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It is widely recognised that, despite excellent higher education research and training expertise, the UK is generally weak in transferring this knowledge into marketable products. In particular, there is serious under‐utilisation of science and technology graduates by the increasingly important small and medium enterprise (SME) sector. The aim of this paper is to explore the potential for absorbing the “know‐how” of science and technology graduates into the SME sector. Special consideration will be given to the attitudes of these graduates towards SME employment, while business start‐ups as alternative career options are also explored. The data are derived from a survey of 250 Manchester‐based science and technology students. The paper concludes with relevant policy recommendations.

States it is widely recognised that, despite excellent higher education research and training expertise, the UK is generally weak in transferring this knowledge into marketable products (House of Lords, 1997). In particular, there is serious under‐utilisation of science and technology graduates by the increasingly important small and medium enterprise (SME) sector. The aim of this paper is to explore the potential for absorbing the “know‐how” of science and technology graduates into the SME sector. Special consideration will be given to the attitudes of these graduates towards SME employment, while business start‐ups as alternative career options are also explored. The data are derived from a survey of 250 Manchester‐based science and technology students. The paper concludes with relevant policy recommendations.

A great deal of policy thinking in the last ten to 15 years has been driven by the insights gained from the so‐called “new growth theory”. The theory emphasizes that investments in knowledge and human capital generate economic growth through spillover of knowledge, and the policy implication is that investments in knowledge and human capital are the best way to stimulate growth. However, there is a couple of missing links in the “spillover argument” in that the theory seems to disregard the role of the entrepreneur. The paper aims to answer the question: Why haven't entrepreneurship researchers become a strong voice regarding the understanding of the development of the knowledge economy?

The author argues that a dynamic and innovative research field is characterized by a balance between the pursuit of new issues and knowledge in research, for example, by being sensitive for changes in society, and the development of existing knowledge, by integrating and validating the knowledge base already existing within the field.

The paper shows that one important reason for the lack of visibility of entrepreneurship research can be found in an internal scientific development of the research field – entrepreneurship research has become more and more theory‐driven and shows less sensitivity and openness for changes in society.

The article gives a critical reflection on the development of entrepreneurship as a research field. In this sense the article provides an increased understanding of the knowledge that is within the field, and gives also suggestions for the future development of the research field.

The purpose of this paper is to present qualitative evidence on strategies undertaken by 34 innovative small firms.

The sample of innovative firms is solely recruited from the agri-business sector that are located in contrasting environments varying from rural areas with low urban influence to areas with high urban influence and “main” urban or city areas. The authors discuss strategies in the light of a theoretical approach that incorporates a resource-based view, dynamic capabilities (DCs) and social network theory.

Although there is diversity in strategies across the 34 innovative small firms, irrespective of their “rural” or “urban” environment, qualitative evidence sheds light on differences in the way that strategies are pursued.

The study indicates that small firms in rural environments can be just as innovative as their counterparts in urban environments; however, the authors demonstrate that they adopt different strategies, which have been shaped by their environment, to achieve innovation. The authors use the qualitative evidence to develop the theory of DCs and classify the sample into four clusters which marries the environmental context and innovative DCs.

The paper makes a contribution to a research gap on the way that the environment can shape management strategies in innovative small firms. It contributes to a limited literature in this area.

The purpose of this paper is to present a comparative study about features, services and networks offered by business incubators (BI) to encourage start-ups development in Portugal and Brazil. Recently, these countries have revealed several cases of well-developed entrepreneurial ecosystems and Brazil receive a special position on Latin America; besides comparative studies between European and Latin American countries are scarce.

This study uses a qualitative research methodology to study the role of BI in creation and growing of start-ups in Portugal and Brazil.

The results do not reveal particular differences between Brazilian and Portuguese BI, except in international profile of tenants; in Portugal, probably due the market size, most of the firms born global or intend to internationalize.

The BI results depend on the wide services provided, networking platforms and support provided by BI staff individually to their tenants. These remarks provide some clues to develop public policies suitable to entrepreneurial ecosystems.

BI have a special role on supporting start-ups creation and growth and to provide technology transfer. They are also considered as a key element to guarantee entrepreneurial ecosystems in a regional level, this research provide some contributes based on a case study with eight interviews in Portugal and Brazil, and compare for the first time these two countries with similar culture but with different levels of development.

It is well known that alloys, based on iron, were exposed to steam oxidation environment producing thick and non-protective oxide scale. More expensive stainless steels contain more Cr and are able to form more protective scales. The purpose of this research was to show ability to employ nitride coating on different alloys (T23, T91, E1250, 347HFG and HR3C) in order to enhance steam oxidation resistance.

The alloys were exposed to steam oxidation rig. Before the test, furnace was purged by nitrogen in order to remove moisture and oxygen. Di-ionised water was pumped from the reservoir using a peristaltic pump into the furnace. System was kept in the closed circle. To reduce solubility of oxygen, di-ionised water was constantly purged by nitrogen. The total exposure time was 2,000 h at 650°C under 1 bar pressure.

Due to the research, it was found that plasma nitriding process is detrimental for the protection of high-temperature structured materials; the high concentration and high activity of Cr produced a CrN phase. This phase is not stable in steam environment and underwent oxidation to Cr₂O₃ and further into volatile phase (CrO₂(OH)₂). Therefore, austenitic steels (E1250, 347HFG and HR3C) coated with nitride coating deposited by plasma nitriding process suffered similar degradation as the uncoated low Cr ferritic steel.

The main limitation of the research conducted in this study was corrosion resistance of the exposed materials.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this report is the first of its kind to present nitrided alloys (ferritic and austenitic) exposed in steam oxidation.

Reports on a survey of nearly 700 companies to find out who uses industrial robots in the UK. Outlines how the data was gathered and the investigation into which factors determined robot use: was it size, ownership, region, industry or a combination of these.

Attention was called in the March number of this Journal to the promotion of a Bill for the reconstitution of the Local Government Board, and the opinion was expressed that the renovated Department should contain among its staff “experts of the first rank in all the branches of science from which the knowledge essential for efficient administration can be drawn.”

This study aims to develop a categorization framework for knowledge management systems in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Framework dimensions have been identified as company knowledge domain (organization, marketing and technology) and company innovation behaviour (high and low).

The framework is derived by means of a qualitative approach based on a set of 20 case studies. The cases regard Italian SMEs in the food sector.

Data seem to suggest that knowledge domain and innovation behaviour permit significant distinctions between different kinds of knowledge management systems (KMSs). The features of these KMSs as configurations of technical, organizational and managerial tools are described in this paper with reference to the main knowledge process they are intended to support.

The research provides a variety of insights into new ways of conceptualizing KMSs. Moreover, the paper provides some practical examples of successful implementation of KMSs in SMEs.