Uppsatsens syfte är att undersöka vilka hinder och motsättningar som rådgivare och forskare upplever i forskningskommersialiseringsprocessen inom högskolenära inkubatorer. Studien bör ses som en förstudie för att i ett senare skede kunna skapa en effektiv innovationsprocessmodell för högskolenära inkubatorer. Uppsatsens frågeställningar har undersökts ur ett innovationstekniskt perspektiv med hjälp av teorier om bland annat inkubatorer, innovationsprocesser och akademiskt entreprenörskap. Resultatet visar att det finns ett antal kulturkrockar som medför risk för att rådgivare och forskare talar förbi varandra. Andra hinder och motsättningar i forskningskommersialiseringsprocessen är skillnader i språkbruk, forskarens multipla roller, uppfattningar om arbetstempo samt att matchningen mellan entreprenör och forskare är svårorganiserad och tidskrävande. / This essay seeks to examine which obstacles and oppositions business coaches and researchersexperience in the research commercialization process in university business incubators. This studyshould be seen as a pre-study with the intention of contributing to later on building a newinnovation process model for university business incubators. Essay questions have been examinedfrom the perspective of innovation technology and are linked to theories about incubators,innovation processes and academic entrepreneurship. The result is that there is a number of culturalclashes that brings along a risk for misunderstandings between business coaches and researchers.Other obstacles and oppositions in the research commercialization process is differences inlinguistic use, the multiple roles of the researcher, interpretation of working pace and also that thematching between researcher and entrepreneur is time-consuming and hard to organize.

This thesis examines the commercialization of ethnic tourism in Guatemala and Morocco in a postcolonial world. Addressing notions of authenticity, Western expectations of the ethnic tourism experience, and colonial portrayals of the Mayas and the Berbers, the thesis argues that the Guatemalan and Moroccan governments reduce their indigenous populations to ‘authentic’ living museums in their touristic promotions targeting Western tourists. Catering to Western tourists’ expectations, the Guatemalan and Moroccan governments perpetuate the stereotypes of their indigenous populations that were established during colonialism. Despite Guatemalan and Moroccan cultural repression of the Maya and the Berber populations, respectively, the governments exploit their indigenous populations for touristic purposes.

This research investigates the strategic governance choices made in commercializing new technologies arising from university research. <br /><br /> Departing from the traditional licensing vs. start-up approach, it is proposed that there are three primary methods of commercializing these technologies: 1) Build ? creating a new business based on the technology, 2) Rent ? ongoing development and marketing of the technology to established firms that use the technology in their businesses and 3) Sell ? disposition of the technology to an established firm. <br /><br /> Using economic theories of the firm, particularly transaction cost economics, it is hypothesized that: <ul> <li>the build option is positively associated with firms deriving revenue primarily from product market activity (H1a) and expending resources on both technology development activities and production activities (H2a); </li> <li>the rent and sell options are positively associated with firms deriving revenue primarily from technology market activity (H1b) and expending resources on technology development activities but not on production activities (H2b). </li> <li>the greater the patent or other legal protection (H3), the risk of substitutes (H5) or the dynamism associated with the technology (H8), the greater the likelihood that the technology will be commercialized using the rent option;</li> <li>the greater the tacitness and complexity (H4) or the greater the volatility associated with the technology, the greater the likelihood that the technology will be commercialized using the build or sell options; and</li> <li>the greater the importance of specialized complementary assets, the greater the likelihood that the technology will be commercialized using the sell option (H6). </li> </ul> Three studies were conducted providing differing perspectives on the research question. Study #1 examines three start-ups based on new technologies arising from research conducted at the University of Waterloo. Study #2 analyzes the business activities of a number of Canadian and U. S. public start-up firms using archival data. Study #3 is a survey of university faculty members who have had new technologies arising from their academic research put into commercial use. <br /><br /> Hypotheses H1a/b, H2a/b and H3 are supported and Hypothesis H7 received more limited support. Evidence for Hypothesis H5 is in the predicted direction but failed to achieve statistical significance. Hypotheses H4, H5, H6 and H8 are not supported.

