This article explores the micro-dimensions of Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) with the aim of developing an appreciation of the personal interactions that facilitate the success of these university-industry collaborations. Empirical evidence concerning the operation of three KTPs, collected through interviews with the key KTP partners and the review of relevant documentary material, is analysed through the lens of the Communities of Practice approach to situated learning. The analysis of three case studies provides evidence to support the value of conceptualising the process of knowledge transfer between universities and industry as one of learning taking place within communities in which the development of mutual engagement, joint enterprise and shared repertoires play important roles facilitating successful collaborations. Moreover, the analysis highlights the significance of the boundary spanning roles of the KTP partners in facilitating the knowledge transfer process through engagement in both the university and industry communities. By illuminating the dimensions of the inter-personal interactions the CoPs analysis provides the foundations for recommendations to improve university-industry KTPs, in particular, and, interorganisational knowledge transfer initiatives in general.

This paper aims to critically assess the lack of a global inter-urban perspective in the smart city policy framework from a conceptual standpoint. We argue here that the smart city policy agenda should be informed by and address the structure of transnational urban networks as this can affect the efficiency of such local policies. The significance of this global network structure is essential as cities do not exist in a vacuum. On the contrary, urban development is heavily based on urban interdependencies found at a global scale. After critically analysing smart city characteristics and the world city network literature, we identify the need for global urban interdependencies to be addressed in a smart city policy framework. While this paper approaches this issue from a theoretical standpoint, some policy examples are also provided.

Our research objective was to undertake a longitudinally study of how technologies and practices used in web development diffuse over time and whether the diffusion patterns are affected by the regions or the industries in which they take place. The diffusion of web technologies is of interest as, they are highly visible and accessible across the globe and industries by their very nature, which makes it possible to potential adopters to trial them and experience first-hand their relative advantage, compatibility and complexity. Three different cases were chosen, in order to test our hypotheses based on the Diffusion of Innovations Theory. A system was built to collect data using the Wayback Machine. The data collected covered a period of 13 years. Our findings suggest that web innovations may diffuse differently when compared to each other, but also when regions and sectors are considered. Beyond testing the ecological validity of Diffusion of Innovations Theory in web-related technologies, our findings have practical implications which can inform the diffusion of technologies and standards.

The concept of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) is widely accepted as a significant theory in the literature on firm-level entrepreneurship. Despite the collectivity of research, which continues to demonstrate that entrepreneurship and EO differ in nature and according to context, too often, context is ignored. To address this gap, this paper proposes a conceptual framework based on three suddimensions of EO (innovativeness, risk-taking and proactiveness) and a qualitative, multiple case study approach that incorporates data from semi-structured interviews with facility managers and photographic data from incubation facilities to analyze differences in the EO of different types of organizational contexts that provide business support to entrepreneurs such as incubators, accelerators and co-working spaces. Analytical results highlight variations in EO by business support facilities related to their organizational context and the subdimension of EO considered. Combined, these results highlight the need for discriminating amongst different dimensions when examining EO, as well as the need for some new indicators or measurements of each dimension.

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