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- The spatial-institutional architecture of firms’ innovative behaviourPublication . Vaz, Eric; Noronha, Teresa de; Nijkamp, PeterIn recent decades there have been an enormous number of studies about innovation systems, partly inspired by a great interest among policy makers in search for a solid scientific foundation and professional support to identify appropriate development strategies. Despite different perspectives, most studies highlight knowledge creation and innovation as the major drivers of change and growth. This consensus disappears, however, as soon as the complexity of innovation and knowledge are taken into consideration. Innovation goes far beyond new product or process development on account of its interactive nature, while knowledge often surpasses the firms’ internal mechanisms, because, frequently, it is a spatially endogenous characteristic.
- Analysis of regional innovation performance in Portugal – results from an external logistic biplot methodPublication . Vicente Galindo, Purificación; Noronha, Teresa de; Nijkamp, Peter; Vaz, EricPortuguese strategic choices regarding innovation and R&D policy have, over the past two decades, produced various positive achievements, in which the regions of Lisbon and Algarve have taken the lead, and are the only ones in the country to converge towards the European average growth rate. Regarding the other Portuguese regions – despite significant national growth rates in the 1990s as well as a successful attempt to cope with the EMU –, these are lagging behind the EU average with respect to gross production, investment or employment generation. Meanwhile, one of the greatest public policy efforts was to diffuse much of the European funds across the entrepreneurial sector. After a long pathway, it is now timely to evaluate the firms‟ contribution to national and regional growth, their obstacles and impacts. For the purpose of this paper, innovation is used here as a major contributor to the policy evaluation process referred to above. Our investigation aims to explain the present performance of Portuguese firms located throughout the country and to explore those innovation determinants that have a region-specific connotation. To provide a thorough investigation, our analysis defines, on a regional basis, a set of firms‟ behavioural patterns regarding innovation. In our modelling, we employ a new methodology, viz. the External Logistic Biplot method, which is applied to an extensive sample of innovative institutions in Portugal. Variables such as „Promoting knowledge‟, „Management skills‟, „Promoting R&D‟, „Knowledge transfer‟, „Promoting partnership & cooperation‟, and „Orientation of public measures‟ have been identified as crucial determinants in earlier studies and are now used to describe regional institutional profiles. Such profiles exhibit a great variety in the way they combine these determinants to promote regional innovation. The creation of a gradient of capacity to dynamically innovate associated with each firm makes it possible to analyse the innovation gradient of each region in Portugal. Our paper presents and systematically investigates these findings and then reaches some policy conclusions.
- Contributions towards a Cluster Strategy for the Sea in the AlgarvePublication . Monteiro, Pedro Valadas; Noronha, Teresa de; Neto, PauloThis article advocates the relevance and crucial need for a strategic vision of the Algarve based on a cluster approach for its economy of the sea. The article reviews the literature on clusters and relevant topics related and relevant to that issue. It starts by summarizing the scope and structure of the article, followed by a theoretical framework, which highlight the key features and benefits associated with the cluster approach taken, the role of knowledge - intensive service activities as key drivers for innovation and entrepreneurship, taken as critical factors for successful cluster strategy advocated, along with the networking and cooperation, innovation systems and the importance of knowledge spillovers for knowledge management within the cluster.
- Knowledge and innovation: the strings between global and local dimensions of sustainable growthPublication . Noronha, Teresa de; Nijkamp, PeterThe modern growth literature pays much attention to innovation and knowledge as drivers of endogenous developments in a competitive open economic system. This paper reviews concisely the literature in this field and addresses in particular micro- and macro-economic interactions at local or regional levels, based on clustering and networking principles, in which sustainability conditions also play a core role. The paper then develops a so-called knowledge circuit model comprising the relevant stakeholders, which aims to offer a novel framework for applied policy research at the meso-economic level.
- A differentiation framework for Maritime Clusters. Comparisons Across EuropePublication . Monteiro, Pedro Valadas; Noronha, Teresa de; Neto, PauloThe purpose of this paper is to point out some of the main characteristics and critical factors for success that can substantiate the proposal of a differentiation framework for maritime clusters. We conduct a benchmarking analysis intended to distinguish the most relevant aspects which can or should be observed in these types of clusters, applied to the following countries: Spain (Basque Country), Germany (Lander of Schleswig-Holstein), the Netherlands and Norway. The differentiation factors involve agglomeration economies and endogenous conditions derived from geographic proximity, essential for lowering transaction costs, strengthening the leverage of public/private cooperation through centres of maritime excellence, at the same time providing an adequate local environment that favours positive interactions between the different maritime industries and actors. The main results arising from this article are presented through a reconceptualisation of Porter’s Diamond framework for diagnosing the competitiveness of maritime clusters.
