Introduction of CICALICS 2008

Citation

Jin, J. (2009), "Introduction of CICALICS 2008", Journal of Knowledge-based Innovation in China, Vol. 1 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/jkic.2009.40401bac.001

Introduction of CICALICS 2008

Article Type: Conference reviews From: Journal of Knowledge-based Innovation in China, Volume 1, Issue 2

China’s Innovation Circles and Academy – a Network on Learning, Innovation and Competence Building Systems (CICALICS in short) is part of the activities of GLOBELICS in China. Under the contribution of Prof. Bengt-Åke Lundvall, who has previous European experience of GLOBLICS, CICALICS has become one of most important academic activities in the field of innovation. Prominent CICALICS activities include an annual CICALICS Workshop and an annual CICALICS Academy. In contrast to CICALICS Workshop, which aims to promote exchange between established researchers, the goal of CICALICS Academy is to provide research training and an exchange network for the best PhD students from China and abroad working on innovation systems related to China and Asia’s developing economies.

Thanks to the Yongqian Development Fund, CICALICS Workshop 2008 was successfully held at Zijingang Campus from October 27th to 29th, 2008 by the National Institute of Innovation Management (NIIM in short), Zhejiang University. This was the forth workshop, following on from the successful 1st and 3rd CICALICS Workshop at Tsinghua University, and 2nd CICALICS Workshop at University of Electronic Science and Technology of China. In conjunction with the workshop, CICALICS Academy 2008 was held from October 25th to 31st at NIIM.

The central theme of CICALICS Workshop 2008 was “China’s Innovation System in Transition – Exploitation and Exploration: Latecomers’ Strategies”, focusing on the evolution of technological capability, regional innovation, innovation in China, innovation network & globalization, innovation and technology management, organization learning, and so on.

In this present industrial transition, great challenges are faced by Chinese corporations, such as how to generate and improve indigenous innovation capabilities? How could Chinese corporations improve their exploration abilities? Which strategies do Chinese corporations make to move from exploitation to exploration? And therefore how could Chinese corporations balance their efforts on exploitation and exploration? These were the main issues discussed in CICALICS Workshop 2008. All participants openly discussed technology and innovation management, the catching up strategies and the evolution of technological capabilities in emerging countries based on a plethora of sources, such as cases studies, panel data analyses, and comparison research.

Many world famous experts on innovation management participated in CICALICS Workshop 2008. For instance, Prof. Franco Malerba from KITeS Bocconi University, Italy, gave a keynote speech on ‘Innovation and Catching up in a Sectoral System Perspective’, and Prof. Edward Lorenz from UNSA-CNRS, Sophia Antipolis, France, gave a keynote speech on ‘Work Organisation and Systems of Labour Market Regulation in Europe’. In addition, Academy Prof. XU Qingrui (China Academy of Engineering, China), Andrew Tylecote (University of Sheffield, UK), Wim Vanhaverbeke (Hasselt University/TU Eindhoven), Margaret Dalziel (University of Ottawa, Canada), Yifei Sun (California State University, Northridge, USA), GU Shulin (Institute of Policy and Management, Chinese Academy of Science, China), WU Xiaobo (Zhejiang University, China), CHEN Jin (Zhejiang University, China), WEI Jiang (Zhejiang University, China), WU Guishen (Tsinghua University, China), GAO Xudong (Tsinghua Univeristy, China), YU Jiang (Institute of Policy and Management, Chinese Academy of Science, China), and others attended this workshop.

The workshop is proof that Chinese scholars have proposed, and are still proposing, some new ideas and theories on how China can best position itself to catch up with the rest of the world in the area of technology and innovation management. The workshop also indicates that China has attracted more and more attentions from international scholars. However, it is also evident that there still exists a research gap between Chinese studies and foreign studies. On the whole, this gap is due to the difference in the developing stage of theories demonstrated by different countries. Additionally, the statistics data reliability affects the generalization of our research results because of the development of our statistics system and standards. Therefore, the workshop suggested that we need cooperate with other emerging countries in order to standardize our research results and actively partake in comparison research, similar to what European scholars have previously done.

CICALICS Academy 2008 for PhD students was organized before and after the workshop. It was free for students to attend. In the Academy, 9 professors from the world gave lecturers to participants, including Anthony Arundel (UNU-MERIT, The Netherlands), Edward Lorenz, Franco Malerba, Bart Verspagen (University of Maastricht, The Netherlands), Wim Vanhaverbeke, Qing Wang (Warwick Business School, UK), GU Shulin, Margaret Dalziel, and Chen Jin.

