Knowledge that Transforms

Relying on efficiency analysis, we evaluate to what extent policy makers have been able to promote the establishment of consolidated and comprehensive research groups to contribute to the implementation of a successful innovation system for the Spanish food technology sector, oriented to the production of knowledge based on an application model. Using data envelopment analysis techniques that allow calculation of a generalized version of the traditional distance function model for productive efficiency, we find pervasive levels of inefficiency and a typology of different research strategies. Among these, in contrast to what has been assumed, established groups do not play the pre-eminent benchmarking role; rather, partially oriented, specialized and "shooting star" groups are the most common patterns. These results correspond with an infant innovation system, where the fostering of higher levels of efficiency and the promotion of the desired research patterns are ongoing.

This paper has two core purposes. First, building on Nelson and Sampat's work, we outline the social technology conceptual framework and explain why we favour using it to explore two global health initiatives. Second, we discuss the evolution of those initiatives through the lens of the interaction between social technologies, physical technologies and general institutions. Thus we reflect both on evolving conceptual landscapes on the one hand and organisational and institutional terrains on the other. The first section of the paper presents an intellectual journey and outlines our understanding and adoption of the social technology conceptual framework. This framework we argue has a number of advantages over alternative theoretical approaches and perspectives. The second section describes the context in which product development partnerships (PDPs), a type of global health initiative based on a public-private partnership (PPP), have arisen. The third section develops case studies of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) and the Malaria Vaccines Initiative (MVI) as social technology experiments and looks at the complex dynamics between organisation, management, scientific and RD classifications which we argue are useful in analysing the different roles taken on by these PDPs. In the conclusion we reflect on the useful ways in which the concept of social technologies can shed light on complex and networked initiatives.

Liberalisation has had a marked effect on innovative activities in the electricity industry. In particular, electricity reforms have resulted in a reduction in R&D spending in the sector. R&D and patenting activities are respectively regarded as innovative inputs to and outputs from technological progress. The present paper examines the effect of the reforms on patenting activity in the UK electricity sector. The results indicate that electricity related patents in non-nuclear and renewable technologies have increased in the post-liberalisation period. We attribute this trend to the increased commercialisation of the sector. While this development is positive, we argue that a lasting decline in R&D will in the longer run reduce technological progress and innovation in the sector. In order to maintain the pace of innovation, we discuss the need to design a new framework for innovation systems that is commensurate with the functioning and incentive mechanisms of a liberalised sector.