Academic literature on the topic 'National innovation systems'

This paper explores and explains the relationship between interorganizational sustainable innovation processes and the elements of a national sustainable innovation system in building. The literature proposes that this relationship is characterized by mutual reinforcement. This paper integrates the interorganizational innovation process- and the national innovation systems-approach into a new model. A case research project, that covers a sixteen-year period of sustainable innovations in the Dutch residential building industry, investigates the interplay between process and systematic sustainable innovation within the structure of the model. The research project indicates, illustrates, and explains how interorganizational sustainable innovation processes and a national sustainable innovation system in building co-develop in an interactive and mutually reinforcing process. In this process, the national system for sustainable innovation in building provides the structure in which the interorganizational sustainable innovative building processes develop. Simultaneously, the interorganizational sustainable innovative building processes stimulate the development of a national system of sustainable building innovation.

Synergy among the various components of national agricultural innovation systems (AISs) promotes agricultural development. This paper investigated the innovation synergy among the various innovation elements of national AISs. First, we developed a synergy analysis model consisting of three innovation variables (innovation allocation, innovation output, and innovation potentiality) and one control variable (government policy supports). Secondly, a broad set of innovation indicators was selected to describe the innovation variables and the control variable, and the solutions of the order parameter equation were then calculated to investigate the self-organized synergistic patterns of a panel of the Group of Twenty (G20) countries. The empirical results indicated the following. (1) All of the G20 countries’ national AISs had the potential to evolve into more advanced self-organized synergistic states under current government policy support. Furthermore, all of the developing countries were in the active period of synergy, showing stronger synergistic rising powers. However, most of the developed countries were in the stable or general period of synergy, in which synergistic rising powers were relatively weaker; (2) Stronger government policy supports played a positive role in promoting the interaction and collaboration among innovation elements and promoted the national AIS to evolve into a more advanced self-organized synergistic state. This study has important implications for understanding the complex innovation synergy of national AISs, as well as for the design and implementation of agricultural innovation strategies for policy-makers.

Abstract This paper uses the concepts of means of innovation and modes of innovation to introduce an alternative approach to the understanding of the evolution of the South African system of innovation. Modes of innovation are defined in terms of ownership and control patterns of the means of innovation, as well as the role played by human capital. The relationship between ideology and modes of innovation is briefly examined. This paper lays the basis for an alternative approach to the analysis of the transition of South Africa’s economic structure from apartheid to democracy and of the rifts and continuities in that transition.

