International technology transfer is an effective way to narrow the technology gap of developing countries. As the world biggest emerging economy, the inbound and outbound technology transfer of China has attracted much academic attention. The flow of non-resident patents, i.e. patents applied by foreign institutions or individuals, represents one of the most important channels of international technology transfer. The paper analyzes the bilateral non-resident patent application flows between China and core Europe Union countries in order to investigate the relationship between non-resident patent applications and intellectual property rights. The results reveal that the non-resident patent flows between China and EU are quite un-balanced, with much higher inbound flow from EU to China and lower outbound flow from China to EU. Moreover, the non-resident patent applications are positively related to both the IPR level of the destination and the source. Some policy recommendations are drawn from these findings.

Over the last two decades absorptive capacity has become one of the most important constructs in organizational research and a critical element for firm’s long term survival and success. In emerging economies such as China, because of the significant role of absorptive capacity in facilitating and contributing to technology and knowledge transfer, enhanced innovation capabilities, and overall firm performance, the relevance and understanding of this concept is even more critical. Since it was firstly introduced by Cohen and Levinthal’s 1989 seminal work, the concept went through a number of modifications, extensions and reconceptualizations. One of the latest made by Lane, Koka and Pathak (2006) advocated the rejuvenation of absorptive capacity by looking at it beyond the traditional R&D-based perspective, as a capability rather than knowledge content or base. Building on this standpoint, the present work relies on a complementarity perspective between R&D and non-R&D operationalizations of absorptive capacity, along with an inductive approach, with the objective to shed light on the relationships between different operationalizations of the concept and firms’ performance in the context of Chinese enterprises. Using dataset of more than two thousand Chinese private manufacturing and service enterprises, we employed multiple regression and state-of-the-art bootstrapping techniques. A preliminary multi-dimensional and process-oriented model of absorptive capacity as related to performance is identified, and a number of theoretical and practical implications are drawn.

This paper aims to propose a new organizational, process and service paradigm aimed to enhance the performance of technology entrepreneurship initiatives through the adoption of collective intelligence methods

The concept of ecosystem has been largely used to indicate the network of complementary actors, resources and relationships required to succeed in knowledge-intensive entrepreneurial initiatives. The development of ecosystems has been mostly considered as a region and industry-independent issue. This paper discusses the relevance of fostering the creation of more entrepreneur-centric ecosystems ("EGO-Systems") to support an effective idea-to-venture process. A model is presented which includes five components (entrepreneurial actor, stakeholders, project, roadmap, flows) and it is addressed to support technology entrepreneurship initiatives through an innovative approach which is glocal, project-specific and dynamic.

The transformation of China into an innovation-oriented nation and leading science power is now topping the agenda of Chinese government. Technological innovation is seen at the hearth of this process, and enterprises have been called to be the key driving force of this transformation. The question is: to which extent Chinese enterprises are ready to do so? The basic assumption of this research is that this depends onthe extent to which Chinese enterprises will be capable to seize the market opportunities arising from technological development and exploitation. The study of the factors influencing those capabilities is the main focus of this research. More specifically the objective is to investigate whether, and if so, how and what under conditions some specific enterprises' internal characteristics and external networks attributes, as well as the effects of formal and informal institutions, influence Chinese enteprises techological entrepreneurship capabilities. The poster reports details the research being carried out, findings obtained and proposes avenures for further studies.

Purpose - The process of generating the strategic renewal or new ventures within established companies, also known as corporate entrepreneurship, is strongly intertwined with individual and organizational factors. Whereas many studies have been conducted in developed economies, the role of such determinants and their reciprocal relations are still partially undisclosed or contradictory in emerging countries. In such endeavor, this article builds an integrative framework of corporate entrepreneurship enablers and uses such model to identify a set of research propositions to be investigated in Chinese companies. Design/methodology/approach – The article is grounded on a multidisciplinary literature review in the fields of innovation management and organizational behavior. In particular, the study is accomplished through five main steps, i.e. search of relevant theory, isolation of corporate entrepreneurship constructs, creation of constructs taxonomy, preliminary research model and propositions formulation, and contextualization of research propositions to the Chinese context. Findings – The performance of the corporate entrepreneurship process depends on a set of individual factors, distinguished into professional and psychological characteristics, and organizational factors, which include the system of values (mindset) of the organization as well as “hard” aspects related to management practices and processes. All these factors can be considered as enabling conditions to drive the valorization of creativity and human resource potential within corporate renewal and new venturing initiatives. Research limitations/implications – Though this article represents a step forward in integrating individual-related and organizational-related determinants of entrepreneurial performance in Chinese companies, the supposed relationships are to be proven through empirical analysis, which is definitely the next necessary step towards the validation and actionability of the research model and propositions identified. Originality/value – The value added by the paper is twofold. From a theoretical point of view, it develops a systemic framework of conditions which can positively impact corporate entrepreneurship and applies the same model to launch new avenues for research in Chinese companies. From a practitioner perspective, the study provides managers with a comprehensive set of enabling factors to support corporate entrepreneurship by leveraging creative and human resource management dynamics within their organization.

