R&D attracting talent back to India: Mashelkar

Source: Business Standard

With the advent of research and development in private sector, India is witnessing a positive trend with its talent returning back to the country, Raghunath Mashelkar President Indian National Science Academy (INSA) said. “It’s the right time to be in India,” the leading scientist said.

India is becoming a global R&D platform with more than 300 companies setting up their centres here. This has opened up opportunities for young students who need not leave the country for better jobs, he said.

In last three years 30,000 scientists and researchers have returned to India to be absorbed in various organisations, Mas-helkar said quoting NASSCOM at INSA’s General Body Meeting. Many of those who have returned are also joining government organisations, Mashelkar said pointing out that R&D, which was earlier a government domain, has now largely become a private concern. Source: Business Standard Press Trust Of India / Panaji December 23, 2007

Satyam Computer to set up a process manufacturing innovation center of excellence

Courtsey: cbronline.com

Global consulting and information technology services company Satyam Computer is setting up a process manufacturing innovation center of excellence at Hyderabad, India to help process manufacturing companies utilize advances in IT.

Satyam said that the center will provide engineering and IT solutions to the process manufacturing industry through collaboration with the industry, R&D institutions and educational institutions. "We are partners with leaders in the industry as well as premier academic institutions like Purdue University, ISB and associations like CII in India and others across the globe," said Subu D, director and senior vice president of manufacturing and automotive business at Satyam.

Satyam said that its clients include global companies in steel, chemical, glass, food, pharmaceuticals and cement industries. According to the company, the center will provide business value to its global customers, while enhancing the organization's competency in its process manufacturing business unit.

The company added that the process manufacturing innovation center of excellence (PROMICE) will features technology infrastructure and qualified technology and domain experts. It will also have virtually simulated factories for each of major 10 process industry verticals, including metals and mining, building materials, pulp and paper, textiles, food and beverages, leather, plastics, rubber, chemicals and pharmaceuticals.

Earlier this month, Accenture opened a management consulting center of excellence in Gurgaon, India to broaden its base of functional and industry-specific skills. The company also plans to open management consulting centers in Bangalore, Mumbai and Chennai to serve both Accenture's growing domestic business in India and the company's global clients.

Source: ComputerWire daily updates

Courtsey: cbronline.com

Indian chip design firms acquiring for scale, R&D

By: Malovika Rao (Livemint.com)

Bangalore: Indian information technology companies, such as Wipro Ltd, Sasken Communication Technologies Ltd and MindTree Consulting Ltd, which offer chip-design services, are in an acquisitive mode to consolidate their position in the global market.

In the last two years, these firms have together made five acquisitions totalling Rs502 crore, mainly to broaden their customer base and intellectual property (IP) assets.

Until recently, it was international players who looked at India for acquisitions of third-party (independent) design companies. For instance, Spike Technologies Inc. was acquired by Qualcomm Inc., Metta Technology Inc. was acquired by LSI Corp., and a division of GDA Technologies Inc. was acquired by Rambus Inc.

The Indian Semiconductor Association (ISA) says there are about 70 independent chip-design firms.

Wipro acquired Austrian chip-design firm, NewLogic Technologies GmbH, in December 2005, in an all-cash deal valued at about Rs253 crore. NewLogic strengthened Wipro’s IP scores by providing access to 25 patent filings for complex wireless applications such as Wireless LAN (local area networks) and Bluetooth. The acquisition also added 120 specialists and provided access to more than 20 customers in the product engineering domain.

This September, Wipro made its second overseas acquisition by buying out Oki Techno Centre Singapore Pte. Ltd, a 40-employee semiconductor design subsidiary of Oki Electric Industry, in a deal estimated at Rs10 crore. Wipro gained 70 hi-tech patents in wireless communications and IP in digital TV, ultra-wideband, and radio frequency ID (RFID), as well as an entry into the Japanese market.

“These acquisitions strengthened our position in the area of wireless designs. Last two years, we have doubled our number of customers,” says Vasudevan Aghoramoorthy, vice-president, VLSI (very large scale integration)/systems design, at Wipro.

