Diffusion of Innovations

The notion of the change caused by smelting and melting technology during the 5th and 4th Millennium in the
Levant is not well understood. Chronological errors and socio-economic misconceptions have been shrouding a clear
view on the sequence of events and their interregional consequences. Surprisingly complex metallurgy started already in
the middle of the 5th Millennium BC and caused changes in social distinction, exchange systems and ideology. Other
technologies were not directly affected, but on the contrary, lithic technique and ceramic styles show great elaboration.
In a comparative approach the archaeological record of the Levant is compared to that of Southeastern Europe, and
several structural similarities are discussed. It is argued, that the chronological parallelism is an argument against an
autochthonous technical evaluation of the Balkan Peninsula, and that the social systems of both areas must have had
similarities, which made the new cast metal artefacts very attractive.

Eco-efficient Product-Service System (PSS) innovations represent a promising approach to sustainability. However the adoption of such business strategies is still very limited because it often involves significant corporate, cultural and regulatory barriers. An important challenge is not only to conceive eco-efficient PSS concepts, but also to understand the contextual conditions that facilitate their societal embedding, and which strategies and development pathways are the most appropriate.
The combination of theoretical insights from innovation studies (in particular Strategic Niche Management and Transition Management) and a case studies research (exploring the innovation journeys made by six companies in introducing their eco-efficient PSS innovations in the market) is used to investigate the factors that influence the implementation and diffusion of this kind of innovations. The article provides a structured overview of these factors, grouping them in four clusters: implementation of socio-technical experiments; establishment of a broad network of actors; building up of a shared project vision; creation of room for broad and reflexive learning processes.
Based on these results it is argued that a broader and more strategic system approach should be adopted by companies. Companies should focus not only on the PSS solution and its value chain, but also on the contextual conditions that may favour or hinder the societal embedding of the PSS itself. The article concludes by outlining a key area for future research.

Abstract
Competitive robotics programs are shown by a number of researchers to be increasing in popularity, with team organizations and competition events being successfully diffused and adapted across the nation. This study examined, through the application of the Diffusion of Innovations theory developed by Everett Rogers, as well as how and to what degree these STEM-based learning programs for school-age children are being effectively diffused in a state which has a lack of technology access and a persistent digital divide. The basis of this study consisted of interviews with adult mentors and coaches who lead and guide these student robotics teams. In terms of Diffusion of Innovations Theory, this study examined whether and how the coaches and mentors may be the change agents and innovators who are diffusing competitive robotics technology through these programs. Participants were interviewed about the factors that assist and hinder this innovation’s diffusion and adoption in Mississippi. Further, the study also examined what STEM-based knowledge students may be gaining through the diffusion of this innovation.
Keywords: diffusion, robotics, STEM, innovations, Rogers, Everett

A new and distinct June-bearing strawberry cultivar named
‘Saint-Jean d’Orléans’ is primarily adapted to the growing
conditions of Eastern Central Canada. Its high yield of
medium sized, ?rm, light-red glossy fruits, resistance to leaf
diseases, long shelf life and high levels of given antioxidants
essentially characterize ‘Saint-Jean d’Orléans’.

The global move toward reducing the usage of lead in electronics manufacturing industry is driving the industry to switch from tin-lead alloys to pure tin (Sn) for its component plating process. This transition has resulted in a reliability concern due to the formation of conductive Sn whiskers, which can grow from the component after the plating process within a few hours to months, with their length ranging from 10 micrometers up to several millimeters. The conductive Sn whiskers may cause current leakage or short circuits, leading to catastrophic failure in the field. This paper presents the results of an experimental study on Sn whisker formation based on the effects of annealing for 1 h at 150°C and environmental test conditions from the joint electron devices engineering council standards. This paper consisted of one temperature cycling test and two isothermal storage tests. The characterization results obtained confirm that temperature cycling and isothermal storage favor the formation of whiskers on Sn-plated copper lead frames. The average maximum length of the whiskers increased with the number of temperature cycles and duration of isothermal storage. It is also shown that annealing for 1 h at 150°C of the samples is effective in reducing the average maximum length of whiskers. Growth mechanisms of the Sn whiskers due to the effects of annealing and without annealing are also discussed.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is considering the adoption of e-sports (i.e., organised competitive video gaming), which could be considered a radical innovation as it deviates in many areas from traditional sports (e.g., online game play format, lack of high physical exertion, complicated intellectual property rights for each game, etc.). However, collaboration with firms familiar with the innovation (e.g., National Association of Collegiate eSports-NACE) might mitigate risks surrounding the radical innovation. Thus, the purpose of this paper was to investigate whether a potential association between the NCAA and NACE would be advantageous to both organisations. Through a deductive qualitative content analysis underpinned by Rogers's (2003) innovation characteristics (e.g., complexity, compatibility and relative advantage), several themes emerged: physical exertion, e-sports structure, amateurism, eligibility, compensation, profitability, and diversity and ...

