This chapter describes and analyses the development of Sweden’s high-speed train (HST), the X2000, as a case of public technology procurement. The case study is based mainly on primary data collected in recent (1997) interviews with some of the main actors involved in the procurement process, but it also draws upon relevant secondary sources. The analysis employs evaluative criteria defined from t

Public technology procurement (PTP) occurs when a public agency places an order for a product or system which does not exist at the time, but which could (probably) be developed within a reasonable period. Additional or new technological development work is required to fulfil the demands of the buyer. This is the ‘ideal type’ of public technology procurement.

Public procurement represents a very large share of most economies worldwide. Besides its direct purchasing power, public procurement has an enormous potential to become one of the most important mission-oriented policy instruments in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals. The paper argues that the key to achieve more innovations when pursuing public procurement is to describe problems

For firms in symbolic (creative) industries, the region is usually seen as the main arena for knowledge sourcing and exchange. Why and how these firms use global innovation networks remains however poorly understood. This paper draws on in-depth interviews with firm representatives and network data collected through a survey of video game developers in southern Sweden. Video game development is a

BACKGROUND: Sonographers have reported a high occurrence of musculoskeletal pain for more than 25 years. Assessments of occupational risk factors have previously been based on cross-sectional surveys. The aim of this longitudinal study was to determine which factors at baseline that were associated with neck/shoulder and elbow/hand pain at follow-up.METHODS: A questionnaire was answered by 248 fem

Relational thinking has recently gained increasing prominence across academic disciplines in an attempt to understand complex phenomena in terms of constitutive processes and relations. Interdisciplinary fields of study, such as science and technology studies (STS), the environmental humanities, and the posthumanities, for example, have started to reformulate academic understanding of nature-cultu

There are signs of increasing protectionism in the world. Foreign direct investment regimes are in many countries gradually shifting away from the past policies of providing incentives to attract foreign multinational firms. Instead, various new regulations are implemented to provide the ability of host country to stop foreign acquisitions of domestic firms. This article examines the development o

Globalization affects the mix of jobs available in an economy and the rate at which workers gain skills. We develop a model in which firms differ in terms of productivity and workers differ in skills, and use the model to examine how globalization affects the wage distribution and the career path of workers as they move up the jobs ladder. We calibrate the model using many of the same parameters a