ENGLISH FOR SOCIAL SCIENTISTS 2012-13 UNED LESSON 2.

Innovation: technologies, changes and investment policies in research and R+D

How to work with each unit. Punctuation and language use are important components of spoken and written English. Each unit will be divided into two parts: use of language and contents. o In the use of language part you will always have a theory section that consists of a short reminder of basic aspects of grammar, and a practice section with short exercises to check that you have understood the theory. All this practice will also work as a self-evaluation section. o The content part consists of reading and writing practice in order to improve your formal academic English. This will involve reading different types of texts, linking words, expressions, introductions and conclusions.

LESSON 2. Innovation: technologies, changes and investment policies in research and R+D.

General objectives In this lesson you will know how innovation and changes affect companies and industry in general and you will learn how to express your ideas related to these matters.

Specific objectives 1. 2. Describe changes and innovation. Advantages and disadvantages of them. Review of basic grammar aspects related to the main general objectives: The use of make and do and the passive voice. 3. Use the passive voice in written texts related to investment.

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ENGLISH FOR SOCIAL SCIENTISTS 2012-13 UNED LESSON 2. Innovation: technologies, changes and investment policies in research and R+D

PART 1. USE OF LANGUAGE.

Remember that the Language that you are going to practice in each unit is just a review or reminder of the general grammar that you already know but related to the topic of each lesson. This symbol will be used for THEORY This symbol will be used for PRACTICE.

The use of make and do.

When do or make are used as main verbs it can be confusing for learners. The verb make goes with some words and the verb do goes with other words. But there are not strict rules for their use just general explanations or ideas to help.

DO a) We use the verb do when someone performs an action, activity or task. do a crossword do the ironing do the laundry do the washing do the washing up b) Do is often used when referring to work of any kind. do your work do homework do housework do your job c) Important Expressions with do. There are a number of standard expressions that take the verb do. The best solution is to try to learn them and their meaning.

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ENGLISH FOR SOCIAL SCIENTISTS 2012-13 UNED LESSON 2. Innovation: technologies, changes and investment policies in research and R+D
do badly do business do the dishes do a favour do good do harm do well do your best do your hair do your nails do your worst MAKE a) We use the verb make for constructing, building or creating. make a dress make food make a cup of tea / coffee b) Make is often used when referring to preparing food of any kind. make a meal - breakfast / lunch / dinner c) Important expressions with make. There are a number of standard expressions that take the verb make. The best solution is to try to learn them and their meaning. make amends make arrangements make a choice make a comment make a decision make a difference make an effort make an enquiry make an excuse make a fool of yourself make a fortune

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ENGLISH FOR SOCIAL SCIENTISTS 2012-13 UNED LESSON 2. Innovation: technologies, changes and investment policies in research and R+D
make friends make a fuss make a journey make love make a mess make a mistake make money make a move make a noise make a payment make a phone call make a plan make a point make a profit make a promise make a remark make a sound make a speech make a suggestion make a visit

Practice 1.

Write the translation into Spanish of all these expressions looking up a dictionary, if necessary.

English do a crossword do the ironing do the laundry do the washing do the washing up do your work do homework do housework do your job

Spanish

English make amends make arrangements make a choice make a comment make a decision make a difference make an effort make an enquiry make an excuse

Spanish

Autoras Margarita Goded y Lourdes Pomposo

ENGLISH FOR SOCIAL SCIENTISTS 2012-13 UNED LESSON 2. Innovation: technologies, changes and investment policies in research and R+D
do badly do business do the dishes do a favour do good do good do harm do well do your best do your hair do your nails do your worst make a point make a profit make a promise make a sound make a suggestion make a fool of yourself make a fortune make friends make friends make a journey make love make a mess make a mistake make money make a move make a noise make a payment make a phone call make a plan make a remark make a speech make time

Links for extra practice and self-evaluation.

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/confusing_words/make_do.htm

http://www.better-english.com/grammar/makedo.htm

http://www.saberingles.com.ar/exercises/225.html

http://perso.wanadoo.es/autoenglish/gr.make.p.htm

http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=1215

The passive voice.

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ENGLISH FOR SOCIAL SCIENTISTS 2012-13 UNED LESSON 2. Innovation: technologies, changes and investment policies in research and R+D
The passive voice is especially helpful (and even regarded as mandatory) in scientific or technical writing or lab reports, where the actor is not really important but the process or principle being described is of ultimate importance. Instead of writing "I poured 20 cc of acid into the beaker," we would write "Twenty cc of acid is/was poured into the beaker." The passive voice is also useful when describing, say, a mechanical process in which the details of process are much more important than anyone's taking responsibility for the action: "The first coat of primer paint is applied immediately after the acid rinse." We use the passive voice to good effect in a paragraph in which we wish to shift emphasis from what was the object in a first sentence to what becomes the subject in subsequent sentences.
1

ACTIVE:

Action Scientists

Object

finished

the researchn researeseaerc h

last year.

