How does network intermediary affect collaborative innovation?Evidence from Chinese listed companies

Purpose:This study aims to explore how network intermediaries influence collaborative innovation performance within inter-organizational technological collaboration networks.Design/methodology/approach:This study employs a mixed-method approach,combining quantitative social network analysis with regression techniques to investigate the role of network intermediaries in collaborative innovation performance.Using a patent dataset of Chinese industrial enterprises,the research constructs the collaboration networks and analyzes their structural positions,particularly focusing on their role as intermediaries,characterized by betweenness centrality.Negative binomial regression analysis is employed to assess how these network characteristics shape innovation outcomes.Findings:The study reveals that firms in intermediary positions enhance collaborative innovation performance,but this effect is nuanced.A key finding is that network clustering negatively moderates the intermediary-innovation relationship.Highly clustered networks,while fostering local collaboration,may limit the innovation potential of intermediaries.On the other hand,relationship strength,measured by collaboration intensity and trust among firms,positively moderates the intermediary-innovation link.Research limitations:This study has several limitations that present opportunities for further research.The reliance on quantitative social network analysis may overlook the complexity of intermediaries’roles,and future studies could benefit from incorporating qualitative methods to better understand cultural and institutional factors.Additionally,cross-country comparisons are needed to assess the consistency of these dynamics in different contexts.Practical implications:The study offers practical insights for firms and policymakers.Organizations should strategically position themselves as network intermediaries to access diverse information and resources,thereby improving innovation performance.Building strong trust helps using network intermediary advantages.For firms in highly clustered networks,it is important to seek external partners to avoid limiting their exposure to new ideas and technologies.This research emphasizes the need to balance network diversity with relationship strength for sustained innovation.Originality/value:This research contributes to the literature by offering new insights into the role of network intermediaries,presenting a comprehensive framework for understanding the interaction between network dynamics and firm innovation.

The Pathways and Mechanisms for Collaborative Innovation in Vocational Education,Higher Education,and Continuing Education

Against the backdrop of rapid global economic development,the demand for education has gradually shifted from quantitative growth to qualitative improvement.Vocational education,higher education,and continuing education are crucial components of China’s education system,each serving different educational functions.However,the collaborative innovation among these three types of education is still in the preliminary exploration stage,with issues such as scattered resources and imperfect coordination mechanisms.This paper systematically reviews relevant domestic and international research and practical experiences,thoroughly analyzes the pathways,models,and mechanisms of collaborative innovation among these three types of education,and proposes practical and operational suggestions based on the actual situation in Xuzhou City.The study finds that collaboration between vocational education,higher education,and continuing education through innovation not only enhances the overall efficiency of educational resources but also promotes regional economic development and social progress.On this basis,this paper proposes specific measures such as building an education resource-sharing platform,promoting a chain-based talent training system,strengthening policy and institutional guarantees,and improving incentive mechanisms,aiming to provide a reference for local education administrators and contribute to the innovative development of education in China.

Marine Ranching Engineering Collaborative Innovation from the Perspective of Ecological Environment

As a resource development model with both economic and ecological functions,the environmental friendliness of marine ranching products meets the environmental needs of consumers.However,the lack of technological innovation ability limits the development of marine ranching.Therefore,this research builds a marine ranching collaborative innovation system with multi-agent participation.Evolutionary game theory is used to analyze strategic choices of all parties and the conditions of system equilibrium,and numerical simulation is used to analyze the effect of relevant factors.This paper integrates the benefits from the improvement of environmental friendliness into the payoff matrix,and explains the significance of collaborative innovation to the development of marine ranching from the perspective of ecological environment.The results showed:the participation willingness of marine ranching enterprises is positively related to open innovation subject,while the participation willingness of the other two parties is negatively related to the government;The incentive effect of collaboration is negatively correlated with the government’s will,positively correlated with the other two parties;The incentive effect of government subsidies positively affects the willingness of the three parties to participate.Finally,suggestions are provided for each participant to maintain the strategic choice of marine ranching collaborative innovation system.

Research on the Impact of Independent R&D and Collaborative Innovation on Economic Performance in China’s pharmaceutical Industry

Objective To study the impact of independent R&D and collaborative innovation on economic performance in the pharmaceutical industry.Methods A panel regression model was established by selecting the panel data of China’s pharmaceutical industry from 2009 to 2019.Results and Conclusion Independent R&D and collaborative innovation of the pharmaceutical industry in eastern,central and western regions of China had a positive effect on economic performance.Besides,the promotion effect of independent R&D was greater than that of collaborative innovation.The positive driving effect of economic performance is the largest among the three regions,followed by the central and western regions.The collaborative innovation has the greatest positive effect on economic performance in the central region,followed by the eastern and western regions.

