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on Innovation |
| By: | José García-Quevedo (University of Barcelona & IEB); Francisco Mas-Verdú (Universitat Politècnica de Valencia & IEB); Daniel Montolio (University of Barcelona & IEB) |
| Abstract: | Knowledge intensive services (KIS) and, in particular, R&D services contribute significantly to innovation in firms. The objective of this paper is to find out which characteristics of firms explain the acquisition of R&D services and to analyse whether there are differences depending on the typology of the supplier (universities, technology centres and consulting firms). Three main conclusions emerge from the econometric estimations. Firstly, the results show that size and age matter in the decision to buy R&D services, but these characteristics of firms do not have any particular influence in the decision to choose a specific supplier. Secondly, our results are consistent with the relevance that the literature gives to human capital in absorbing external knowledge. The variables used to control for human skills have a positive effect on the decision to buy R&D services. On the contrary, the estimates of other variables that capture internal knowledge base suggest that there is a substitution process between internal R&D activities and acquiring R&D services. Thirdly, innovation policy has a significant influence on the decision to acquire R&D services. |
| Keywords: | Knowledge intensive services; R&D services; universities; technology centres; consulting firms; innovation policy |
| JEL: | L84 O32 L24 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:2011/9/doc2011-22&r=ino |
| By: | Francesco Bogliacino (European Commission, Joint Research Center - Institute for Perspective Technological Studies, Sevilla & Centro de Estudios Para America Latina y el Caribe-Universidad EAFIT, Rise Group); Mariacristina Piva (Università Cattolica, Milano and Piacenza); Marco Vivarelli (Università Cattolica, Milano and Piacenza & SPRU-University of Sussex & IZA, Bonn) |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to test the employment effect of business R&D expenditures, using a unique longitudinal database covering 677 European manufacturing and service firms over the period 1990-2008. Main result from the whole sample dynamic LSDVC (Least Squared Dummy Variable Corrected) estimate is the labour-friendly nature of companies’ R&D, the coefficient of which turns out to be statistically significant, although not very large in magnitude. However, the positive and significant job creation effect of R&D expenditures is detectable in services and high-tech manufacturing but absent in the more traditional manufacturing sectors. This means that we should not expect positive employment effects from increasing R&D in the majority of industrial sectors. This evidence should be kept in mind by European innovation policy makers having employment as one of their specific aims. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, employment, manufacturing, services, LSDVC |
| JEL: | O33 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:2011/9/doc2011-20&r=ino |
| By: | Gustavo Crespi; Alessandro Maffioli; Marcela Meléndez Arjona |
| Abstract: | This paper aims at evaluating the impacts of innovation promotion programs administrated by the Colombian Innovation Agency (COLCIENCIAS). Although the agency implements multiple programs, the focus of these research are on those programs that provide financial incentives for R&D (matching grants and contingent loans) and at the same time encourage the formation of linkages between firms, universities and other public research organizations. Different from previous evaluations, a nice feature of the current research is the possibility to use a very rich dataset in order follow-up the economic performance of the beneficiaries over a long period of time. The results show that after controlling for both observable and unobservable difference with the control group, COLCIENCIAS programs have been very effective in increasing firm labor productivity and that the main channel behind this result is product diversification (product innovation). |
| Keywords: | Science & Technology :: Research & Development, COLCIENCIAS, Colombia, Research and Development, Matching Grants, Policy Evaluation |
| JEL: | O32 O38 O31 H43 |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:38498&r=ino |
| By: | Klette, Tor Jakob (Department of Economics, University of Oslo); Møen, Jarle (Dept. of Finance and Management Science, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration) |
