The diploma thesis focuses on the development cooperation and implementation of projects in local cultures using example of Ugandan community from the Lusanja village. The aim of this thesis is to describe the impact of development cooperation on the community and its expectations, to map the dialogue among the various actors of the project and to provide feedback to the Western non-profit organizations from the local culture. Based on field research conducted using ethnographic methods, the thesis brings an emic perspective of the local community to the Western idea of development cooperation. The emic perspective is mostly omitted from the development discourse, eventhough it could significantly affect the sustainability of implemented projects in developing countries. The thesis also covers the daily life of the Lusanja people. Key words: development cooperation, local community, NGOs, Uganda, sustainable development, ethnographic research

Les startups innovantes orientées technologies mènent de nombreusesexpérimentations pour recueillir suffisamment de preuves de valeur, et réduire ainsiles incertitudes avant le lancement de leurs produits et services sur le marché. Bienque les moyens des startups soient limités, ces expérimentations sont souventaléatoires, itératives et nécessitent un investissement important en termes de tempset de ressources. Des solutions doivent ainsi leur être apportées afin de les aider àmieux planifier la maturation de leur technologie et à mieux identifier les opportunitéssur le marché. C’est dans ce contexte que s’inscrit la présente recherche.Une revue de la littérature est d’abord menée dans les domaines de l'ingénierie de laconception ainsi que du management de la technologie et de l'innovation. Cetteanalyse démontre que les méthodes et outils existants ne permettent pas d’établir desfeuilles de route précises et quantitatives pour mener des expérimentationspertinentes. Une enquête est ensuite réalisée sur les pratiques de 60 startupsinnovantes dans le contexte de la Ville de Paris. Cette recherche révèle que malgrél’utilisation des méthodes d’innovation telles que Lean Startup et BMC (BusinessModel Canvas), les startups n’ont aucun outil pratique pour spécifier et planifier leursexpérimentations, ou pour allouer efficacement leurs ressources.Par conséquent, cette recherche apporte trois contributions. D'abord, l'outil BMC estcombiné avec la quantification des poches de valeur (opportunités) et une séried’indicateurs quantitatifs permettant d’assurer la pertinente de l'offre de valeur.Ensuite, une méthodologie dénommée DUE (Design by Usage-based Experimentation)est proposée afin d’examiner l'ensemble des marchés potentiels et d’identifier lesprincipales propriétés technologiques à améliorer grâce à l’expérimentation. Uneméthodologie quantitative nommée RITHM (Roadmapping Investments in TecHnologyand Market) est par la suite proposée pour optimiser les expérimentations pourqu’elles puissent aboutir à la maturation d'une technologie pour atteindre les marchésles plus profitables. La pertinence de ces méthodologies est évaluée en les appliquantà une startup orientée technologies et par la validation d’experts. Enfin, cette rechercheconclue qu'il est possible d’améliorer la spécification des feuilles de routed’expérimentations dans une startup technologique et de mieux orienter sesinvestissements vers des stratégies R&D plus efficaces et économiques.Cette recherche peut contribuer à soutenir de manière significative la prise de décisionde différents acteurs, comme par exemple, les entrepreneurs, qui doivent justifier desdépenses de R&D dans des dossiers de levée de fonds, ou des investisseurs publicset privés qui cherchent à minimiser les risques d'investissement dans destechnologies innovantes, ou enfin des technology scouts. / Technology-oriented innovative startups must conduct extensive experiments to gather sufficient proofs of value, so that they may reduce uncertainties before the launch of their products and services on the market. Despite their limited resources, the experiments conducted by startups are often random, loop-based and consequently time and resource consuming. Hence, startups need solutions to help them better planning their technology maturation and identifying market opportunities. It is in the context that the current research is carried out.First, a literature review is conducted in the fields of engineering design, technology management and innovation management. This review suggests that the existing methods and tools fail to provide accurate and quantitative roadmaps to conduct relevant experiments. Second, this research surveys the design and testing practices of 60 innovative startups in the context of the City of Paris. This investigation reveals that despite the use of popular innovation methods such as Business Model Canvas (BMC) and Lean Startup, startups have no practical tools for specifying and planning experiments, nor for efficiently using their resources.Therefore, this research makes the following three contributions. First, the BMC tool is combined with quantified value buckets (opportunities) and innovativeness indicators in order to make sure that the value offer is effective and significant. Second, a Design by Usage-based Experimentation (DUE) methodology is proposed to help screening the whole set of potential markets and to identify the main technology properties that need to be improved through experiments. Third, a quantitative methodology called RITHM (Roadmapping Investments in TecHnology and Market) is proposed to optimize the set of experiments, so that they result in the maturation of a technology to reach the most profitable markets. The relevance of the proposed methodologies is assessed through their application to technology-oriented innovative startups and also through expert validation. Finally, this research concludes that it is possible, with more effective and economical R&D strategies, to better define experiment roadmaps and better steer technological startup investment.This research may significantly support the decision-making process of various actors: entrepreneurs, who need to justify R&D expenses in fund-raising applications; public and private investors, who constantly tend to minimize investment risks in innovative technologies; or technology scouts.