This thesis investigates the evolutionary foundation of the Innovation System concept and the quantitative techniques that could be used for a systemic evaluation of innovation policies. This topic has been covered through 6 chapters:
Chapter I: The innovation system concept, which is the central concept of this thesis, finds its foundations in the evolutionary theory of economics and the Schumpeterian point of view on the co-evolution of innovation, organizations and institutions. Developed by Nelson and Winter in 1982, this theory is based on the idea that the surviving firms on the markets are not necessarily the ones that maximize their profits. Indeed, their ability to survive is reinforced by the development of internal organizational routines allowing for a fast adaptation to their changing environment. Thus, when assessing performances in terms of innovation in general, the single firm should not by the only centre of attention anymore. The entire environment surrounding its innovation activities should by analysed to understand the conditions underlying its failure or success. The definition of the innovation system (IS) concept finds its roots in this theory: the environment in which innovation activities take place is as important as the decision of the single innovation actor. Defined as all the institutions and organizations involved in the creation and diffusion of new knowledge and technology, the IS includes not only stakeholders of the innovation process, but also all the transversal sectors affecting innovation near or far: labour market, finance, and education… In such a context, the main justification for public intervention shifted from the market failures described by the neo-classical theory, to systemic failures, i.e. the dysfunctions of the IS, on which governments may take actions. And this shift in the policy rationale also leads to specific evaluation techniques of public initiatives.
Chapter II: The IS concept is defined as all the institutions and organizations involved in the creation, diffusion and absorption of new knowledge and technology. An important question is raised by such a point of view: what is a system? What are its components? How does it foster innovation? This theoretical step is necessary to understand all the aspect of the innovation environment that are concerned by innovation policy design. How could a policy-maker integrate the systemic framework of the IS when initiating public action with the aim to improve performances in terms of science, technology and innovation? A large part of the economic literature is dedicated to the description of innovation systems. So the aim of this chapter consists of synthetizing the aspects referenced in the economic theory as the components of the IS in a normative exercise. First, the term “system” involves the articulation of several components and the relationships existing between them. Departing from this definition, three broad aspect of the IS are considered: the actors of the innovation process, the functions of the system and the resulting objectives that should be pursued by the stakeholders, and the instruments used by public authorities to intervene in such a systemic context. The actors involved in the innovation process are not only the recipient of a public policy, they are also policy makers, implementation agents and targets of the policy measures. The functions of the IS mainly concerns the creation, diffusion and absorption of new knowledge and technology. As the role of the State is to improve the performances of such a system, those functions should be considered as the objectives of public action. Finally, the instruments used by the State to reach these goals can also be detailed: innovation policies can be implemented through direct support measures (financial or fiscal tools), the improvement of the infrastructure allowing for the diffusion of innovation, or the general framework conditions affecting performances. The normative exercise ended up with an exhaustive taxonomy that may be used for further analysis
Chapter III: As the aim of this thesis is to develop analytical tools to integrate the IS point of view in public policy evaluation, the most important aspect of the work consisted in building an exhaustive database on innovation policies implemented in the EU28 Member States and its main non-EU competitors (Australia, China, Japan, the US, India, the Russian Federation, Brazil, South Korea and Canada). This database was constructed in the context of the ENIRI study conducted by the European Commission, between 2013 and 2015. This long-lasting work involved the collection of information concerning the innovation policy measures implemented in all the considered countries, both at the national and regional levels. This information was related to the IS dimensions highlighted in previous chapter. The main sources for data collection were the RIO (former Erawatch) and OECD STIP databases, the RIM Plus Monitor and national sources (Ministry websites), as well as national experts. The budgets was also included or estimated for the 2007-2013 period. Once the data were collected, the policy measures were classified according to the theoretical canvas developed through the taxonomy of chapter II. Functional matrices combining different aspects of the IS allowed for detailed information on the distribution of policy measures among the different dimensions of the system. For example, it is possible to estimate the percentage of policy measures implemented in one country that are dedicated to the fundamental research activities in SMEs. This distribution has been computed both in absolute and budget terms. This difference provided information on the contrast existing between governmental claims and intentions in terms of innovation policies and the effective use of money dedicated to the announced target. Indeed, it is not because a substantial number of policies are dedicated to a specific sector of beneficiary that the allocated budget will be more important. Thus, this policy database should shed a light on the way innovation policies are articulated at a national level, and how they are effectively implemented through their budgets
Chapter IV: The evolutionary foundations of the IS concept imply that there is no general equilibrium describing an ideal situation to which a specific case can be compared. In other words, there is no optimal innovation system, and no ideal configuration that should be imitated by the others. This absence of equilibrium and the systemic point of view adopted in this context lead to the use of alternative techniques to evaluate performances and policies. As suggested by Edquist (2006), this has to be done through a diagnosis of the IS, consisting in the identification of the systemic failures, and the elaboration of strategy to fix the problem. This demarche will be investigated in this chapter of the thesis and the following. In this section, a diagnosis of the IS of 37 countries (28 EU and their 9 non-EU competitors) will be realized through a typology based on innovation performances indicators. The aim of such an analysis is to see whether the different IS can be gathered in groups sharing the same characteristics, relative strengths and weaknesses. The expected results should reveal groups of countries sharing the same configurations in terms of innovation process, and facing the same type of weaknesses, dysfunctions or systemic failures. By doing so, one should be able to identify the needs of each IS, i.e. the components that may need improvement and eventually public intervention. To do so, a principal component analysis and a hierarchical ascendant clustering technique have been implemented on the 37 IS, revealing 4 clusters of countries, depending on their NIS characteristics and advancement: 1) The Asian economies, 2) The lagging-behind and catching-up NIS, 3) The small opened systems, 4) The technological leaders. This analysis has been realized for the 2003-2005 and 2013-2015 periods, revealing that, if the general features of the clusters do not tend to change over time, some countries faced a change a modification of their status: Korea left the Asian group to join the leaders, Cyprus and Ireland opened their boarders to a larger extent in a decade.
