Can we have a general theory of financial innovation processes? A conceptual review

Introduction:Since the financial crisis of 2008,the theory of financial innovation has been a focus at a time of re-evaluation and re-conceptualization.However,little has been done to evaluate the current state of research considering the increasing complexity of financial innovation.This paper examines the hypothesis of a general theory that encompasses increasing complexities in the financial innovation process.Methods:The paper begins with an overview of the definitions,the features,and the classification schemes of financial innovation.Additionally,the paper reviews the existing literature on the main objects of study in financial innovation and groups the findings under four main concepts.A conceptual analysis is presented that evaluates current approaches to the study of the financial innovation process and the difficulties inherent in constructing a single general theory.The paper proposes a framework based on a meta-theory of financial innovation as a better approach to understanding the inherent complexities and diversities affecting financial innovations.Discussion:(1)Financial innovations present diversities and complexities that make it infeasible to build a unifying general theory to explain their development.(2)The current state of research on financial innovation theories is limited and requires additional input.(3)A meta-theory that identifies,classifies,and connects theories of development for financial innovations is better suited to explaining the complexity of financial innovation processes.

Innovation Management Processes and Routines for Business Success and Value Creation

Innovation is managed through the development of processes and routines, considered as critical for business success and value creation. The identification of relevant routines as well as the understanding of which factors affect business innovation is the main objective of this research, based on a survey applied in Portuguese companies and their experience shared in best practices guides. Conclusions highlighted 10 key innovation routines, reinforcing the idea that innovation must be supported through a systematic and sustained management process. Results also indicate that SMEs face greater difficulties in benefiting from the potential of innovation practices and collaboration may present opportunities to overcome their limited resources. Therefore, regardless of size, business activity, science and technology intensity or other factors influencing firms dynamic capabilities, innovation should be considered as a management imperative as it can influence not only the present but also the future of business success.

Feasibility of an innovative integrated process of simultaneous desulfurization and denitrification for high strength wastewater

An anaerobic expanding-bed reactor was adopted to investigate the feasibility of an innovative integrated process of simultaneous desulfurization and denitrification （SDD） for high strength wastewater. In the reactor, heterotrophic bacteria （including sulfate reducing bacterium and denitrifying bacteria） and autotrophic bacteria （ including Thiobacillus denitrificans） cooperated together by incubating and enriching functional bac- teria on different carriers in the anaerobic activated sludge. Synthetic wastewater with high concentrations of sulfate and nitrate was employed. The experimental resuhs showed that the removal efficiency of sulfate and nitrate was above 85% , elemental sulfur was observed while nitrate was absent in effluent. The balance of sulfur, nitrogen and electron was discussed respectively, which indicated that the integrated SDD process could be actualized. These resuhs might provide a guidance to further investigate the key factors affecting the integrated SDD process and to improve the efficiency of desulfurization and denitrification in wastewater treatment.

The Podcast as an Innovative Urban Planning Teaching Tool: Soft and Hard Skills between Discipline and Professional Identity

The expression didactic innovation has recently assumed an implicit reference to Distance Learning.For scholars,however,it was above all the critical questioning on learning models.The article explores the use of the podcast as a stimulus for engineering students to achieve new soft skills:to learn multidisciplinary contents related to planning and to acquire professional competences in digital aspects and feedbacks attribution.Experience took place over two years:this gave the opportunity to compare the activity carried out totally in presence and totally remotely(through online lessons and reviews),to draw from them issues for discussion and future implementations.

Raw Gangue Filling Mining under Construction —A Case Study in China

In order to recover the strip pillar coal resources, reduce the amount of gangue mountain and realize remediation of the goaf environment in the old mining area, the raw gangue filling mining technology was proposed. According to the previous practical experience, the feasibility of the implementation of raw gangue filling mining technology in the coal-pressed area was analyzed. Through the filling gangue compaction test, the deformation under different loading stages was obtained. Further, a reasonable prediction of the deformation beyond the experimental limited loading load was made based on the experimental results. Through the deformation source analysis of the whole process of gangue filling, the key factors for controlling deformation before, during, and after filling were determined. Additionally, the proportion of deformation during different stages was quantified. Considering the protection of surface buildings, mining fullness of the working face and mining technology, the production parameters of 1209 and 1210 filling working faces were preliminarily determined. Through numerical simulation, the rationality of mining scheme was verified. Based on the practice of 1209 working face and the key factors to control the deformation of gangue filling, the mining system and process in 1210 working face were optimized. According to the measured surface rock movement, raw gangue filling mining technology can meet the requirements of surface building protection level. Especially, this paper provides a method to quantitatively calculate the equivalent mining height (EMH) of raw gangue filling and its mining deformation, which has reference significance for old mining areas.