This paper reports on a system dynamics simulation model which was developed to study the diffusion of medical technologies but which should be applicable to other sorts of technologies as well. The model addresses both the adoption and the changing extent of use of an evolving, product-based technology and also endogenously accounts for changes in actual and perceived performance. Two specific medical case studies provide background to the model and are used for testing the model's ability to reproduce various aspects of historical behavior. The model's relatively complex structure is presented in the form of influence diagrams showing major flows and relationships. The paper concludes with a discussion of contributions and possible future uses and modifications of the model.

Esta ponencia resalta la posibilidad de asociar el concepto de innovación con técnicas, conocimientos y formas de vida que no provienen necesariamente del conocimiento denominado occidental; la posibilidad de no solamente revalorar este conocimiento, sino de aplicarlo y que permita dar soluciones viables a problemas que están viviendo ciudades como Lima hoy en día, incluso supera el vínculo manifestado inicialmente (“indígena”-innovación), y se asocia con términos como desarrollo y cambios.

The paper aims at building a model, which measures the company’s innovative leadership. Currently some innovation indices exist, but all of them evaluate innovativeness on a macro level and not on company’s one. The necessity of such a model results from the lack of any kind of assessment method that could help companies to evaluate their own innovation efforts, performance and capabilities. Furthermore, the country innovation performance depends very much on companies’ innovation activities and currently no method exists for boosting and properly evaluating companies’ innovation performance and potentials. In order to distinguish the difference between the company’s leadership and the company’s innovative leadership, a model for measuring the companies’ leadership is developed first in this paper. After that a model for company’s innovative leadership is developed. By using this technic, both models could be used for measuring the company’s leadership in comparison with the same company’s innovative leadership. The model could be applied as well as a summary of some best practices in the company’s innovative leadership. It represents a well-balanced model for innovation development and performance. However, the main target of the model is to analyze and measure the companies’ innovative leadership and to compare different companies on that specific criterion. The model could be used as a company innovative leadership index as well after its appliance on some particular industrial sectors or regions.

This paper examines individual differences in constraints on linguistic variation in light of Labov's (2007) proposal that adult change (diffusion) disrupts systems of constraints and Tamminga, MacKenzie, and Embick's (2016) typology of constraints. It is shown that, in pooling data from multiple speakers, some of the complexity in structured community variation may be overlooked. Data on rhoticity from speakers of Bristol English are compared to 34 previous studies of rhoticity in varieties of English around the world. Constraints found to be consistent across varieties are also found to be consistent across speakers of Bristol English, whereas those that differ between varieties also differ between individuals, implying that only those which differ are truly part of the grammar, and that these are indeed disrupted by diffusion.

Can a fully-electric vehicle (EV) serve an on-the-go family's routine of work, shuttling kids, and road trips?  Yes, with some grit and optimism!  Here's how my family, living in a small Utah college town, incorporated a state-of-the-art EV into our household, illuminating some consumer perspectives on the existing barriers for broader EV adoption and the marketing tasks needed to enable EVs to bridge “the chasm” between early adopters and mainstream buyers.

Development Communication covers the ground of social development activities of the Media. In common they revolve around persuasion, education and information. The role of communication in development is based upon social responsibility theory. Development Communication is to use communication processes and media to bring social and economic improvements. Chris Paterson, a critic calls Development Communication as, “winning hearts and minds over to a capitalistic way of life.”