This dissertation investigates the possibilities of increased use of direct and indirect support for R&D in small and medium-sized companies operating in branches of the manufacturing industry in the Czech Republic and specialising in the production of computers and electronic and optical instrumentation and equipment. The choice of the topic of this work was motivated by personal experience in a field in which companies either have not had enough information to take advantages of subsidies for research and development or have had negative experience relating to applications for direct support for research and development. These facts have presented obstacles to the realisation of research and development in corporate practice. The aim of this dissertation is to propose a methodology for the use of available tools in support for research and development in the Czech Republic and its verification against real data from selected companies. Data from primary and secondary research was used to investigate the selected area of academic knowledge. A questionnaire investigation was performed on the basis of knowledge obtained from detailed research of Czech and foreign literary sources. The respondents were companies in the electronic industry. The dissertation presents the results of empirical research and an assessment of research questions relating to a comparison of a selected sample of companies actively realising research and development with companies engaged merely in production with no innovative processes. On the basis of questionnaire processing and the testing of research questions, a methodology was created for small and medium-sized companies with the use of fuzzy logic facilitating decision-making in the financing of research and development activities with the use of direct and indirect support. Use of the proposed methodology will allow companies to expand sources of financing for the innovation process as an essential part of the competitive battle in the industry in question. The methodology is a significant aid for strategic decision-making in small and medium-sized companies considering the introduction of research, development and innovation. Benefits of this dissertation can be seen not merely on the theoretical and practical level, but also in the area of education.

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Corporate spin-offs have been on the rise in recent years and this trend has captured the interest from corporations worldwide who are looking to manage change and innovation in a new and exciting way.  This research includes primary data from case studies conducted through semi-structured interviews and secondary data from previous research around the subject area. Prior research has highlighted the financial aspect of spin-offs as well as university driven spin-offs while this research features learnings from two Stockholm based spin-offs and their views on organizational success and the relationship between the parent company and the spin-off. This research highlights the motives behind introducing a spin-off and how technological advancements has impacted the success of the spin-off.  The findings of this research are underlined by the spin-offs ability to make use of the parent company’s expertise and highly focused business departments which helps the spin-off focus on its core competencies. In addition, the findings suggest that the motives behind introducing a corporate spin-off in 2017 are related to improving the customer experience while making modifications correlated to the cost structure, which most often attracts a new customer segment.  Throughout the research, it was evident that spin-offs often collaborate with external partners hired by the parent company. Because of this, this research provides insights from third party vendors with significant experience in technology startups, operational strategies and spin-off processes.  This research contributes to the field of industrial management by demonstrating local developments in innovation management techniques while also showcasing how consumer trends influences business decisions.

Presented thesis is focused on research and development cooperation between companies from the perspective of the competition law of the European Union. The thesis analyses the evolution of the legislation applicable to on this kind of cooperation in the context of examined axis of laissez-faire - interventionism. The emphasis is put on convergence of the EU legislation for this category of collaboration with the regulations applicable for R&D agreements in the USA. The aim of presented thesis is to analyse and determine the direction of the European Union competition law regulation of research and development cooperation in the context of abovementioned axis, namely the evolution of block exemptions for this category of agreements. Apart from the coherent description of the applicable set of rules, the analysis aims to foresee the future evolution of these rules. .Another aim is to compare the European course of research and development legislation with the same kind of legislation in the USA. That is why presented thesis contains detailed analysis of the legislation applicable to R&D agreements in the USA. This objective was established in order to perform a proper comparison of both antitrust regulations and also for the purpose of analysis of convergence of these regulations. The last aim is to...

