How do new industries emerge? The aim of this paper is to provide an answer to this question by focusing on the knowledge dimension of this process. We first argue that there is a sectoral bias of research which has equalized new industry emergence with only a selection of new industries, especially the software and biotechnology industry. In this paper, we focus on the service robot industry. We analyze its institutional properties, its knowledge properties, and the role of collaborations. We find that the emergence of service robot industry is, contrary to biotechnology and software, triggered by established technical leaders, and less by new firms. Using Japanese patent data, we also show that the service robot industry, while being a new industry, possesses cumulative characteristics. As the emergence of this industry matches to the characteristics of Japan’s institutional and knowledge regime we essentially argue that the popular association of certain institutional paths with a lack of innovativeness is erroneous. We conclude that industry emergence in intrapreneurial regimes seems to be distinctive from entrepreneurial regimes.
There is a large literature on innovation and the importance of a node and a network as
important to creating an environment for such innovation. Most of the analysis of this
system has been in high technology industries, and in the products and technologies that
it creates. However, there is no reason why we can’t analyze innovation in less leading
edge industries and products, and in the development or organizational structures rather
than products. This paper tries to illustrate the potential of this type of innovation
institutions by looking at structures for business relationships as the innovation, and
consciously chooses two very low technology industries (Japanese trading company
relationships in textiles and steel) to illustrate the potential usefulness of innovation
system concepts in less conventional venues.
More than 500,000 people live in Mathare, the second-largest collection of slums in Nairobi, Kenya. Crime and disease ravage the population, and shanties have no electricity or running water. But there’s one piece of technology that everyone seems to have, one which promises to bring much-needed improvements: the cell phone.
Cell phones are central to two of the eight most recent Global Underdevelopment Action Fund projects funded by the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. Both projects will be led by Joshua Cohen, a professor of political science, philosophy and law and the Marta Sutton Weeks Professor of Ethics in Society.
The first of Cohen’s projects will examine whether texting private and accurate health advice will increase awareness of risky sexual behavior among Mathare’s younger residents who face high rates of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
Cohen's second project involves teaching women to use mobile technology to meet up with larger groups while traveling at night, which Cohen believes can led to a decrease in the number of assaults, muggings and rapes. Eventually, the hope is that the program can be taken over by Kenya’s police and expanded.
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| Cell phone charging station in Mathare |
Six other projects are receiving support from the third round of Global Underdevelopment Action Fund awards, amounting to a total of $265,000.
The funds will enable multidisciplinary teams led by Stanford faculty from across the university to perform policy-relevant research focused on global underdevelopment challenges.
The funded projects will have real world impact. They will help target tuberculosis, which kills more than 1 million people a year and hinders economic development in the hardest-hit regions, like parts of India. They evaluate the amount of resources necessary to improve test scores and lower anemia rates among China’s rural schoolchildren. They ensure that health care is accessible to people in the Arab world where countries are undergoing political transitions. And they evaluate the challenges and benefits of bringing solar power to areas in Africa where electricity is a rare commodity.
As varied as the eight projects are, each will train Stanford undergraduate or graduate students, stressing the importance that Stanford and FSI place on training the next generation of researchers and policy influencers.
The projects were selected by a faculty committee chaired by Stephen D. Krasner, FSI’s deputy director and the Graham H. Stuart Professor of International Relations.
The Action Fund is supported by FSI donors, matching funds from the Office of the President and FSI. The fund grew out of the institute’s 2010 conference on Technology, Governance, and Global Development. This year’s follow-up conference further showcased FSI’s commitment to challenges posed by global underdevelopment with a focus on food security and health.
The award-winning projects and their principal investigators are:
Information technology (IT) is one of the transformative forces in the world today. As an engine of innovation and growth, it has transformed the economic structure in a wide range of areas, and it has reorganized social activities in ways not yet completely understood. IT also raises critical policy issues, particularly around the role of information privacy, security, and networks. Japan’s IT sector has experienced major shifts in its regulatory and industry structure as it developed cutting-edge services but became isolated from global markets.
On December 6, the Program on Arab Reform and Democracy at the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law together with the Safadi Foundation USA inaugurated the Safadi-Stanford Initiative for Policy Innovation (SSIPI) at a conference hosted by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC and supported by the Center for International Private Enterprise. This gathering convened an upwards of 100 guests to explore the conference's theme of economic reform and development in the Arab world.
The keynote addresses were delivered by IMF Head Christine Lagarde who commented on the economic landscape in the region and suggested methods to stimulate growth for emerging Arab economics, and Lebanese Finance Minister Mohammad Safadi who stressed the importance of institution building and transparent accountable governance practices for development in the region, particularly in relation to how Arab governments handle international aid.
Safadi Scholar of the Year Katarina Uherova Hasbani presented the findings of a research study she authored on electricity sector reform in Lebanon while in residence at CDDRL this fall. The SSIPI research partnership was initiated to promote policy-relevant research on Lebanon and supported Hasbani's visiting fellowship at Stanford. Hasbani, an energy policy expert, presented her findings to the policy- making community, arguing that reliable and stable electricity supplies are a pre-condition for economic development. Hasbani cautioned that the failing electricity sector in Lebanon threatens the country's progress diverting resources from social development and education.
