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on Innovation |
| By: | Maria das Dores B. Moura Oliveira (UPIN - Universidade do Porto Inovação, Universidade do Porto); Aurora A.C. Teixeira (CEF.UP, Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Porto; INESC Porto) |
| Abstract: | The environment in which technology transfer takes place plays a key role in defining the best approaches and, ultimately, their success. In the present paper we analyse the extent to which Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs) efficiency is influenced by framework conditions and, in particular, by the innovation policies and programmes. We hypothesise that countries with higher technology transfer efficiency levels would have innovation policies more supportive to technology transfer efforts. Results based on an in depth account and statistical analysis of over 60 innovation policies from Switzerland (widely associated to high levels of technology transference efficiency) and Portugal (a laggard country in this particular) corraborate our initial hypothesis. Switzerland policies overall include more references to knowledge and technology transfer, in the form of licenses, R&D collaboration and spin-offs, than Portuguese policies. One exception is the case of patents (intellectual property rights, in general) with stronger weight in Portuguese policies and, to some extent, the support to spin-off creation and venture capital. The findings highlighted significant differences in variables with impact in technology transfer, namely the priorities addressed, target groups and funding eligibility, aspects of the innovation process targeted and forms of funding. From the exercise it was possible to derive some policy implications. Specifically, we advance that if a country wishes to increase technology transfer efficiency then it should implement a mandate for R&D cooperation between different actors, give priority to fund cutting edge science and research performers, and attribute a higher emphasis on applied industrial research and prototype creation aspects of the innovation process. |
| Keywords: | Technology transfer, innovation policies, technology transfer efficiency |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:por:fepwps:334&r=ino |
| By: | Grimpe, Christoph; Hussinger, Katrin |
| Abstract: | In recent years, firms have increasingly contributed to and been confronted with a patent landscape characterized by numerous but marginal inventions, overlapping claims and patent fences. Literature suggests that both the fragmentation of ownership and the threat of a firm's patent applications being blocked by competitors' patents lead to increased patenting and inlicensing activity. In this paper, we investigate the effect of expected blocking on firms' engagement in in- and out-licensing. Based on a sample of more than 400 German manufacturing firms our results show that firms engage in in- and out-licensing if technology competition increases which is in line with the argument that licensing can mitigate hold-up problems in technology markets. |
| Keywords: | Licensing,blocking patents,discrete and complex technologies,technology competition |
| JEL: | L24 O34 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:09039&r=ino |
| By: | Cantner, Uwe; Joel, Kristin; Schmidt, Tobias |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to analyse the effects of knowledge management on the innovation success of firms in Germany. Using a matching procedure on data from the German Innovation Survey of 2003 (Mannheim Innovation Panel), we pair firms applying knowledge management with twin firms with similar characteristics not applying knowledge management. Our focus is on investigating the effects of knowledge management techniques on the economic success of firms with product and process innovations. The results of our matching analysis reveal that firms which apply knowledge management perform better in terms of higher-than-average shares of turnover with innovative products compared to their twins. We do not find a significant effect of knowledge management on the share of cost reductions with process innovation. |
| Keywords: | knowledge management,innovation,matching estimator |
| JEL: | O32 L23 L25 M11 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:bubdp1:200916&r=ino |
| By: | Giordani, Paolo E.; Zamparelli, Luca |
| Abstract: | In an R&D-driven growth model with asymmetric fundamentals the steady state equilibrium R&D investments are industry-specific and they are such that R&D returns are equalized across industries. Return equalization, however, makes investors indifferent as to where to target research and, hence, the problem of allocation of R&D investments across industries is indeterminate. Agents' indifference creates an ambiguous investment scenario. We assume that agents hold "ambiguous" beliefs on the per-industry profitability of their R&D investments. Investors' aversion towards ambiguity (in the sense of Gilboa-Schmeidler, 1989) eliminates the indeterminacy of the R&D investment problem. In particular, we prove that the asymmetric return-equalizing equilibrium is robust against a however small degree of investors' aversion to ambiguity. |
| Keywords: | R&D driven growth models; symmetry/asymmetry; ambiguity |
| JEL: | D81 O41 O32 |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:17171&r=ino |
| By: | Antonelli Cristiano (University of Turin); Colombelli Alessandra |
| Abstract: | In this paper we articulate and test the hypothesis that TFP is a reliable and relevant measure of firm’s innovation capabilities, and, as such, accounts for Tobin’s q indicator. With this aim, we investigate empirically the relationship between firm level total factor productivity and the Tobin’s q. Measuring Tobin’s q allows inferring the actual value of knowledge capital from stock market valuation. We use a panel of companies listed on UK and the main continental Europe financial markets (Germany, France and Italy) for the period 1995 - 2005. Our results confirm that TFP is a reliable indicator of firm’s innovative capabilities. When we control for firm’s R&D investments, the effects of TFP on market value remain highly significant. This suggests that TFP is a broader measure of innovation capability than R&D is. The validation of the Tobin’s q and TFP relationship has important implications concerning firm’s technological innovation measurement. |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uto:labeco:200912&r=ino |
| By: | Slowak, André P. |
