Extended Abstract Abstract Innovation is a phenomenon that has significant implications on socio-economic variables such as productivity growth, wealth generation and employment; hence the study of countries' innovation has attracted a significant attraction among policy research. Despite the promotion of the concept of the national innovation system for analyzing the behavior of innovation, complementary perspectives such as the regional system of innovation have also been used because of increased inequalities in different regions. One of the newest regional policymaking strategies is the smart specialization strategy. The strategy states that for each region, certain priorities should be determined with regard to the potential of the reg

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the probable future scenarios of nanotechnology development and their implications in Iran considering anticipatory knowledge, suitable methodology and integral perspective.Design/methodology/approachThe study used framework morphology, a method for creating scenarios and their implications developed by the Delphi method that covers the consistent morphological space and make contact with previous scenario work, as well as the current and projected research and policy situation in Iran.FindingsThe study identified five scenarios, namely, “no nano” scenario headlines picturing a future society that there is no impact of nanotechnology in it. The “nano flow” scenario and indicates prospering nanot

Despite the growing trend of networking approaches in policymaking, the concept of collaborative policy networks (CPNs) and, in particular, the identification of their characteristics, remain a serious research vacuum. Thus, the main purpose of this study is to provide a model for identifying the characteristics of CPNs. For this purpose, the science and technology policy network in Iran was studied on a case-by-case basis. In this study, the theoretical framework of research was formulated as a sequential exploratory mixed design by first using literature review, policy documents analysis and in-depth interviews with 20 experts. Then, a survey was conducted by distributing a questionnaire among 100 science and technology policy experts and

PurposeBig Data (BD) is not only a quintessential part of many economic activities but also has evolved into a veritable business ecosystem. However, most Big Data ecosystem (BDE) models have a technical, bottom-up focus and mostly lack the capability for a broad socioeconomic analysis. This paper identifies the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) as a useful, operational framework and uses a metaphorical analogy to adapt it for the BDE. The top-down approach adopted here allows for seeing the big picture of the BD ecosystem. Meeting “end-user needs” is the main objective of the proposed BDE framework.Design/methodology/approachThe methodology of this paper consists of two parts. First, the MA is adapted for the BDE through a metaphori

Technology parks have been introduced as tools in order to response the industry’s needs and to move towards the science-based economy employing the scientific power of the universities. In Iran, the ownership and the navigation of technology parks are often under control of the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, so the centrality of parks performance are based on introduction of science, innovation and technology. Herein, economic perspective and wealth generation via parks has diminished. Also, industry and market needs role in innovation and technology generation has been neglected. In order to evaluate this contradiction between the concept and the operation of technology parks in Iran, in this article, during interviews wi

In the management literature, the terminologies of assessment and evaluation in some cases are treated synonymously and are used interchangeably. However, these terms have different meanings and pursue different goals. In the area of public policies, the two approaches to assessment and evaluation have yet to be separated. The article employs discourse analysis to examine the meanings, nature, purposes, methods, and other characteristics of assessment and evaluation in the lexical literature of the educational management (as reference literature) as well as technology management (literature close to the target literature). Accordingly, we have attempted to suggest new definitions, which differentiate between assessment and evaluation approa