The semiconductor and wireless business are a part of Wipro’s telecom and product engineering group that accounts for 33% of Wipro’s total revenues. The firm has around 2,100 employees for chip and hardware-board designing.

MindTree, in November, acquired Purple Vision Technologies Pvt. Ltd, a semiconductor firm, for Rs26 crore. The acquisition doubled MindTree’s customer base to 30.

S. Janakiraman, CEO of R&D services at MindTree, sees acquisitions as a way to acquire more expertise in the semiconductor sector. “Customers look for one-stop shop and this acquisition enables us to meet such needs. We will look for such niche acquisitions, while pursuing organic growth.”

Sasken, which has nearly 3,700 employees and serves the wireless and semiconductor sectors, has also used acquisitions to expand its customer base. Around 25-30% of Sasken’s services revenues come from semiconductor companies.

Last year, Sasken, which has revenues of Rs477 crore, made two acquisitions in wireless communication and LAN. In the all-cash deal of Rs206 crore, Sasken acquired wireless services company, Botnia Hightech Oy. The Finnish company significantly added to Sasken’s customer profile with 11 tier I customers in Europe, including Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia Corp.
Sasken had earlier acquired Chennai-based Integrated SoftTech Solutions Pvt Ltd for Rs6.5 crore in April 2006. As a result, it gained 110 employees specializing in data networking, VOIP (voice over Internet protocol) and wireless.

Swami Krishnan, the senior vice-president for Global Business Operations of Sasken says: “With acquisitions, we could be one of the few companies who can turn out a product from paper to final product for our large OEM (original equipment manufacturer) clients.”
Poornima Shenoy, president of the industry association, ISA says this is a sign of Indian companies coming of age.

“With an increasing number of start-ups in India, we will see increased mergers and acquisitions,” she says.

“Some of the entrepreneurs and investors may not take the IPO (initial public offering) route for their exit. For such technology companies thatare not strong on scalability and branding, mergers and acquisitions work out as better options.”


Courtesy: Livemint.com

Global Innovation in India takes roots: Microsoft pushes CSIR to second place in Indian patents race

NEW DELHI: The monopoly of government-controlled Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) in innovation and research may be under threat. Rising R&D activities and innovation focus in private sector is leading to an unprecedented reversal of trend.

In a first, Microsoft Corporation India has toppled CSIR from the top slot, in receiving patents for research done in India during 2006. Microsoft has bagged 584 patents in India during the last year against CSIR’s 476, according to a report - Innovation in India: White Paper Infovision 2007 - by the US-headquartered Thomson Scientific. CSIR was the second highest patent getter in 2006.

“Few years back, investment in research and innovation in India by the private sector was close to a zilch, but this has increased considerably in the recent years,” Microsoft Research India MD P Anandan said. “It will continue to grow at a much faster pace with companies focusing more on high-tech research.”

Though a ranking of the top 10 patent assignees for all Indian inventions from 1968-2004 shows the CSIR dominating the research activities followed by FMCG major, by Hindustan Lever Limited (now HUL) and Hoechst (now absorbed into Sanofi-Aventis) through its Indian subsidiary Hoechst India, it could be a change of chapter for the government’s research giant.

However, in absolute sense, the cumulative share of CSIR’s total patents in India still stands at 22.12% while Microsoft has just managed to corner 3.84% share of total patents in India till date. In other words, eventhough ranked second, CSIR still features as a major innovator in India. But Microsoft’s emergence from nowhere as the most prolific applicant of patents in India during 2006, has sprung a surprise.

The report partially attributes that to the announcement of a $1.7-billion investment by Microsoft in India spread across businesses in December 2005. And now India being the only country for Microsoft outside of the US, where software giant has presence in all the business segment, has also given a fillip to its R&D activities, says an industry expert.

In the past, India only permitted patents for processes and not products. With new amendments to the Patent Act, it is now possible to obtain product patents in pharmaceuticals and agrochemical, telecom, and software industries, the study notes.