| Abstract: | There is a research tradition in the economics of standards which addresses standards wars, antitrust concerns or positive externalities from standards. Recent research has also dealt with the process characteristics of standardisation, de facto standard-setting consortia and intellectual property concerns in the technology specification or implementation phase. Nonetheless, there are no studies which analyse capabilities, comparative industry dynamics or incentive structures sufficiently in the context of standard-setting. In my study, I address the characteristics of collaborative research and standard-setting as a new mode of deploying assets beyond motivations well-known from R&D consortia or market alliances. On the basis of a case study of a leading user organisation in the market for industrial automation technology, but also a descriptive network analysis of cross-community affiliations, I demonstrate that there must be a paradoxical relationship between cooperation and competition. More precisely, I explain how there can be a dual relationship between value creation and value capture respecting exploration and exploitation. My case study emphasises the dynamics between knowledge stocks (knowledge alignment, narrowing and deepening) produced by collaborative standard setting and innovation; it also sheds light on an evolutional relationship between the exploration of assets and use cases and each firm's exploitation activities in the market. I derive standard-setting capabilities from an empirical analysis of membership structures, policies and incumbent firm characteristics in selected, but leading, user organisations. The results are as follows: the market for industrial automation technology is characterised by collaboration on standards, high technology influences of other industries and network effects on standards. Further, system integrators play a decisive role in value creation in the customer-specific business case. Standard-setting activities appear to be loosely coupled to the products offered on the market. Core leaders in world standards in industrial automation own a variety of assets and they are affiliated to many standard-setting communities rather than exclusively committed to a few standards. Furthermore, their R&D ratios outperform those of peripheral members and experience in standard-setting processes can be assumed. Standard-setting communities specify common core concepts as the basis for the development of each member's proprietary products, complementary technologies and industrial services. From a knowledge-based perspective, the targeted disclosure of certain knowledge can be used to achieve high innovation returns through systemic products which add proprietary features to open standards. Finally, the interplay between exploitation and exploration respecting the deployment of standard-setting capabilities linked to cooperative, pre-competitive processes leads to an evolution in common technology owned and exploited by the standard-setting community as a particular kind of innovation ecosystem. |
| Keywords: | standard-setting,innovation,industry dynamics and context,industrial automation |
| JEL: | D71 M21 L69 O32 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fziddp:200902&r=ino |
| By: | Antonelli Cristiano (University of Turin); Barbiellini Amidei Federico |
| Abstract: | The paper is an attempt to provide an interpretation of the Italian puzzle in the post-WWII era consisting of very low levels of expenditure in R&D and yet high TFP growth. The research aims to supply the basic tools and the framework for a better understanding of the Italian industry innovation system and of its contribution to the country’s long term growth performance. The study applies the localized echnological change approach to implement the notion of knowledge interactions so as to appreciate: a) the role of external factors in the generation and exploitation of technological knowledge; b) the role of creative adoption in TFP dynamics. The analysis is based on a new dataset containing sectoral and regional series of TFP, capital intensity,wages per labour unit, R&D expenditures, patents granted in the USA, Technological Balance of Payments receipts and expenses, etc. for Italy over the 1950-1990 period. Using a SURE model framework, the impact of user-producer interactions on the dynamic efficiency of the Italian industrial sector is investigated across industries and regions. The significant and distinctive features of Italian innovation dynamics in the post WWII era that result are: i) the emerging and functioning of an innovation system based upon both horizontal dynamics of technological cooperation within industrial districts and vertical dynamic interdependence within industrial filieres; ii) a relevant, albeit incomplete, diffusion/catching up process in Italian regions. |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uto:labeco:200913&r=ino |
| By: | Sauer, Johannes; Zilbermann, David |
| Abstract: | Using a squential logit model and a mixed-effects logistic regression approach this empirical study investigates factors for the adoption of automatic milking technology (AMS) at the farm level accounting for problems of sequential sample selection and behaviour identification. The results suggest the importance of the farmerâs risk perception, significant effects of peer-group behaviour, and a positive impact of previous innovation experiences. |
| Keywords: | squential logit model, automatic milking technology (AMS), Livestock Production/Industries, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2009–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:gaae09:53276&r=ino |
| By: | Horst Hanusch (University of Augsburg, Department of Economics); Andreas Pyka (University of Hohenheim, Department of Economics); Florian Wackermann (University of Augsburg, Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Innovation is the major driver of economic growth and development. To analyze innovation processes the restriction of a framework suited to the analysis of innovation towards the industrial sphere of an economy is not sufficient because of the important co-evolutionary dimensions of innovation. Instead, a comprehensive economic theoretical approach is needed which encompasses all spheres of economic life. This paper is filling this gap by introducing Comprehensive Neo-Schumpeterian Economics and the Neo-Schumpeterian approach towards public sector economics. |
| Keywords: | innovation, uncertainty, public sector, co-evolution |
| JEL: | B52 H11 L2 O20 P0 |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aug:augsbe:0306&r=ino |
| By: | Mauro Sylos Labini; Natalia Zinovyeva |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates whether the quality of higher education and, in particular, its research performance stimulate graduates' research-oriented careers. More specifically, exploiting a very rich data-set on university graduates and the higher education institutions they attended, we empirically study whether graduates from universities and programs that display better academic research records are more likely to be enroled in PhDs or employed as researchers three years after graduation. Controlling for a number of individual and university covariates and using different proxies for research performance, we find that the likelihood of entering a research-oriented career increases with the quality of academic research. Notably, the inclusion of university fixed-effects shows that this result does not stem from unobserved university heterogeneity. Our finding is stronger for graduates in science, medicine, and engineering. |
| Keywords: | academic research, labor market for scientist, post-graduate education |
| JEL: | I23 O30 O38 |
| Date: | 2009–09–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssa:lemwps:2009/12&r=ino |