdown) to characterize the efficiency and sustainability of CDW management. The second stage is to assess the efficiency of countries using DEA through two original CDW production models, one for sustainability, measuring the efficiency of the construction sector for reducing its CDW, and the second a model to score the efficiency of maximizing the CDW recovery rate. The main outcome of the paper is the proposed methodology, which is a candidate for replacing current indicators in order to evaluate the performance of CDW policy, due to is adaptive nature, promoting the continuous improvement and overcoming the limitations of the poor quality of metrics, data and parametric indicators. The methodology has been experimentally validated using Eurostat data for 30 Member States of EEA, ranking them according to the two DEA model scores, to point out the countries considered efficient among those of their scale, as a reference for sustainable and efficient practices.

Abstract:The open innovation states that companies can and must use the available resources outside their boundaries. This combination of ideas aligned to the internal and external technologies are crucial to reach a leadership position. The present study aims to identify the practices of open innovation along the partnerships between providers of Cloud Computing. Social Network Analysis were used in the research. Data was collected through questionnaires secondary sources. The companies were asked to identify their strategic partnerships and to identify and characterize the practices of Open Innovation they actually use. Of the 26 strategic partnerships mentioned, only 11 were characterized as practices of the Open Innovation.

Abstract:The main research question addressed in this paper concerns the way entrepreneurs' social networks affect the opportunity identification and the access and mobilization of resources in a science-based field -biotechnology -facilitating the founding of new firms. For this purpose we adopted an analytical framework combining contributions from the technological entrepreneurship and the social network literature and, on this basis, we proposed: i) that entrepreneurs social networks, both those associated with their academic and professional trajectories and those intentionally build already having the firm as a goal, are critical to access the wide range of resources necessary to create a new firm in this type of field; ii) that different network configurations are associated with the access and mobilisation of different types of resources. We developed a methodology that combines several methods usually applied separately and that permits to assemble of a vast array of data capturing the nature and contents of a wide range of relationships. This methodology was applied to a sub-set of the Portuguese biotechnology industry -the molecular biology firms. Globally this research provides evidence that contributes to on-going debates in the area of social networks and entrepreneurship, both at the methodological and empirical levels. At this stage the main contribution regards the development of a methodology that was found to offer important insights into the behaviour of science-based entrepreneurs in their search for key resources for firm formation. The results obtained, although still exploratory, already provide some indications concerning the conditions for biotechnology entrepreneurship in countries that are peripheral relative to the major concentrations of biotechnology knowledge and business.

Please cite this article in press as: Fontes, M., et al., The spatial dynamics of niche trajectory: a b s t r a c tThis paper proposes that niches, as protected spaces where technologies are developed and articulated with societal needs, transcend territorial boundaries, encompassing communities and actions that span several spatial levels. To support this assertion, the paper builds on the socio-cognitive perspective to niche development and extends it, introducing a new dimension -space -thus broadening and "spatializing" the concept of technological niche. This framework is applied to the case of wave energy. Empirical research combines a generic analysis of the construction of an "overall niche space" with a detailed analysis of the processes taking place in Portugal, which was one of the pioneers in the emerging field. The results confirm the niche multi-spatial dynamics, showing that it is shaped by the interplay between a niche relational space constructed by actors' actions and interactions, and the territorial effects introduced by their embeddedness in particular geographical and institutional settings.

How to commercialise university-generated knowledge internationally? A comparative analysis of contingent institutional conditions Abstract Our paper sets out to explore the contingent institutional conditions that underpin knowledge transfer, and particularly commercialisation, from universities to enterprises across national borders. We explore the phenomenon in four technology-focused and research leading (in the national context) universities in Estonia, India, Portugal and the UK. We argue that participants in interactions (despite the fact that they maintain their core operations in different institutional fields) possess common knowledge bases, and shared norms and cognitive frameworks. In many cases however, the emergence of organisational rules to facilitate interactions do not lead to the institutionalisation of the processes at work: restricting the scope of both existing interactions and their advancement and offering a central role to nonpracticing entities. The paper advances university-led pooling of intellectual property (geographically or sectorally) as an alternative for institutionalisation.

This paper addresses the strategies adopted by science-based start-ups to gain access to knowledge resources at different spatial levels. The goal of the paper is to investigate the presence and relative importance of ties endowed with different types of proximity in firms' knowledge networks, as well as the role played by non-geographical proximity in gaining access to knowledge sources, both located nearby and at a distance. For this purpose we develop an analytical framework that permits to distinguish between two dimensions of proximity: geographical, associated with the spatial location of the actor; relational, associated with the origin of the tie -leading to different modes of proximity that are further linked with modes of knowledge access (formal or informal). We also develop a methodology to reconstruct the knowledge networks, permitting to identify origin, location and nature of the ties and to position them along modes of proximity. The results show that the incidence and mix of these modes of proximity vary in firms' individual networks, being possible to identify different patterns of knowledge access. But they also uncover the overall relevance of "relational proximity", whether or not coexisting with geographical proximity and often compensating for its absence. The paper contributes to our understanding of knowledge access strategies of science-based start-ups and uncovers the spatial spanning role played by the entrepreneurs' personal networks.

This paper investigates the networking behaviour of biotechnology start-ups in peripheral locations. The aim is to understand whether the conditions found in this type of environment introduce some specificities in the networking process, namely in network building and early mobilization to access key resources. The paper compares biotechnology start-ups in Portugal and in Southern Italy, focusing on relationships with research organizations and on the relevance assumed by international connections, and investigating the role played by entrepreneurs' personal networks. The research identified some common features that diverge from the typical biotechnology start-up behaviour and can be regarded as firms' adaptive responses to the conditions faced. Notwithstanding the frequent presence of close connections with local research organizations-that often play functions that go much beyond that of a knowledge source-the local environment is a lesser determinant for a substantial proportion of firms than would be expected in start-ups. A distinctive feature of these firms is an extensive reliance on foreign sources, for different purposes and from the very early stages. Entrepreneurs' personal networks are found to be instrumental, both to identify and obtain knowledge in the vicinity and to support the establishment of more complex distant relationships.