Innovation policy and information technology Martin Weiss School of Information Sciences University of Pittsburgh 1 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License Topics What is innovation policy? What is the role of IT in innovation? 2 Some definitions Innovation the implementation of a new or significantly improved product (good or service), or process, a new marketing method, or a new organizational method in business practices, workplace organization or external relations (OECD/Eurostat, 2005) Not just processes or products that are new to the world but also to the absorption and productive use of technology that is new to the firm or new to the region Broader meaning Scientific inspiration transformed into new products, processes and services to improve peoples lives Allows countries to greatly improve productivity and thus economic growth Leads to better standards of living and increased national competitiveness 3 Should government get involved in innovation? A matter of political philosophy? Resolve market failure? Innovation as a quasi-public good that is under- provisioned Winter (1959) Manage risk and uncertainty Resolve systemic failures? Complexity of technology and systems Path dependence and lock-in Economies of scale and scope in multi-disciplinary areas 4 Broad context of innovation policy 5 Policy goals Outcomes Actors Source: OECD Science, Technology and Industry Outlook, 2014 Scope of innovation policy 6 Necessary Pre-condition 7 How does innovation work in general? How does innovation work in general? How does this inform innovation policymaking? How does this inform innovation policymaking? The innovation process Actors -- Organizations (e.g., firms, universities, public research labs, government ministries, etc.) Structures Material factors that shape the opportunities & constraints for innovation Institutions Rules of the game & codes of conduct that reduce uncertainty Ideas Socio-cognitive frameworks within which actors carry out their activities (e.g., world views, normative beliefs & values, and the logics of appropriateness held by actors & embodied in institutions) 8 Source: OECD Science, Technology and Industry Outlook, 2010 Key activities in systems of innovation Provision of knowledge inputs to the innovation process Provision of R&D results and creation of new knowledge, Competence building, through formal and informal learning Demand-side activities Formation of new product markets Articulation of new product quality requirements emanating from the demand side. Provision of constituents Creating and changing organizations for developing new fields of innovation. Networking through markets and other mechanisms Creating and changing institutions e.g., patent laws, tax laws, environment and safety regs. Support services for innovating firms Incubation activities, e.g. providing access to facilities, administrative support for activiities Financing of innovation processes that may facilitate commercialization Provision of consultancy services 9 10 What are some policy instruments? What are some policy instruments? How would these be used to design a policy? How would these be used to design a policy? A typology of innovation policy instruments 11 Source : Borrs, S. and Edquist, C. The choice of innovation policy instruments Technological Forecasting & Social Change 80 (2013) 15131522 Dimensions of policy design These can be considered jointly (i.e., as a policy mix) Policy mix idea is also useful for considering issues of balance and coherence of instruments within each dimension 12 Domain areas Variety of sub-systems associated with innovation performance Rationales Justification for policy intervention Relate to the underlying causes of under- performance in particular domain areas Strategic tasks Broad direction of policy intent Derived from the rationales for policy intervention Instruments Techniques for structuring collective action to meet strategic tasks Source: OECD Science, Technology and Industry Outlook, 2010 Applications of the policy mix idea 13 14 What are some component tasks of an innovation policy? What are some component tasks of an innovation policy? How do countries compare in terms of their general approaches? How do countries compare in terms of their general approaches? Goals and tasks of innovation policy 15 Archetypes of innovation systems 16 Topics What is innovation policy? What is the role of information technology in innovation? Innovation through IT Innovation of IT 17 General role of IT in innovation It is almost impossible to do research without the use of IT! What is new about this? 18 Experimental design Modelling and/or simulation Data collection Data analysis IT innovations Implications The promise of IT enable new kinds of scientific questions These new lines of scientific inquiry require innovation in IT Systems design and architecture Algorithms Theory Advances in IT imply changes in the scientific workflows of all disciplines These new workflows must be supported by a newly conceived research infrastructure 19 What is a workflow? An example from biology 20 Supporting scientific workflows 21 Generating workflows Collaboratories Applications Digital library repositories Data repositories Toolsets Data replication Virtualized resources Institutional systems Workflow layer How can IT support collaboration for larger, complex workflows? What kinds of applications are available for scientific team members? What new tools are available Support workflow development and innovation Support communication among tasks in a workflow Support tasks of a workflow 22 Support layer Why do we need a support layer? Scientific integrity Accountability Maximize public benefit from research Support layer questions What data from workflows should be stored? What is suitable metadata to make these data discoverable and usable? How are results published and tagged for discovery? How are replications of experiments supported? What formal instruments are appropriate (e.g., patents)? 23 Infrastructure layer What services does the infrastructure layer provide? Storage of datasets Storage of reports Data movement Questions How can data be stored reliably over the long term? How are data curated? How are data formats managed over time? How is data movement different from data communications? 24 What does this mean for IT? Deep collaboration between IT and other disciplines New needs Innovation in development, management and documentation of scientific workflows Innovation in data curation and stewardship Institutional basis for multidisciplinary research 25 What does this mean for innovation? Definitions Innovations are new creations of economic and societal significance, primarily carried out by firms Innovation is the translation of the outcomes of R&D into practice The emerging research model described above shows that IT plays a special role Innovation through IT Innovation of IT 26 Supporting scientific workflows Focus areas Improving efficiency of scientific processes Reducing transaction costs of collaboration Developing new research methods Support scientific integrity and accountability 27 Examples of innovation through IT Workflow layer Support collaboration (e.g. information and project management) Develop applications (e.g. data analysis & visualization) Build toolsets (e.g. simulation software) Support layer Digital library repositories Accessibility, provenance and access control Infrastructure layer Reliable data repositories Data movement 28 How has IT changed innovation? Process Business and research processes (e.g., ERP systems) Operational models facilitated by IT (Uber, AirBNB) Service On-demand services (e.g. SaaS) Applications Social networks MMP gaming Systems Computing clouds Mobile networks 29 What does this mean for innovation policy? Innovation process Implications Actors IT at each innovation layer must be included Institutions Support for multidisciplinary researchers Collaboration support Ideas Scientific innovation IT innovation Structures IT infrastructure 30 Summary Many countries use various policy instruments to stimulate innovation A substantial literature exists that studies innovation and innovation policy It is useful to think in terms of a policy mix rather than a singular innovation policy Advances in information technology have stimulated profound changes In the scientific innovation processes In innovation in general A profound synergy exists between innovations in information technology and the innovations made possible by the application of IT Thus, innovation policy must explicitly incorporate IT broadly into the innovation ecosystem 31