| Ian McCarthy |
Biography |
Abstract |
- Canada Research Chair
- Segal School of Business
- Simon Fraser University
- Canada
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Dr. Ian McCarthy is the Canada Research Chair in Technology and Operations Management in the Faculty of Business Administration at Simon Fraser University. His research examines the design, diversity and influence of different types of industrial organization. Focusing on operational activities, he uses complex systems theory, evolutionary theory, and classification methods to map the different “strategic recipes” and “bundles of operational characteristics” that industrial organizations use to generate sustainable wealth. In particular, he is interested in how firms differ in their new product development processes, R&D management control systems, outsourcing practices, and collaborative networks. Dr. McCarthy is a member of Canada’s Social Science Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Standard Research Grants Selection Committee; and the U.K.’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). Prior to joining Simon Fraser University, he was a faculty member at the Universities of Warwick and Sheffield in the U.K.
My proposal seeks to address the chosen theme of the 2009 New Century Scholar (NCS) Program by examining the role of university research parks as an innovation mechanism, one that is increasingly used by universities to move ideas and solutions from the laboratory to the market place in an effort to contribute to economic development and quality of life.
The formation of university research parks is on the increase* in many countries. One reason for this is the generally held belief that university research parks are fertile sources of innovation, entrepreneurship, and economic development. However, research on the role of university research parks is comes to mixed conclusions, and researchers have called for studies to re-explore how and why parks differ in terms of their contexts (e.g., regional systems of innovation and regulatory conditions), strategies (e.g., landlord model versus harvest model), and associated operational practices (e.g., training, education and collaboration). My proposal forms part of a larger, international study of Canadian, U.S. and U.K. university research parks that I am currently undertaking, whose aims are to improve our understanding of how university research parks vary in terms of their contexts, strategies and operational practices, and how these differences affect the performance of their resident technology-based firms. Using a taxonomic approach that focuses on how the operations of university research parks vary, the proposed research aims to provide important case study insights to increase understanding, and enhance the development and effectiveness of university research parks and their firms.
I propose to visit the Georgia Institute of Technology to work with Dr. Danny Breznitz, a faculty member of the School of Public Policy, and to collect case study data on the Technology Enterprise Park and the Advanced Technology Development Center. Both of these facilities are affiliated with the Enterprise Innovation Institute at Georgia Institute of Technology, of which Dr. Breznitz is a senior research member. The case study data will be analysed and compared with similar data that will have been collected from research parks in Canada and the U.K.
*For example, there has been a 30% increase in North American and U.K. research parks since 2000 (Batelle 2007).
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