I denna rapport undersöks olika system för hanteringen av forskning och utvecklingsprojekt som Stockholms stad kan använda som en gemensam plattform med syfte att sprida information och kunskap gällande projekt. Målet med rapporten var att hitta en anpassad kravspecifikation som summerade de tre kontorens gemensamma arbetsprocesser. Kravspecifikationen var ett hjälpmedel för att finna och utvärdera olika system som främjar hanteringen av Stockholms stads forskning och utvecklingsprojekt. En kravspecifikation har tagits fram i syfte att informera Stockholms stad om hur ett generellt arbetssätt ser ut bland de olika forskning och utvecklingskontoren. Genom informationsspridning internt pa kontoren kan effektiviteten öka då målkonikter kan undvikas och ett samarbete kan leda till ett bättre resultat. Att lagra informationen kopplade till ett projekt i en relationsdatabas visade sig passa kontoren bäst och skulle kunna möjliggöra vidare anpassning. Ytterligare en aspekt med systemen som utvärderades i rapporten var att de skulle kunna förbättra Stockholms stads kunskapsöverföring. Det kan medföra att innovativa och hållbara ideer sprids i större utsträckning än med kontorens nuvarande hantering av forskning- och utvecklingsprojekt. Resultatet av rapporten var två rekommendationer som togs fram utifrån utvärderingen av de utvalda systemen. Den kortsiktiga lösningen var att använda Excel med delad arbetsbok och den långsiktiga lösningen var att använda SharePoint Server som en gemensam kommunikationsplattform. / The purpose of this report is to find and evaluate different systems that can be used as a central platform for publishing information and knowledge about Stockholms stad's various projects spanning several agencies. The goal of this report was to present a requirement specification which summarize the three chosen agencies common work pattern. The requirement specification was used to find and evaluate the different systems that improves Stockholm's stads management of research and development projects. A requirement specification has been defined to help Stockholms stad to acknowledge a common work pattern for the three agencies presentation of project information. By increasing the dissemination of information internally, the efficiency will increase when goal conflicts are avoided and a formal cooperation can lead to better work results. A relational database was proven to be the best option for the agencies and could allow further development and adjustments to the agencies. One advantage with the systems evaluated in this report is that they could help Stockholms stad's transferal of knowledge. This could result in a wider spread of innovative and sustainable ideas than Stockholms stad's current system for managing research and development projects. The final recommendation from the evaluation of the selected systems gave Stockholms stad two possible solutions. The short-term solution was to use Excel with a shared workbook and the long-term solution was to use SharePoint Server as a common platform for communication.

