August 2017 Download this article as a PDF

Welcome to the August 2017 issue of the Technology Innovation Management Review. The authors in this issue share insights on academic technology transfer, organizational culture, the sharing economy, social media for promoting research, and lessons from Machiavelli for today’s technology leaders and managers.

In the first article, Dimitri Schuurman, Stan De Vocht, Sven De Cleyn, and Aron-Levi Herregodts from imec in Belgium share lessons from the development of their organization’s academic technology transfer programme. The imec 101 programme highlights the importance of a structured technology transfer process in the early stages of opportunity discovery and entrepreneurial action, and it offers insights on team formation for academic spin-offs.

Next, Ulla Santti, Tuomo Eskelinen, Mervi Rajahonka, Kaija Villman, and Ari Happonen from three universities in Finland examine changes in organizational culture in response to business model development projects. Using the Competing Values Framework and CIMO logic, they present cases in which small shifts in types of organizational culture among SMEs can be observed even following a short-term intervention, highlighting the potential for development activities to “sow the seeds of change” in organizational culture.

Then, Olga Novikova from the Hanken School of Economics in Helsinki, Finland, uncovers new mobility-based models for the sharing economy based on interviews with 32 car-sharing service users, business owners, and mobility experts. Operating at the intersection of shared mobility, physical infrastructure, and integrated-mobility schemes, such models may provide innovative solutions to future transportation challenges.

The fourth article is by Päivi Jaring and Asta Bäck of VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, who interviewed and surveyed both researchers from their own research institute and its potential customers to examine how effectively researchers use social media to promote their research and network with industry. Although they found social media to be a suitable and effective way to engage, promote research, and enhance personal reputations, their results also highlight how researchers can overcome challenges that often limit their use of social media.

Finally, Clovia Hamilton answers the question: “Does Machiavelli’s The Prince have relevant lessons for modern high-tech managers and leaders?” Drawing on modern and high-profile examples of “flawed leaders” of technology businesses, she extracts lessons from Machiavelli’s 16th-century work to show that they are indeed still relevant in today’s cut-throat business environments.

In September, our editorial theme is Platforms and Ecosystems, and I am pleased to welcome guest editors Ozgur Dedehayir from QUT Business School in Australia and Marko Seppänen from Tampere University of Technology in Finland. The articles in this issue are based on papers presented at the 2017 ISPIM Innovation Conference in Vienna. ISPIM – the International Society for Professional Innovation Management – is a network of researchers, industrialists, consultants, and public bodies who share an interest in innovation management.

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

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Keywords: academic spin-offs, business model development, car sharing, incubation, leadership, Machiavelli, management, organizational culture, research institutes, researchers, sharing economy, social media, technology transfer