Technology Management with a Global Perspective: The Case of IMS

Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing, 22 (2011) 717–724 - DOI 10.1007/s10845-009-0331-5

Within the framework of a European Seminar organized in Zürich, Switzerland in November 2007, a session dedicated to “Industrial Integration of ICT” aimed to explore the role of ICT in manufacturing. Participating experts concluded that the following four ICT-related trends will profoundly impact manufacturing in the future: (1) increased enterprise agility and adaptability; (2) the growth of embedded intelligence in products and processes; (3) the transition from physical products to product/service systems; (4) the reorientation towards a holistic perspective of the product life cycle. The paper attempts to synthesize the contributions made and to further develop the vision for research that could be undertaken under the Intelligent Manufacturing Systems (IMS) scheme, set up and run across major industrialized countries. The conclusions drawn by the paper refer to one of the major challenges of industry today: to reconcile competitiveness and environmental friendliness of products and processes. To address this challenge in a holistic way, a new generation of ICT-based industrial methods, systems and tools will be needed. The sheer complexity of the task requires enormous research efforts which cannot be realized at national level alone. IMS could prove to be an adequate scheme for addressing this challenge at global level.

1996

Chapter 1 Information and the Innovation Process 1.1 X sample. Thus, it seems likely that cooperation may be a mechanism for achieving or aiding innovation (although innovation may itself stimulate cooperation in some instances). The spatial distribution of research joint ventures is likely to have been stimulated by EC programmes. Nevertheless, cooperative arrangements are much more common with local (regional) enterprises (48 per cent), compared with almost half that amount in national agreements Gust over 24 per cent). Nevertheless, a considerable proportion (9 per cent) are in non-national EC agreements. Agreements with the USA and Japan are more rare (around 3 per cent for both). Indeed, agreements with other countries, including European non-EC and non-European •other• have more agreements, although, from what we have said earlier, these may be more associated with technology outflows than inflows. xi Chapter 1 Information and the Innovation Process 1.1

Production, 2020

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. 1. Introduction With a GDP of 2.138 billion USD (2018), Brazil is the ninth largest economy of the world. SENAI is the National Service for Industrial Apprenticeship and belongs to the National Confederation of the Industry (CNI) in Brazil. Its main mission is to provide technical education to qualify the industrial workforce of Brazilian companies. Despite previous experiences in providing technological services, such as metrology and technical consulting, the business area of applied research, technological development and innovation (RDI) was almost entirely new to the organization with approximately 20,000 staff in various operational units distributed over whole Brazil. Fraunhofer Gesellschaft is the largest organization for applied research in Europe with over 27,000 staff in more than 75 institutes distributed over Germany, and with various international partnerships and subsidiaries. The Berlin-based Fraunhofer Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology (IPK) has vast experiences in international consulting regarding the development of regional and national innovation systems. IPK's division Corporate Management is specialized in developing and implementing management systems for companies, public clients and research institutes. Based on these experiences, SENAI assigned Fraunhofer IPK with supporting the establishment of the new national network of applied R&D institutes in Brazil.

1999

The globalization of markets, the regionalization of technical and scientific expertise, and the rapid change in technologies are forcing technology-based companies to continuously adjust their R&D organization. Our study of 33 companies reveals five different types of R&D organization in multinational companies (MNC).

1995

A firm's proximate environment, defined as its factor conditions, demand conditions, suppliers, related and supporting industries; and firms' strategy, structure and rivalry can constitute a source of national or regional competitive advantage. How do supportive proximate environments come about, and how can they be lost? What are their origins and migration paths? In this paper we argue that a firm's proximate environment is a function of the process of technological evolution. It is a function of how initial and prevailing conditions, together with chance events, influence the processes of uncertainty resolution, capabilities building and survivor selection that are characteristic of technological evolution. We also argue that a region can lose its advantage when a dominant design emerges or when a technological discontinuity makes obsolete the localized technological capabilities of not only manufacturers, but also of their suppliers, customers and related industries.. The environment is not static, but dynamic, as firms and nations, in response to their performances, also influence it by changing their strategies or altering some of the initial conditions. In addition to discussing these questions implications for strategy and policy makers are outlined. 2 This list of initial conditions is not intended to be exhausive but rather to serve as examples of those factors that help resolve uncertainty, build capabilities, and select surviving firms during technological evolution).

2004

After more than a decade of widespread global R&D expansion, top managers in multinational companies take decentralized competencies for granted, expecting their international research and product development functions to deliver results.