The Internet has the potential to fundamentally change the structure of marketing channels, but only if consumers choose to adopt electronic channels. Thus, this paper aims to develop a more nuanced understanding of consumer channel choices. Specifically, it contends that it is important to examine consumers' intent to adopt electronic channels, not as a monolithic decision, but as a choice they make at each of four stages in the purchase process: requirements determination, vendor selection, purchase, and after-sales service. 1 Ritu Agarwal was the accepting senior editor for this paper. Ron Thompson was the associate editor. George Marakas and Paul Hendriks served as reviewers. An additional reviewers chose to remain anonymous.

The study examines the problems faced by businesses when innovating and then commercializing their innovation. It is particularly focused on the role of standards, regulations and intellectual property rights in the commercialization of innovative products and services. The analysis has been conducted based on data from the Flash Eurobarometer 394 survey. We analyse the factors affecting the likelihood of a company having problems with the cost or complexity of standards, lack of standards or problems related to intellectual property rights. The actual effects of each potential problem on the commercialization of innovative products are examined using logit and ordered logit regressions. On the one hand, costly or complex standards seem to be a deterrent to the commercialisation of innovation. This is especially evident in Portugal, Italy, Poland and France. On the other hand, a lack of standards may harm the commercial success of innovation measured by the share of turnover due to innovation. Financial or non-financial government or administrative support may be an effective way to promote the commercialisation of innovation in the case of intellectual property rights. This problem is particularly significant in the fields of information and communication, manufacturing, real estate, as well as in science and technology companies.

Today, most companies have difficulties in following and meeting customer expectations. In a fast-changing business environment, companies can achieve a sustainable competitive advantage only by increasing their performance. The importance given to innovation and the success of the implementation of innovation management can provide the companies means to improve their performance.
The main purpose of this study is to determine whether innovation has any impact on company performance. The Innovation Scale developed by Gunday and his colleagues (2011) and the Company Performance Scale developed by Karabag (2008) are brought together to create a new scale to investigate the relationship between effectiveness of innovation and company performance. As a data collection tool, the researcher used the survey method.  The target group decided by convenience is formed by the white-collar employees of companies operating in the automotive industry in the city of Bursa, Turkey. The sample consists of 160 employees from 59 different companies. As a result of the study, for the accessed sample, two important conclusions were obtained which showed the impact of innovation on company performance: (1) Marketing innovation has a statically positive impact on company performance; and (2) Process innovation has a statically positive impact on company performance.
With this study, it is envisaged to reveal the impact of innovation on company performance and by bringing the existing research a step further, to contribute to future academic research.

It is increasingly acknowledged that we are on the verge of the next technological revolution and the fourth industrial revolution, driven by the digitization and interconnection of all physical elements and infrastructure under the control of advanced intelligent systems. Therefore, there will be a new era of automation that should result in enhanced productivity. However, such productivity enhancements
have been anticipated before, particularly during the third industrial revolution commonly known as the ‘information age’, and have failed to materialize. Were the productivity increases observed following the first and second industrial revolutions a one-time aberration that will not be repeated in the new digital age? In this paper, we attempt to address
this question by a semi-quantitative analysis of the prior productivity jumps and their physical technological origins, and extend this analysis to the latent set of analogous digital technologies. Using this approach, we project that there will indeed be a second productivity jump in the United States that will occur in the 2028–2033 timeframe when the
aggregate of the of constituent technologies reaches the tipping point at 51 percent penetration.

Регионы России значительно отличаются по инновативности, или потенциалу внедрения новых технологий. Актуальность исследования процесса диффузии инноваций в России обусловлена необходимостью выявления регионов, в которых внедрение новых технологий осуществлялось бы с наибольшей скоростью, что позволит отечественным инновационным компаниям правильно оценивать максимальные объемы перспективных рынков и динамику продаж в конкретных регионах. Цель данной работы -  классификация регионов России по степени инновативности.