PASIVE: Subject Passive verb

The research researeseaerc h

Passive verb formation:

was finished

last year.

Auxiliary Tense Present Present perfect Past Past perfect Future Subject Singular The car/cars is The car/cars has been The car/cars was The car/cars had been The car/cars will be Plural are have been were had been will be

Past Participle designed. designed. designed. designed. designed.

Explanations taken from: http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/passive.htm

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ENGLISH FOR SOCIAL SCIENTISTS 2012-13 UNED LESSON 2. Innovation: technologies, changes and investment policies in research and R+D
Future perfect The car/cars will have been will have been designed. are being were being designed. designed.

Present progressive The car/cars is being Past progressive The car/cars was being

The passive is often used when the agent (who or what did the action): is unknown: This university was built in 1980. is obvious or has already been mentioned: The theory will be tested. is not important: The problem has been solved. refers to people in general: All men are created equal. doesnt want to be known: Im afraid the book has been photocopied.

PRACTICE 1. Write the passive voice of the following active sentences and check your answers. 1. A security guard recognized the bank robber and arrested him. ________________________________________________________________ 2. Many historians think that Michelangelo could have painted this painting. ________________________________________________________________

3.

They are building a new school near my village. ________________________________________________________________

4.

My mother warned me about the bad weather before I went to England. ________________________________________________________________

5.

She was cleaning the floor and washing the windows when I arrived. ________________________________________________________________

6. Do you think the bad weather might delay the works? _________________________________________________________________ 7. We can pay this invoice by Tuesday.

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ENGLISH FOR SOCIAL SCIENTISTS 2012-13 UNED LESSON 2. Innovation: technologies, changes and investment policies in research and R+D
__________________________________________________________________ 8. My boss will open a new branch next year. ___________________________________________________________________ 9. People have sent Mary all the documents related to this matter. ___________________________________________________________________ 10. This company sold defective parts to many customers. _____________________________________________________________________

Links for extra practice and self-evaluation.

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises_list/passiv.htm http://www.autoenglish.org/gr.pas.i.htm http://englishstandarts.blogspot.com.es/2012/06/passive-voice-worksheets.html

PART 2. READING AND WRITING SKILLS. 1. INTRODUCTION. Read the following extract from Investment Policy Framework for sustainable Development and explain in the forum which are the most important points of it from your point of view. Investment policy is not made in a vacuum. It is made in a political and economic context that, at the global and regional levels, has been buffeted in recent years by a series of crises in the areas of finance, food security and the environment, and that faces persistent global imbalances and social challenges, especially with regard to poverty alleviation. These crises and challenges are having profound effects on the way policy is shaped at the global level. First, the economic and financial crisis has accentuated a longer-term shift in economic weight from developed countries to emerging markets. Global challenges such as food security and climate change, where developing country engagement is an indispensable prerequisite for any viable solution, have further added to a greater role for those countries in global policymaking. Second, the financial crisis in particular has boosted the role of governments in the

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ENGLISH FOR SOCIAL SCIENTISTS 2012-13 UNED LESSON 2. Innovation: technologies, changes and investment policies in research and R+D
economy, both in the developed and the developing world. Third, the nature of the challenges, which no country can address in isolation, makes better international coordination imperative. And fourth, the global political and economic context and the challenges that need to be addressed with social and environmental concerns taking center stage are leading policymakers to reflect on an emerging new development paradigm that places inclusive and sustainable development goals on the same footing as economic growth and development goals. From: Investment Policy Framework for sustainable Development. (2011) UNCTAD. United Nations.

READING COMPREHENSION. EXERCISE 2. Read the following information about innovation and: a) find in a dictionary the words in italics.

b) summarize in three lines the intention of the article using three words at least.

Traditionally, a companys new ideas and products come from its research and development (R&D) department. The initial idea for a car will be turned into a series of prototypes and tested. In software development, the final prototype is the beta version, which is betatested. Pharmaceuticals go through a series of trials. Different industries have a lead-times, the time between conception and product launch; a new drug might take 10 or 15 years to develop. In consumer goods, market research will be a key part of the development process, with focus groups: small groups representing cross sections of consumers talking about their reactions to propose designs, and wider consumer surveys. Services also offer enormous potential for innovation; think of telephone banking, and now e-commerce: selling over the Internet. The launch of a new product might involve a national, international o global rollout. Any teething problems will hopefully be ironed out during development rather than after the launch. The ultimate nightmare is when accompany has to recall products because of design defects. How do you develop innovation and creativity in large, bureaucratic companies? Company leaders talk about corporate venturing and intrapeneurship, where employees are encouraged to develop entrepreneurial activities within the organization. Companies may set up skunk works, outside the structures, to work on innovations. Innovations are perhaps more easily