Financial innovation and its governance:Cases of two major innovations in the financial sector

The power of financial innovations to affect societies on global and intergenerational levels compels us to ask how we can ensure their responsible emergence in society.This requires an understanding of how innovation occurs and how it is governed in practice.Despite this,there is little research on the process and governance of financial innovation.The few studies conducted in this area have focused on the‘backend’of the innovation process.Therefore,using data from secondary sources,this study investigates how two major financial innovations occurred and were governed,and it discusses the findings in relation to those in the literature.This approach revealed that innovation processes fall within a continuum ranging from structured to unstructured.Moreover,lead times are potentially longer for innovations that are significantly disruptive,new to the market,and technological in nature.Finally,innovation processes can involve multiple stakeholders who use both statutory regulation and self-regulation for innovation governance.This paper concludes that innovation processes and their governance can vary significantly according to different areas of the financial landscape and associated innovation contexts.Thus,there is a need for more empirical work to understand such variability and practices in the sector as a whole.

Process engineering in electrochemical energy devices innovation

This review focuses on the application of process engineering in electrochemical energy conversion and storage devices innovation. For polymer electrolyte based devices, it highlights that a strategic simple switch from proton exchange membranes(PEMs) to hydroxide exchange membranes(HEMs) may lead to a new-generation of affordable electrochemical energy devices including fuel cells, electrolyzers, and solar hydrogen generators. For lithium-ion batteries, a series of advancements in design and chemistry are required for electric vehicle and energy storage applications. Manufacturing process development and optimization of the LiF eP O_4/C cathode materials and several emerging novel anode materials are also discussed using the authors' work as examples.Design and manufacturing process of lithium-ion battery electrodes are introduced in detail, and modeling and optimization of large-scale lithium-ion batteries are also presented. Electrochemical energy materials and device innovations can be further prompted by better understanding of the fundamental transport phenomena involved in unit operations.

Sports Game Radial Basketball in Physical Education of Preschool Children

The article is devoted to the application of new radial sports games basketball in physical education of preschool children. The benefits of a new game： expanding the playing space attributable to each player, limiting the opposition defenders and facilitates the use of gaming devices. The use of innovative methods in physical training of preschool children gives you the opportunity to solve successfully the whole complex of educational issues and the full development of the child.

Process and risk analysis about enterprises technological innovation

Successful innovation is so important that enterprise scientifically manages the process and risk of technological innovation. Firstly, the process of innovation is generalized to seven stages including formation of innovation idea, investigation and evaluation, research and development, middle test, mass production, marketing and selling, after service and feedback. Secondly, the origin of risk in the process of innovation is analyzed. The purpose is to help enterprise identify risk and take countermeasure to minimize the potential loss and maximize the potential income.

Management of Innovation Process in Services： Micro and Small Enterprises of the Metropolitan Region of Campinas

This study aimed to explore how processes of innovation are perceived and managed in micro and small service-oriented companies in Campinas, i.e., verifying how people in these companies understand, identify, and manage innovation （what tools or methodologies）. Innovation is not a new concept, but its perception as a process, detached from randomness, is. This understanding is what allows its management as a tool to improve results and competitiveness, and to the perpetuation of the company. The research had a qualitative approach that consisted in the content analysis of structured interviews held with 10 respondents of five different companies, using eight innovation-focused questions, adapted from the Brazilian National Quality Foundation （FNQ）. After interviews, four categories were identified： innovation understanding, innovative ambience, innovation process management, and learning during the process--the first two regarding the subjective features of innovation and the latter two the objective features. Analysis outcome has shown that companies understand the concept and importance of innovation, but still do not see it as a process, which leads them to try isolated initiatives, usually executed by instinct only. Due to the fact that innovation is not considered as a process, most practices encourage generation of ideas, instead of goals, key performance indicators （KPIs）, and learning--this latter one, only occurs informally and over time.

Anatomy of the 3D Innovation Production With the Cobb-Douglas Specification

This paper focuses on verifying the relevance of two theoretical propositions and related empirical investigation about the relationship between creativity and entrepreneurship. It draws upon a creativity process that considers three ＂dimensions＂ or ＂disciplines＂ （3D） critical for creative organizations--within discipline expertise, out of discipline knowledge, and a disciplined creative process. The paper first explores the Cobb-Douglas production function as a relevant tool for modeling the 3D creative process. The next part discusses the 3D process as a production function, which is modeled following the well-known Cobb-Douglas specification. Last, the paper offers implications for future research on disciplined creativity/innovation as a method of improving organizations＇ creative performance. The modeling shows that labor and investment can readily enter into the 3D creativity process as inputs. These two inputs are meaningful in explaining where innovation outputs come from and how they can be measured, with a reasonable theoretical decomposition. It is not true that the more capital investments in the creativity process, the better the level of innovation production, but firm＇s human resource management and expenditures should pay attention to optimal levels of capital and labor stocks, in a combination that helps reach highest possible innovation output.

