Belgian Federal Science Policy Office

Abstract The concept of Open Innovation (OI) has breathed new life into both empirical research and industry practice concerned with distributed and collaborative modes of innovating. While much of the empirical literature has emphasised the innovation enhancing benefits, our study extends existing work that has recorded the limits to open innovation. Using a sample of Belgian firms, we document that open innovation leads to higher rates of project abandonment and to lower rates of project completion; the latter suggesting the presence of delays and interruptions. Among other robustness tests, we address the concern that openness could be endogenous with regard to project abandonment. As we also find that higher abandonment rates coincide with lower future firm performance, we conclude that open innovation may have negative effects on firms’ innovation outcomes because of higher rates of project failures and hold-ups.

This paper provides a framework for analyzing the interaction of imbalance settlement and the strategy of system operators for activating reserves on the clearing of multiproduct real-time energy markets. We characterize the optimal strategies of price-taking flexibility providers that can participate in sequential auctions conducted by the system operator to activate automatic and manual frequency restoration reserves. Combinations of imbalance settlement schemes and activation strategies are assessed based on their influence on bidding incentives and cost efficiency.

Bi- or multilateral sharing of resources in jointly operated logistics, infrastructure and programmes can help achieve more effective use of expensive equipment and capacities and thus reduce the costs in polar research. This report examines a selection of the existing and planned multilateral operations in the Arctic and the Antarctic using the experience gained from earlier joint cooperation networks. The selection of 4 pilot studies covers both Arctic and Antarctic research and logistics and are relatively large scale with several countries involved in the cooperation. The studies are the basis for demonstrating how bilateral or multilateral cooperation in joint research programmes and operations can provide added value to European Polar research and allow the more efficient use of resources. Each case describes the parties involved, historical background, the methodology and development, the added value and the benefits in scientific terms, logistics and the European dimension, as well as a proposal for translation to other polar spaces with a European perspective.

This chapter is dedicated to global international organizations and cooperation, starting with the first of all: The United Nations. It covers other non regional organizations, as well as the main national agencies and administrations, as far as their policies and programs in connection with nanosatellites. Chapter IX on International Economic and Social Cooperation can be seen as the general framework in which subsequent institutions and bodies of the United Nations have been established, including United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS). The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is the competent UN specialized agency to deal with the assignment of radio frequencies and their use at international level. Its establishment and its missions have been provided for by international treaties, and compliance with the principles and rules of the ITU system is therefore mandatory.

The purpose of this document is to help the projects funded through joint Calls for transnational research projects to update and develop their DMPs. It has been developed by BiodivERsA and the Belmont Forum part of their joint programme ‘BiodivScen’,but can also be useful beyond this specific context.

Relationships between firms and universities have been centre stage for some time. However, empirical studies on firms contracting research to universities remains limited. The likelihood of engaging in contract research depends on the characteristics of the firm and the university. Because existing literature further suggests that location is a key facilitator for knowledge transfer activities, the paper investigates the role played by regions and geographical distance between firms and universities when engaging in contract research. Hence, the analysis combines characteristics from both organisations and adds relationship-specific features with respect to the distance between them and the region they are located in. It also looks at the role played by cognitive distance. The paper contributes to the understanding of how academic research, commissioned by firms, is influenced by locational features: the ability to engage in contract research and the regional context, the regional embeddedness of research contract partners, and the geographical distance between these partners. It builds on an original dataset with information on contract research at firm. Based on a panel of three consecutive waves of R&D surveys in Belgium conducted in 2006, 2008 and 2010, the linkages of universities with R&D active firms are examined by linking a database on universities with one on firm R&D investments. Using the most recent insights in the social network approach, highlights the variables that impact the likelihood of firms engaging in research contracted to a university. Descriptive measurements are calculated from social network analysis to capture the basic structure of the firm-university network and construct an Exponential Random Graph model to predict firm-university relationships based on network characteristics and node attributes. Four main conclusions are drawn. First, more innovative regions do not show a higher likelihood of firms to engage in contract research with universities. Second, the likelihood for contract research is higher, if firms and universities are located in the same region. Third, geographical distance shows a negative relation to the likelihood of contract research suggesting cluster formation. Fourth, in the case of contract research cognitive distance complements geographic distance.

Abstract Biological invasions are a threat to biodiversity, society and the economy. There is an urgent need to provide evidence‐based assessments of the risks posed by invasive alien species (IAS) to prioritize action. Risk assessments underpin IAS policies in many ways: informing legislation; providing justification of restrictions in trade or consumer activities; prioritizing surveillance and rapid response. There are benefits to ensuring consistency in content of IAS risk assessments globally, and this can be achieved by providing a framework of minimum standards as a checklist for quality assurance. From a review of existing risk assessment protocols, and with reference to the requirements of the EU Regulation on IAS (1143/2014) and international agreements including the World Trade Organisation, Convention on Biological Diversity and International Plant Protection Convention, coupled with consensus methods, we identified and agreed upon 14 minimum standards (attributes) a risk‐assessment scheme should include. The agreed minimum standards were as follows: (1) basic species description; (2) likelihood of invasion; (3) distribution, spread and impacts; (4) assessment of introduction pathways; (5) assessment of impacts on biodiversity and ecosystems; (6) Assessment of impact on ecosystem services; (7) assessment of socio‐economic impacts; (8) consideration of status (threatened or protected) of species or habitat under threat; (9) assessment of effects of future climate change; (10) completion possible even when there is a lack of information; (11) documents information sources; (12) provides a summary in a consistent and interpretable form; (13) includes uncertainty; (14) includes quality assurance. In deriving these minimum standards, gaps in knowledge required for completing risk assessments and the scope of existing risk assessment protocols were revealed, most notably in relation to assessing benefits, socio‐economic impacts and impacts on ecosystem services but also inclusion of consideration of climate change. Policy implications. We provide a checklist of components that should be within invasive alien species risk assessments and recommendations to develop risk assessments to meet these proposed minimum standards. Although inspired by implementation of the European Union Regulation on invasive alien species, and as such developed specifically within a European context, the derived framework and minimum standards could be applied globally.

Despite the growing popularity of such new generic labels as the ‘microessay’, the proximity of the prose poem to neighbouring speculative prose genres has been the focus of little critical attention. This paper investigates the interplay between lyricopoetic and expository prose while bearing special attention to the specific historical and cultural circumstances of the birth of the Baudelairian prose poem.