Companies that sell digital products such as software and movies transfer large amounts of data to its customers. In order to send this amount of data using FTP or HTTP and still maintain a high speed transfer rate it is required that the company have a large number of servers and a huge bandwidth. Servers and bandwidth costs money which means they have great costs on the distribution of their products. In order to reduce distribution costs, P2P technology can be used and the most powerful technology to transmit popular files is called BitTorrent.BitTorrent requires users to share their bandwidth. Nowadays, BitTorrent is frequently used to transfer products that are free of charge; one example is the Linux distribution Ubuntu. In these BitTorrent systems different incentives exist to motivate the users to share their bandwidth. If a company uses BitTorrent to save money and put the distribution cost on their customers, does the customers motivation to share their bandwidth disappear?To give the reader a clear picture of the subject, literature on how BitTorrent works and its different concepts have been acquired and processed. In addition to literature, a survey has been carried out in which BitTorrent users were asked about their willingness to share their bandwidth and what motivates them most in a possible commercial BitTorrent system.The result of this study shows that a marked increase in the propensity to share bandwidth appears as additional incentives are implemented to a BitTorrent system. These incentives may be of financial or functional value. Economic incentives proved to be the most requested implementation. / Företag som säljer digitala produkter så som mjukvara och film skickar stora mängder data till dess kunder. För att kunna överföra dessa mängder med FTP eller HTTP i hög hastighet till kunderna krävs det att företaget har ett stort antal servrar och enorm bandbredd. Servrar och bandbredd kostar pengar vilket betyder att företagen har stora kostnader på distribution av deras produkter. För att minska distributionskostnader kan P2P-teknik användas och den kraftfullaste tekniken för att överföra populära filer heter BitTorrent.BitTorrent kräver att användare delar med sig av sin bandbredd. I dag används BitTorrent ofta för att överföra produkter som är gratis, ett exempel är Linuxdistributionen Ubuntu. I dessa BitTorrent-system motiveras användarna att bidra med sin bandbredd för att ge tillbaka någonting till gemenskapen. För att spara pengar kan företaget sprida ut kostnader för distribution till kunderna. Vad händer med kundens motivation att dela med sig av sin bandbredd i detta fall?Litteratur om hur BitTorrent fungerar och dess olika begrepp har samlats in och bearbetats. Utöver tidigare litteratur har en enkätundersökning genomförts där BitTorrent-användare tillfrågats om deras relation till att bidra med bandbredd och vad som motiverar dem mest i ett eventuellt kommersiellt BitTorrent-system.Resultatet av undersökningen visar att en tydlig ökning av benägenhet att dela med sig av bandbredd infinner sig då ytterligare incitament tillförs i BitTorrent-system. Dessa incitament kan vara ekonomiska eller funktionella värden. Ekonomiska incitament visade sig dock vara de mest efterfrågade.

The purpose of this essay is to explore the actor network of a high technology company in the textile industry called F.O.V. Fabrics. The background for doing this is a recent project, which we choose to call the Salt &amp; Paper Battery Group, aiming to commercialize a newly discovered technology – a battery based on cellulose from an alga. We start by examining a range of network theories in order to eventually shape a framework of our own. This framework focuses on the environment defined by actor bonds to three groupings, namely business actors, academic actors and political actors. Two factors appear to be essential in these networks, the creation of an identity and in-depth relations to other actors. Thirteen qualitative interviews were conducted of which the empirical input is based upon. It seems that F.O.V. Fabrics communicates a rather homogenous image to its first hand bonds, which emphasizes the innovativeness, the flexibility and technical knowledge the company possesses. F.O.V. Fabrics’ relations are key priorities and by building long terms relations the company manages to establish a large amount of trust in the actor bonds. The essay concludes by stating that F.O.V. Fabrics, based on the discoveries of this study, is likely to be a valuable player in the Salt &amp; Paper Battery Group.

This research investigates the strategic governance choices made in commercializing new technologies arising from university research. <br /><br /> Departing from the traditional licensing vs. start-up approach, it is proposed that there are three primary methods of commercializing these technologies: 1) Build ? creating a new business based on the technology, 2) Rent ? ongoing development and marketing of the technology to established firms that use the technology in their businesses and 3) Sell ? disposition of the technology to an established firm. <br /><br /> Using economic theories of the firm, particularly transaction cost economics, it is hypothesized that: <ul> <li>the build option is positively associated with firms deriving revenue primarily from product market activity (H1a) and expending resources on both technology development activities and production activities (H2a); </li> <li>the rent and sell options are positively associated with firms deriving revenue primarily from technology market activity (H1b) and expending resources on technology development activities but not on production activities (H2b). </li> <li>the greater the patent or other legal protection (H3), the risk of substitutes (H5) or the dynamism associated with the technology (H8), the greater the likelihood that the technology will be commercialized using the rent option;</li> <li>the greater the tacitness and complexity (H4) or the greater the volatility associated with the technology, the greater the likelihood that the technology will be commercialized using the build or sell options; and</li> <li>the greater the importance of specialized complementary assets, the greater the likelihood that the technology will be commercialized using the sell option (H6). </li> </ul> Three studies were conducted providing differing perspectives on the research question. Study #1 examines three start-ups based on new technologies arising from research conducted at the University of Waterloo. Study #2 analyzes the business activities of a number of Canadian and U. S. public start-up firms using archival data. Study #3 is a survey of university faculty members who have had new technologies arising from their academic research put into commercial use. <br /><br /> Hypotheses H1a/b, H2a/b and H3 are supported and Hypothesis H7 received more limited support. Evidence for Hypothesis H5 is in the predicted direction but failed to achieve statistical significance. Hypotheses H4, H5, H6 and H8 are not supported.

