This study claims that policy makers may not be sufficiently aware of the importance of maintaining an appropriate balance between exploration and exploitation networks for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). On the basis of the open innovation model, policy makers are also increasingly stimulating SMEs to develop their exploration skills. In the Netherlands, a government subsidy called the 'innovation voucher programme' was introduced to stimulate SMEs to develop innovation in cooperation with knowledge institutes. Yet, although many studies show that SMEs tend to have a higher R&D productivity than larger firms, and innovative SMEs are more likely to make external networks with other SMEs or institutions such as universities, there is still little examination of the successfulness of SME's innovation activities. The growing policy attention for the role of SMEs in innovation prompts the questions how innovation in SMEs can be facilitated, and which factors contribute to the success (or failure) of their innovation efforts. This study explores the innovation strategy of innovative Dutch SMEs by means of their sources of innovation, innovation capabilities, innovation performance, and commercialization sources. By means of structural equation modelling of a sample of 243 Dutch SMEs, this study shows that exploring (technology) opportunity together with institutions such as universities and private research establishments is important for successful innovation in SMEs. But, in addition, our model shows that contacts with competitors are also important for successful innovation performance. Our finding that openness of open innovation also applies to the commercialization phase is too often neglected by researchers and policy makers. JEL Classification

The relationship between knowledge investments, innovation and competitiveness is an important topic in both academic research and economic policy and has been studied extensively over the past decades. Nowadays, investments in private and public R&D are believed to make up the heart of a modern knowledge economy. The present paper adopts an evolutionary economics perspective and investigates whether, in addition to private R&D activities, also institutional support systems and policy interventions play a role in inducing innovation initiatives and creating impacts on the performance and competitiveness of industries. We aim to find support for the hypothesis that the competitiveness of industries in the international arena is sustained by the dynamic interaction between national, regional and sectoral innovation systems. This may provide stakeholders with a better understanding of the context in which they operate. Since according to the evolutionary metaphor, the growth of an innovation system follows complex dynamics that cannot simply be analysed within a static quantitative equilibrium framework, here we use an alternative approach based on qualitative pattern recognition analysis originating from artificial intelligence analysis. Besides R&D expenditures, human capital expenditures are regarded as the major input in the knowledge creation process in our analytical framework. To this end, in our paper a qualitative causal model that maps out conditional relations between key factors in national innovation systems will be described. The focus of our investigation is on systematic patterns in the competitiveness of the EU Member States, using statistical information on innovation input and output data from the European Innovation Scoreboard. In our analysis we find support for the hypothesis that there are indeed significant interactions between distinct institutional levels, which may provide guidance to the strategic orientation of nations and the European Union in terms of the emphasis on competitiveness vis-à-vis cohesion.

No abstract

Universities have become more engaged or entrepreneurial, forging deeper relations with society beyond the economic sphere. To foster, structure, and institutionalize a broader spectrum of engagement, new types of intermediary organizations are created, going beyond the “standard” technology transfer offices, incubators, and science parks. This paper conceptualizes the role of such new-style intermediaries as facilitator, enabler, and co-shaper of university–society interaction, making a distinction between the roles of facilitation, configuration, and brokering. As a case study, the paper presents the Knowledge Mile in Amsterdam as a novel form of hyper-local engagement of a university with its urban surroundings that connects the challenges of companies and organisations in the street to a broad range of educational and research activities of the university, as well as to rebrand the street.

The background of this study is the realization that our current understanding of innovation in SMEs is relatively poor, yet the encouragement of innovation in SMEs is at the heart of policy initiatives for stimulating economic development at the local, regional, national and European levels. The sample used for this analysis is drawn from a survey that questioned Dutch SMEs about their involvement in three Eastern Netherlands knowledge clusters that were part of a national economic priorities stimulation programme. SMEs that were located in the more rural sub-region Zwolle, namely, indicated that they were not able to profit enough from the programme. The paper explores if the innovation perception of the SMEs in this sub-region is affected by its collaborative knowledge sources in terms of different types of partners, and if structure of the networks may explain the lack of involvement of these SMEs in the programme.Also, it aims to explore if the internal power relationships of an SME -represented in this study by the education level of the owner/ manager of the SME -influences these relationships.Powerful actors within and outside the organization, namely, may influence the knowledge absorption processes. Results support the strong focus of SMEs on customers and suppliers for new knowledge and the positive role of higher education on the innovation process. In this study, no significant proof is found for the interaction of higher educated entrepreneurs on the relation between knowledge sources and innovation perception. Preliminary insight into the positive and negative interaction effect of the education level of the entrepreneur on the relation between knowledge sources and innovation perception, however, may provide interesting new research directions.

No abstract

Mules, 1992). However, academic scholars have been highly critical of the economic impact of these events and argue that these mega-events add little to nothing for the local economy (Crompton, 1995; Hall, 1992, 2004; Hall & Page, 2008). While the event might have a short-term effect on tourism, there is little empirical evidence that these megaevents will have a long-lasting effect (Matheson, 2006a, 2006b). Rose and Spiegel (2009) claimed a positive effect of bidding for these events on both

No abstract