The concept of entrepreneurship is traditionally associated with the initiative of individuals who transform promising business ideas into successful new ventures. In the Schumpeterian view, the most innovative individuals are able to drive sustainable change and creative destruction in specific markets and industries, acting alone or within large companies (Schumpeter, 1934, 1949). However, the entrepreneurial process is also engaged in by established organizations, which are able to address the asymmetries between market demand and the potential of socio-technical innovation. At such an extended scale (from individuals to corporations), corporate entrepreneurship is activated as a means of achieving organizational innovation and increasing financial and market performance, with exemplary cases such as Apple, 3M, Procter & Gamble and Google. More specifically, corporate entrepreneurship represents the process of new business creation within established firms to improve organizational profitability and competitive position, or the strategic renewal of existing business (Zahra, 1991). It thus includes the creation and development of new business ventures, new products or services, or new strategies and competitive stances. Therefore, it becomes a key driver of organizational innovation, business performance and market leadership for organizations operating in technology-intensive industries. The focus on technology-based firms is timely and particularly relevant for corporate entrepreneurship. Indeed, the presence of innovative technologies and their market-relevant applications is a trigger for the creation of new products and services, as well as of the new business ventures that produce and commercialize them. The multidimensional nature of corporate entrepreneurship and its complexity in terms of enabling factors has generated the motivation for research to investigate and systematize such elements within an integrative perspective and model. In just such an endeavour, this chapter aims to identify the antecedents of corporate entrepreneurship at both the individual and organizational levels. In particular, the focus is on technology-based firms. For this purpose, this chapter is structured as follows: the next section reports some evolutionary patterns in the corporate entrepreneurship concept and its enablers. The concept of creativity is then analysed together with its relationship with organizational innovativeness, the role of human resource management as a driver of creativity and organizational innovativeness. The model and related assessment tool to be used in the corporate context are then introduced. Concluding remarks summarize the contributions of this work to theory and practice and reflect on planned and likely developments for further research.

Purpose – Corporate entrepreneurship is an articulated process that originates from creative ideas of managers and employees and ends up in generating innovative results such as new business units and ventures. It is thus a key driver of strategic renewal and business performance for organizations, which need to valorize the creativity of individuals and teams (the internal “crowd”). This article introduces the concept of crowd-venturing as an application of collective intelligence principles in the corporate context. A set of individual and organizational factors supporting the entrepreneurial potential of human resources is defined and used to build a tool for assessing the maturity of crowd-venturing within companies. A classification of organizational archetypes is also proposed. Design/methodology/approach – The study starts from a review of corporate entrepreneurship and organizational creativity literature, with a cross-domain investigation of related areas such as human resource management and collective intelligence. The work of theory review is a basis to define an integrated assessment tool that has been applied in preliminary studies conducted in three big ICT companies. Originality/value – The research proposes a systemic model for the exploration of drivers of corporate creativity and entrepreneurial dynamics. The concept of crowd-venturing is defined, along with an assessment tool useful to evaluate the maturity level of both individual and organizational factors respect to the internal entrepreneurial process. The study can be conceived as a new application of collective intelligence principles in organization-related issues. Practical implications – The article provides managers with a method and an operating tool for assessing the internal entrepreneurship environment and the corporate venturing process. The in-company application of the tool can open new avenues for developing methodologies addressed to activate entrepreneurial dynamics within organizations.