2011

As IMS marks its fifteen-year anniversary, the paradigm for industry has changed dramatically. Industry today requires fast-paced, results-driven, research-development-innovation projects to meet global challenges in manufacturing products in a sustainable way. Industry must consider the entire value chain for its products while under constant pressure from dwindling resources, rapid time-to-market, and increasing costs. Lean, interoperable, and sustainable manufacturing technologies must be developed quickly and as efficiently as possible. Because these types of technologies and supporting standards for value chains are global in nature, international solutions are required by industry today. In response to those needs, IMS has developed the Manufacturing Technology Platform Program (MTP) for research and innovation where industry-led consortia can set up quickly and effectively collaboration platforms that help them share knowledge and R&D effort without onerous procedures. After a successful pilot program in 2009, IMS officially launched its MTP Program in the spring of 2010 and added support programs such as project facilitator services, workshops, forums, and a collaborative website. We are excited about these new services and have already seen some initial success in the form of new projects coalescing. IMS has also increased its visibility through expanded outreach activities from presenting IMS at various forums and workshops and expanding its network.

Research Policy, 2014

It is commonly argued that we are witnessing a shift from global production networks, driven by the search for markets and lower cost production sites, to global innovation networks (GINs), driven by the search for knowledge. This paper explores how sources of behavioural differentiation derived from the literature on industrial knowledge bases and technological regimes condition the degree of involvement in international innovation collaboration. We find this to be significantly influenced by the nature of knowledge and the cumulativeness of knowledge development, the active use of measures to protect intellectual property, the inherent need to innovate and the opportunity to generate sales from this activity. The likelihood that the firm establishes and maintains a truly global network configuration is influenced accordingly.

Journal of Engineering and Technology Management, 2002

All aspects of technological innovation can be managed for competitive advantage. This book was written to "examine the ways in which the management of technological innovation contributes to the development and sustainability of competitive advantages." Recognizing the increasing importance of the 'knowledge economy,' it is argued that technological innovation is a "critically important activity" that "will become the primary strategy for competition in the 21st century." The book seeks to provide a thorough presentation and exploration of the component areas of technological innovation. There are nine chapters and, although not formally organized into sections, the book does segregate into three distinct units. Chapters 1 and 2 are introductory in nature; Chapters 3-8 explore different conceptual areas of technological innovation; and Chapter 9 identifies the challenges for the future in the management of technological innovation (MTI). The first chapter, entitled "What Is The Management Of Technological Innovation and Why Is It Important?," provides the foundation and organization for most of the chapters of the book. The concepts of 'technology' and 'innovation' are introduced and the concept of MTI is presented through the identification and brief introduction of six dominant areas of knowledge that can be "managed" in an organization. Each of these areas is explored in greater detail in Chapters 3-8. Additional general issues are presented to complete the introduction of MTI. The chapter is brought to a close with five brief (about one page in length) case studies from various industries and from around the world. As with all the chapters in this text, a "Conclusions" section summarizes the highlights of the chapter. The second chapter is on the "New Challenges Of The Management Of Technological Innovation." Five separate contexts for how MTI is changing are presented. First, the nature of industry is evolving. This industry context provides a bit of a historical perspective, with an overview of the concept of waves of technological development being presented, culminating in what is often termed the 'knowledge economy.' A good comparison between the dominant features of industry in the 1950s to the 1990s is offered. The second context recognizes that technological innovation typically builds upon 'extant technology,' i.e., technology and capabilities that are already present. A geographical perspective, considering both national and regional systems of innovation, is one aspect of this context. A direct consideration of the features of specific technology systems also contributes to this. Finally, a more recently recognized component is the influence and opportunities offered by networks of firms.

2019

Empirical studies have shown that the internationalization processes of firms in re-search and development (R&D) are slower compared to those of trade or investments. The pioneers of R&D internationalization have been high-tech companies in small mar-kets with little research resources in their home countries. The motives for internation-alization in R&D besides widening the R&D resource base concern the search for the novelty value of collaboration for innovation, but the costs are associated with collab-orative capacity and lack of experience. EU has aimed at boosting Europe's industrial leadership and competitiveness via different policy instruments, mainly R&D subsidies to SMEs and larger firms for collaborative partnerships with various institutional and geographical scopes. By comparing FP7 and Horizon2020, two recent Framework Pro-grammes (FPs), the innovation focus has strengthened besides basic research within subsidized R&D activities. Additionally, the projects involv...