PROFITABLE, FAST-GROWING COMPANIES like Microsoƒt and Home Depot are the darlings of Wall Street and the envy of their competitors. But what factors deter-
mine their success? And what can managers do to emulate such stellar businesses within their own organizations?
To answer these questions, we screened the 9,450 publicly listed companies on the Compustat database for those that have grown dramatically over the past ten years. We also analyzed individual businesses such as Microsoƒt Windows, Medco’s pharmacy benefits management (PBM) program, Lotus Notes, Apple Newton, Hughes DirecTV, Enron Capital and Trade Resources, and Midland Bank’s First Direct.
We discovered that highly profitable fast growth is not confined to just a couple of firms. Between 1984 and 1993, 41 publicly listed companies focusing on one major line of business managed to increase their revenues and operating income by 20 percent per year. They created over 300,000 jobs and added $110 billion in market value during this period of sustained fast growth. These “tigers” are the swiƒtest, most powerful enterprises in the global marketplace.

Аннотация: На основании теоретического анализа и обзора зарубежных исследований в статье аргументируется
тезис о применимости теории диффузии инновации объяснению феномена отказа от вакцинации. На материале
опросного исследования населения Санкт-Петербурга (N=1175) показано негативное влияние знакомства с идеями
отказа от вакцинации на принятие решения о вакцинации в экспериментальной ситуации.
Summary: Based on theoretical analysis and literature review the applicability of Diffusion of innovations theory to
phenomena of vaccination refusal is discussed. Based on the data of Saint-Petersburg adults representative survey
(N=1175) the negative influence of anti-vaccination ideas exposure on vaccination decision in experimental situation
was shown.

This Impact Report identifies and summarises the diverse impacts, resulting from the £500m of UK funding of Science and Technology in 2013, using numerous quantitative metrics and short case study extracts.  It shows how the varied impacts of a national science and technology organization and its many funded programmes can be annually identified, captured, tracked, and summarised in a public document.

The report was produced for, and by, the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) -  the UK Research Council responsible for funding: (1) all UK astronomy, particle and nuclear physics research, (2) related UK science and technology facilities (e.g. as Harwell and Daresbury), (3) the UK contribution to international science (e.g. CERN, international telescopes and space missions), (4) innovation and business spin-off programmes, and (5) UK public engagement activities.

The Report was co-researched and co-authored by the STFC Impact Team, including myself while Impact Evaluation Manager in 2013, with Dr. Claire Dougan-McCallie (lead author/Head of Impact) and Jenny Beard, with additional input from senior managers, and many data and case study contributions from other key managers across STFC.

Varied key impacts are identified and reported including:

• Research amongst the best (by citation impact) in astronomy, nuclear and particle physics.
• Supported research of 226 Principal Investigators in 70 universities, led to 1,100 peer-reviewed papers in 2012.
• Facilities (the Diamond Light Source, ISIS and CLF) were used in 2012/13 by over 4,200 unique users , in over 2,400 experiments, producing over 1,000 papers in peer-reviewed journals.

• Technology from CERN benefited the UK economy by over £100 billion every year.
• Funding the development of the UK’s space, internet and computer animation industries, returned over £500 billion to the UK economy per annum.
• Funded Innovation Campuses hosted over 230 enterprises and supported over 5,000 jobs.
• UK industry won £43 million in contracts from the international subscriptions funded, and had accumulated a total of £150 million since 2005.

• Funded research inspired future generations to study STEM subjects, attracting 90% of UK undergraduates to study physics, funded 782 PhD students  and 16,800 student training days.
• Between 2009 to 2012 public engagement programmes engaged people on 58 million occasions, with 2 million people engaged in face-to-face activities in 2013 alone.

