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Full-Text Articles in Science and Technology Studies

The Rcn (Research Coordination Network) Experiment: Can We Build New Research Networks?, Alan L. Porter, Todd A. Crowl, Jon Garner Jan 2012

The Rcn (Research Coordination Network) Experiment: Can We Build New Research Networks?, Alan L. Porter, Todd A. Crowl, Jon Garner

alan l porter

The U.S. National Science Foundation Research Coordination Network (RCN) program broke new ground in funding the development of new research communities of practice. This assessment of RCN supports the conclusion that networking activity was increased for a sample set of projects compared to a control group. Journal articles resulting from RCN support score as highly interdisciplinary. Moreover, those articles appear as notably influential, being published in high impact journals and being highly cited. The RCN program does indeed seem to be fostering new biological science research networks.


Innovation Risk Path Assessing For A Newly Emerging Science & Technology: Illustrated For Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells, Tingting Ma, Ying Guo, Alan L. Porter Jan 2012

Innovation Risk Path Assessing For A Newly Emerging Science & Technology: Illustrated For Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells, Tingting Ma, Ying Guo, Alan L. Porter

alan l porter

For “Newly Emerging Science & Technologies” (“NESTs”), uncertainty is the major challenge. Technological innovation for NESTs faces many kinds of risks that dramatically affect their development paths. This paper combines methods of risk utility theory and technology path research and explores a new innovation risk path modeling method for NEST development. Here we apply selected tools from risk utility theory and technology path research to the NEST of special concern—Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs). The case for DSSC commercialization is promising, but challengeable. The prospects for future development of DSSCs are good, with identifiable markets. Multi-party collaboration appears necessary in order …


Text Clumping For Technical Intelligence, Alan L. Porter, Yi Zhang Jan 2012

Text Clumping For Technical Intelligence, Alan L. Porter, Yi Zhang

alan l porter

This chapter presents a stepwise process to clean and consolidate sizable phrase compilations. We focus on Science, Technology and Innovation (ST&I) information sets, typically in the form of abstract records retrieved from topical database searches (e.g., Web of Science, Derwent World Patent Index, Factiva). Our aim is to devise a semi-automated desktop process that can rapidly concentrate lists of informative terms and phrases. Those might then be reviewed by topic experts or otherwise processed to fuel further analyses to gain topic-intensive technical intelligence. We are expressly interested, as well, in further processing of such clumped phrases to generate interpretable topic …


Empirically Informing A Technology Delivery System Model For An Emerging Technology: Illustrated For Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells, Ying Guo, Chen Xu, Lu Huang, Alan L. Porter Jan 2012

Empirically Informing A Technology Delivery System Model For An Emerging Technology: Illustrated For Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells, Ying Guo, Chen Xu, Lu Huang, Alan L. Porter

alan l porter

This paper explores how to extract empirical knowledge from R&D, patent, and business literature compilations to help compose an innovation system model. It adapts the key elements and dynamics of “technology delivery system” modeling to a given Newly Emerging Science & Technology. We present a 10-step analytical approach to help characterize the technology, gauge its state of development, and depict the socio-technical system institutions and actors. We apply this to the case of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells (“DSSCs”). A new “cross-charting” method appears effective at associating novel technology-enabled capabilities to gain functional advantages, and to link those functions to potential applications. …