Innovation and Decision-making Management Key Manipulation

This thesis focuses on corporate decision-making and innovation as a process of the system as a whole. The innovative nature of the activities is to change the existing state of technology or management, and that re-combination of factors of production or knowledge base of the organization. Decision-making and innovation is a concentrated expression of the entrepreneurial ability and achievements. Proposed an optimized model of decision-making and innovation, and for the first time put forward the concept of ＂decision-making innovation manipulation critical platform＂ and manipulation instructions, provide a guiding framework for corporate decision-making innovation and capacity building, and has a certain practical significance.

Innovation and Decision-making Management Key Manipulation

This thesis focuses on corporate decision-making and innovation as a process of the system as a whole. The innovative nature of the activities is to change the existing state of technology or management, and that re-combination of factors of production or knowledge base of the organization. Decision-making and innovation is a concentrated expression of the entrepreneurial ability and achievements. Proposed an optimized model of decision-making and innovation, and for the first time put forward the concept of ＂decision-making innovation manipulation critical platform＂ and manipulation instructions, provide a guiding framework for corporate decision-making innovation and capacity building, and has a certain practical significance.

Study on Innovation System and Innovation Strategy of Chinese Agricultural Product Processing Industry

The agricultural product processing industry is the inevitable choice for the agriculture to realize the industrialization, integration and modernization. Although the agricultural product processing industry has become the bright point in Chinese economy development, the whole development level falls behind the developed countries. The thesis brings up that the inherent reasons that Chinese agricultural product processing industry falls behind is that Chinese agricultural product processing industry has not an integrated industrial innovation system and has not a proper innovation strategy. So this thesis deeply discusses how to construct innovation system of Chinese agricultural product processing industry and puts forward the innovation strategy in order to improve the technology innovation capability and the development level.

Dynamic control of a firm’s process innovation with knowledge accumulation in a vertically differentiated monopoly

This paper explores a multiproduct firm’s process innovation of high-and lowquality goods with knowledge accumulation in a vertically differentiated monopoly.We show that:(i)the system admits a saddle-point steady-state equilibrium under firm decision-making and social planner adjustment,respectively;(ii)the firm’s learning rates of knowledge accumulation of process innovation call for more intense efforts in both directions;(iii)there is a substitution between the process innovation for these two kinds of goods;(iv)the social incentive towards both kinds of innovation efforts is always larger than the private incentive characterizing the profit-seeking firm.Our contribution extends the dynamic innovation literature that focuses on singlegood and considers the effects of corresponding knowledge accumulation on process innovation of these two kinds of goods.Further,this theoretical work contributes to the design of efficient innovation effort strategies for firms’process innovation with corresponding knowledge accumulation in a vertically differentiated monopoly market.

Study of the robustness of a low-temperature dual-pressure process for removal of CO2 from natural gas

The growing use of energy by most of world population and the consequent increasing demand for energy are making unexploited low quality gas reserves interesting from an industrial point of view. To meet the required specifications for a natural gas grid, some compounds need to be removed from the sour stream. Because of the high content of undesired compounds （i.e., CO2） in the stream to be treated, traditional purification processes may be too energy intensive and the overall system may result unprofitable, therefore new technologies are under study. In this work, a new process for the purification of natural gas based on a low temperature distillation has been studied, focusing on the dynamics of the system. The robustness of the process has been studied by dynamic simulation of an industrial-scale plant, with particular regard to the performances when operating conditions are changed. The results show that the process can obtain the methane product with a high purity and avoid the solidification of carbon dioxide.

Trade and innovation: Unraveling a complex nexus

This paper reviews the theoretical and empirical economic literature on the innovation effect of international trade. To this end, we focus on technological innovation that targets product characteristics. We highlight three main channels through which international trade can affect innovation by domestic firms:increasing market size, intensifying market competition and facilitating foreign sourcing. While the market size effect of trade on domestic innovation is found to be predominantly positive, the effects of market competition and foreign sourcing are ambiguous and can depend on a variety of factors. Moreover, the impact of trade on innovation is likely heterogeneous across firms.