近年來台灣工業用塑膠製造產業因技術門檻降低、國內人力成本提升，導致廠商的營運愈來愈艱困，並開始尋求各種轉型的方式，包括研發新技術、轉戰高科技市場、改良設備、開發綠色產品…等。在這麼多轉型的選項中，研發一直被視為是企業維持長期競爭力的指標，而本研究即以此為出發點，探討研發管理、新產品開發專案管理、以及經營績效的關聯性。 為求貼近實務狀況，了解當前工業用塑膠製造廠商如何利用研發提升經營績效，本研究選擇採用個案研究法，並挑選於台灣上櫃的M公司作為個案公司，藉由其實際開發案例，分析研發管理、新產品開發專案管理與經營績效三者之間的關係。 研究結果顯示，雖然研發管理與新產品開發專案管理都各自能為公司提升部分的經營績效，但新研發技術運用的順遂與否卻仰賴部門間的合作，唯有在大家具有相同的共識時，企業內部資源才得以整合，並為公司帶來效益。因此，企業除了可以藉由各作業流程的改善提升經營績效外，也可利用共同績效指標的訂定，確保各部門間有一致的方向，以利公司整體運作。

Thesis (MPhil) -- Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The emerging classification of Sustainability-oriented Innovation Systems places an emphasis on the social elements of change, as well as the technological. However, sustainability-oriented problems are too vast for one person or discipline to comprehend; thus people tend to want to collaborate, meaning they form teams. As a further extension to address sustainability-oriented problems, there is an increasing emphasis on transdisciplinary research and development (R&D) efforts, whereby co-production transgresses boundaries, and science becomes visible before it becomes certain. To reach the objectives of transdisciplinary R&D efforts will require two key concepts: the gathering of information from experts, namely knowledge transfer; and making connections between them, namely knowledge integration. Nevertheless, challenges have been noted in terms of academic tribes that impede teamwork, and, importantly, the lack of combined thought and action in R&D. This research, which is compiled as two journal articles, explored the collaboration, between disciplines, that has been described as the means of meeting the requirements of transdiscplinary R&D to identify, structure, analyse and deal with specific problems in such a way that it can: grasp the complexity of problems; take into account the diversity of life-world and scientific perceptions of problems; link abstract and case-specific knowledge; and develop knowledge and practices that promote what is perceived to be the common good. However, the latter brings into question how values and culture influence collaboration and thus transdisciplinary R&D efforts. The first article set out to investigate, from a literature analysis, how the culture and values of individuals in a transdisciplinary R&D team, as well as those of the organisation, determine the potential success or failure of the R&D effort. A conceptual framework is derived based on the theories of complexity, as it relates to knowledge management, learning within organisations, cognitive and behavioural approaches to culture and values, and communication. The framework also builds on previous research that has been conducted with respect to the management of transdisciplinary R&D. The second article then utilises the introduced conceptual framework for an in-depth investigation of a case study in the bioenergy field. The R&D project, which spanned over three years in South Africa, required a transdisciplinary team of engineers and scientists of various fields to collaborate with stakeholders outside the R&D team. The case emphasises that the lack of disciplines to recognize, understand and incorporate values and culture into R&D practices will lead to project failure; pre-empting and managing expectations of social change (often) far outweigh the necessity for technological change. A number of recommendations are thus made to improve R&D practices. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die opkomende klassifikasie van Volhoubaarheid-georiënteerde Innovasie Sisteme plaas 'n klem op die sosiale elemente van verandering, sowel as die tegnologiese. Volhoubaarheid-georiënteerde probleme is egter te groot vir een persoon of dissipline om te verstaan, dus neig individue om saam te wil werk, wat beteken dat hulle spanne vorm. As 'n verdere uitbreiding om volhoubaarheidgeoriënteerde probleme aan te spreek, is daar 'n toenemende klem op transdissiplinêre navorsing en ontwikkeling (N&O) pogings, waardeur mede-produksie grense oortree, en die wetenskap sigbaar word voor dit sekerheid bereik. Om die doelwitte van transdissiplinêre N&O pogings te bereik sal twee sleutelkonsepte vereis: die insameling van inligting van deskundiges, naamlik die oordrag van kennis, en die maak van skakels tussen hulle, naamlik kennis integrasie. Desondanks is die uitdagings wel bekend in terme