Research on the Practical Path of Collaborative Innovation Talent Training in Supply-Side Applied Undergraduate Colleges

The cultivation of supply-side collaborative innovation talents mainly focuses on four elements:labor,capital,technology,and system.The improvement of these four elements is essentially a long-term process,which determines the potential growth rate in the medium and long term.In this paper,we analyzed the current situation,put forward two major problems,the low degree of specialization and insufficient participation,and focus on the research on the practical path of collaborative innovation talent training in applied undergraduate colleges from the perspective of the system.

Spatial Pattern and Benefit Allocation in Regional Collaborative Innovation of the Yangtze River Delta, China

As an important step enhancing regional innovation, researches on collaborative innovation have attracted much more attention recently. One significant reason is that cities can get excessive benefits while they take collaborative innovation activities. Based on the theories of innovation geography, this paper takes the collaborative innovation of the Yangtze River Delta(YRD) Urban Agglomeration as a case study and measures the collaborative innovation capacity from innovation actors and innovation cities by adopting the catastrophe progression model. Then on this basis, the study depicts the spatial pattern and the benefit allocation of collaborative innovation by using the coupling collaborative degree model and benefit allocation model of collaborative innovation. The results show that:1) The collaborative innovation capacity of cities in the Yangtze River Delta has strengthened largely, while the capacity still is not high enough. Cities with high collaborative innovation capacity are concentrated in Shanghai, the southern part of Jiangsu, and Hangzhou Bay, yet the cooperation of the universities-industries-research institutes need to improve. 2) The spatial pattern of collaborative innovation of the Yangtze River Delta presents several innovation circles, which are in Suzhou-Wuxi-Changzhou Metropolitan Circle, Nanjing Metropolitan Circle, Hangzhou Metropolitan Circle, Ningbo Metropolitan Circle, and Hefei Metropolitan Circle. Shanghai plays the role of the central city of collaborative innovation, while Suzhou, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Ningbo, and Hefei act as sub-central cities. 3) The benefit each city allocated from collaborative innovation activities has increased. However, the allocations of the benefit show that cities with higher innovation capacity have significant advantages in most cases, which lead to serious disparities in space.

Knowledge-Based Platform for Collaborative Innovation Development of Products

The platform of distributed design and resource sharing is important for medium-sized and small companies in developing products to improve competitiveness. As a background of creative product design, a knowledge model based on product collaborative innovation development of products (CIDP) is proposed. Characteristics of CIDP are analyzed, and the framework and key technologies of the CIDP-platform based knowledge studied. Through integration of existing system and interface designs, a development platform has been built to support the PCID within knowledge-based engineering (KBE). An example is presented, indicating that the prototype system is maneuverable and practical.

Research on Talent Training System of Marine Cultural Industry Based on Collaborative Innovation of Governments,Enterprises,Colleges,Scientific Institutions and Users

This paper focuses on the coupling between talent training system of marine cultural industry and collaborative innovation of govern-ments, enterprises, colleges, scientific institutions and users. Firstly, the significance of talent training in marine cultural industry for the construction of China as a maritime power was analyzed. Secondly, the current situation of talent training in China＇s marine cultural industry and the existing problems were analyzed. Finally, how to integrate the collaborative innovation of governments, enterprises, colleges, scientific institutions and us-ers into the talent training system of marine cultural industry was explored to help talent training to break through the bottleneck and promote the vig-orous development of marine cultural industry.

Application of Collaborative Innovation of Governments,Enterprises,Colleges,Scientific Institutions and Users in the Talent Training of Marine Cultural Industry: A Case Study of Maritime Universities

Based on the literature review of collaborative innovation of governments, enterprises, colleges, scientific institutions and users, the ap-plication situation of collaborative innovation of governments, enterprises, colleges, scientific institutions and users in the talent training of marine cultural industry in maritime universities was analyzed, and the problems existing in the talent training of marine cultural industry were explored. Finally, corresponding countermeasures and suggestions were put forward.

Discussion on Cultivation of Collaborative Innovation Ability of Postgraduates Under Background of New Engineering

In view of the increasing number of postgraduates,the quality of postgraduates also presents the situation of multi-level differentiation.In this paper,combined with the requirements of new engineering construction for personnel training,the collaborative innovation training mode of postgraduates under the background of new engineering is explored.Those include:breaking through the single training of teacherpupil inheritance and establishing a team cooperative training mechanism;Breaking through the limit of a single discipline and realizing the cooperative training mechanism of engineering postgraduates across disciplines and schools;Breaking through the closed training in colleges and universities,realizing the cooperative training in the industry,and building a cooperative training mechanism for postgraduates that involves production,study and research;and building an international science and technology cooperation platform and cultivating the cooperative innovation ability of postgraduates.