According to the report, in the recent years, India has made enormous strides in innovation and research as the driver of economic growth. This has also given a boost to the patenting activity in the country. The number of research publications from India had been stable at around 15,000 papers per year until 2000, when there was a pronounced upturn. In the last five years, they have grown 45% to cross 25,000. Since the late 1980s, the citations India receives has considerably increased, the study says. For instance, research papers from India received 2,56,253 citations in the last five years showing a fourfold growth since the 1980s.

When compared with other countries in the region (particularly China and Korea), India has experienced a rapid increase in patenting activity. Patent applications in the country have logged a 40% growth to 24,505 in 2005-06, up from 10,000 in the previous year. Not only has the volume of innovation increased dramatically, the players and technologies have also changed significantly in recent times. Amongst the Asia-Pacific regions, India has one of the longest established Intellectual Property systems with roots that can be traced back over 150 years to the enactment of “The Exclusive Privileges Act, 1856”. Despite this, until recently India has been a relatively quiet contributor in terms of global innovation.

Source: The Economic Times (emphasis - characters in bold letters - added)

18 Dec, 2007, 0747 hrs IST, Shreya Biswas, TNN

New generation of cars to be launched in India

SILICON VALLEY: A global consortium of top students, professors and experts in various engineering fields plan to use the rapidly growing Indian automotive market as a launch pad for a new generation of cars that could revolutionise the international automobile industry.

Vehicle Design Summit, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology initiative, aims to develop a 4-passenger, 200MPGe, high-performance industry-standard car with minimal life cycle costs and wide appeal both in developed and developing countries.

Anna Jaffe, co-founder of Vehicle Design Summit and a student at the MIT, told the National Public Radio that the consortium had decided to look at the Indian market first because "they have such growth in their auto industry today."

"The reason we picked India is that as its market expands, there is huge amount of pressure and competition on the indigenous car manufacturers there and our hope is to see them to be willing to take little bit of risk and really set the stage for game-changing vehicle," Jaffe said.

From India, these vehicle could then go the US, Europe and China, but would be "first tested and validated and verified in the Indian market."

In February 2008 the entire team is convening in Germany to design a prototype for 100 MPGe car. By August of 2008 the consortium aims to unveil a fully functional concept that achieves factor 10 lifecycle goals and provides a real platform for continuous improvement.

By August 2008 a green and resilient supply chain, fully verified vehicle, LEED platinum factory design, user base of on order of 100,000 users and tested use model to keep the vehicle driving 18 hours a day will be wrapped up and released.

Source: The Economic Times
15 Dec. 2007, PTI

Maruti Suzuki to unveil Concept A-Star

Alongside the Tata Rs 1 lakh car, it is perhaps the most eagerly awaited model at the Auto Expo. Earlier this week, Suzuki big boss O Suzuki unvieled the first glimpses of the new small car from the Suzuki stable that will be formally premiered at the Auto Expo in January.

Kitted with a newly-developed 1 litre Euro V-compliant aluminium petrol engine with CO2 emissions lower than those of European competitors (target: lower than 109g/km), the car will be a hatchback positioned in the A segment. Currently called Concept A-Star, it will start commercial production in October '08. Substantial production for Europeis targeted to start in December 2008, followed by expansion in other markets globally.

The Concept A-Star is the first Suzuki concept in which Maruti engineers have had a substantial input. The Japanese company will be making 150,000 units of this new car at its plant in Manesar. Of that it will export 50,000 units and sell the remaining 100,000 units in India.

Suzuki will also contract manufacture this car for fellow Japanese car major Nissan in Manesar. Nissan will source 50,000 units of this car from Suzuki’s Manesar plant to be exported to Europe as a Nissan small car.

The Concept A-Star’s new aluminium engine will be made by Maruti and a manual transmission will be made by Suzuki Powetrain India, an SMC subsidiary that’s based beside Maruti Suzuki’s Manesar plant.

Of course the A-Star won’t be the only star attraction from Maruti at the Auto Expo. Also on show will be the Splash which first debuted in Frankfurt and was the star attraction at Tokyo this year as well.

The Splash is also headed for India say sources and will be another new compact roll out from the Suzuki stable in India. The Splash and the A-Star concept will be the twin models that will enable the car marketleader to hold on and improve its share of the Indian market.