A major challenge for Local Governments today is represented by the introduction of new networked service delivery models able to coordinate a number of different local actors for responding effectively to increasing community’s expectations. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are instrumental here. Though, the implementation of ICTs in Local Government Agencies (LGA) is a challenge too. That’s why effective new services delivery models and successful adoption of enabling ICTs within the LGA goes hand-in-hand. Following these considerations, this paper aims at illustrating a case of ICT-based solutions adoption into a Local Government Agency in charge of tourism promotion. More specifically the e-business case methodology crafted and used for this purpose will be shown. In doing so, the role of the e-business case will be advocated both as a tool to accompany Local Government Agencies into the process of introducing and using ICTs, both as a starting point for a wider strategy aimed at modernizing local communities though ICTs.

The transformation of China into an innovation-oriented nation is now topping the agenda of Chinese government. Technological innovation is seen at the heart of this transformation, and enterprises have been called the key driving force of the innovation process. However, what are the key ingredients for such a transformation to occur? And are Chinese enterprises ready to fulfil this new responsibility? Drawing on the concept of technological entrepreneurship, this paper intends to explain technological innovation in Chinese enterprises, and attempts to develop an integrative view for research in this field, especially as related to the questions asked above.

Purpose – This study seeks to address the issue of the factors influencing Chinese enterprises technological entrepreneurship capabilities. This study is particularly relevant in light of the driving role given to enterprises in the process of transforming China into an innovation-oriented nation and leading science power. Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on a broad literature review, covering various theoretical fields in International as well as Chinese management literature, to develop an integrated research framework. Relying on a multi-disciplinary and multi-level approach, the framework highlights a number of internal processes and external network attributes, their interactions and moderating relationships as related to their impact on Chinese enterprises technological entrepreneurship capabilities and their contributions to business performance. Findings – The paper offers an overview of the factors that affect technological entrepreneurship capabilities, with particular reference to Chinese enterprises. Also, the study highlights some understudied issues and points to a number of research directions of specific relevance for the Chinese context. In this aim, a number of theoretical propositions have been identified. Originality/value – The paper provides an integrated multi-disciplinary and multi-level research framework that organizes the body of knowledge, scattered in different literature and contexts, in a state-of-the-art piece of the research into technology entrepreneurship capabilities, as well as to identify more specific research questions, model, testable hypothesis and related studies that build on and add value to previous research.

This paper presents the results of a preliminary empirical investigation undertaken to unveil the factors influencing Chinese enterprises technological entrepreneurship capabilities. Using Pearson correlation and independent-samples t-tests on data collected from 66 Guangdong province technology-based firms during the second half of 2010, the relationship between knowledge management, business model innovation, organizational culture, strong ties, personal relationship and IPR enforcement were investigated. The discussion of the results obtained highlights several possible explications as related to the relevance (or the lack of it) of such factors and identify avenues for further research. The extension to technological entrepreneurship of studies undertaken in related topics, the identification of technological entrepreneurship's role in the Chinese context and its operationalization, are main contribution of this work.

Technological entrepreneurship concerns the transformation of potentially viable technological opportunities into profitable businesses. Technological entrepreneurship is recognized as a key driver of successful technological innovation. In addition, matching technological opportunities with local market needs is a characteristic feature of Chinese technology firms’ catch-up and innovation potential. However, extant research on technology and innovation management has yet to fully include entrepreneurship insights in the study of innovation, especially in Chinese firms. With this aim, the paper identifies and investigates the relationships between a number of internal and external factors and technological entrepreneurship. Using a multi-disciplinary and multi-level literature review and findings collected through case studies and interviews in 74 Guangdong technology firms, the paper presents possible explanations concerning the relationship explored and discusses their theoretical and practical relevance, with particular reference to the role of support policies, IPR enforcement and personal relationships.

This paper investigates the combined role of innovation support policies and firm's own innovative activities on the performance of Chinese small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in high-tech sectors. By distinguishing two components of innovative activities—research and development (R&D) investments and embedded innovative capacity—the paper develops and tests an integrative moderated moderation model. The results suggest that in Chinese high-tech SMEs innovation-support policies positively moderate the relationship between R&D investments and performance, but this positive effect diminishes when there are higher levels of embedded innovative capacity. These results highlight that the relationship between government innovation policies and a firm's own R&D investments is not only reciprocal but also more complex than the one so far analyzed in the literature. The results show in particular that the effects of innovation-support policies on R&D investments is not as neat as it seems, because of the internal balance within the firm between investment in R&D and other sources of innovation. Therefore, although innovation support policies have been found to help Chinese SMEs in high-tech sectors benefit from their R&D investments, these policies are particularly effective only when R&D investments are significantly driving firms’ innovative activities. This highlights the relevance of both government support and a firm's own efforts in the competitive modernization of Chinese SMEs.