Partner selection of collaborative innovation of strategic emerging industry - based on ANP-GRA

The rise and development of strategic emerging industries need a new innovative mode--collaborative innovation, collaborative innovation as a complex multi-object relationship, it is essential to select an appropriate partner. Partner selection is the key to the success of strategic emerging industry collaborative innovation. This paper takes collaborative innovation partner selection as research focus, establishing evaluation system of collaborative innovation partner selection, using analytic network process （ANP） to determine the weight of evaluation index, then, obtaining grey correlation rank of collaborative innovation partner by Grey relational analysis （GILA）, providing the basis for strategic emerging industry to select collaborative innovation partner.

A new service model of document and information sharing among consortium members: The collaborative innovation practice of the NSLC and PASs

Purpose： This paper documents an exploration of an innovative approach to the sharing of documents and information among the members of the National Alliance of Academies of Sciences （NAAS） in China, based on the practice initiated by the National Science Library of the Chinese Academy of Sciences （NSLC）.Design/methodology/approach： Through interviews and user surveys, we analyzed the general information demands of users from provincial academies of sciences （PASs） and problems of their document and information service teams. Based on our findings, we designed targeted services to help Alliance members support their document resources, information services for science and technology （S＆T） decisions, and their knowledge transfer achievements. Furthermore, we offered training courses for provincial service teams, researchers, and administrators, to improve their information skills. These activities represent a new collaborative model for professional library consortia.Findings： To date, our service has been extended to all Alliance members, covering 19 provinces in China, and the NSLC service covers all aspects of knowledge services of Alliance members, from basic document delivery services to subject information analyses.Research limitations： Different PASs have different understandings of the role of the document and information services in the process of scientific research. These differences limit information service sharing of the NSLC with the PASs, and affect the service performance. For the sake of convenience, the original survey was conducted in only three provinces, which may not fully reflect the information needs of users in each Alliance institution. In addition, quantitative and qualitative analyses have been limited by the coverage of the sample.Practical implications： Document and information sharing has not only taken advantage of the NSLC knowledge service system and cooperation model, it has also enhanced the range of services of the NAAS in China.Originality/value： Based on knowledge service enhancements, the NAAS in China has formed a new kind of library consortium, which has broken the traditional library alliance model that was based mainly on the sharing of resources and services.

How technological proximity affect collaborative innovation?An empirical study of China’s Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region

Based on joint-innovation patent data from 2000 to 2016 in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region of China,the purpose of this paper is to analyze how technological proximity affects university-industry collaborative innovation in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.We adopt a 1:1 matching design to conduct an empirical study.The results show that the effect of technological proximity on the formation of collaborative innovation displays an inverted U-shape,and geographical proximity and institutional proximity play a positive role of forming a tie.Geographical proximity and institutional proximity as a coordination mechanism,have negatively influenced the relationship between technological proximity and the formation of university-industry collaborative innovation.Furthermore,university strength improves the possibility of collaborative innovation.These findings contributed to the understanding of the relationship between technological proximity and collaborative innovation.

Third-party relational governance and collaborative innovation performance:The role of IPR protection

The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of third-party relational governance on the performance of collaborative innovation in China. By integrating the relational view and innovation appropriation perspectives, this study analyses the effects of three mechanisms of third-party relational governancedco-reputation, interorganizational routines, and technological normsdon collaborative innovation performance. Additionally,this study investigates the moderating effects of the protection of intellectual Property Rights(IPR) on the relationship between third-party relational governance and collaborative innovation performance. Survey data of high-technology firms in China are used to empirically test the hypotheses. The results show that third-party relational governance has a positive effect on collaborative innovation performance and that IPR protection has different moderating effects. This study contributes to the relational governance literature by adding the perspective of third parties and analyzing three mechanisms of third-party relational governance in a single model. This study also contributes to the innovation appropriation literature by examining the role of IPR protection in governing collaborative innovation in China. Finally, this study offers suggestions on how Chinese firms should govern their collaborative innovation to remedy the limitations of a weak IPR legal institutional framework.

