The Collaborative Creativity Group (CCG) at UNU-MERIT has finalized two major research projects on open source.
QUALOSS is a project that looked to automate the measurement of the quality of open source software so that such projects can me measured quantitatively, objectively and rapidly.
FLOSSMETRICS aimed to construct, publish and analyse a large database with information and metrics about Free/Libre open source software development from several thousand software projects
Bronwyn Hall speaking on IP & Tech Transfer Posted: 2010-02-03 | Updated: 2010-02-04
Bronwynn Hall
On January 29, Bronwyn Hall spoke on IP and technology transfer at the Santa Clara Computer and High Technology Law Journal Symposium on Clean Technology, Santa Clara, California. This year’s Symposium addressed clean technology, and the role that attorneys play in facilitating change.
Private Sector Participation in Rural Innovation Posted: 2010-02-03
Shuan SadreGhazi
Shuan SadreGhazi participated in a writeshop on Dynamics of Rural Innovation from 18-22 January. The aim of the writeshop, which was co-hosted by Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) in Amsterdam and Wageningen University’s Centre for Development Innovation, was to publish a book that will be targeted towards Undergraduate and Masters students in Africa, as well as development practitioners aspiring to use innovation systems thinking in their work. Shuan's chapter was on private sector participation and value creation in rural innovation.
User and User-Driven Innovation Workshop Posted: 2010-01-06 | Updated: 2010-02-04
Open University Headquarters, Milton Keynes (image: Wikipedia)
UNU-MERIT is, together with the Open University, UK, organising an international workshop on user and user-driven innovation. The two-day workshop at the Open University, Milton Keynes, will provide an opportunity for discussion and further thinking about the drivers behind increased interest in user and user driven innovation in various sectors and contexts, as well as what the implications of increased focus on, and prevalence of, user driven and user innovation will be for developing countries. The workshop will take place on March 8-9, 2010.
For more details, please contact Joanna Chataway (j.c.chataway@open.ac.uk), Fred Gault (gault@merit.unu.edu), Julius Mugwagwa (j.t.mugwagwa@open.ac.uk) or Marlene Gordon (m.gordon@open.ac.uk) Phone: + 44 (0) 1908 654 782
On 22-26 February 2010, UNU-MERIT and The Ethiopian Development Research Institute (EDRI) will be jointly organizing the first DEIP workshop of 2010 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. DEIP is an intensive one week course for policy makers in science, technology and innovation policy in developing countries and for participants from the private sector involved in strategic decision-making about technology and innovation.
This month, UNU-MERIT’s trilingual (Dutch, French & English) Programme Assistant and fixer of all things practical at the institute, Eric Engelen, introduces himself.
I joined UNU-MERIT in 2006 as a General Clerk. Since that day I have been exactly that; doing all kinds of different tasks, ranging from administrative to more practical jobs. This perhaps reflects the way my professional life has evolved up to 2006. My first job was of the administrative kind, working in the x-ray department of the Heerlen hospital, but I also worked as a mechanic in a bicycle shop.
UNU-MERIT is a great place to work. The international surroundings are very appealing to me.
My work at UNU-MERIT has evolved since 2006 culminating in, what I consider a highlight, last years Globelics conference in Dakar, Senegal. The opportunity to go to Dakar and assist the organizing committee of the conference was a great experience. For someone who has not done that much travelling, I was really impressed by Dakar, Globelics, and the warm welcome we received from our colleagues from CRES.
From 2010 onwards I will be a Programme assistant next to my more practical tasks.
Pierre Mohnen attended the annual meeting of the American Economic Association in Atlanta, 3-5 January, 2010, where he presented a paper on "Invention, entrepreneurship and prosperity: The Dutch Golden Age" (with Thijs ten Raa). The Dutch 16th and 17th centuries were a period of unprecedented economic
prosperity. In their paper the authors argue that the contributions
of entrepreneurship to innovation transcend the standard categories of creation of new
products and processes. Entrepreneurship also finds new markets for its products and
creates new modes of trade. The Dutch were the globalization pioneers avant la lettre.
Expert Meeting on innovation and enterprise development for development Posted: 2010-02-04
Luc Soete
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) organised an Epxert Meeting on Enterprise development policies and capacity-building in science, technology and innovation on 20-22 January, 2010 in Geneva, Switzerland. The meeting, which focused on entrepreneurship and innovation in developing countries, and how this can be measured, included a presentation by UNU-MERIT Director Luc Soete.
Luc Soete noted that with increased global knowledge sharing, there is a shift in the factors underlying research and innovation away from a purely technological focus, to an emphasis on broader organisational, economic and social aspects. This also reflects increased interest in innovation relevant to the poor, or base of the pyramid, which is driven much more by broader user needs in society, rather than the old mode of technological progress, which focussed on the needs of the high income groups, or top of the pyramid.
UNU-MERIT at ICIM2009 in Brazil Posted: 2010-02-03
In December, a group of UNU-MERIT researchers presented papers at the 6th International Conference on Innovation and Management (ICIM2009) 8-10 December, in Sao Paulo Brazil. The UNU-MERIT delegation included Asel Doranova, Sergey Filippov, Shuan SadreGhazi, Flavia Carvalho and Ying Zhang. ICIM2009 highlighted current thinking and future trends in management of life supporting innovation, knowledge economy and emerging business models. It focused in particular on Sustainable Development. The event was co-organized by UNU-MERIT.
Measuring Creativity: The Book Posted: 2010-02-03 | Updated: 2010-02-09
This book is a collection of contributions from a conference entitled 'Can creativity be measured', which took place in Brussels 28-29 May last year. The conference was organized by DG Education and Culture (DG EAC) together with the Centre for Research on Lifelong Learning (CRELL) of the DG Joint Research Centre (DG JRC). The book provides an overview of two main approaches to the
measurement of creativity, including aggregate level approaches, where different existing statistical indicators can be used as pointers of creativity in a region or a nation, and secondly, the measurement of creativity at the individual level.
Senior MERIT researcher Hugo Hollander is contributing with chapters 3 and 4, one of which was written jointly with MERIT scholar Adriana van Cruysen.
NSF 2010 Science and Engineer Indicators Posted: 2010-02-03
The National Science Board announces the release of the NSF 2010 Science and Engineer Indicators publication.
The Science and Engineering Indicators provide a broad base of quantitative information on the US and international science and engineering enterprise.
Also published recently ...
For an overview of recently published journal articles and research papers, and to search the UNU-MERIT publications database, please click here.
Latest UNU-MERIT Working Papers
[2010-009] T. Ziesemer: Net-immigration of developing countries: The role of economic determinants, disasters, conflicts, and political instability abstract
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[2010-008] S. Athreye: Economic Adversity and Entrepreneurship-led Growth - Lessons from the Indian Software Sector abstract
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[2010-007] M. Bala Subrahmanya, M. Mathirajan & K. Krishnaswamy: Importance of Technological Innovation for SME Growth - Evidence from India abstract
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[2010-006] B. Hall, J. Mairesse & P. Mohnen: Measuring the Returns to R&D abstract
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[2010-005] J. Hagedoorn & N. Wang: Is there complementarity or substitutability between internal and external R&D strategies? abstract
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[2010-004] T. Ziesemer: The Impact of the Credit Crisis on Poor Developing Countries and the Role of China in Pulling and Crowding Us Out abstract
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