Purpose: The generation of new ventures within established companies, also known as corporate entrepreneurship (CE), is a process influenced by a set of individual and organizational factors. This paper aims to focus on creativity and human resource management enablers of CE, with the purpose to define an integrative framework and draw a set of related research propositions. Design/methodology/approach: The paper relies on a multidisciplinary literature review in the fields of CE, creativity and organizational innovation. Findings: The effectiveness of CE depends on a set of individual factors, distinguished into professional and psychological characteristics, and organizational factors, which include the system of values of the organization and the management practices applied in the same. Research limitations/implications: From a theoretical point of view, the paper develops an integrative framework of conditions that impact on CE and outlines a set of propositions and alternative research methods to test. Practical/implications: From a practitioner perspective, the study provides managers with a comprehensive set of factors enabling CE by leveraging the creativity of individuals and make it flourish through consistent human resource management practices. Originality/value: The value of the paper stays in the integration of individual-related and organizational-related determinants of entrepreneurial performance.

Almost ten years after the launch of the SciTech Guideline, between the end of the 12th five-year plan (2011-2015) and the beginning of the 13th (2016-2020), the Chinese government has issued the "Made in China 2025" plan (MiC 2025). It is the first out of three plans being part of a wider initiative having the aim of making China a manufacturing power within 2049, to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the People's Republic of China. Even if the Chinese planning have been considering innovation and technology as two pillars since the initial years of the Republic, there is a new pervasiveness in the planning efforts. However, differently from the past, these efforts cannot benefit from a positive juncture. The aim of the present work is to trace a first balance of the innovative activity in China, concomitantly with this turning point in policy, analysing a set of synthetic indicators derived from the qualitative-quantitative objectives included in the SciTech Guideline e in the subsequent five-year plans. More specifically, by means of Chinese and international sources, this article does not aim at evaluating, but at deriving a series of stylised facts on innovation in China and at providing some insights for a further discussion on two decades: the one that has just finished and, most of all, the one that has just begun.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the main factors affecting information and communication technology (ICT) adoption and process redesign within organizations, with the objective of defining a systematization framework and a set of methods and tools useful for students and practitioners. Design/methodology/approach – The review of literature focused on organizational change and ICT-enabled process innovation allows to extract the key issues for building the model and approaches presented. Findings – The effective introduction of change requires addressing aspects placed at strategy, people, process and enablers level. A system view of these components and their relationships is a key to streamline ICT adoption and process redesign. Research limitations/implications – The roadmap is addressed to support only the design or pre-implementation phase of change, with a major intra-organizational perspective. Originality/value – The main asset of this paper is to combine several frameworks into a unique roadmap to support the investigation of human, process, and technology dimensions of organizational change. Besides, a set of methods and tools are proposed to streamline the design of ICT-enabled and process-based change within an organization.

The first aim is to show how governments support the creation and development of Communities of Innovation (CoI) in two different institutional settings, namely Puglia Region and Guangdong Province, highlighting both the differences and similarities in the implementation of such policies. The second objective is to measure the effort of governments in implementing policies for innovation. The overall aim is to shed light on whether, and if so, to what extent the “public hand” may be desirable for the development of CoI. Through a comparative study of Puglia and Guangdong, we first explore the innovation programs implemented by each government in the attempt of identifying those explicitly designed or having as an effect the promotion of CoI. We analyse characteristics, recipients, and objectives of the programs and highlight differences and similarities. The analysis of these programs brings us to the selection of indicators measuring the efforts made by governments for the promotion of innovation policies. We use these indicators for the computation of composite indices measuring the intensity of policies and compare the two areas in terms of public policy efforts for innovation. Considering two regions that greatly differ in terms of economy, and political and social background, we show whether and how local governments are involved in the promotion of innovation and in particular of CoI. Furthermore, we contribute to the debate that focuses on understanding the extent to which the involvement of the governments in the promotion of innovation produces desirable results. Finally, from a practical perspective, this work offers a critical analysis of a number of policy levers for the promotion of investments and initiatives aimed at creating favourable conditions for the flourishing of formal and informal CoI. The outcomes of the work gives strength to the idea that in the last few years innovation has become the main objective of governments, and CoI are one of the privileged mechanisms to achieve this objective. The comparison of Puglia and Guangdong, taken as two diametrically opposed examples in terms of institutional setting, may lead to uncover similar roles and uses of public interventions in the establishment and development of CoI. The demonstration of consistencies between the two areas in the implementation of policies would contribute to the more general industrial policy debate heralding the importance of public policies in favour of innovation, even in places where industrial policies are not clearly institutionalized.

