Care robots are a means to support elderly people affected by physical or mental handicaps to remain as autonomous as possible or regain already lost autonomy (e.g. running stairs). They also support caretakers when working with handicapped. We review the emergence of care robotics and particularly offer answers to two research questions: Which organizations and individuals in which countries have been and are active in research and development? How has research and development emerged with regard to activity focus, intensity levels and cooperation? The analysis rests on PATSTAT patent and ISI Web of Science publication data. Bibliographic and network analyses are conducted on country, organization (i.e. universities and firms) and individual levels. We find that care robotics research and development activities have constantly increased since the late 1970s. Today Japanese universities and firms are the most active players, while in early stages US and European organizations pioneered care robotics research. Starting from six disjunctive small networks, several highly interconnected care robotics research networks have evolved. However, most cooperation clusters are still found within the same country. Only few international hubs emerged. Among them are two Japanese organizations (ATR, AIST) and Carnegie Mellon University, US.

The worldwide increase in societal challenges is putting pressure on humanitarian organizations to develop sophisticated approaches to leverage social innovations in the humanitarian sector. Since humanitarian problems are complex problems, with the relevant knowledge being hidden, organizational search theory advocates the application of bottom-up and theory-guided search processes to identify the social innovations that solve these. Unfortunately, there has been no theoretical attention to understanding which approaches apply in this context. Further, established theory-guided bottom-up search processes, such as the lead user method, are unsuitable to the humanitarian sector, and we lack practice examples of adequate search processes. To start addressing this gap in theory and practice, procedural action research was done with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to develop a theory-guided bottom-up innovation search process for the real-life humanitarian problem of recurring floods in Indonesia. It revealed that an innovation search process for this context must differ significantly concerning its objectives and the steps to be taken from the lead user method, which was used as a starting point. Further, a comparison of the technical quality and the social impacts of the identified social innovations with social innovations identified through a non-theory-guided bottom-up search process (i.e., an innovation contest) suggests the superiority of this theory-guided search process. With this conclusion and the insights derived throughout the development of the search process, this study makes important contributions to theory development in the social and open innovation literatures and delivers important recommendations for social innovation practice in the humanitarian sector.

Recent advances in gene delivery into cells allow improved therapeutic effects in gene therapy trials. To increase the bioavailability of applied cells, it is of great interest that transfected cells remain at the application site and systemic spread is minimized. In this study, we tested clinically used biodegradable poly(lactic acid-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) scaffolds (Vicryl & Ethisorb) as transient carriers for genetically modified cells. To this aim, we used human fibroblasts and examined attachment and proliferation of untransfected cells on the scaffolds in vitro, as well as the mechanical properties of the scaffolds at four time points (1, 3, 6 and 9 days) of cultivation. Furthermore, the adherence of cells transfected with green fluorescent protein (GFP) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF165) and also VEGF165 protein secretion were investigated. Our results show that human fibroblasts adhere on both types of PLGA scaffolds. However, proliferation and transgene expression capacity were higher on Ethisorb scaffolds most probably due to a different architecture of the scaffold. Additionally, cultivation of the cells on the scaffolds did not alter their biomechanical properties. The results of this investigation could be potentially exploited in therapeutic regiments with areal delivery of transiently transfected cells and may open the way for a variety of applications of cell-based gene therapy, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. www.econstor.eu Our findings show that users develop around 46% of all medical smartphone applications (apps). We analyzed 510,229 user ratings and found that apps designed by patients, relatives, and healthcare professionals are rated significantly better by App Store customers than apps created by professional software companies. Apps developed by patients' relatives achieve significantly more downloads and generate on average three times higher revenues per year. The initial medical smartphone app developments in the early days of the Apple App Store were mainly triggered by healthcare professionals. The interview data shows the extensive medical knowledge of patients and their relatives, particularly those with chronic diseases. Terms of use: Documents inThe overall findings are in line with a current literature stream that indicates that patients are gaining more influence on their treatment, are better informed, and are taking more actions to increase their quality of life. Commercial healthcare companies should take advantage of this and should consider including patients and relatives into their product development.

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in AbstractOrganizations in the humanitarian sector often face problems that are hard to solve owing to their complexity and high hidden solution knowledge. We investigate two problem-solving governance mechanisms in the case of floods in Indonesia. In our study, we compare the costs and benefits of two open innovation tools for identifying social innovation: an innovation contest and the lead user method.An innovation contest is a challenge among participants, who submit potential solutions to a problem that is posted in an open call. In contrast, the lead user method is a structured search process to identify innovators who have already developed solutions for their own needs or those of their peers. While innovation contests have seen significant attention, there is very little evidence that the lead user method is a suitable tool to identify social innovation. In our study, the contest yielded more than twice as much submissions as the lead user method (60 vs. 25). Our analysis reveals that concepts obtained by the lead user method score significantly higher in overall quality as well as regarding use value, feasibility, degree of elaboration, and social impact. The concepts' novelty do not significantly differ between the two groups. We discuss these findings against the background of the humanitarian sector being torn between capacity overload and the need to overcome a one-size-fits-all approach. By transferring two recognized governance forms for innovation identification from the private sector to the humanitarian sector, we introduce a new path towards empowering local innovators to solve humanitarian challenges.