SWEDISH SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES NETWORK

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CIRCLE – Centre for Innovation, Research and Competence in the Learning Economy, Lund University

Postal address: Box 117, SE-221 00 Lund
Visiting address: Sölvegatan 16 (LUCIE building)
Web page: http://www.circle.lu.se/

Contact person: Director Charles Edquist, phone: +46 (0) 46 222 39 31. Professor Edquist is also holder of The Ruben Rausing Chair in Innovation at the Division of Innovation, Dept. of Design Sciences, Lund Institute of Technology, Lund University.

CIRCLE is a Swedish Centre of Excellence in the field of innovation research, funded by the Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems, VINNOVA.
It is a multidiscplinary research centre spawning several faculties at Lund University (the Dept. of Social and Economic Geography, the Dept. of Business Administration; the Dept. of Economic History; and the Research Policy Institute) and Blekinge Institute of Technology (BTH) (the Centre for Territorial Development Planning in Karlskrona).
The research at CIRCLE focuses on four main research areas: • Learning in systems of innovation and the effects of R&D and innovation on growth; • Studies of regional innovation systems; • The entrepreneurial university and research-based ventures; and • Public policies in the field of innovation.

Since 2007, CIRCLE also runs a Masters Programme in Society, Science and Technology. It covers two years of full-time study, and is integrated into a network of 16 European universities, which collaborate in delivering the programme. More information.

Research connected to South Asia

CIRCLE has a large interest in research on Asia, espcially China and India. In October 2006 CIRCLE’s Director, Prof. Edquist, participated in the Globelics 2006 conference, held in Thiruvananthapuram, India. During the conference Prof. Edquist and other colleagues from CIRCLE presented papers dealing with India.
For example, Associate Professor Cristina Chaminade, also at the Division of Innovation, Dept. of Design Sciences; and Associate Professor Jan Vang Lauridsen, Copenhagen Institute of Technology (now at Aalborg University), presented a paper titled ”Building RIS in Developing Countries: Policy Lessons from Bangalore, India” (a paper also presented at the workshop ”The Rapid Industrialization of China and India: Domestic and International Consequences”, held at the University of Antwerp, Belgium, 31 March – 1 April 2006).
On 10 October 2006 the Swedish Research Council decided to give SEK 2.7 Million as a three-years grant (2007-09) to a CIRCLE research project entitled "Emerging Trends in Asia: from cost-based producers to global suppliers of innovation. Implications for industry growth in developed and developing countries". The researchers involved in the project team are Asheim, besides Dr. Vang and Dr. Chaminade also Professor Björn T. Asheim from the Dept. of Social and Economic Geography, Lund University, and Dr. Lars Coenen. Professor Asheim was a co-founder of CIRCLE in 2004, and is now the Deputy Director. More information about the Swedish Research Council project grant.

On Thursday 12 April 2007, CIRCLE arranged a workshop on ”Globalization of Innovation: A Deeper Look into India and China” at Lund University. The workshop was organised in collaboration with the Nordic Institute for Asian Studies in Copenhagen, and brought together well-known scholars working on India and China to present, discuss and compare the scope and depth of the move from cost-competition to more knowledge intensive activities in a selection of sectors in China and India. Professor Rakesh Basant (photo to the right) from the Indian Institute of Management (IIT) in Ahmedabad, talked about Indian Software Industry (with Cristina Chaminade as discussant). Prof. Basant also talked about the Indian autoparts and automotive industry (Jan Vang being discussant). Associate Professor Mark Lorenzen from the Dept. of Industrial Economics and Strategy (IVS) at Copenhagen Business School talked about the Indian film Industry (Björn Asheim being discussant). More information (as a Word document).

On Tuesday 20 April 2010, CIRCLE organises a seminar presenting a paper by CIRCLE researchers Monica Plechero and Cristina Chaminade, on ”Different competences, different modes in the globalization of innovation? A comparative study of the Pune and Beijing regions”. The paper is based on their data on innovation and internationalization strategies of Chinese and Indian firms, collected in Pune, India and Beijing, China during 2008-2009. The study specifically explores the role of the region as well as firm-characteristics in the form that firms internationalize. Three forms of globalization of innovation are considered: the global sourcing of technology, the international research collaboration and the global exploitation of technology. The comparative data on the two regions shows that the Pune region is more specialized in all the three forms, and particularly regarding the exploitation of innovation.