All participants viewed this workshop and academy was an excellent activity and one of the best-organized workshops to date. In particular, Prof. Lundvall wrote an email to the chair, Prof. WU Xiaobo, congratulating him on the success of CICALICS Workshop and Academy 2008.

CICALICS Workshop and Academy provides a good opportunity for students and teachers of Zhejiang University to communicate with famous scholars from other countries, and to learn the latest theories and research methods in the field of innovation management, and therefore to enhance the collaboration with foreign institutes. Furthermore, the workshop contributes to the development of the research and teaching capabilities on technology, innovation management and innovation systems of Zhejiang University. Likewise, the workshop improves the research position of NIIM, Zhejiang University, and increases the standing of Zhejiang University throughout the world.

College of Public Administration, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, ChinaNational Institute of Innovation Management, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

Jun JinLifang Tong

Introduction of ICSTEP’08

The International Conference on Science Technology and Education Policy, sponsored by Zhejiang University’s Yong Qian Development fund and the Lu Zengyong Academic development fund, was hosted by Zhejiang University and organized by RCSTEP (Research center for Science Technology and Education Policy). The conference was strongly supported by the Education Commission of Academy of Engineering; Science and Technology Commission of Ministry of Education; and the Higher Education Department of Ministry of Education.

To a large extent, this international conference highlighted the dynamic direction of current domestic and international engineering education and innovation taking place in China.

The specific details, plus running order of speakers, are as follows.

In his presentation “Reframing Engineering Education for Innovative Capacity”, Prof. Chen Jin from Zhejiang University pointed out that a new engineering education model and practices, together with updated policy issues for engineering education, are needed to improve innovative capacity. He cited the country’s former leader, Mr Deng Xiaoping’s words that a leader who does not give sufficient attention to education is not a mature one. He also pointed out that the key to engineering innovation is creative and innovative engineers, before giving a blueprint of a new educational model for the training of creative and innovative engineers.

Prof. Dr-Ing. Jörg Steinbach, Vice-president of the Technische Universität Berlin gave a presentation on The Engineering Bachelor and Master Degree– Transformation of the curricula within the Bologna Process. He began with a simple introduction on the curriculum at TU Berlin and the European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI). He went on to explain that within the Bologna Process, new curricula helps to force lecturers to both (re)consider target competences but also, more importantly, how to achieve them. This process also helps program managers to identify strengths and weaknesses in a program’s profile, and provides some evidence for a program’s outcome qualifications by breaking them down to a module’s outcome qualifications.

Professor David A. Nethercot from Imperial College made a presentation on “Updating an Engineering Course-Meeting the RAEng Recommendations”. He pointed to the unfortunate fact that, although at a time when the world’s need for engineering talent is huge, and when the young people of the world are increasingly interested in environmental issues, we are failing to persuade them that engineering careers are exciting, well-paid, and worthwhile, in terms of meeting these emerging environmental interests. To counter this problem, he suggested that we need to go back to basics with a sound understanding of the relevant principles of engineering together with the ability to apply these creatively to find a solution for practical engineering problems.

Dundar F. Kocaoglu, Professor and Chairman, ETM Department, and President and CEO of PICMET, made a presentation on ETM (Engineering & Technology Management) Global Trends in the status and trends in ETM education, including growth patterns, characteristics of educational programs, ETM collaborations, students and alumni, and the status and trends in ETM research, including current and emerging ETM research, ETM publications and key research journals.

Prof. Gu Peihua from Shantou University made a presentation on EIP-CDIO: engineering education reform under globalization. He pointed out the challenges facing the principles and our understandings of engineering during the reform of engineering programs in education.

In short, the conference provided an international platform for global experts on science and engineering education to address issues in the education of future scientists and engineers in the hope that they will make great contributions to the sustainable development of science and technology on a practical level and as key academic disciplines. The conference also promoted the collaboration between domestic and international academia, industry cooperation, and government departments. In addition, the conference provided a large number of graduate and doctoral students an opportunity to broaden their outlook on the subject of science and technology through innovative and challenging ideas of reform.

Fangzhen YuResearch Center for Science, Technology and Education Policy,Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, People’s Republic China