The first concept car to debut India in the entire 26-years of SMC's operations in this market, A-Star will be the centre of attraction in the 20-odd models being displayed by Maruti Suzuki at the Auto Expo. Designed totally in India, it will be a precursor to MSI's global compact car that will be launched post 2010.

MSI will also showcase its mid-sized concept sedan Kizashi, which will pave the its way into the top-end premium segment and will be pitted against Honda Civic, Honda Accord, Chevrolet Optra and Hyundai Sonata.

Source: The Economic Times, 13.12.2007
Remark: Emphasis in text (character in bold letters) is added.

Maruti to start designing products from 2010

New Delhi (PTI): Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, the country's biggest carmaker, will start designing cars in India by 2010, for which it has sent close to hundred employees for training in Japan, a senior company official said on Monday.

"We are training about 100 people in research and development area at Suzuki Japan. They have been sent to Japan for two years and would come back in batches between 2008-10," Maruti Suzuki India's Executive Director (HR) S Y Siddiqui told PTI.

The training includes hardcore designing as well as developing research-related capabilities and is aimed at enabling the company to start designing cars in India by 2010, Siddiqui said.

The official said most of the current human resources investments and training activities were targeted for the year 2010.

"Plants can be set up at any given time, but for their efficient functioning, the employees' skills, behavioural patterns and leadership qualities are a must," he noted.

Maruti Suzuki is targeting to sell one million cars every year by 2010, according to the company's newly appointed MD and CEO Shinzo Nakanishi, who will assume the top position from Jagdish Khattar on December 19.

Nakanishi said earlier this month that the company would invest Rs 1,750 crore in setting up a research and development wing at Manesar over the next three years.

MSIL, in collaboration with its parent Suzuki Motor Co, has already developed a new concept hatch - A-Star - which would be displayed for the first time during the upcoming Auto Expo in January.

Source: http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/006200712171541.htm

Meanwhile The Economic Times reports:

NEW DELHI: The success of its global car Swift has prompted Maruti Suzuki India to develop a full-fledged car-designing centre in India. Maruti has sent close to 100 employees to Japan for training at the global R&D facility of its parent company, Suzuki Motor Corporation, to develop designing capabilities. The company engineers had been closely working with their SMC counterparts in the designing and development of the Swift and other global models like the Sx4, Grand Vitara and the Splash. While all other products have been introduced in India, premium hatchback Splash will hit the domestic market next year. "Our 100 designers and engineers will be taking special training in car designing in the field of R&D at SMC in Japan. They will be trained for two years,” said a senior executive of Maruti Suzuki. The company will start designing cars in India by 2010.

Source: The Economic Times 18 Dec, 2007 (emphasis - characters in bold letters - added)

JOINT RIDE - Daimler Trucks forms JV with Hero Group

By: Ammar Master (Livemint.com)

Daimler Trucks, a division of Daimler AG, the largest commercial vehicles maker in the world, has said it will partner with Hero Group to make a range of trucks for India, the world's fifth largest market for such vehicles.

The German firm joins a slew of overseas vehicle makers who have inked partnerships in the last two years to enter the Indian market.

Financial details of the transaction were not revealed and the company will give final shape to the partnership by the first quarter of 2008, Daimler said in a statement.

Daimler Trucks and the Hero Group, which owns 26% in the country's largest twowheeler maker Hero Honda Motors Ltd, have signed a shareholder agreement and are in the process of submitting an application to the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), a government body that clears foreign investments in India that require permission. The company's proposal is slated to come up at the board's meeting on 14 December.

"Hero has a proven track record of managing long-term relationships with global and domestic partners," Andreas Renschler, Daimler board member and head of Daimler Trucks, said in a statement.

Hero makes bikes in partnership with Japan's Honda Motor Co. Ltd, an alliance it has had for 23 years.

"This is a positive move for the Hero Group because it gives them the opportunity to enter the commercial vehicles segment, where they do not have any presence at the moment. However, the deal will not have any impact on Hero Honda...," said an automotive analyst at brokerage Religare Securities Ltd, who did not wish to be identified.