Chapter V: Innovation policy typologyThis chapter is focused on the construction of an innovation policy typology based on the distributions of policies obtained in the database presented in chapter III. The results of this typology will be compared with the diagnosis realized in previous section to see if the weaknesses and needs of the NIS are effectively targeted by public action in innovation. Also, the aspects that could enhance or weaken such action, and their combination with other component of the NIS could be better understood. To this purpose, a multiple factor analysis has been implemented on the distributions of policy measures in terms of NIS components, followed by a hierarchical ascendant clustering, revealing groups of countries sharing the same characteristics in terms of policy design and implementation. 34 NIS have been examined (India, Brazil and Russia have been removed from the sample due to the bad quality of the information), using both the budget-weighted and non-budget-weighted distributions of measures on the 2007-2013 period. However, the results of this typology cannot be interpreted separately from the general innovation framework in which the public action is implemented. Indeed, countries having the same features in terms of beneficiaries and/or objectives in terms of policy do not necessarily share the same kind of IS. These implementation characteristics should rather be interpreted in light of the results obtained in the NIS diagnosis typology, in order to examiner if the public money effectively go where it is needed. In general, the different examined countries seem to effectively tackle their weaknesses, but countries facing the same types of problems do not implement the same type of policy mix, reinforcing the hypothesis that the innovation process is embedded in a large institutional framework that my orient public action in a direction rather than another. Two specific cases hold the attention in those results: South Korea, whose leader status came along with an improvement of the in force regulatory framework and a focus on private research, and Japan, dealing with research in the pharmaceutical research and ageing-population issues.
Chapter VI: The impact of macroeconomic and IS factors on the efficiency of public R&DAnother point of view can be adopted in an attempt to integrate the IS representations in policy evaluation techniques: the analysis of their impact on the efficiency of public R&D in leveraging private investments. In this chapter, a combination of two types of analysis is used to examine the problematic: the study of the efficiency of public R&D expenditure and its determinants on one hand, and the investigation of a possible crowding out effect of public R&D on the private one on another hand. The crowding out effect is translated into efficiency analysis, considering the BERD funded by government as an input, and the BERD funded by business as an output. And if an increase in the output leads to a decrease in the output, public intervention is considered to crowd out private initiative, as the firm may decide to replace its own investment with public money, instead of using it as an extra resource to increase its R&D activities. In this context, the IS as environment of R&D activities can be seen as a determinant of this efficiency, as it can strengthen or weaken this crowding out effect. The question asked in this section is the following: how to quantify and model the interdependencies existing between the different components of a NIS in order to integrate them in a quantitative analysis. This has been done in this study by implementing factorial analysis (Buesa, 2010) on a set of indicators collected in the Global Competitiveness Index database, and considered as descriptors of the different aspects of the innovation system. Those IS factors are: 1) the general STI environment, 2) the accessibility of the financial markets, 3) the internationalization of the system, 4) barriers to entrepreneurship and 5) the flexibility of labour regulation. Afterwards, these variables have been added as efficiency determinants in a stochastic frontier model assessing a possible crowding out effect between public and private initiatives. The main results showed that there is an additional effect of public R&d expenditure on private R&D investments (no crowding out). Moreover, the general STI environment and accessibility of financial markets have a positive impact on this efficiency, contrary to the presence of foreign stakeholders in the system. The two last factors remain insignificant. Those results suggest that, if public intervention should have an effect on the performances of the NIS, this relationship is also reciprocal: a well-functioning NIS may have a positive effect on the results of a policy measure.
Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Thesis (MScEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2012.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The concept of National Innovation System (NIS) as new conceptual framework appeared in the late 1980s. The framework of NIS not only focuses on the science and technology development of a country, but also on concerns about a nation’s demand and strategy. The best technology, as well as patents, can be found in developed countries. Their development leads world development in many ways and influences the development model in developing countries. Although it is not hard to see that they seem to be progressing well, the question is why development just happens in some countries. Even fast developing countries, like China, India, Brazil, and South Africa have fewer such well-known or successful business models, compared to developed countries. The thesis attempts to scrutinise the internal and external factors in NIS which may influence countries and the innovation of enterprises within South Africa and China. The thesis focuses on fundamental research of the NIS of South Africa and China. The objective of the thesis is to find out which factors are involved in the NIS and how the system works in South Africa and China. The purpose of the study is to ascertain the difference and gap between these two countries and other more innovative countries, as well as the differences between South Africa and China. The literature study and quantitative method will be used to research and compare the NIS of South Africa and China.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die konsep van Nasionale Innovasie Stelsels (NIS) as ʼn nuwe konsepsionele raamwerk het in die laat 1980s na vore gekom. Die raamwerk van NIS het beide op die wetenskap en tegnologiese ontwikkeling, asook nasionale strategie van ʼn land gefokus. Die beste tegnologie sowel as patentregte kan in ontwikkelde lande gevind word. Hul bydrae is aan die voor front van globale ontwikkeling en het ʼn direkte invloed op ontwikkelingsmodelle vir ander ontwikkelende lande. Die voorspoed in hierdie lande is vir almal duidelik, maar die vraag is waarom ontwikkeling slegs plaasvind in sommige lande. Lande soos China, Indië, Brasilië en Suid Afrika het minder goeie en suksesvolle besigheidsmodelle, in vergelyking met ontwikkelde lande, alhoewel ontwikkeling steeds vinnig plaasvind. Die tesis poog om interne en eksterne faktore van die NIS te ontleed wat sal bydra tot die innovasie van ondernemingsontwikkeling in Suid Afrika en China. Die tesis fokus op fundamentele navorsing op die NIS van Suid Afrika en China. Die doel van die tesis is om uit te vind watter faktore die NIS in beide Suid Afrika en China beïnvloed. Die besondere oogmerk van die studie is om verskille en gapings tussen die twee lande en ander innovasie georiënteerde lande te beklemtoon, asook die verskil tussen Suid Afrika en China. Die literatuurstudie en kwantitatiewe metode word geïmplementeer om die NIS in Suid Afrika en China te ondersoek en vergelyk.