| Abstract: | Subsidies to the Norwegian high-tech industries have traditionally been given as "matching grants", i.e. the subsidies are targeted, and the firms have to contribute a 50 % own risk capital to the subsidized projects. Our results suggest that grants do not crowd out privately financed R&D, but that subsidized firms do not increase their privately financed R&D either. Hence, the own risk capital seems to be taken from ordinary R&D budgets. We also investigate possible long-run effects of R&D subsidies, and show that conventional R&D investment models predict negative dynamic effects of subsidies. Our data, however, do not support this claim. On the contrary, there are indications of a positive dynamic effects, i.e. temporary R&D subsidies seem to stimulate firms to increase their R&D investments even after the grants have expired. We propose learning-by-doing in R&D activities as a possible explanation for this, and present a theoretical analysis showing that such effects may alter the predictions of the conventional models. A structural, econometric model of R&D investments incorporating such learning effects is estimated with reasonable results. |
| Keywords: | Technology policy; R&D subsidies; matching grants; short run additionality; long run additionality; Norwegian IT-industry |
| JEL: | H25 H32 L53 O32 O38 |
| Date: | 2011–09–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nhhfms:2011_015&r=ino |
| By: | Triulzi, Giorgio; Scholz, Ramon; Pyka, Andreas |
| Abstract: | In the last two decades, University-Industry Relationships have played an outstanding role in shaping innovation activities in Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals. Despite the growing importance and the considerable scope of these relationships, there still is an intensive and open debate on their short and long term effects on the research system in life sciences. So far, the extensive literature on this topic has not been able to provide a widely accepted answer. This work introduces a new way to analyse University-Industry Relationships (UIRs) which makes use of an agent-based simulation model. With the help of simulation experiments and the comparison of different scenario results, new insights on the effects of these relationships on the innovativeness of the research system can be gained. In particular, focusing on knowledge interactions among heterogeneous actors, we show that: (i) universities tend to shift from a basic to an applied research orientation as a consequence of relationships with industry, (ii) universities' innovative capabilities benefit from industry financial resources but not so much from cognitive resources of the companies, (iii) biotech companies' innovative capabilities largely benefit from the knowledge interaction with universities and (iv) adequate policies in terms of public basic research funding can contrast the negative effects of UIRs on university research orientation. -- |
| Keywords: | University-Industry Relationships,Knowledge Dynamics,University Patenting,Technology Transfer,Agent-Based Modelling |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fziddp:332011&r=ino |
| By: | Guettler, Stefan; Seidel-Lass, Linda; Mueller, Rolf A.E. |
| Keywords: | Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:114589&r=ino |
| By: | Andrew Atkeson; Ariel T. Burstein |
| Abstract: | We present a tractable model of innovating firms and the aggregate economy that we use to assess the link between the responses of firms to changes in innovation policy and the impact of those policy changes on aggregate output and welfare. We argue that the key theoretical determinant of the relative long-run aggregate impact of alternative policies is their impact on the expected profitability of entering firms. We show that, to a first-order approximation, a wide range of policy changes have a long-run aggregate impact in direct proportion to the fiscal expenditures on those policies, and that to evaluate the aggregate impact of such policy changes, there is no need to calculate changes in firms' decisions in response to these policy changes. We use these results to compare the relative magnitudes of the impact on aggregates in the long run of three innovation policies in the United States: the Research and Experimentation Tax Credit, federal expenditure on R&D, and the corporate profits tax. We argue that the corporate profits tax is a relatively important policy through its negative effects on innovation and physical capital accumulation that may well undo the benefits of federal support for R&D. We also use a calibrated version of our model to examine the absolute magnitude of the impact of these policies on aggregates. We show that, depending on the magnitude of spillovers, it is possible for changes in innovation policies to have a very large impact on aggregates in the long run. However, over a 15-year horizon, the impact of changes in innovation policies on aggregate output is not very sensitive to the magnitude of spillovers. On the basis of these results we conclude that, while it is possible to make comparisons about the relative importance of different policies and sharp predictions about their aggregate impact in the medium term, it is very difficult to shed much light on the implications of innovation policies for long-run aggregate outcomes and welfare without accurate estimates as to the magnitude of innovation spillovers. |