van akademiese stamme wat spanwerk belemmer, en, baie belangrik, die gebrek aan gekombineerde denke en optrede in N&O. Hierdie navorsing, wat saamgestel is as twee joernaal artikels, ondersoek die samewerking, tussen dissiplines, wat al beklemtoon is vir die vereistes van transdissiplinêre N&O om spesifieke probleme te identifiseer, struktuur, ontleed en hanteer in 'n manier wat: die kompleksiteit van probleme op 'n verstaanbare wyse beskryf; rekening hou met die diversiteit van die lewe-wêreld en wetenskaplike persepsies van probleme; abstrakte en geval-spesifieke kennis skakel; en die ontwikkeling van kennis en praktyke bevorder wat beskou word as die algemene goed. Maar die laasgenoemde bring in twyfel hoe die waardes en kultuur samewerkings, en dus transdissiplinêre N&O pogings, beïnvloed. Die eerste artikel, met behulp van 'n literatuur-analise, ondersoek hoe die kultuur en waardes van individue in 'n transdissiplinêre N&O span, sowel as dié van die organisasie, die potensiële sukses of mislukking van die N&O poging bepaal. 'n Konseptuele raamwerk is afgelei wat gebaseer is op die teorieë van kompleksiteit, soos dit verband hou met die bestuur van kennis, leer binne organisasies, kognitiewe en gedrag benaderings tot kultuur en waardes, en kommunikasie. Die raamwerk bou op vorige navorsing wat gedoen is met betrekking tot die bestuur van transdissiplinêre N&O. Die tweede artikel gebruik dan die konseptuele raamwerk vir 'n in-diepte ondersoek van 'n gevallestudie in die gebied van bio-energie. Die N&O-projek, wat gestrek het oor 'n tydperk van drie jaar in Suid- Afrika, het van 'n transdissiplinêre span van ingenieurs en wetenskaplikes, van verskeie gebiede, verwag om saam te werk met belanghebbendes buite die N&O-span. Die gevallestudie beklemtoon die gebrek van dissiplines om waardes en kultuur te erken, verstaan en inkorporeer in N&O-praktyke wat sal lei tot die mislukking van sulke projekte; vooruitskatting en die bestuur van die verwagtinge van sosiale verandering is (dikwels) veel swaarder as die noodsaaklikheid van tegnologiese verandering. 'n Aantal aanbevelings word derhalwe gemaak om N&O praktyk te verbeter.

在知識經濟(Knowledge Economy)的時代中，企業經營最重要的生產要素已由知識取代機器、資金、原料或勞工，亦是在商場上競爭與存活的重要武器。所以，能夠針對知識做重大投資的企業，其成長率最快，且其價值與產值亦最大，例如資訊業、半導體業、通訊業等的知識密集之產業。 我們可以發現許多高科技上市櫃公司的股價均很高，但其所擁有的有形資產並不多，其中更有些公司的市值可能達到有形資產的數十倍甚至百倍，其中的差距，並無法從財務報表一窺究竟，其實就是無形資產，也是所謂的智慧資本(Intellectual Capital)。因此，對企業而言，如何充分利用此智慧資本，將知識整合進新的核心能力，轉型成為一個知識導向的組織，就成為一個很重要的課題。 因此，在智慧資本議題受到普遍重視的同時，另外一個很重要的議題亦引起大家的注意，那就是知識管理。如前所述，知識管理乃透過創造、儲存、分享、維持等活動，進而鞏固企業的競爭優勢。然而企業的競爭優勢究竟為何？知識管理活動該如何有效地協助競爭優勢的建立與維持？知識管理活動的成效又是如何得以衡量？ 本研究的目的即希望能夠透過瞭解企業知識管理及智慧資本運作機制，並深入探討高科技公司創新研發中心的知識管理模式，包含其型成過程與要素，以辨別公司是否有足夠人力、結構，並適時由人力資源策略、組織學習來調節並幫助決策者做出正確的調整策略，順利推動知識管理制度，不致於使知識管理活動流於形式，而使得企業活動毫無目標與方向。 / In the “Knowledge economy” era Knowledge is being substituted for the machine, capital, materials or labors, and to be the most important competitive weapons for the enterprise. We observe many high technology companies, which have the very high stock price, but they do not have many tangible assets. Although some of them have hundred times of marketing values compare with their tangible assets. The main difference is the Intellectual Capital which can not be expressed by the financial statement. Therefore, for the businesses, it is the most important issue to integrate the knowledge and enterprise core competency. Furthermore, there is another important issue is “Knowledge Management.” Knowledge management is through creation, storage, sharing, and maintenance to consolidate the competitive advantage of enterprise. However, what is the exactly competitive advantage of enterprise? How to help enterprise to establish and maintain competitive advantage effectively by Knowledge Management? How to evaluate the performance of Knowledge Management related activities? In this study, we hope through understanding the business Knowledge Management and Intellectual Capital operation mechanism, and probing into the Knowledge Management model of innovative research and development center in high-technology business to clarify the company if they have enough human power, structure with appropriately human resource and organizational learning strategy to help the decision maker to make the right strategy, thus can advance the knowledge management system.