Questo articolo si propone di studiare l’interazione combinata delle politiche di innovazione e della capacità innovativa delle imprese nella relazione tra investimento in R&S e performance aziendale su un campione di imprese cinesi, al fine di comprendere meglio il ruolo giocato da attori pubblici e privati nell’incrementare la capacità innovativa del sistema produttivo. In particolare, applicando un modello di moderazione, le analisi effettuate mostrano che le politiche di innovazione moderano positivamente la relazione tra R&S e performance (anche se non per i valori più alti del moderatore). Questo effetto si amplifica notevolmente se è combinato con le attività innovative poste in essere dall’impresa, rappresentate dalla quota di capitale in diritti di proprietà intellettuale e di tecnologia di proprietà non protetta.

The aim of this paper is to investigate how a firm's innovation strategy in response to the institutional incentives and pressures affect its product innovation performance, and how these effects are moderated by industrial environment turbulence. The empirical research is based on a sample of manufacturing firms located at the center of the pearl river delta (PRD) in Guangdong Province of China. Our results revealed that institutional incentive- driven innovation strategy has overall positive effect on a firm's product innovation performance, whereas institutional pressure-driven innovation strategy is negatively related to total product innovations and incremental product innovations yet positively related to radical product innovations. We also found a mutually interfering relationship between the effects of institutional incentive- and pressure-driven innovation strategy, i.e. their interaction is negatively related to product innovation performance. Further investigation showed that institutional incentive-driven innovation strategy is more productive in lower level of industrial environment turbulence, whereas institutional pressure-driven innovation strategy is more efficient in higher level of industrial environment turbulence. These findings extend previous literature by demonstrating the disentangled incentive and pressure effects of institutions, as well as the combined and interaction effects intrinsic within the institutional mixes in the innovation systems. The results furthered our understanding on how a firm strategy and performance is shaped by the joint forces of institutional transitions and industrial environment changes.

The latest 11th and 12th Five-Years Plans emphasize technological innovation as a key driver of China’s transition towards a more sustainable growth model, based on value-added manufacturing, the development of the internal market and an increasing reliance on domestic innovation. Technological entrepreneurship, by means of which new technologies are brought to the market, can prove beneficial for Country’s industrial upgrading, creation of qualified jobs, international competitiveness and, ultimately, to foster its brand new growth model and ambitions. With the aim to give an overview of Chinese technological entrepreneurship, this contribution discusses its overall context, the key players involved, the main practices of Chinese technology enterprises and develops some considerations on the existence and nature of its difference.

The transformation of China into an innovation-oriented nation is now topping the agenda of Chinese government. Technological innovations are seen at the hearth of this transformation and enterprises have been called to be the key driving force of the innovation process. But what are the key ‘ingredients’ for such a process to work? And are Chinese firms ready to fulfil this new responsibility? This paper discusses the key concepts and components underlying technological entrepreneurship and proposes an integrated framework to identify a number of factors that might influence Chinese firm’s high-tech innovation capabilities.

his paper explores the influence of a firm's absorptive capacity on the profitability of one thousand ninety-six Chinese firms. In addition to extending the findings of prior studies on the positive effects of absorptive capacity on a firm's performance in the context of an emerging economy, empirical results support the main hypothesis of the positive mediating role of absorptive capacity in the relationship between R&D efforts and profitability. These effects, together with the attempt to investigate absorptive capacity outside the usual R&D context using a capability-based operationalization, will lead the discussion towards the role of public policies in enhancing the impact of a firm's internal R&D efforts through sustaining the development of their "soft" absorptive capacity with complementary investments in compensation, motivation and the development of human resources.