| JEL: | E6 O11 O3 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17493&r=ino |
| By: | Ozgen, Ceren (VU University Amsterdam); Nijkamp, Peter (VU University Amsterdam); Poot, Jacques (University of Waikato) |
| Abstract: | Due to the growth in international migration in recent decades, the workforce of firms in host countries has become considerably more diverse, both demographically and culturally. It is an important question for firms and for governments to ask whether there are some productivity-enhancing externalities gained from this growing diversity within firms. In recent years migration research has demonstrated positive economic impacts of cultural diversity on productivity and innovation at the regional level. However, there is a dearth of research on the links between innovation and migrant diversity at the firm level. In this paper we construct and analyse a unique linked employer-employee micro-dataset of 4582 firms, based on survey and administrative data obtained from Statistics Netherlands. Excluding firms in the hospitality industry and other industries that employ low-skilled migrants, we use the local number of restaurants with foreign cuisines and the historical presence of migrant communities as valid instruments of endogenous migrant settlement. We find that firms in which foreigners account for a relatively large share of employment are somewhat less innovative. However, there is strong evidence that firms that employ a more diverse foreign workforce are more innovative, particularly in terms of product innovations. |
| Keywords: | immigration, innovation, cultural diversity, knowledge spillovers, linked employer-employee data, Netherlands |
| JEL: | F22 O31 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6000&r=ino |
| By: | Schmidt-Ehmcke, Jens; Zloczysti, Petra |
| Abstract: | This paper identifies the leading country-industry combinations that define the world technology frontier in manufacturing. Using a unique industry dataset compiled from EU KLEMS and PATSTAT, it explores which countries and industries reveal the most efficient innovation processes. We combine a traditional nonparametric frontier approach with super-efficiency and tests for return to scale properties using bootstrap procedures to derive consistent and robust efficiency estimates. Our analysis of 17 OECD countries and 13 industries between 2000 and 2004 shows that Germany, the United States, and Denmark have the highest R&D efficiency on average in total manufacturing. However, sector-specific efficiency scores reveal substantial variation across countries. The principal industries determining the technology frontier are electrical and optical equipment, machinery, and chemical and mineral products. Our results suggest that in case of limited resources, priority should be given to the industries that promise the largest output for the available amount of investment. Instead of generally increasing the R&D-to-GDP ratio--as suggested in the Lisbon Agenda--policymakers might target future R&D efforts to those industries that are economically important and reveal excellent performance. |
| Keywords: | data envelopment analysis; manufacturing; patents; R&D efficiency; technology frontier |
| JEL: | C14 L60 O31 O57 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:8579&r=ino |
| By: | Waters, J |
| Abstract: | We consider the problem faced by a manager commissioning an innovative product requiring multi-stage sequenced innovation, when innovating agents have different costs and information transfer is expensive. We specify their optimisation problem and present a polynomial time solution method. We use the method to consider how cost networks influence centre choice switching by solving a series of stochastically generated networks and running logistic regressions on switching frequencies. The effect of expected innovation costs and its standard deviation are shown to be distribution dependent. Expected transfer costs are shown to have an unambiguous dampening effect on the amount of centre switching. Network size sensitivity is considered. Transfer costs are found to be far more influential on switching than innovation costs in a symmetric model. Cost trends that leave average costs unchanged are shown typically to have a significant non-zero effect on switching. A cost structure is introduced to model dichotomous expertise and to link innovation and transfer costs, and agent switches shown to be highly sensitive to an underlying learning cost measure. We then consider the set of sequences constrained to reach each possible final stage agent to reflect managerial specificity. Distributional parameters are found to have a dampened effect on within series changes, and their effect on cross series diversity is demonstrated to be opposite to that on within series changes. |
| Keywords: | Innovation; locus of innovation; technology; transfer costs; network; simulation; switching |
