Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to evaluate innovations in intellectual property rights (IPR) databases, techniques and software tools, with an emphasis on selected new developments and their contribution towards achieving advantages for IPR management (IPRM) and wider social benefits. Several industry buzzwords are addressed, such as IPR-linked open data (IPR LOD) databases, blockchain and IPR-related techniques, acknowledged for their contribution in moving towards artificial intelligence (AI) in IPRM. Design/methodology/approach -The evaluation, following an original framework developed by the authors, is based on a literature review, web analysis and interviews carried out with some of the top experts from IPR-savvy multinational companies. Findings -The paper presents the patent databases landscape, classifying patent offices according to the format of data provided and depicting the state-of-art in the IPR LOD. An examination of existing IPR tools shows that they are not yet fully developed, with limited usability for IPRM. After reviewing the techniques, it is clear that the current state-of-the-art is insufficient to fully address AI in IPR. Uses of blockchain in IPR show that they are yet to be fully exploited on a larger scale. Originality/value -A critical analysis of IPR tools, techniques and blockchain allows for the state-of-art to be assessed, and for their current and potential value with regard to the development of the economy and wider society to be considered. The paper also provides a novel classification of patent offices and an original IPR-linked open data landscape.

Building upon social fields theory, the authors analyze the impact of the three social forces – institutions, social networks and cognitive frames – on the social topography of regional innovation systems. Unlike previous studies, which focused on individual social force, the authors’ fuzzy-set comparative analysis of fifteen diverse regions from four continents reveals nuanced impact of individual forces and shows that a well-functioning regional innovation system is the outcome of their combined influence. This implies a need for a coherent, reflexive, context-specific and multi-level innovation policy that supports the balanced development of an institutional framework, encourages the formation of social networks and enables supportive cognitive frames.

The US Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies Grand Challenge and the EU Human Brain Project Future and Emerging Technologies Flagship, though seemingly similar in many dimensions, have distinct features that have been shaped by politics and institutional systems. This article documents the history of the two projects and compares their organization and funding mechanisms. While there is a call for Grand Challenges to motivate science, organizational factors and the mechanisms for allocating funding will have a great influence on the ultimate project outcomes. These two divergent examples suggest alternative strategies to consider when organizing future Grand Challenges, and provide context that should be considered when evaluating the outcomes of large public investments in science.

The focus of this paper is to examine how and when technology adoption occurs over the stages of entrepreneurship. High-performance computing (HPC) includes infrastructure and applications that are used for complex computational problems and can involve supercomputers and linked clusters. HPC can contribute to industry and firm competitiveness, particularly for SMEs. Against this background, there remains a limited understanding of how and when technology adoption occurs over the stages of entrepreneurship. In addressing this deficit our exploratory study identifies how and when technology adoption occurs over the stages of entrepreneurship. Our contribution is twofold. First, we develop a taxonomy of HPC with respect to the how and when of technology adoption. Second, we identify three categories of technology adoptionemergent imitators, early adopters and growth assimilators across two stages of entrepreneurshipemergent and late-stage.

Although empirical studies show that suppliers’ innovativeness enhances original equipment manufacturers’ (OEM) total innovation performance, some evidence reveals that suppliers’ innovation affects OEM in quantitatively and qualitatively limited ways. This study aims to explore innovation systems of European automobile producers, i.e., OEM. Technological innovation systems (TIS) remain relatively underexplored, but the approach is especially valuable for explaining why and how sustainable and circular innovation develop and spread. We applied a mixed-method approach and conducted patent analyses and interviews with 20 respondents from Slovenia, Austria, and Hungary, which are representatives of suppliers for the automotive industry and automotive clusters. We confirm that the European OEMs build innovation ecosystems that are more closed than their Asian counterparts. Furthermore, we define three paths of how inventions of suppliers can reach the OEMs, with developmental suppliers (large companies) having the highest probability of influencing the innovation activity of OEMs. The entry of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) and start-ups with their inventions is difficult. However, it is not impossible, especially if they develop new solutions connected to current disruptive trends in the automotive industry: electric cars, autonomous driving and digitalisation.