Manchester Institute of Innovation Research ANNUAL REPORT 

and industry structures. Methodologically we employ multiple methods to support our
analyses, namely case studies, network analysis and econometric and other statistical
methods. We make use of existing large integrated datasets as well as collecting primary
data through specially tailored questionnaires and surveys.
Specific issues researched under this theme include:
how historical differences in institutions and policy measures in different countries
result in contrasting patterns of technological and organizational learning;
application of these concepts to both developed and less developed countries;
integration of business and innovation systems framework;
comparative analyses of sectors, especially biomedical and pharmaceutical, and the
growth of service dominated economies, new forms of organisation and innovation
in service sectors, and the differential performance of service economies; and
the importance of multinational corporations, changes in the international division
of labour of production and innovation, global outsourcing and off-shoring
strategies, changes in international trade and property rights regimes and their
impact on the innovative capacity of different home and host countries.
Within the reporting period, work in this area has focused on systems of innovation at
sectoral, technological (knowledge areas), regional and national level, including developed
and less developed countries. Among the sectors explored are the bio-medical, the
university sector, the services sector, the infrastructure sector and the third sector (charity,
NGOs etc). Particular attention has been paid to the effects on technological resources and
assets of science-based firms when they are acquired by foreign firms. We have continued
to study the organisation and strategy of services firms, including work on the capabilities
of IT service firms and the organisation of design firms. We are also focused on the effect of
outsourcing and off-shoring of knowledge intensive services on firms in developed and less
developed countries. Finally, we are exploring the determinants of innovation in the
infrastructure sectors.
Key Highlights for 2011
The following represent some key outcomes achieved during the year under this theme:
Workshops: A half-day workshop on Social Media and International Development was held
in collaboration with Centre for Development Informatics on 31 March 2011. The workshop
was convened by Dr. Yanuar Nugroho and attracted over 30 participants from the UK,
Netherlands, Indonesia, and Finland. Five papers were presented and one of the outcomes
of the resulting deliberations was a funding proposal to the ESRC on ‘Social media
innovation for civic activism in development and poverty alleviation’ led by Dr Nugroho. A
journal special issue is being considered as a vehicle for publishing the workshop papers.
Funding for New Studies: Professors Philip Shapira and Alan Harding (Institute of Political
and Economic Governance) secured new funding for a study on Sustaining Growth for
Innovative New Enterprises from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). This
project will address issues and questions of sustainable growth, innovation and economic
rebalancing by investigating the strategies behind innovative and high growth start-up
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