Communities of innovation (CoI) was introduced at organisational level to pursue collaboratively innovation activities. By extending this concept at territorial level, they may become government’s tools to undertake innovative projects for local development. This work investigates whether and, if so, to what extent local governments support the development of CoI. We focused our attention on two different institutional settings, one in Italy and one in China. We performed a quantitative and qualitative investigation, relying on official data and web sources. With the first, we developed a measure to synthesise the intensity in promoting CoI; with the second, we highlighted the main programs’ characteristics and objectives supporting CoI. Results show that in both settings, local governments make significant policy efforts in promoting CoI, focusing on similar objectives and relying on similar tools. This highlights the engagement of governments and the relevance of their industrial policies to support the development of CoI.

Creativity is an adaptive way of thinking and plays a key role in problem solving. Recent brain imaging studies focused on structural and functional characteristics of the brain that are correlated with creativity. But whether and how the association between creativity and the brain is moderated by individuals' cultural traits remains unclear. We integrated functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and questionnaire measures (Williams creativity aptitude test) of trait creativity and self-construal (e.g., interdependence) in male adults to examine whether trait creativity is associated with neural activities underlying social cognition and whether and how the association is moderated by individuals' self-construals. We found that interdependence moderates the association between trait creativity and neural activities in the left superior temporal sulcus, right anterior insular, right temporal-parietal junction and right precentral gyrus engaged in reflection of one's own social attributes. Interdependence also moderates the association between trait creativity and neural activities in the left superior temporal sulcus and right posterior insular involved in reflection of a friend's social attributes. The link of trait creativity and the functional connectivity between the medial prefrontal cortex and postcentral gyri during reflection of a friend's social attributes is also moderated by interdependence. Participants with high and low creativity traits can be dissociated in a three-dimension space defined by integration of interdependence and the brain activity underlying reflection of one's own and the friend's attributes. Our findings suggest that trait creativity is imprinted on the social brain and the link between trait creativity and the neural activities underlying the processing of self and others is moderated by a cultural trait.

The two latest Five-Year Plans of China call for an increasing focus of the whole country on technology-based innovation. Moreover, China’s ambition to become an innovation-oriented nation has attracted widespread international interest and academic studies in technology and innovation management. However by now, there is still not a rigorous amount of the research in this field as regards to China. This paper reports a comprehensive review of the research published between 2002 and 2011 in twelve top technology and innovation management international journals. Overall, a sample of 241 relevant articles in 780 issues is used as the basis for the study. The result is a map of the main research topics, their influence, and the availability of tested empirical data, which traces a state-of-the-art research on technology innovation management in China. Discussion on the map draws avenues for further research and insights for both researchers and policy makers on why, where and how to advance knowledge in the field, with a particular focus on implications for developing cooperation at the enterprise level.

Bringing technologies to the market, thereby creating profits, high-qualified jobs and industrial upgrading is one of the means by which China can fuel its brand new growth model based on innovation and sustainability. Much is known about the mechanisms of technological entrepreneurship. But how does this happen in China? Who is doing what? Is there a ‘Chinese way’ to do technological entrepreneurship? This thought-provoking book provides readers with a closer look at these issues and clarifies them through a number of case studies discussed from the perspectives of both Chinese and international contributors. Technological Entrepreneurship in China offers a comprehensive and practical view of technological entrepreneurship in China. Exclusively based on cases, the book tackles the issues of technological entrepreneurship in China from a systemic view. In so doing the book provides an account on the main factors at work behind Chinese technological entrepreneurship and their interplay, the past and present transitions facing Chinese technology-based enterprises, how they have been dealt and are being dealt with, a glimpse in a huge natural experiment that will prove insightful for both scholars and policymakers.

Purpose – Technological entrepreneurship concerns the transformation of potentially viable technological opportunities into successful businesses. Absorptive capacity is argued to be essential for this transformation, since it can facilitate the prediction of new technology trends and the assimilation and application of new knowledge to produce new commercial outputs. The investigation of the relationships between absorptive capacity, technological entrepreneurship and their impact on Guangdong technology firms’ performance is the purpose of this study. Design/methodology/approach – In this aim a positive causal chain from absorptive capacity to technological entrepreneurship and from this latter to performance is tested through a mediation analysis, which uses an ordinary least squares regression-based path analytical framework for estimating indirect effects on a sample of 113 Guangdong technology-based firms. Findings – Findings are consistent with the hypothesis that greater absorptive capacity leads to greater technological entrepreneurship, which in turn leads to greater performance. Therefore evidence is provided about both the mediating role of technological entrepreneurship and the role of absorptive capacity as its antecedent in relation to Guangdong-based technology firms’ performance. Originality/value – A relevant but somewhat neglected relationship is examined using an integrative model in the Guangdong context. Moreover the study uses direct measures of absorptive capacity as a capability and provides a firm-level operationalization of technological entrepreneurship. In so doing it also adopts state-of-the-art analysis techniques and highlights the relevance of investments in soft factors for Guangdong technology firms’ path towards excellence.