Hero Group, which began operations as a cycle maker in 1956, has today transformed itself into the country's largest two-wheeler maker, thanks to a transfer of technology from its partner Honda Motor, which helped it to bring out successful motorbikes.

The trucks made under the partnership will be targeted at the mass market, currently dominated by Tata Motors Ltd, which holds 60% of the market share in this segment and makes popular models such as the Ace light commercial vehicle. About 468,000 commercial vehicles were sold in the country in 2006-07.

Meanwhile, Daimler's specialty trucks, such as the Actros, which are targeted at specific applications such as mining, will continue as a separate venture under DaimlerChrysler India Pvt. Ltd.

The Actros, of which 150 units have been sold since its launch in July 2006, is being built at Pune.

Daimler, which also has a partnership with Sutlej Motors Ltd to make luxury buses in India, isn't alone in wanting a share of the commercial vehicles pie in the country as sales in more mature markets overseas grow at a slower pace.

With an economy that is growing at more than 8% a year and a record number of infrastructure and construction projects coming on stream along with manufacturing, demand for transportation vehicles is set to soar.

In recent months, Nissan Motor Co. Ltd has formed a venture valued at $500 million (Rs1,970 crore) with Ashok Leyland Ltd for light trucks, engines and components, and technology development.

This week, Volvo AB said it would buy a 50% stake in the commercial vehicle unit of Eicher Motors Ltd. Germany's MAN AG and International Truck & Engine Corp., a Navistar Inc. unit, already have ventures with local firms Force Motors Ltd and Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, respectively.

---
Courtesy: Livemint.com
Also see a report in The Economic Times

Mint Analysis: STPI to SEZ shift may increase tax rates of IT cos in India

By: Regina Anthony (livemint.com)

Last month, HCL Technologies Ltd, India's fifth-ranked software services vendor by revenues, inaugurated a new office in a 46-acre campus in Noida, a satellite town in Uttar Pradesh.

When fully built, the facility will offer 2 million sq. ft of space-one of the largest in north India-and house 15,000 workers.

Such a mega software development centre is not uncommon in a country that accounts for two-thirds of the tech and back-office support work sent offshore by leading global corporations.

What is new is the scramble among India's large tech and back-office service firms to set up offices in the so called special economic zones, or SEZs. HCL's Noida facility is one such.

Reason: a crucial tax exemption on software exports under a so-called Software Technology Parks of India, or STPI, scheme comes to an end in March 2009. With the government showing no signs of extending the tax benefit scheme started in 1999-the industry has been lobbying for a 10-year extension-firms are rapidly moving business into SEZs, which offer a 100% tax exemption on pre-tax profits for the first five years. In the subsequent five years, the exemption shrinks to 50%.

But, as a Mint analysis based on interviews with key Indian software executives has found, the transition to SEZs will not be fast enough and painless, and leading Indian software firms Tata Consultancy Servic- es Ltd (TCS), Infosys Technologies Ltd, Wipro Ltd and HCL are likely to witness a sharp increase in their income-tax of between 5 to 10 percentage points from fiscal 2010. (The additional tax payout will reduce in subsequent five years, but will still be higher than what most firms pay today.) Under the existing provisions of the Income-Tax Act, importantly, a tech services firm cannot just migrate to an SEZ once the STPI scheme is over. Only new businesses the firm generates can be shifted to an office housed in an SEZ.

Companies operating in facilities not covered by the STPI scheme or not operating in SEZs risk having to pay tax at the corporate tax rate of 33.99%, said Sudhir Kapadia, a partner and national head of tax and regulatory services at KPMG International's local unit. "Since, at present, tech companies are paying only a minimum alternate tax (of 11.33%), the tax bill of most firms will go up in the near future. And this point will surely hit home in 2009," he said.

Take India's largest software firm. TCS today has 76 offices under the STPI scheme and just seven in operational SEZs.

Eight of its SEZs are being con structed or have received government nod. TCS had paid about 14% of its pre-tax profits as tax-equivalent to Rs683.8 crore-last fiscal. "We estimate that our effective tax rate will rise about 20% after the expiry of the STPI scheme in 2009," a TCS spokesperson said.