The objectives of this study are twofold: firstly, to give an account of the current methods of knowledge production, and secondly to contribute a consultation piece on oncologists perceptions of non-technical issues regarding the ethical, legal and social implications of microfluidic lab-on-chip technology (MF LOC). Two connected theses statements are put forth. First, understanding the transformations of knowledge production will allow for a more socially and ethically informed mode of governance to emerge. Second, it is important to consider who might use the technology and how it might impact institutions and individuals. <p>Interviews were conducted with 31 Canadian oncologists during August 2004 to February 2005. Qualitative analysis was used to examine the oncologists responses. It was found that of the different types of knowledge production that were reviewed (Mode-1, Mode-2, Triple Helix, and Post-normal science) the Triple Helix thesis was most supported. However, an integration of characteristics of Mode-2 with the Triple Helix thesis best accounts for the current description of knowledge production. The principles inherent in Post-Normal Science provide a starting point for developing an approach for building capacity for an independent institution that examines the ethical, legal and social concerns regarding transformative technologies. In relation to the second thesis, the results indicate that MF LOC devices have great potential to transform institutional practices and affect individual lives. And it is important to understand that the oncologists studied constructed their understanding of MF LOC technology within a scientific and biomedical repertoire consequently, future research should assess the perceptions and concerns of other groups of people that are different from the scientific and biomedical repertoire.

Overall aim of this master’s thesis is to describe and identify perceived barriers in Swedish businesses within solar energy field and analyze, based on four theoretical viewpoints, how these barriers can be handled. In other words how can the barriers be overcome or eliminated to better succeed in the commercialization process? The method applied is qualitative in which data has been collected through phone interviews originated from seven Cleantech businesses which operate within solar energy. Furthermore this thesis has a descriptive- and an explorative purpose. Empirical findings have showed that barriers depend upon the company itself, but also the community, academic- and governmental institutions. Some businesses do not have an international point of view, instead they have costs aspects in mind. Priorities seem to be a crucial factor when it comes to commercialization. The Swedish government does not contribute enough support to solar energy sector. There is lack of combination in commercialization and technical aspects within the educational system.

The purpose of this BA-thesis was to study how three daily Swedish newspapers use a specific type of exemplars, which are recognized by a number of attributes. A photograph of the person that is interviewed always illustrates this type of exemplars and at least two persons are asked the same question.    The three newspapers that have been compared in this study each represent one of the major types of Swedish newspapers: morning press, tabloids and local press. By using a quantitative content analysis, one month was examined in all three newspapers in the year of 1997 and 2007.  Two of the theories that have been central in the thesis are Colin Sparks model of tabloidization, which demonstrates the process of tabloidization and McQuail′s description of commercialization.  The results of the study indicate that there are many similarities between the three newspapers use of exemplars. However, there are some differences when it comes to frequency and function. Noteworthy is that the newspaper “Dagens Nyheter” did not publish a single exemplar the first year of the study, 1997. Ten years later the very same paper published 15 exemplars during the month of examination.

This study investigates the case of a Zambian institution providing credit for smallholder agribusiness commercialization and compares this lender’s model with the major microfinance institutions, to identify specific mechanisms employed by the lender and how these have been adapted to suit seasonal agricultural production credit requirements. Econometric models are developed to examine the influence of key economic factors such as nominal and real interest rates, loan fees, and loan term on the supply of credit by the lender. Other important factors considered relevant in the lender’s market include availability of contract markets for financed production and the type of borrower (cooperative or investor-owned agribusinesses). The study uses loan-level and firm-level loan data aggregated from an electronic loan database of individual loan files kept by the lender. Cross sectional data over three years (2005 – 2007) are used in the study. The study finds that loan fees, loan term and availability of contract markets to borrowers are the key determinants of credit supply. In addition, the study finds that interest rates do not significantly influence the lender’s credit supply decisions, a finding that is consistent with literature on credit rationing in markets with asymmetric information. The study finds no evidence of economies of scale benefit to the lender being passed along to borrowers through lower loan fees. The study contributes to the literature and development needs of agricultural lenders and smallholder agribusinesses in Zambia through the analysis of different factors that influence the lender’s credit supply decisions.