Based on the growing importance of place-based strategic intelligence, this article puts forward a conceptual framework for a new methodological approach to influence the shaping of subnational ...economic development. The novel Opportunity Areas Analysis Tool has been designed and deployed in the context of a City Region Deal in Scotland, UK. We define key trends, map core capabilities and assess exploitation capacities for data-driven innovation economic opportunities. We critically appraise the effectiveness of this approach for the creation of inclusive place-based future visions and narratives, and the alignment of technological opportunities within diverse geographical (e.g., semi-rural and rural) and sectoral conditions.
Smart Specialization Strategy (S3) has become a dominant regional economic development field with significant policy traction, in particular within the European Union. However, questions are being ...raised about its operationalization and a gap has been identified with respect to the role of innovation intermediaries' interventions in support of the developing regional-sectoral innovation systems. In particular, reasons for diverging policy approaches of "niche specialization" versus "regional advantage" in comparable situations should be examined to illuminate the contextual factors impacting the interpretation of the intermediaries' mandates. In this paper, the cases of two leading investments in innovation intermediation in the emerging New Space sector are analyzed (Space-SI and Higgs Centre for Innovation) in two EU NUTS level 1 regions (Slovenia and Scotland), which were previously peripheral players in this technological domain. In particular, using a novel innovation intermediation interventions' classification, this paper identifies the difference between research and development (R&D) and business development (BD) support foci in the two locales, noting some of the contextual factors associated with them and arguing for the long-term balancing of the two approaches.
Innovation intermediaries are seen as crucial and critical players in the development of emergent high-tech sectors, though the understanding of their activities is not yet holistic and depends on ...geographical and sectoral specificities. This paper empirically deploys a recently developed classification within a case study of the New Space sector in Scotland, a previously peripheral region within Space Industry, now emerging as a global leader. Based on secondary document analysis and mixed-method empirical research using primary data from surveys, interviews and social network analysis, this study examines: the positioning of the innovation intermediation organisations in Scottish Space sector's innovation network and the interventions they deploy and effects they expect to have on the sectoral actors. Based on this analysis, a new typology of innovation intermediaries' interventions is proposed, to link them with their identified systemic roles of enablers, equippers, shapers and movers.
•Highlighting the gaps in understanding innovation intermediation in innovation systems.•Putting forward a novel typology of innovation intermediaries' roles.•In-depth study combining ethnography, document and social network analysis, and case studies.•Describing innovation intermediaries' interventions in Scottish (New) Space Industry.
An ultra-wideband (UWB) localization system is an alternative in a GPS-denied environment. However, a distance measurement with UWB modules using a two-way communication protocol induces an ...orientation-dependent error. Previous research studied this error by looking at parameters such as the received power and the channel response signal. In this paper, the neural network (NN) method for correcting the orientation-induced distance error without the need to calculate the signal strength, obtain the channel response or know any parameters of the antenna and the UWB modules is presented. The NN method utilizes only the measured distance and the tag orientation, and implements an NN model obtained by machine learning, using measurements at different distances and orientations of the two UWB modules. The verification of the experimental setup with 12 anchors and a tag shows that with the proposed NN method, 5 cm better root mean square error values (RMSEs) are obtained for the measured distance between the anchors and the tag compared to the calibration method that did not include orientation information. With the least-square estimator, 14 cm RMSE in 3D is obtained with the NN model corrected distances, with a 9 cm improvement compared to when raw distances are used. The method produces better results without the need to obtain the UWB module's diagnostics parameters that are required to calculate the received signal strength or channel response, and in this way maintain the minimum packet size for the ranging protocol.