- How do small firms from European rural regions learn and innovate?Publication . Cesário, M.; Noronha, Teresa deContrarily to big firms, small firms interact intensively with the territory in which they located, as a signal of their embeddedness. The particular tight links they develop with their external environment reduce uncertainty risks. In general, for them, geographical and sociological proximities constitute the main sources of assets and information determining their perspectives and strategic choices. The present study uses a set of enquires, developed within the framework of a European research project, with the purpose of modelling the determinants of innovation in a bi-univocal relationship of interdependencies between small firms and their environmental contexts. We dealt mainly with lagging regions and a panel of 323 firms from the agro-food sector, located in 11 different European rural regions from six different countries. Using a set of variables able to characterise the innovative processes and through the application of k-mean clusters statistical analysis, it was possible to detect behavioural patterns towards innovation among those firms. Non-innovators, pioneer innovators and follower innovators were the identified patterns. Using cross tabs analysis between those patterns and a set of attributes dealing with the importance of human capital, the profile of each group were drawn.
- Learning in small firms across European rural regions, in PanagopoulosPublication . Cesário, M.; Noronha, Teresa deSmall medium enterprises (SMEs) interact intensely with the territory in which they locate. Is it possible to awake the need for innovation in SMEs and use them as incubators for local development? If so, how do firms behave when they are innovative? Which determinants have a more effective impact on the innovative choices of small firms? The present empirical analyses uses a set of enquires developed within the frame work of an European research project whose main goal was to model the determinants of innovation in a biunivocal relationship of interdependencies between small firms and their environmental contexts. We dealt mainly with lagging regions and the questionnaires were used in 323 firms located in 12 different European rural regions of six countries. The quantitative approach used demonstrated the level of proximity between innovation and firms choices related to factors like: formation of the leadership, or labour skills, coordinationa with suppliers and clients, realtionships with research institutions, external connections.
- Understanding the ways and the dynamics of collaborative innovation processes: the case of the Maritime Cluster of the Algarve region (Portugal)Publication . Monteiro, João Pedro Valadas da Silva; Neto, Paulo; Noronha, Teresa deThe Algarve region has always showed a close relationship with the sea as a result of its excellent natural conditions, historical and cultural reasons, and notorious know-how related with traditional maritime activities, such as fisheries and fish processing, and naval industry; more recently, nautical activities, such as tourism and recreational boating, have been gaining increased importance. The region is also well infrastructured in terms of public R&D institutions which are important cornerstones of the regional and national innovation systems. Through surveys carried out over a population of firms related to fisheries, aquaculture, fish processing and trade, nautical tourism, naval construction, and repair and shipping, we intend to: (1) characterize the innovation processes adopted by the Algarve’s firms of the maritime economy and evaluate some of the main outputs generated by R&D activities promoted by the regional innovation centers; (2) analyze the potential externalities linked to the production and dissemination of information from knowledge spillovers and knowledge networks; and (3) assess the strategic interest associated with the use of knowledge-intensive service activities regarding their role as sources and/or facilitators of innovation in customer organizations, or as carriers of innovation, when they help in transferring knowledge between or within organizations.
- Interaction between innovation in small firms and their environments: an exploratory studyPublication . Noronha, Teresa de; Cesário, M.; Fernandes, Silvia BritoSmall food firms make up an important sector in the European economy and are particularly significant in rural areas where they are potential sources of employment and growth. Despite this, their behaviour as regards innovation has been relatively little studied to date. This exploratory investigation finds different types of innovative behaviours among small agro-food firms in peripheral regions and identifies some of the factors with which they are associated. The research reported here is based on a sample of 323 small and very small food and drink (hereafter “food”) firms drawn from 11 regions in six European countries. The food industry is generally regarded as a mature, low-technology industry, but this study identifies different clusters of small food firms according to innovative behaviours. It finds that, although a substantial number of firms may be defined as non-innovators, by far the largest cluster of food firms is involved in multiple forms of innovative activity. Recent studies have demonstrated the complexity of the determinants of technological progress. This may be modelled as a learning process in which small innovative firms tend to draw on internal and external sources of expertise and are both influenced by and influence the broader socio-economic environment in which they operate. This study uses cluster analyses to identify four types of innovative behaviours and examines the factors influencing these. It takes first steps to incorporate both measures of innovative capacity at the firm level as well as of the local development environment in order to explore links between the innovative capacity of small food firms and the characteristics of their regional contexts.
- As novas fronteiras da Política Regional: o caso das zonas portuguesas desfavorecidasPublication . Noronha, Teresa de; Cesário, M.; Fernandes, Silvia BritoO trabalho discute os fundamentos das recentes formas de interacção empresarial para a inovação. Sustenta que tais formas devem ser consideradas na preparação de políticas de apoio ao desenvolvimento das regiões menos favorecidas, ressaltando a importância da descentralização da decisão e da aprendizagem nesse processo. Referimo-nos à necessidade de integrar o conceito de inovação no de política regional. Apontamos os instrumentos fundamentais para que tenha lugar a coordenação de estratégias e a interface com as diferentes organizações de aprendizagem. Com base numa observação sobre o que tem sido a política regional em Portugal, avaliamos os efeitos recentes da política regional e da política nacional de inovação no país, cruzando dados estatísticos a partir de 1988 pelas cinco regiões portuguesas. Finalmente, apresentamos uma apreciação do esforço de investimento das regiões para o seu desenvolvimento e apontamos alguns factores inerentes às modernas dinâmicas da inovação necessários para uma maior eficácia da actual política regional.