Un sólo razonamiento, el simple hecho de preguntarse: “¿Qué producir?”, puede conllevar la transformación de los sistemas productivos globales. La lógica de producción sugiere, de esta manera, una dinámica progresiva de cambio y novedad constantes. Aunado al posicionamiento en los mercados y a la competitividad, nuevos métodos de innovación son implementados diariamente con el propósito de lograr la diferenciación en productos y procesos.
Desde las experiencias más radicales como las de Standard Oil y Ford (a finales del siglo XIX e inicios del XX), hasta los casos más recientes en la industria del software y las telecomunicaciones; o bien, las acciones para promover una producción más limpia y amigable con el ambiente; algunas de estas iniciativas representan hitos importantes en la transformación de los sistemas productivos. A consecuencia de ello, la novedad y el cambio se han convertido en factores determinantes para el desarrollo económico y social.
La gestión de recursos –como parte de un sistema económico global que se encuentra en aprendizaje constante-, torna necesaria la puesta en práctica de procesos de innovación (entendidos como pilar estratégico de las empresas), y sugiere la optimización de su desempeño: utilizando como insumos la difusión de ideas y de conocimiento; así como la creatividad de su fuerza de trabajo.
La capacidad gerencial sobre los recursos económicos y humanos -la dirección empresarial hacia la mayor creación de nuevas ideas y conocimiento ‘embedded’, es lo que se entiende como la gestión de la innovación per se.
Este documento pretende impulsar el pensamiento empresarial en términos estratégicos para la innovación. Ello implica: posible acceso a nuevos mercados, impulso de procesos productivos más eficientes, métodos de comercialización, e incluso, promoción de mejores formas de organización del trabajo en las empresas.
A través de un planteamiento modular, la siguiente guía pretende brindar las herramientas para entender los procesos que conllevan a la innovación en las empresas y la gestión de estos procesos en aras de promover estratégicamente las actividades de innovación y a los trabajadores como gestores de las mismas. La innovación, por tanto, puede representar una estrategia de crecimiento empresarial inclusivo.

In this Science-Fiction Prototyping article, I present an imaginative forward look at how artificial intelligence and virtual environments might change the nature of future education. The discussion is intended to be a somewhat speculative and thought provoking journey into what may be possible. At its root, it imagines a future time when the technological singularity has been reached, and machine intelligence and interaction is equal or surpasses that of people. I do this by means of a fictional reflection on how life might be in the future, a set of four small vignettes and a discussion of the factual research inspiring these views.

Исследованы пространственные характеристики инновационных процессов в России. На
примере развития системы городов изучены формирование и изменение структуры инновационного пространства в прошлом. Выявлены ключевые волны диффузии городов и их влияние
на плотность пространства. Динамика изменения инновационного пространства за последние
20 лет рассмотрена на основе потенциала патентного поля крупных городов, а также с точки
зрения креативно-акцепторных функций регионов. Выявлены значительное снижение плотности инновационного пространства, процессы поляризации и увеличение зон инновационной
периферии. Прогноз возможных изменений инновационного пространства исследован с помощью методологии Форсайт на примере отрасли “Рациональное природопользование” (РПП).

While technology use is becoming ever more ubiquitous in society, there are times when even the most useful of technologies faces non-adoption for a variety of contextual reasons. Educational institutions are increasingly relying on online academic support services such as e-tutoring to balance rising demands for public accountability over standardized testing with decreasing budgets. This study explores the context of an e-tutoring service that has experienced a relatively low adoption rate in a school district in Eastern Ontario, Canada. The study proposes a model, based on the results of a mixed-methods diffusion study, for the effective implementation of the service; results indicate that this model is significantly correlated with the adoption of e-tutoring. Implications for the integration of educational technologies in secondary education, especially in relation to e-tutoring, are discussed.

Fuelled by accelerating digitization, increased global interconnectivity, and transparency (coupled with shifting overarching political agendas, altered user expectations, and technological advances), the legal industry faces unprecedented change across its entire value chain. Within this quadriga, the following two forces are the chief drivers of the chariot of change: The frst driver is the emergence of stable technological solution-ecosystems which will string together
the current impressive but isolated technological breakthroughs. These
ecosystems offers both vertical, purpose-built applications and horizontal platform solutions. What initially had appeal only for an early-adopter niche audience will become acceptable for those commanding signi􀂿cant market share. The second driver is the manifestation of future needs and expectations of the demand-side which as we have observed once before with the initial rise of General Counsels may lead to dramatic re-drawing of lines and re-shaping of the industry.
But is it really disruption we will see or evolution? The importance of the
advent of new technological solutions, especially as we enter the age of exponential technologies with their prospect of hyper-acceleration of change supports the mantra that the legal industry will face disruption. This would eventually mean the passing on of dominance from established players to the successful promoters of new technology-based dominant designs as heralded by many LegalTech advocates. To try to determine the answer in an informed way, it is useful to first revisit the underlying key concepts of invention, innovation, diffusion, and disruption. Therefore, the frst three sections in this chapter provide a summary of the essential research and theory by leaders in the field including Joseph Schumpeter, James Utterback, Everett Rogers and
Michael Porter. Utilizing their theories on the trajectory of innovation, the last two sections then provide some predictions about how the law marketplace will have to adapt and evolve in the future. This chapter concludes on a positive note. Although legal professionals may need to put on «new suits», the future represents an enormous opportunity to reinvent what it means to be a lawyer and how we add value for our clients.