Today Armenia strives to build a knowledge-based economy to improve its competitiveness. For this reason, the creation and development of innovation-supporting infrastructure becomes a critical challenge for the next few years. In this regard, the experience of developed countries in the design and implementation of innovation policies can be useful for the creation of National Innovation System (NIS) in Armenia. This thesis work investigates the NIS model in the Nordic countries, specifically in Sweden and Finland, and make conclusion on how the Nordic model of NIS could work in Armenia. For this purpose, a comparative analysis of the NIS models in the Nordic countries, specifically in Sweden and Finland, with the NIS models in Israel and South Korea was conducted. To study the implementation of the Nordic model in transition economies, an example of one of Baltic countries - Estonia, was considered where currently this model of NIS is being implemented. Also, the current situation of NIS in Armenia was studied, and conclusions were made on what lessons can be learned for the development of effective innovation policy in Armenia. An attempt was made to answer the following research questions supporting the purpose of this thesis: 1. What are the specifics of the NIS model in two Nordic countries studied, i.e. in Sweden and Finland (the main features and peculiarities of NIS in Sweden and Finland has been identified through a comparative analysis of the NIS in these countries with the NIS models in two non-Nordic countries, i.e. in Israel and South Korea)? 2. To what extent has the Nordic model of NIS been implemented in Estonia and what are NIS development challenges there? 3. What are NIS development challenges in Armenia? 4. What lessons can be learned for the development of effective innovation policy in Armenia? The theoretical basis for this work originates in scientific articles by Lundvall, Freeman, Metcalfe and many others, research and reports of international organizations and national agencies, official documents and information posted on the websites of governmental organizations. Also, semi-structured interviews were conducted in seven private companies in Armenia to compile firm-level innovation data sets.