India's third largest software vendor Wipro has a dozen SEZs approved by the commerce ministry, of which nine are operational. The firm currently has more than 20 STPIbonded units and pays tax at around 14% of its profit before tax (PBT). For the first half of this fiscal, its tax rate was 12%.

"We expect an increase in tax rates by around 400 basis points for the fiscal year 2010.
In the fiscal after that, it would come down as we increase the proportion of revenues from SEZs," said Suresh Senapaty, Wipro's chief financial officer.

The tax impact, he said, could result in a lower earnings per share growth for that year (fiscal 2010) than growth in revenues or operating margins.

Wipro had revenues of Rs11,094 crore in fiscal 2007 and paid Rs334 crore in taxes.

Analysts have already factored in this slowdown.

Rishi Maheshwari, senior research analyst at Networth Stock Broking Ltd, said the impact on larger firms was likely to be small compared to smaller peers. "Smaller IT players and (back-office) firms, will be heavily hit with tax issues because of the lack of preparedness," he said.
HCL, which in the year ended 30 June had an income-tax payout of around 10% on the PBT, could see a doubling of taxes as a percentage of pretax profits. "In the year ending 30 June 2009, we expect the tax rate to be around 12%. During 2009-10, it could touch 20% of profit before taxes," said the firm's executive vice-president of finance Anil Chanana.

Infosys, ranked No. 2 by revenues among Indian software firms, already does about 10% of its business from SEZs. The company, which currently pays an income-tax of 14-15% on its revenues, also sees its income-tax peaking in 2010 as it transitions its units from STPI to SEZs.

"The tax impact may go up to 21-22% by March 2010," Infosys CEO Kris Gopalakrishnan had told Mint in an interview in late November. The firm had paid Rs352 crore in taxes in fiscal 2007.

Other firms such as Satyam Computer Services Ltd and the New Jersey, US-headed Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. could not immediately estimate their tax impact after fiscal 2009.

--
Source: http://www.livemint.com/2007/12/13235955/IT-cos-face-tax-rise-despite-S.html

Call for papers: Special Issue of IJTPM

International Journal of Technology, Policy and Management (IJTPM)

Call for papers

Special Issue on: "Barriers to Innovation in Home Country: Can Internationalisation of R&D Mitigate their Effects?"

Guest Editors: Prof. Cornelius Herstatt, Rajnish Tiwari and Dr. Stephan Buse,
Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH), Germany

Technological advancements, especially in information and communication technologies (ICT) have enhanced greatly the competition already spurred by the globalisation of world economies. Even small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are no more immune to the challenges that the globalisation brings about. Innovative ideas and products are becoming increasingly important to counter the price-oriented competition on home turf and abroad from low-cost producers acting globally and leveraging production facilities in emerging economies. The innovation capacity of many firms is however hampered by a number of barriers to innovation, e.g. resource constraints. They hinder the firm’s capacity to invent and successfully commercialise new products, services or processes.

Global innovation activities are therefore thought to be necessary to gain, retain, and further strengthen the competitive position in that they may provide access to cost-effective, highly qualified resources or help tap an attractive market. The incentive to go for global innovation is also enhanced by given socio-demographic factors in the industrialised economies, e.g. shortage of skilled labor due to aging population and lack of student interest in natural sciences.

It may partially explain the increasing share of R&D funds spent and patents generated abroad by globally operating firms. For instance, in 2002, subsidiaries of US firms spent over 21 billion USD for R&D efforts abroad, mainly in the European Union (EU) countries and Japan, but also increasingly in India and China. On the same lines German firms spent nearly 11 billion euros for R&D efforts abroad in 2003. In turn, subsidiaries of foreign-owned firms spent 12.4 billion euros the same year in Germany. This trend is however not limited to industrialised economies. An increasing number of firms from India and China are reported to be setting up R&D centers abroad in industrialised countries such as USA and Germany (primarily knowledge- and infrastructure seeking) or to other emerging economies like India, China or in Eastern Europe (cost drivers, access to market).

