Developing and evaluating scales to assess innovation networks

Abstract

Despite increasing recognition that innovation networks comprising university, business and government are important in fostering innovation, few scales have been developed for use in assessing their management. Existing measures are predominantly biased towards technical and financial aspects. Furthermore, the few scales that examine social factors remain limited to the viewpoint of only one type of participant involved such as businesses, ignoring the multitude of views of the other network participants. Based on both qualitative and quantitative research, this contributes addresses these issues by proposing validated scales to assess power distribution, coordination, harmony, communication and R&D efficiencies of innovation networks.