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ENGLISH FOR SOCIAL SCIENTISTS 2012-13 UNED LESSON 2. Innovation: technologies, changes and investment policies in research and R+D
developed by entrepreneurs in start-up companies, but here the problem is the finance: how to get the venture capital to develop the product, manufacture it on an industrial scale and market it. (Adapted from Hall, E., Bill, M., y Riley, D. (2000) Summary _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ EXERCISE 3: VOCABULARY. The adjectives below can be used to describe inventions or new ideas. Which have a positive meaning and which have a negative meaning? Write + or next to each one. Some of them may be both, depending on the context we find them. ground-breaking wasteful space-saving Life-saving pointless insightful increasing intuitive impressive unknown flexible progressive risky obsolete effective potential

READING COMPREHENSION 3 + Writing. (Optional activity) a) Read about Google and how it tries to encourage innovation and name the main ideas they have to encourage it according to the text. b) Give your opinion about the article in the Forum. Whats it like inside Google? Its a collection of really smart people who think they are creating something thats the best in the world, according to Peter Norvig, a Google engineering director .

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ENGLISH FOR SOCIAL SCIENTISTS 2012-13 UNED LESSON 2. Innovation: technologies, changes and investment policies in research and R+D
Google hires two sorts of engineers. First it looks for young risk takers -people who have no fear of going outside the limits of what they know. But it also hires stars, the top brains from the industry-people who know enough to shoot holes in ideas before they go too far. The challenge is negotiating between risk and caution. Google used to have management in engineering and the structure was telling people you cant do that. So Google got rid of the managers. Now most engineers work in teams of three, with project leadership rotating among team members. Wayne Rosing, who heads Googles engineers, says It works because the teams know what they have to do. They understand that they are the boss. They dont wait to be managed. Its talent allows Google flexibility- the ability to experiment and try any things at once. Their website includes at least ten technologies in development. It wants feedback and ideas. People understand that not everything Google puts on view will work perfectly. They think that failure is good. Google doesnt market in a traditional sense. Instead, it observes and it listens. Ten full-time employees do nothing but read emails from users. The result is that Google has a unique understanding of its users. "We can't predict what will happen. But we can predict that there will be an effect on our technology and on the way the world views us."

Google has no strategic planning department. The more popular an idea, the more support it wins, the better its chances. It is the sort of company that every company can learn from.

Adapted from: Fast Company. How Google grows and grows. March 2003. www.fastcompany.com

Bibliography Branscomb, L. (1999) Investing in Innovation: Creating Research and Innovation Policy that Works. USA. Harvard College. Hall, E., Bill, M., y Riley, D. (2000) Market Leader. Teachers Resource Book. Essex, England. Pearson Education Limited. Koulopoulos, T. (2009) The Innovatio0n Zone: How Great Companies Innovate for Amazing Success. USA. Davies-Black Publishing.

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ENGLISH FOR SOCIAL SCIENTISTS 2012-13 UNED LESSON 2. Innovation: technologies, changes and investment policies in research and R+D
Peters, T. (1999) The Circle of Innovation. New York. A. Knopf. Tidd, T., Bessant, J. y Pavitt, K. (1997) Managing Innovation. West Sussex, England. Wiley. UNCTAD (2011) Investment Policy Framework for sustainable Development. United Nations. .Utterback, M. (1996) Mastering the Dinamics of Innovation. Harvard Business School Press.

CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

Now you should think about what you have learnt in this unit and what you need to revise. Please, tick () the appropriate box.

Vocabulary I can use new vocabulary and expressions about innovation and investment. I can make a difference between positive and negative adjectives

I can do it very well

I can do it well

I need to improve

related to innovation and new ideas.

Grammar I know the difference between make and do I know the translation of expressions with

I can do it very well

I can do it well

I need to improve

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ENGLISH FOR SOCIAL SCIENTISTS 2012-13 UNED LESSON 2. Innovation: technologies, changes and investment policies in research and R+D
make and do. I know how to use the passive voice.

Reading I can understand

I can do it very well

I can do it well

I need to improve

scientific texts related to innovation and

investment policies.

Writing I can express my own opinions about texts related to innovation and policy investments, using the right

I can do it very well

I can do it well

I need to improve

vocabulary. I can extract the

important points of a scientific text. I can summarize in a few lines a scientific text.

EXTRA ACTIVITIES. Read extra bibliography. Complete grammar and vocabulary exercises of links.

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