Michele Mastroeni

• Ontario College of Art and Design

We use the concept of ‘imagined communities’, and related work on socio-technical imaginaries and expectations, to reflect on how Scotland is represented simultaneously as ‘sick and unhealthy’ and a ‘living lab’ due to its innovative medical research. Together, we suggest these narratives have driven a broader health and wealth agenda in post-devol...

In this paper, we explore how the politics of European regulation and risk governance for innovative agricultural biotechnologies, with the continuing emphasis on the precautionary principle, has problematised conventional norms of evidence-based risk-related decision-making. Based on a study we conducted that analysed how the EU regulatory system...

The Scottish referendum of 2014 encouraged massive public debate, including on Scotland’s scientific performance and ability to harness innovation and increase global competitiveness. The science base in Scotland has traditionally been strong but has not translated well into innovation. This article uses statistical data, over 30 interviews and two...

This paper presents an approach developed by the Innogen Centre for the analysis of systems of innovation. The approach, developed through the study of innovation in the life sciences, is unique in that it features a triangular view, alongside consideration of the behaviours and interactions between innovators, regulators and policymakers, and advo...

Research commercialization is key to the process of innovation but is often a difficult process to support and execute successful. Saskatchewan has often come out at a leader in this area by successfully supporting innovation intermediaries and the effective promotion of collaboration between industry and the academy.

Canada is not immune from controversies over the approval and use of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) in its food system. Stakeholders in the agricultural biotechnology policy sphere need access to relevant, independent and reliable information. The provision of such information, and whether objectives are being met, requires a balanced proces...

Recent debate on industrial policy has shifted toward innovation-related issues and economic geography. The conceptual strength and practical implementation of some of these approaches is of concern, particularly the strategic approach termed 'smart specialisation' and its focus on prioritising economic activities with greater potential for growth...

The creation of red blood cells for the blood transfusion markets represents a highly innovative application of regenerative medicine with a medium term (5-10 year) prospect for first clinical studies. This article describes a case study analysis of a project to derive red blood cells from human embryonic stem cells, including the systemic challeng...

1 Commercial potential of RM therapies Regenerative medicine is one of several developments arising from stem cell research, seen as being capable of revolutionising healthcare and improving human health. The development of tissues (for example heart or liver) differentiated from human embryonic stem cells (HES cells) or induced pluripotent stem ce...

This special issue reflects on innovation and industrial policy from the premise that economic growth can be based on the permanent transformation of an economic system via the emergence and/or transformation of multi-agent structures and their inherent competences and knowledge base. The process of emergence or transformation is conceived as being...

The focus of this paper is on Lithuania, whose government released an ambitious innovation strategy to become an innovative services hub for Northern Europe by 2015, and an innovation hub by 2020. Biotechnology has been identified as a strategic sector, and whether Lithuania will be able to achieve its ambition of a fully functioning biotechnology...

The encouragement of innovation at the regional level has been the subject of a series of EU initiatives, but there is, as yet, no overarching framework that provides clear, effective and widely accepted guidance for policy-makers. We identify some of the limitations facing innovation policy in Europe and put forward some ideas based on interdiscip...

There is a continuing need for an analytical approach to institutional change, especially as applied to incremental, agent-driven change. Important institutional change can be incremental and not necessarily linked to immediate crisis. Institutional adjustments initiated by actors in the course of meeting specific economic and political goals can u...

There is renewed interest in the state's role in the economic sphere but a lack of research on the viability and employment effects of alternative economic models, in particular from a ‘liberal market economy’ perspective. This article addresses this gap in the human resource management literature by undertaking a detailed case study of industrial...

Purpose The aim of this paper is to contribute to understanding the nature of specialist and generalist human capital by exploring the ways in which knowledge workers view their experience of working in specialist and generalist roles in pharmaceutical firms in Ireland and the UK. Design/methodology/approach The findings are based on interviews wi...

This paper investigates what the main sources of finance are for start-up and spin-off firms in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector. Using interview data, it shows that government capital plays a predominant role in economies looking to establish a competitive ICT sector. It also shows how non-market incentives, not usually c...

This paper presents a two-tier approach to studying institutional change, where institutions are differentiated as either 'instrumental' or 'defning.' Instrumental institutions are formal institutions made up of a set of rules, regulations and practices meant to facilitate economic or political activities. These are in contrast to defning instituti...

This paper argues that finance, the capital necessary to invest in people, equipment and methods to commercialize high tech innovation, follows a common pattern across cases. The common pattern stems from political actor intervention based on the perception of the strategic importance of Information and Communications Technology.