International Journal of Technology Management & Sustainable Development - Volume 10, Issue 1, 2011

This article presents an ontological framework for empowering a state's development of a knowledge society. It is an adaptation of the framework for the role of Triple Helix (TH) in the global agenda for innovation, competitiveness and sustainability. The adaptation is based on the experience of the Karnataka Knowledge Commission (KKC) in India – Karnataka is a state in India – and related literature. The discussion shows how the framework can be used to advance the vision of developing a knowledge society in Karnataka and elsewhere around the globe.

The Triple Helix model of innovation has emerged as the key driver for innovative activities in today's world. The interactions among university, research and development (R&D) sector, government and the industry have come to occupy a pivotal position in such a framework. However, theoretical considerations apart, there has been a lack of analytical work in this area. The work presented in this article is an effort to bridge this gap. Further, the discourse on institutions and their asset formation and distribution have important implications in the context of Triple Helix. The spatial distribution of biomedical knowledge assets across different Indian cities, big and small, has been analysed over a period of ten years (1991–2001) with this perspective. The implications of the results have been discussed.

While there continues to be considerable discussion on world-class universities, there has been little discussion on world-class university systems. Ideally, a world-class university system is an ecology of institutions with highly differentiated but tightly integrated visions. These universities are differentiated by their emphasis on research, teaching and service; their global, regional, national and local scope; their aspiration to be a premier, leading or a generic institution; their specialization in the arts, humanities, sciences and professions. Yet they have to act in concert for the development of the society. They have to form a coherent, coordinated, albeit complex network to generate knowledge, store it, propagate it and apply it to the development of society. This article presents a framework for envisioning such a system for India, a case study of application of the framework and suggestions for strategically planning for such a system.

This article aims to develop insights into the innovation process in social entrepreneurship (henceforth, social innovation process). This research adopts a single case study approach analysing the case history of a social innovation from the initiation of a new idea right through to its scaling stage. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with various actors involved in the social innovation: social entrepreneurs, employees, partners and beneficiaries. The interview data were supplemented with observations made during site visits and with secondary sources. Evidence from the case study suggests that the social innovation process is highly dynamic and iterative. Further, three temporal stages can be identified in the process: initiation, development and scaling.

The dynamics of regional development has moved on in analysing the complex relationship in the changing international production networks (IPNs). Regional integration in these days is limited in not only the formation of regional trade agreements and free trade agreements which has emerged in facilitating the economic cooperation with the stagnation in WTO but also a complex strategic coupling of those economic factors linking the industries operating in specific regions to their counterparts orchestrating production networks on a global basis. Development of automotive industry, covering automobile vehicle and component manufacturing, is usually in the interest of policymakers in developing Asian countries. Promotion of the automotive industry can lead to the expansion of numerous complementary investments by auto parts firms, thereby laying down the basis for broad-based industrial growth. With the increased global competition and the emergence of Asia as the regional automobile hub, there is a need for understanding the industry dynamics in the context of IPNs built on this regional frame. Policy domain is conducive to maintain economic and policy environment in the entire region as well as to strengthen absorptive capability of indigenous manufacturers in regional trajectories. Thus this article tries to identify the linkages in the production networks and the trade agreements in the context of the automobile industry. The key issue is how the growing formal trade agreements influence the IPNs which had been established and working relatively perfectly in the region. This article analyses the intraregional trade in the automobile industry in Asia which is essentially empirical in design but the empirical analysis is carried out in the context of the existing literature. This article concludes with the fact that regionalism can in fact trigger the formation of the networks, thus facilitating the regional industrial growth.