The chapter off er an overview of how technological entrepreneurship works in China using the case of Qrobot –a brand new product that interacts with Tencent’s QQ, China’s most used instant messaging service and the world’s largest community. More specifi cally, the brief life of Qrobot is used to illustrate how government policies, government research institutes, entrepreneurs, enterprises and investors worked together, from the development of the technology to its introduction to the market, describing what has been referred to as ‘technological entrepreneurship with Chinese characteristics’. In doing so a comprehensive picture of the actors, roles and dynamics of Chinese technological entrepreneurship will be off ered, along with a discussion of the eff ects of such factors as government and its research institutions’ direct and indirect support, foreign companies, transnational communities and the overall environment. In addition the diff erences and similarities with Western counterparts will be highlighted. Concerning the latter, conclusions will refl ect on whether there is really something like a ‘technological entrepreneurship with Chinese characteristics’ or if the differences underlined are just the temporary eff ects of China’s transitional state. In this regard the study of contingencies is suggested as a viable research direction to answer this question, and some thoughts are given on how this kind of research should be crafted.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the driving factors that constrain latecomer firms’ technological innovation, eventually leading to an incomplete or unsuccessful catching-up process. In this aim, we rely on the resource-based theory to advance an absorptive capacity argument and introduce a complementary explanation about the role of opportunity capture borrowed from the entrepreneurship perspective. We develop multiple mediation models and test our hypotheses on data collected from 166 manufacturing firms in Guangdong Province (China). Our findings show a complementary role played by weak knowledge transformation and opportunity capture attitudes. Overall, our work contributes to existing literature by providing theoretical arguments and empirical evidence about the role of function and relevance of each single dimension of absorptive capacity in studying innovation and the catching-up processes of latecomer firms. In addition, the work disentangles and substantiates a linkage between these dimensions and opportunity capture attitudes in determining sub-optimal outcomes of the catching-up process. Our findings offer also practical insights about the limitations of predominant innovation and catch-up strategies of latecomer firms and suggest the necessary shifts in policymaking.

In Chapter 9, Petti employs official sources and literature, as well as cases and data collected through field research, to provide an overview of Chinese technology-driven entrepreneurship. To do so, the context, the actors, the practices and preliminary evaluations of the impact of some key factors will be illustrated and discussed, after which the peculiar features of Chinese technology-driven entrepreneurship and their persistence over time will be considered. The overall aim is to ascertain whether, and to what extent, the Chinese example offers different insights from what is usually believed, written and practised in Silicon Valley in the USA and the European Union (EU), as well as whether these are, or may represent, an extension of the current conventional models and knowledge.

Purpose – To be successful, the innovation and entrepreneurship processes require a systemic and dynamic search, evaluation and matching of purposeful knowledge, expertise and tangible assets. In this vein, the concept of ecosystem has been largely adopted at macro and organizational level to indicate the network of complementary actors needed by one company to succeed in this endeavor. This paper aims to define an individual perspective of innovation ecosystem and propose a model to drive the creation of entrepreneur-centric ecosystems aimed to support a more effective “idea-to-venture” process. Design/methodology/approach – The review of relevant literature and the analysis of international initiatives has been used to identify the main theoretical constituents of the study. A design science approach has been thus adopted to conceptualize and define the components of the model through the phases of problem identification, objectives definition, artifact development, demonstration, evaluation and research communication. The model has been submitted to a preliminary face-validity test with experts in the areas of entrepreneurship and collective intelligence. Originality/value – The paper presents an innovative application of the collective intelligence paradigm to design technology entrepreneurship ecosystems which are: a) context-independent, i.e. virtually global; b) specific, i.e. tailored to given technology domains and individual needs; and c) dynamic, i.e. able to gather relevant knowledge needed for the specific phase of the entrepreneurial process. The collective intelligence perspective allows to capitalize distributed ideas, knowledge, and competencies to take better decisions and actions respect to the case in which decisions and actions are taken by individuals alone. Practical implications – The model can contribute to maximize the incubation, growth and sustainability of entrepreneurial initiatives thanks to a better gathering of critical resources and knowledge which is dispersed in a large network of actors. In particular, the model can support the design and implementation of technology entrepreneurship ecosystems tailored to the real needs of a specific entrepreneur as well as support more effective entrepreneurial processes within corporations and organizations in general.

