International Journal of Technology Management & Sustainable Development - Volume 9, Issue 3, 2011

The role that higher education institutions (HEIs) play in the communities to which they belong is a topic that has received attention from academics, policy-makers and HEI managers in recent years. This article provides a comprehensive outline in the area of communityuniversity partnerships (CUPs). It focuses on the active engagement of universities in the communities they serve, their models of collaboration, the motivations behind them and the impact on the social, cultural and economic development of their localities as well as the challenges for the wider community and for the life of higher education. It summarizes the current situation in Colombia and presents examples of models of CUPs around the world.

This exploratory study discusses the evolution of university spin-off policy in Brazil. Technology transfer and entrepreneurship infrastructures to support spin-off ventures were weak until early 2000. However, in 2004, the government passed an Innovation Law to establish a legal infrastructure and financial mechanisms to promote innovation. In its aftermath and in response to the law, a few universities sought to evolve their spin-off policy. Data collected from seven spin-offs from six universities allows an exploration of spin-off policy as a factor underpinning the growth potential of business ventures. The results discussed in this article are consistent with earlier findings for Belgium. The article concludes that in the absence of proper orientation and incentives in the unfolding policies and mechanisms underpinned by the Innovation Law, even universities that tried to take advantage of the law did not change their spin-off policies to proactively select growth-oriented spin-off ventures.

In this study we propose a virtual index for measuring the relative innovativeness of countries. Using a multistage virtual benchmarking process, the best and rational benchmark is extracted for inefficient ISs. Furthermore, Tobit and Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression models are used to investigate the likelihood of changes in inefficiencies by investigating country-specific factors. The empirical results relating to the virtual benchmarking process suggest that the OLS regression model would better explain changes in the performance of innovation- inefficient countries.

A process for developing integrated farming was tested in on-farm research. Research agenda setting with farmers indicated that integrated farming made up nearly 40 per cent of farmers' goals. The first component tested was rainy season vegetable production. On-farm trials compared mesh (farmer proposed), clear plastic (researcher proposed) roofs and no roofs over three years. Plastic had positive net benefits for tomato, but roofs were not economic for shallot and corianders. Water use under plastic was 34123 per cent higher than under mesh. Companion research on station validated improved water flow of the farmer proposed flat mesh roof compared to other shapes. Custard apple water management was added as the second component. After two years, 30 per cent higher revenue was obtained from pruning, and water use once every fortnight (farmer proposed) and once a week (researcher proposed) increased revenue by an additional 10 and 11 per cent, respectively.

The aim of this article is to develop a risk management system to be used for large-scale development projects in developing countries. Such a system can help project managers of this type of projects to gear their projects to different risk environments. Due to high level of risk associated with large-scale development projects, the traditional risk management approach, which assumes that risk can be predicted and budgeted early on, is not adequate for application in the context of these projects. Each large-scale project has a high level of uniqueness that renders benchmarks from databases generated out of previous projects obsolete. Therefore, a reactive risk management approach is being promoted. The formulated system defines the key milestones, at which risk needs to be assessed and proper reactions identified. This system is investigated in the context of developing countries where investments in general are characterized by a high level of risk.