Technology is essentially knowledge.
Increasingly communities, nations, and geographic regions are linking their standard of living, job creation, and overall competitiveness to effective knowledge creation and use. It is important for the birth, survival, and growth of small firms and the diversification and competitiveness of mid-sized and large firms in all industry sectors. In addition, it is increasingly important in the public sector. The first paper by Georg Disterer addresses individual and social barriers to knowledge transfer, which recently emerges as one of the major research topic in Europe. Franscisco Veloso and Richard Roth explore new technologies in emerging markers and address policy constraints to the adoption of advanced automotive technologies.