ABSTRACT This thesis investigates innovative entrepreneurship in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The thesis is guided by the National Innovation Systems theory, where innovation is seen as result of interactions and learning between different institutions or actors. The objective was to investigate how conducive is the national system of innovation of Ethiopia in the perception of entrepreneurs and how relevant is the innovation policy of Ethiopia is to innovative entrepreneurship. A field study was conducted in order to collect empirical data through semi-structured interviews, observations and participation. Most of the interviews took place in the innovation hub iceAddis with most of the sample focusing on entrepreneurs that were members there. The results of the field study show that the national system of innovation of Ethiopia is not particularly conducive nor developed to empower to innovative entrepreneurs. Moreover, the policy although very ambitious does not explicably aim to empower entrepreneur. Other goals of the policy could have had spillover effects on entrepreneurs but they were not yet attained in the perception of innovative entrepreneurs. Keywords: Ethiopia, Innovation, Entrepreneurship, ICT, National Systems of Innovation

This Master Thesis hinges on the concept of Innovation and its association with regional development as a phenomenon that has attracted both researchers and policy makers’ attention.  The thesis presents two different innovation perspectives on regional development – Innovation Systems and Complex Systems of Innovation, and applies them into the case-study of the Life Sciences Cluster in Lund. In order to do so, the key aspects of each of the perspectives are highlighted within the part devoted to the Framework of this thesis. Within these, the networks between organizations in the Innovation Systems and the actors and their interrelations in the Complex Systems perspective have been analyzed. The analysis of these aspects brings up similar outcomes in both perspectives applied, i.e. the creation of various organizations within the Cluster. Both of the perspectives account for the importance of Lund University for the creation of these organizations and subsequent development of the Life Sciences cluster.

Thesis: Ph. D. in Strategy, Innovation, and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2015.
Submitted to the Interdepartmental Thesis Committee: Aeronautics & Astronautics, Engineering Systems, and Sloan School of Management. Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 241-259).
The United States' global lead in secure technology innovation is a cornerstone of national defense. Breakthroughs in technology are critical in establishing and maintaining military superiority. Technology innovation strategies enable the U.S. to maintain this superiority by effectively yielding innovation from R&D investment. However, these strategies must evolve within increasing financial pressures, technological complexities, and dynamic geo-political conditions. Through an analysis of the innovation landscape and development of a taxonomy of open innovation, this dissertation shows that emergent open technology innovation strategies (OTIS) have been successfully applied in the commercial sector, and, after analyzing the relevant metrics, establishes that OTIS could be beneficial in secure U.S. Government (USG) R&D environments to enhance technology innovation. A system-level analysis of the complexities endemic to these environments revealed two fundamental challenges: (1) Secrecy Challenge: Secrecy and national security are often conflated. Secrecy can be in tension with innovation, such as when R&D is hampered because specific requirements are obscured for national security reasons. (2) Participation Challenge: Innovation strategies that depend on open collaboration to bring forth the fullest breadth of potential solutions are impeded when regulatory regimes appropriate these innovations in the name of national security without adequately incentivizing participants. This dissertation shows that USG cannot optimize the application of OTIS without addressing these pervasive challenges; high-level change is needed. This dissertation evaluates current approaches by regulatory regimes and uses a combination of legal, policy, and stakeholder analysis to identify opportunities for system-level improvement. This dissertation finds that regulatory regimes should moderate secrecy a) when secrecy is the real interest being protected, and b) if it can be done in a manner that furthers both innovation and national security. In particular, Government agencies tasked with critical innovation must be empowered to do so in a way that thoughtfully balances innovation and national security interests. This dissertation also finds that a system of non-monetary and monetary incentives is needed to prevent short-term national security interests from unintentionally jeopardizing long-term interests. Such system-level change is necessary to ensure sustainable improvement in USG's ability to effectively transition R&D investment into technology innovation to support national security.
by Tina Prabha Srivastava.
Ph. D. in Strategy, Innovation, and Engineering

This paper firstly introduces the different views of innovation, including the basic functions, characteristics and models of the national/sub-national innovation systems. Then, a new output model, interactive model and the main evaluating indicators of an innovation system are brought forward. The main evaluating indicators are: Innovation System Performance reflecting the previous output of the innovation system, and Innovation System Capacity expecting the future performance by effectively attracting, configuring and using all elements or resources of the innovation system. Finally, the application of innovation system in China is introduced, which includes the national innovation system and the sub-national innovation systems in The Pan-Pearl River Delta Area, Yangtze River Delta Area and Bohai Sea Rim Area.

