Welcome to the July 2017 issue of the Technology Innovation Management Review (TIM Review), which marks the 10th anniversary issue of this journal. The authors in this issue share insights on the history of the TIM Review, urban living labs, inclusive innovation, entrepreneurial ecosystems in India, and knowledge commercialization by universities. In addition to offering insights on diverse topics spanning the journal’s scope, with contributions from the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania, the authors in this anniversary issue reflect the international diversity that has become a key feature of the TIM Review over the past 10 years.
In the first article, Teemu Santonen from Laurea University of Applied Sciences in Finland, Ahmed Shah and Ali Nazari from Carleton University’s Global Cybersecurity Resource in Ottawa, Canada, and I reflect on the 10-year publication history of the TIM Review. We use topic modelling to discover and analyze the journal’s seven themes – open source business, technology entrepreneurship, growing a business, research approaches, social innovation, living labs, and cybersecurity – and how they have changed over time. We trace the history of the journal, summarize its distinctive features, and evaluate the growth in its readership and the evolution of its author community.
The second article is by Kris Steen and Ellen van Bueren from the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions in the Netherlands, who examine the living labs literature published in the TIM Review and elsewhere to develop an operationalized definition of urban living labs. They also examine 90 urban innovation projects in Amsterdam that are labelled as “living labs” to assess whether they are indeed undertaking the defining co-creation and development activities of living labs. Their goal is to develop a general framework to help identify which projects represent “real” urban living labs, both to enable researchers to apply more specific analyses and to help the projects themselves achieve the innovation potential of the living lab approach.
Then, Sandra Schillo and Ryan Robinson from the University of Ottawa in Canada summarize the origins of the concept of inclusive innovation and argue that innovation needs to be inclusive in terms of people, activities, outcomes, and governance. Based on these four dimensions, they propose a framework intended to guide policy development and encourage academics to investigate all dimensions of inclusive innovation in developed countries.
Next, M H Bala Subrahmanya from the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, India, compares the entrepreneurial ecosystems in Bangalore and Hyderabad, which are designed to encourage innovation, spur the development of new products and services, and generate employment through entrepreneurship. By comparing the evolution, structure, and components of the two ecosystems, Subrahmanya derives key lessons for others within and beyond India.
Finally, Mohammad Saud Khan from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, answers the question: “Are universities ready for knowledge commercialization?” With case examples, Khan highlights the persistent and critical challenges that universities must overcome in light of their increasing role in knowledge transfer and commercialization. He argues for a diversified approach that includes joint research ventures and university spin-offs but that combines and develops new mechanisms and policies. He also highlights the need for strategic plans that take a long-term view and a adopt a commercial mentality that considers the broader business ecosystems, including actors beyond the university context.
For future issues, we are accepting general submissions of articles on technology entrepreneurship, innovation management, and other topics relevant to launching and growing technology companies and solving practical problems in emerging domains. Please contact us with potential article topics and submissions.
Chris McPhee
Editor-in-Chief
Keywords: ecosystems, entrepreneurship, inclusive innovation, India, knowledge commercialization, living labs, OSBR, TIM Review, topic modelling, universities, urban