The global space industry has recently seen a structural transformation through the emergence of ‘New Space’, i.e., a significant expansion of the development of smaller, cheaper, and more modular ...space-related products in services. One example of this expansion is the emergence of a world-leading cluster of New Space industry in Scotland (UK). Critically, this development is being pitched as a new approach to innovation ecosystem, which the players refer to as ‘Agile Space’, based on a consolidation of cross-sector competences within loose value chain integration. However, I argue, in particular, that the emergence of the Scottish New Space Sector is crucially linked to the Living Laboratories (Living Lab) conceptualisation of the innovation practices and processes within the Agile Space approach. Hence, this article maps the key features of the emergence and development of the New Space Industry in Scotland and analyses the key feature of the Agile Space Living Lab paradigm, before proposing a critical further research agenda suggesting several much-needed strands of enquiry.
As the SARS-CoV-2 virus created a global pandemic and rapidly became an imminent threat to the health and lives of people worldwide, the need for a vaccine and its quick distribution among the ...population was evident. Due to the urgency, and on the back of international collaboration, vaccines were developed rapidly. However, vaccination rollouts showed different success rates in different countries and some also led to increased vaccine hesitancy.
The aim of this study was to identify the role of information sharing and context sensitivity in various vaccination programs throughout the initial COVID-19 vaccination rollout in different countries. Moreover, we aimed to identify factors in national vaccination programs related to COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, safety, and effectiveness. Toward this end, multidisciplinary and multinational opinions from members of the Navigating Knowledge Landscape (NKL) network were analyzed.
From May to July 2021, 25 completed questionnaires from 27 NKL network members were collected. These contributors were from 17 different countries. The responses reflected the contributors' subjective viewpoints on the status and details of the COVID-19 vaccination rollout in their countries. Contributors were asked to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (ie, SWOT) of the respective vaccination programs. The responses were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis, followed by frequency analysis of identified themes according to the represented countries.
The perspectives of NKL network members showed a link between organizational elements of the vaccination rollout and the accompanying societal response, both of which were related to strengths and weaknesses of the process. External sociocultural variables, improved public communication around vaccination-related issues, ethical controversies, and the spread of disinformation were the dominant themes related to opportunities and challenges. In the SWOT 2×2 matrix, Availability and Barriers emerged as internal categories, whereas Transparent communication and promotion and Societal divide emerged as key external categories.
Inventory of themes and categories inspired by elements of the SWOT framework provides an informative multidisciplinary perspective for effective implementation of public health strategies in the battle against COVID-19 or any future pandemics of a similar nature.
We present the first hybrid-integrated optical phase-lock loop (OPLL) for use in high spectral purity photonic terahertz sources. We have achieved the necessary short loop delay to lock a 1-MHz ...linewidth slave laser by hybrid integration of the slave laser and photodetector on a silicon motherboard with silica optical waveguides and combining this with a custom-designed low-delay electronic loop filter circuit. The laser and photodetectors are InP-based and are flip chip bonded to silicon daughter boards, which are in turn attached to the motherboard. Delay between the slave laser and photodiode was approximately 50 ps. The heterodyne between slave and master sources has a linewidth of less than 1 kHz and achieved phase noise less than -80 dBc/Hz at an offset of 10 kHz. The slave laser can be offset from the master source by 2-7 GHz, using a microwave oscillator. This integrated OPLL circuit was used with an optical comb source and an injection-locked laser comb filter to generate high spectral purity signals at frequencies up to 300 GHz with linewidths <;1 kHz and powers of about -20 dBm, while the two integrated lasers could deliver a tunable heterodyne signal at frequencies up to 1.8 THz.
This paper outlines a series of observations about how public discourse is framed regarding the way risk assessment is conceived at the cutting edge of developing the scientific and technological ...frontier. Examining the newly emerging narratives concerning the future of outer space exploration and industry, particularly human missions to and settlements on Mars, I propose the concept of 'risk re-normalisation' as a major tool for reframing various aspects of the public discourse on risk through the premediation of visions and imaginaries. Specifically, as the risk-assessment discourse evolves, seemingly separate actors' under- and over-statements of hazards are used in public discourse to create a set of limiting parameters, thereby creating a more favourable risk governance environment for the further advancement of Space Exploration. This is underpinned by the discursive symbiosis of private and public spheres, once their rhetorical separation is achieved through boundary work.
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