This special issue intends to bring together academicians, practitioners, and policy makers to investigate and exchange novel ideas and circulate knowledge covering the broad area of “global innovation”, its connection to barriers to innovation in the home environment and the related policy implications. Experts and professionals from academia, industry, government and the public sector are invited to submit papers on their recent research and professional experience on the subject. Interdisciplinary research is specifically encouraged.

Subject Coverage

Papers dealing with (but not limited to) any of the following themes are appropriate for consideration:

• Barriers to innovation, e.g. country-, sector- or size specific barriers
• Globalisation of innovation (the complete innovation value chain)
• Trends in internationalisation of R&D
  (between industrialised countries;
  from industrialised to emerging countries;
  from emerging countries to industrialised countries; and
  between emerging countries)
• Forms of international (offshore) R&D
• Joint ventures and cooperation
• Captive centers
• Contract R&D by specialised third-party outsourcers
• Advantages and challenges of international R&D operations
• Market, knowledge and cost factors
• Organisational and other managerial challenges
• Ground realities in international R&D operations
• Firm Behavior in meeting dual challenges of innovation barriers and globalisation
• Structure and strategy for R&D in global corporations
• International R&D and the dynamics of firms and sectors
• Drivers of international corporate R&D investments
• New and emerging issues in (international) corporate R&D
• Policy implications for dealing with barriers to innovation
• Strengthening of sectoral, regional and national innovation systems
• Implications for FDI policies in industrialised and emerging countries
• Implications for institutional infrastructure especially in emerging countries
• Policy measures for SMEs support programmes etc.

Notes for Prospective Authors

Submitted papers should not have been previously published nor be currently under consideration for publication elsewhere.

All papers are refereed through a peer review process. A guide for authors, sample copies and other relevant information for submitting papers are available on the Author Guidelines page

Important Dates

Submission of papers: 1 March, 2008
Feedback to authors: 1 June, 2008
Final paper due: 1 July, 2008

Editors and Notes

You may send one copy in the form of an MS Word file attached to an e-mail (details in Author Guidelines) to the following:

Prof. Cornelius Herstatt
Institute of Technology and Innovation Management
Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH)
Schwarzenbergstr. 95
21073 Hamburg
Germany
E-mail: c.herstatt@tuhh.de

with a copy each to:

Rajnish Tiwari (TUHH)
E-mail: rajnish.tiwari@tuhh.de

and

IEL Editorial Office
E-mail: ijtpm@inderscience.com

Please include in your submission the title of the Special Issue, the title of the Journal and the name of the Guest Editor.

Link:
http://www.inderscience.com/browse/callpaper.php?callID=846

PDF:
http://www.global-innovation.net/publications/PDF/CfP_IJTPM_TUHH.pdf

Introduction to Research Project Global Innovation

Innovations are increasingly seen as a source of economic growth and as a useful instrument to face the competition brought about by the globalization. Not surprisingly, innovations have acquired a key-role in the growth and competition strategies of many firms, as indeed of many countries and economic regions.

At the same time, a strong trend of internationalization of innovations (the 'Global Innovation') may be observed across all countries actively participating in the global economy. In developed, industrialized economies there has been a long tradition of R&D work by foreign companies. For instance, subsidiaries of foreign-owned firms spent according to official statistics nearly 12.2 billion euros for R&D efforts in 2003 in Germany. At the same time subsidiaries of German firms spent nearly 11 billion euros for R&D work abroad.

More recently, this phenomenon has also spread to emerging countries reputed for their scientific capabilities. This trend is reflected in the increasing number of offshore research and development (R&D) centers located in emerging economies such as China and India and in the increasing number of patents granted to domestic firms on inventions made at such foreign locations, as a recent analysis (Nov. 2007) by us shows. The activities are often organized in the form of an offshore captive center, an international joint venture, a third-party offshore outsourcing contract (contract R&D), or a cooperation with academic and/or research institution abroad.

'Global Innovation' is a research project of the Institute of Technology & Innovation Management (TIM) at Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH). It consists of two major studies to understand the impact of Offshore R&D. A primary aim of this project is to observe, analyze and forecast developments in the field of globalization of innovations.