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Tamara Wittes and Mara Rudman, Assistant Administrator for the bureau for Middle East at USAID, both commented on the development challenges and opportunities that lie in the wake of the Arab Spring. "What is happening in the region is about the people writing their own story," said Wittes. "The United States has to approach this with a sense of humility but we have a role to play because we are a major presence in the region." Rudman added that USAID is reaching out to new audience and partners in Egypt, many of whom are outside Cairo, to engage new actors after the January 25 revolution.
Miriam Allam, an economist with the OECD and Safadi Scholar first runner-up stressed the importance of public consultation and good regulation as best practices for cultivating active and democratic citizenship. Undersecretary of State for Economic, Energy, and Agricultural Affairs Robert D. Hormats, underscored the fact that economic reform must match social and political change in the region to create diverse economies that support growth, investment, and trade.
Inger Anderson, Vice-President for MENA at the World Bank, commented on the funding shortages from European countries that are resulting in decreased investment in the Arab world, when they need it the most. Both Anderson and Lagarde advocated for the reform of government subsidies, according to Lagarde, "governments need sustainable fiscal policies, including better targeted subsidies to help low-income groups."
Lagarde added that a key way forward is encouraging private sector investment to spur job creation but stressed that this requires predictability, a stable legal and tax environment, absence of corruption, and the elimination of regulatory loopholes.
Through this conference and ongoing research, the Safadi-Stanford Initiative for Policy Innovation seeks to offer new approaches and recommendations to advance development and governance practices in the region.
Transcript and video of event:
http://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/the-middle-the-storm-development-and-governance-the-arab-world
Speech by IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde:
http://www.imf.org/external/np/speeches/2011/120611.htm
This closed-door symposium is co-organized by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), the US Embassy in Japan, SPRIE-Stanford Project on Japanese Entrepreneurship (STAJE) of Stanford University, and the University of Tokyo (Science Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development SEED, Division of University Corporate Relations DUCR). The event in 2012 will focus on new generation Japanese entrepreneurs and the central role of venture capital in Japan's entrepreneurial ecosystem. SPRIE faculty co-director Professor Bill Miller, and SPRIE-STAJE project leader Robert Eberhart will serve as discussants/commentators at the event.
For information about the 2011 Symposium, please click here for the press release by the U.S. Department of State, and here for more details.
The University of Tokyo, Japan
The 4th annual conference of SPRIE-Stanford Project on Japanese Entrepreneurship (STAJE) will be a two-day event, exchanging ideas on entrepreneruship, institutions, and Japan such as emirical studies, case studies, political and social instituional studies in Japan, and new research methodology including experimental design.
This conference is approriate for working papers for those seeking high quality comments, as well as recently completed papers, and revisions to existing papers.
Knight Management Center
Stanford Graduate School of Business
Stanford University
From November 14th to 22nd, the Stanford Program on Regions of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SPRIE) welcomed a delegation of leaders from Shanghai for intensive training on “Leading Innovative and Entrepreneurial Firms and Regions in the Global Economy”. The 20-member delegation was composed of officials and senior managers with responsibilities over high tech parks, human resources, finance and urban planning in Shanghai, which has a total population over 20 million, and burgeoning investment in banking and finance, IT, bio science and media.
The weeklong program included more than 30 hours at the Stanford Graduate School of Business’ state-of-the-art Knight Management Center, the Bay Area Council and Department of Environment in San Francisco. The Chinese leaders engaged in dialogues and exchanged ideas with Stanford faculty, policy experts in the Bay Area, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, and NGOs on the key strategies to drive innovation and entrepreneurship.
Teaching sessions drew on the expertise and experience of 13 thought leaders who shared innovative strategies, current data, and lessons from Silicon Valley, and regions in the US, Europe and Asia. From the GSB, Professor William F. Miller, Professor William P. Barnett and SPRIE Associate Director Marguerite Gong Hancock, each led sessions, ranging in focus from the ecosystem of Silicon Valley to strategies for discovering successful business models.
The classroom experience culminated in team presentations to translate what was learned into the context of the Chinese leaders’ own experiences and responsibilities in the Shanghai region.
“During the seven-day training program organized by SPRIE, we have learned several insights…especially under the theme of Engines of Innovation and Entrepreneurship,” said one group. The culture of innovation and entrepreneurship, the driving force of linking universities and industry, and the support of non-profit organizations could all play an increased role in Shanghai, another group concluded in a written report.
While appreciating the differences in cultures, systems, and the roles of government between Shanghai and the Valley, the Shanghai leaders also discussed how the Valley’s culture of risk taking and tolerating failure, and empowering creativity and productivity in talent had inspired them to apply lessons learned to Shanghai.
George Shultz, former U.S. Secretary of State, gave a keynote speech at Government Leader Program hosted by SPRIE in September 2011.
