Researchers and managers have found that the use of external knowledge in the process of new product development (NPD) helps to sustain a firm's competitiveness by strengthening its innovative performance. However, little is known about why some firms use external knowledge sources for NPD in an extensive manner while others hardly ever use them. In addition, there is disagreement about which external partners significantly contribute to the innovative performance of a firm as valuable knowledge sources. Based on the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm and Kitchell's innovation adoption model, this paper expects a firm's innovation culture to have a significant impact on its openness to external knowledgemeasured in terms of its collaborative behaviour with five different external partners -and for that behaviour to influence the firm's NPD performance. A sample of 254 technology-based firms across several industries is used to empirically test the research model with covariancebased structural equation modeling (SEM). The findings deepen our understanding of the discrepancies between successful pioneering firms active in technology and knowledge sourcing and others being less successful.

This paper presents a novel fully implantable wireless sensor system intended for long-term monitoring of hypertension patients, designed for implantation into the femoral artery with computed tomography angiography. It consists of a pressure sensor and a telemetric unit, which is wirelessly connected to an extracorporeal readout station for energy supply and data recording. The system measures intraarterial pressure at a sampling rate of 30 Hz and an accuracy of ±1.0 mmHg over a range of 30-300 mmHg, while consuming up to 300 μW. A special peel-away sheath introducer set was developed to support the implantation procedure. The system delivered stable measurements in initial animal trials in sheep, with results being in good agreement with reference sensor systems.

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The pilot study proved the technical feasibility of wireless BP measurement in the FA via a novel miniature sensor device.

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