Bücher der Reihe Technology, Innovation and Policy (ISI)

The aim of this study is to investigate in the role of Venture Capital in the development of New Technology Based Firms in two countries: USA and Germany.

On the threshold of the 21st century, an intensive debate about globalisation of R&D and technology markets is of crucial importance.

Technology-based firms contribute to dynamic competition, ensure product variety, close market gaps and promote job creation. The reader documents research of Fraunhofer-ISI on technology-based firms and their environment and aims at a better understanding of specific chances and risks in the development process of such firms.

Therefore, the impacts of modem biotechnology on the Agro-Food sector in five member countries of the EU (Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain) have been analysed with the help of the Delphi methodology which represents one of the most reliable tools for technology forecasting.

How industrial companies in Germany's critically important investment goods sector are deploying new technological and organizational production concepts to adapt to competitiveness challenges, new market requirements, environmental demands, and policy pressures is examined in this book.

A study of the guidelines, implementation and results of biotechnology audit in Hungary. It considers the situation in Central and Eastern European countries and the principles of technology audit, then goes on to look at the state and development of Hungarian biotechnology.

A more detailed understanding of the interaction between science and technology is necessary in order to develop appropriate tools for future R&D management and technology policy. The second part examines the challenges to R&D management and appropriate management tools from the perspective of industrial enterprises.

A collection of papers on sustainable development and on innovation and innovation policy, which seeks to bridge the gap between these communities and develop mutual understanding. It emphasizes that the concept of sustainable development can serve as a guiding principle for future innovation.

This study shows that the EC programmes promoted the exchange of ideas, technology and knowledge within the Community, and strengthened the scientific and technical basis in Germany. Today, national German research and technological development is still a predominant influence.

Innovation networks are a major source for acquiring new information and knowledge and thus for supporting innovation processes. By presenting a selection of papers which address innovation networking from theoretical and political viewpoints, the book aims at giving answers to these questions.

The current decade has stressed the reinforcement of three major trends affecting developed economies since at least half a century. The frrst trend concerns the im­ portance of innovations for fIrms, regions and nations. Even if innovation, however defmed, is not a recent phenomenon, the crucial role innovativeness plays in a world of increased competition reveals its importance as a major economic phe­ nomenon. A second prominent trend corresponds to the "tertiarisation of the econ­ omy", i. e. the considerable and continuous expansion of the share of services in contemporary economies. 1 The third trend consists in the substantial changes af­ fecting the economical meaning of "space". Signs of these substantial changes can be found in the increased unity of "space" (the globalisation phenomenon), in the appearance of new territories (as suggested by the emergence of a "virtual conti­ nent"2) as well as in the reconsideration of existing ones (for instance, induced by new flexible production systems). As such, these three trends express a triple break­ down: a breakdown in the time scale of the economy (due to the increasing velocity of economic activities), a breakdown in the nature of the economy (since "intangi­ ble production" is expanding) and a breakdown in the space(s) of the economy (be­ cause of shifting dimensions). Certain categories of activities or actors may high­ light and even symbolise this triple rupture in diverse ways.

(2) Do existing estimates of the no-regret potential stand up to are-evaluation within this framework? In the IPCC's Third Assessment Report (TAR), no regret potentials are increasingly equated with GHG emission reduction potentials at negative (net) costs (lPCC 2001, p.

Innovations for our Future describes not only the big development trends of the future in research and technology, but also the re-discovery of the Delphi method.

In Japan, the Delphi method has been used since 1971 to predict possible technological developments. Possible realization goals, constraints on their achievement, the current R&D level of the two nations and the necessity of international co-operation all give hints on tomorrow's technology and its economic and societal impacts.