International technology transfer is an effective way to narrow the technology gap of developing countries. As the world biggest emerging economy, the inbound and outbound technology transfer of China has attracted much academic attention. The flow of non-resident patents, i.e. patents applied by foreign institutions or individuals, represents one of the most important channels of international technology transfer. The paper analyzes the bilateral non-resident patent application flows between China and core Europe Union countries in order to investigate the relationship between non-resident patent applications and intellectual property rights. The results reveal that the non-resident patent flows between China and EU are quite un-balanced, with much higher inbound flow from EU to China and lower outbound flow from China to EU. Moreover, the non-resident patent applications are positively related to both the IPR level of the destination and the source. Some policy recommendations are drawn from these findings.

Purpose – This study aims to advance and test a multi-dimensional operationalization of absorptive capacity (ACAP) to ascertain its mediating role in the transformation of R&D expenses in actual performance. Design/methodology/approach – This study departs from the conceptualization of ACAP as a reflective higher-order R&D-based construct, by specifying ACAP into its components and using an operationalization that encompasses both R&D and non-R&D measures to perform mediation analysis on a sample of 1,096 Chinese mainland firms. Findings – This study’s findings report evidence of positive but different roles of the components of ACAP, with specific reference to the positive but partial mediating role of realized ACAP between both R&D expenses and potential ACAP on a firm’s performance. Relevant research and practical implications for both management and policymaking are discussed. Originality/value – The approach to ACAP conceptualization and measurement taken in this study provides empirical support to an often assumed and, incidentally, under-explored relationship. Moreover, it contributes with a multi-dimensional, non-exclusively R&D-based and process-oriented perspective to the analysis of the role played by ACAP in Chinese firms’ R&D effectiveness. Keywords China, Performance, Mediation, R&D, Potential absorptive capacity, Realized absorptive capacity

This paper intends to explore how the concept of triple helix in connection with the culture of innovative entrepreneurship may lead to local development. In these regards, by illustrating a case study undertaken in the South of Italy this paper brings evidence of a triple helix model that addresses the interactions between academy, industry and government relying on qualified human capital driving innovative entrepreneurship. By doing so, this paper will also tackle the question of whether, and if so, how the triple helix work in less advantaged regions. More specifically, the work discusses the case of the Euro Mediterranean Scientific Biomedical Institute (ISBEM), a scientific Institute that works as incubator of talents and promotes wealth in society by creating, diffusing and using knowledge. In a geographic area short of core centers that operates in society enhancing connections and relationships between the three helices of university-industry-government, ISBEM is a unique case in the attempt to elucidate the arguments of this paper. In this aim, the research method used is qualitative based on the collection and analysis of documentation and interviews with key informants. As such, the research design and the process of conducting the case study did not aim at generalizing the results of a single local practice, but at illustrating and revealing the virtuous relationship between the triple helix and the innovative entrepreneurship culture in the development processes of less advantaged areas.

Made in China 2025 places a heavy focus on innovation and technology for the fulfillment of its objectives. However, the widespread diffusion and persistence of limited technology innovation practices among Chinese businesses raise doubts and concerns about their capacity to deploy the necessary innovation capabilities for the achievements foreseen by the plan. By using Chinese and international datasets, this contribution illustrates the situation of innovation in China, provides direct evidence about a gap within firms’ knowledge absorption process, discusses the influence of this gap and some of its determinants. Policy implications useful to trace scenarios about the perspectives of Made in China 2025 are drawn.

La società ha per oggetto lo sviluppo, la produzione e la commercializzazione di prodotti e servizi innovativi ad alto valore tecnologico nel campo dell'ingegneria del software e dell'internet delle cose