Market Dissimilarity, Technology Complementarity and Collaborative Innovation Performance: The Moderating Effects of IT Adoption

As the strategic alliance between firms is becoming increasingly popular, and collaborative innovation is becoming an important management issue, the lack of a holistic framework of different collaborative partners’ characteristics and their different effects on firms’ innovation is becoming a critical research gap. Another intension of our study is to explore the moderating factors that affect the market dissimilarity/technology complementarity—innovation performance relationships. Using the data of collaboration between innovative firms, we tested our hypotheses using partial least squares(PLS). The results show that both market dissimilarity and technology complementarity between collaborative partners relate positively to focal firms’ innovation performance, in terms of both novelty and efficiency,while technology complementarity is more effective. Our results also indicate that IT adoption negatively moderates the relationship between market dissimilarity and collaborative innovation novelty/efficiency,and the relationship between technology complementarity and innovation efficiency, while in terms of the relationship between technology complementarity and innovation novelty, the moderating effect becomes significantly positive. This study extends previous research on collaborative innovation.

Call for Papers Special Issue on Collaborative Innovation in Complex System over Big Data

Big Data Mining and Analytics is an international academic journal sponsored by Tsinghua University and published quarterly.It features on technologies to enable and accelerate big data discovery.All of papers published are on the IEEE Xplore Digital Library with the open access mode.A complex system is a nonlinear system consisting of a set of intelligent agents that can not only process their local data separately but also collaborate with each other globally.Generally,through analyzing the decision-making data collected by distributed agents.

“China Shock”or China Dividend?-China GVC Participation’s Effects on Trading Partners’Technological Progress

This paper explores the effects of China’s global value chain(GVC)participation on technological progress in trading-partner countries based on estimated data on value-added trade between China and 52 trading partners.We find that,first,although China’s exports lowered the total factor productivity(TFP)of its trading partners(competitive effect),its imports greatly increased trading partners’TFP(effect of scale).This implies that China’s GVC participation is beneficial to its trading partners’technological progress in the form of a considerable technology dividend effect.Second,China’s export dividend effect compensates for the negative effect of Chinese competition on trading partners’technological progress;the innovation effects attributable to China’s imports reinforce the positive effects of scale on technological progress.When innovation is factored in,the China dividend thus becomes further reinforced.Third,China’s merchandise imports have a diminishing positive effect on technological progress in trading partners as geographical distance increases,but trade in services transcends geographical boundaries,and the positive technological progress effect of China’s service imports do not diminish as distance increases.We find that the“China dividend”from China’s GVC participation is a significant contributor to technological progress in partner nations,and China’s imports are conducive to innovation and technological progress in developed countries in the long run.

A Platform for Collaborative Modeling

A collaborative virtual modeling environment based on VRML is presented as a sugarcane harvester modeling framework, and is illustrated with the implemented software that can using I;EAS, Smarteam, and Conceptual Innovation Design System （CIDS） as the supporting platform, which is powerful enough to meet the demands of different real life applications. It is possible to perform collaborative interactive modifications with concurrent synchronous visualization at each client computer with any required level of detail. The platform provides a product modeling and assembling environment, and the product data among I;EAS, Smarteam and CIDS can be exchanged.

Modeling Analysis of Complex Products Resource Integration Behavior Under Distributed Collaborative Technology Innovation Mode

According to new features of distributed technology innovation collaboration of complex products of China’s aviation,in the multi-agent collaborative R&D process,between main manufacturer and suppliers,this paper summarizes the organizational structure and characteristics of collaborative mode of distributed technology innovation of complex products,basing on the technological innovation and resource integration of complex products,and treating resource contribution rate as a key parameter. It establishes multi-agent resource integration collaborative symbiosis model under distributed collaborative technology innovation mode based on symbiosis theory. And finds that some factors such as the basic attributes of the enterprise,the mutual influence of resources among enterprises and the behavior decision of the main manufacturer have some effects on the resource integration using stability analysis and simulation analysis,which provides a theoretical basis for the main manufacturer to optimize the behavior of suppliers’ resource integration.

Research on Influencing Factors of Innovation Network Performance of Industrial Enterprises above Designated Size in Nanjing Based on System Dynamics

Based on the method of system dynamics,this paper simulates the cycle of collaborative innovation network,involving enterprises,government,research institutions,and science and technology intermediaries from the perspective of capital flow.The results of model analysis show that among the influencing factors,the number of innovation achievements is the most complex variable,and the influence of patent elimination rate is the most significant.The number of Research and Development(R&D)projects is most sensitive to the positive impact of the number of technology intermediaries,and with the passage of time,this kind of effect gradually increases.At the same time,the total industrial assets are positively affected by the intensity of enterprise innovation investment,but there is about three years delay in this effect.