Zeta Dooly
Waterford Institute of Technology
Zeta Dooly is a researcher at Waterford IT. Leader of IPACSO (Privacy and Cyber Security); editor within NIS working group 3 in EC; evaluator of proposals in H2020. Previous projects include Aniketos, SecurIST, ThinkTrust, and VIDAS. Previously, Zeta worked in industry for 10 years in Ericsson, Sun Life Financial.
The collaborative European funded research and development landscape has changed in recent years. Funding competitiveness and compulsory public private partnership (PPP) has significantly altered the dynamics of research networks, how they operate, collaborate, and acquire new knowledge and products. The emergence of the academic entrepreneur has also changed the focus of educational institutions to that of quasi-businesses (Etzkowitz, 2003; Perkmann et al., 2013; Bolzani et al., 2014). Research networks provide a rich setting to analyse network embeddedness (Lichtenthaler and Lichtenthaler, 2009; Stuart et al., 2007; Rawlings and McFarland, 2011). Network embeddedness refers to the nature of relationships, links and nodes within a network, specifically their structure, configuration and quality. The affects of network embeddedness are recognized in the literature as pertinent to innovation and the economy (Gilsing et al., 2008; Owen-Smith and Powell, 2004; Rowley et al., 2000).
Network theory literature claims that networks are essential to innovative clusters such as Silicon valley (Fleming and Frenken, 2007) and innovation in high tech industries (Owen-Smith and Powell, 2004).
For this study, Granovetter's (1992) two dimensional inquiry (structural and relational) embeddedness is particularly relevant and illustrates that the source of competitive advantage can be linked to the history and configuration of interactions, demonstrating essential reputational aspects. This concept of embeddedness is what differentiates network theory from economic theory. The research aims to investigate how research networks are structurally embedded; weak and strong ties, structural holes, legacy relationships, and openess within the network, the gaps or holes between one cluster and another, and the centrality of the node in the network. This research has significant potential to contribute to practice, theory, and policy formulation in relation to structural embeddedness.