Innovation is any positive change that has commercial value. It could be changes in the products, processes, thinking, governance or organizations. Given freedom, people organize themselves to find innovative solutions to the existing bottlenecks. Though private enterprises are generally credited with making breakthrough innovations, innovation per se is a neutral concept as it can happen as much in governments as in the private sector. There are many instances of successful innovation made in the public service delivery. For an innovation to be successful and sustainable in India, it has to be frugal and ensure participation of all the stakeholders.

Sociologie van Planmatige Sociale Verandering is een sociologische bevraging van de algemeen verspreide processen van planning, organisatieontwikkeling of opbouwwerk in verscheidene maatschappelijke organisaties. Vanuit een structuuranalyse van de deelnemers aan het veranderingsproces, de strategieën, de adoptie en de implementatie van de geplande sociale verandering wordt gezocht naar de mogelijkheden en grenzen van planmatige sociale verandering

Scrum is the most adopted Agile methodology. The research conducted on Scrum adoption is mainly qualitative and there is therefore a need for a quantitative study on Scrum adoption challenges. The primary objective of this paper is to present the findings of a study on the factors that have a significant relationship with Scrum adoption as perceived by Scrum practitioners working within South African organizations. Towards this objective, a narrative review to extract and synthesize the existing challenges was conducted. These synthesized challenges were used in the development of a conceptual framework for evaluating the challenges that have a correlation and linear relationship with Scrum adoption. Following this, a survey questionnaire was used to test and evaluate the factors forming part of the developed framework. The findings indicate that Relative Advantage, Complexity, and Sprint Management are factors that have a significant linear relationship with Scrum adoption. Our rec...

The " chop " is a percussive string instrument technique pioneered by bluegrass fiddler Richard Greene in the 1960s and adopted into contemporary string styles by Darol Anger in the 1980s. This article traces the diffusion of the chop through a number of North Atlantic fiddling traditions in the 1990s and 2000s. It also considers the circumstances and implications of musicians' decisions to adopt, adapt, or reject the chop. Drawing on both sociological research on the diffusion of innovations and genre theory, this article demonstrates that the diffusion trajectory of a musical innovation depends on the innovation itself, on the sites of transmission, and on the interplay of the lived and imagined musical worlds within which musicians play, work, and study. It concludes by suggesting that, when studying North Atlantic fiddling, both regional divisions and generational trends should be taken into consideration.

The emergence of the blockchain phenomenon affects various aspects of human life. Public sector reforms are also influenced by this trend. E-government leaders around the world are tentatively beginning to grasp the potential of blockchain and other distributed ledger technologies, especially with regard to their promise to provide more decentralized information management solutions in government and make public digital platforms more transparent and efficient. Software developers around the world have come up with a range of digital solutions to accelerate these reforms. Given the multidimensional nature of e-government, it is interesting to understand in which areas blockchain has the potential to promote innovation, what processes and procedures can be automated using blockchain technology, and what illustrative examples of government efficiency can be observed in this area.

Innovations in business are undoubtedly a significant factor for economic growth, and franchising is a successful way of doing business -beneficial for both parties, but also requiring effort and/or capital from them. Regardless of their type, implementing innovations in franchise systems, which is a promising method of gaining competitive advantage, is closely related to mutual exchange of knowledge and experience between the franchisor and the franchisees. This article is a study which analyses research results and publications on franchise networks, gives numerous examples of innovations in franchise enterprises, draws conclusions, suggests future measures and provides implications for business marketing practice.