As dual-use technologies transform the national security landscape, the U.S. Department of Defense has established a variety of offices and programs dedicated to bringing private sector innovation into the military. However, these efforts have largely failed to drive cutting-edge commercial technology into major military platforms and systems. This report examines the shortcomings of the DOD’s current approach to defense innovation and offers recommendations for a more effective strategy.

The Menzies School Leadership Incubator (the Incubator) is a national trans-disciplinary initiative to design, test and learn about transformative innovations that will support lasting systems change in Australian schools’ leadership. This review explores the successes, challenges and learning from work in the Incubator to date, from the perspective of a collaborative seeking longstanding systems change. The design of the review is informed by thinking in the innovation literature, principally communities of practice and socio-technical systems theory. This review was undertaken as a rapid exploration of experiences and learning, drawing on interviews with eight individuals from within the Incubator (six interviews) and collaborating partners (two interviews).

To deliver infrastructure that sustain our communities, economy, and environment, we must innovate, modernize, and even revolutionize our approach to infrastructure development. Change takes courage, but as one starts down the path of innovation, what was once novel becomes more familiar, more established. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is walking this path with our partners through the Engineering With Nature (EWN) Initiative, integrating human engineering with natural systems. The International Guidelines on Natural and Nature-Based Features for Flood Risk Management are the next step toward revolutionary infrastructure development—a set of real-world guidelines to help familiarize us with what was once novel. USACE and collaborators around the world have been building, learning, and documenting the best practices for constructing Natural and Nature-Based Features (NNBF) for decades. The consolidation of these lessons into a single guidance document gives decision-makers and practitioners a much-needed resource to pursue, consider, and apply NNBF for flood risk management while expanding value through infrastructure. Relationships and partnerships are vital ingredients for innovation and progress. The NNBF Guidelines was achieved because of the strong relationships in the nature-based engineering community. The magnitude and diversity of contributors to the NNBF Guidelines have resulted in a robust resource that provides value beyond a single agency, sector, or nation. Similarly, the work of incorporating NNBF into projects will require us to strengthen our relationships across organizations, mandates, and missions to achieve resilient communities. I hope you are inspired by the collaborative achievement of the NNBF Guidelines and will draw from this resource to develop innovative solutions to current and future flood risk management challenges. There is a lot we can achieve together along the path of revolutionary infrastructure development.

This report examines the science advisory system in the UK, how it has changed and how it may develop further in the future. It looks at structure and functions within the UK Government (including the Government Chief Scientific Advisor, the Government Office for Science, government departments, scientific advisory committees - including SAGE - and the Science and Engineering Profession). It also describes science advice in the UK Parliament. The report looks at the role of public research funders, particularly UK Research and Innovation and its research councils, and it discusses how universities are responding to incentives to improve the supply of evidence and expertise. There are brief sections discussing the role of other actors (such as national academies, charities and industry) and discussion of some cross-cutting themes.

On 7 July 2020, the National Council – the first chamber of the Austrian Parliament – passed a package of legislation introducing a new framework for the methods of allocating federal budgets to research, technology, and innovation (RTI). Its core is the Research Financing Act (RFA), complemented by several amendments to existing laws that are necessary for its implementation. Entry into force was on 25 July 2020, the amendments became effective as of 1 January 2021 (BGBl1. I No. 75/20202). The RFA is the biggest legislative project in the field of RTI policy since 2004 when the Research Funding Agency (FFG) was established (Pichler et al. 2007, pp. 329-336; Stampfer et al. 2010, pp. 775-776). For the first time, budget law regulations are now aligned with the needs of institutions performing or funding RTI (Pichler 2021). This article outlines the background and content of the RFA and concludes with a view on the significance of evaluation within the new system.

The main recommendations of the panel report can be summarised under five key headings. Underpinning all five areas is the recognition that human narratives remain crucial for ensuring the widest access to our shared past. There is no wish to see political and economic narratives abandoned but the need is recognised for there to be an expansion to more social narratives to fully explore the potential of the diverse evidence base. The questions that can be asked are here framed in a national context but they need to be supported and improved a) by the development of regional research frameworks, and b) by an enhanced study of Scotland’s international context through time. 1. From North Britain to the Idea of Scotland: Understanding why, where and how ‘Scotland’ emerges provides a focal point of research. Investigating state formation requires work from Medieval Scotland: a future for its past ii a variety of sources, exploring the relationships between centres of consumption - royal, ecclesiastical and urban - and their hinterlands. Working from site-specific work to regional analysis, researchers can explore how what would become ‘Scotland’ came to be, and whence sprang its inspiration. 2. Lifestyles and Living Spaces: Holistic approaches to exploring medieval settlement should be promoted, combining landscape studies with artefactual, environmental, and documentary work. Understanding the role of individual sites within wider local, regional and national settlement systems should be promoted, and chronological frameworks developed to chart the changing nature of Medieval settlement. 3. Mentalities: The holistic understanding of medieval belief (particularly, but not exclusively, in its early medieval or early historic phase) needs to broaden its contextual understanding with reference to prehistoric or inherited belief systems and frames of reference. Collaborative approaches should draw on international parallels and analogues in pursuit of defining and contrasting local or regional belief systems through integrated studies of portable material culture, monumentality and landscape. 4. Empowerment: Revisiting museum collections and renewing the study of newly retrieved artefacts is vital to a broader understanding of the dynamics of writing within society. Text needs to be seen less as a metaphor and more as a technological and social innovation in material culture which will help the understanding of it as an experienced, imaginatively rich reality of life. In archaeological terms, the study of the relatively neglected cultural areas of sensory perception, memory, learning and play needs to be promoted to enrich the understanding of past social behaviours. 5. Parameters: Multi-disciplinary, collaborative, and cross-sector approaches should be encouraged in order to release the research potential of all sectors of archaeology. Creative solutions should be sought to the challenges of transmitting the importance of archaeological work and conserving the resource for current and future research.

The Energy Savings Insurance Program seeks to promote investment in energy efficiency and distributed generation in Latin America, primarily through small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). It focuses on developing an innovative scheme of guaranteed energy performance that mitigates project risk and generates investor confidence (ESI Model). The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) facilitates the development of the ESI Program in alliance with the National Development Banks (NDBs). The ESI Model includes a contract for the supply, installation, and maintenance of equipment for generating a stipulated amount of energy or energy savings over a specific time period; validation by an independent body; insurance coverage that backs the savings or the guaranteed energy generation; and project financing. This paper describes the main attributes of the ESI Model (the contract, the insurance, validation and financing), evaluates market potential and the most attractive technologies, and identifies the priority sectors for implementing projects in Chile. The most promising economic sectors were found to be the hospitality industry, food processing industry, grape growing/wine production, and the fishing industry, and the technologies of electric motors, boilers, air conditioning systems and photovoltaic solar generation. In each of these sectors, estimates were made of financing requirements as well as CO2 emission reductions that could be achieved.

The National Wildlife Research Center (NWRC) is the research arm of Wildlife Services (WS), a program within the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). NWRC’s researchers are dedicated to finding biologically sound, practical, and effective solutions to resolving wildlife damage management issues. They seek these solutions using a multiyear, multidisciplinary project management system. NWRC identifies and prioritizes projects based on feedback from WS program leaders, managers, and stakeholders concerning their most pressing wildlife damage management needs. During 2014, five research projects reached the end of their 5-year life cycle. At the final project reviews, project leaders and their staff presented and discussed each project’s accomplishments, challenges, and findings.