| JEL: | L14 O32 O31 |
| Date: | 2011–10–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:33840&r=ino |
| By: | Michael Greenstone |
| Abstract: | Not Available |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mee:wpaper:1110&r=ino |
| By: | Jakub Growiec; Fabio Pammolli; Massimo Riccaboni |
| Abstract: | We provide a detailed analysis of a model of innovation and corporate dynamics that encompasses the Gibrat’s Law of Proportionate Effect and the Simon growth process as particular instances. The predictions of the model are derived in terms of (i) firm size distribution, (ii) the distribution of firm growth rates, and (iii-iv) the relationships between firm size and the mean and variance of firm growth rates. We test the model against data from the worldwide pharmaceutical industry and find its predictions to be in good agreement with empirical evidence on all four dimensions. |
| Keywords: | Business firm size; firm growth distribution; Gibrat's Law; Pareto distribution; lognormal distribution, size-variance relationship. |
| JEL: | C49 L11 L25 L65 |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:trt:disawp:2011/08&r=ino |
| By: | Kümpel, Arndt |
| Abstract: | The paper sketches the current ecological and economic context of sustainable regional development with focus on the imperative for change to a post carbon economy, the need for innovation within the learning system of public administration and policy challenges for securing system viability. |
| Keywords: | Sustainable regional development; innovation; state capacity |
| JEL: | O38 O43 B52 |
| Date: | 2011–07–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:33966&r=ino |
| By: | Nuno Boavida (IET, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia) |
| Abstract: | This working paper is based on the development of the Thesis Plan presented for the Units Project II and Project III at the 1st Winter School of PhD programme on Technology Assessment at FCT/UNL. It focuses the methodology analysis and includes empirical information elements, in order to understand how composite indicators of innovation can influence technology policy decisions. In order to test the hypotheses raised in the Thesis Plan, two separate phases were designed. On the first part, the work tests hypotheses 1 and partially 2, identifying the quality, depth and limitations of three famous complex indicator-based systems, namely the Science, Technology and Industry Scoreboard, the European Innovation Scoreboard 2008 and Innovation Union Scoreboard 2010. On the second phase, the remaining hypotheses are tested adding media databases analysis, which will provide complementary information to a set of interviews to policy makers, in order to understand the role of the composite indicators on technology decisions. |
| Keywords: | composite indicators, innovation, technology policy decisions, European Innovation Scoreboard, Innovation Union Scoreboard |
| JEL: | C82 E61 O31 |
| Date: | 2011–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieu:wpaper:34&r=ino |
| By: | Jan Fagerberg (Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture, University of Oslo); Morten Fosaas (Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture, University of Oslo); Koson Sapprasert (Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture, University of Oslo) |
| Abstract: | New types of knowledge, and new ways of organising the production of it, may emerge as knowledge producers respond to the challenges posed by a changing society. This paper focuses on the core knowledge of one such emerging field, namely, innovation studies. To explore the knowledge base of the field, a database of references in scholarly surveys of various aspects of innovation, published in “handbooks”, is assembled and a new methodology for analysing the knowledge base of a field with the help of such data is developed. The paper identifies the core contributions to the literature in this area, the most central scholars and important research environments, and analyses - with the help of citations in scholarly journals - how the core literature is used by researchers in different scientific disciplines and cross-disciplinary fields. Based on this information a cluster analysis is used to draw inferences about the structure of the knowledge base on innovation. Finally, the changing character of the field over time is analysed, and possible challenges for its continuing development are discussed. The paper updates and extends the analysis on an earlier working paper in this series (Fagerberg and Sapprasert 2010). |
| Keywords: | Innovation studies, science studies, specialisms, bibliometrics |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tik:inowpp:20111003&r=ino |
| By: | Pardey, Philip G. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Productivity Analysis, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:nzar11:114719&r=ino |
| By: | Albert Banal-Estañol (Universitat Pompeu Fabra & City University); Inés Macho-Stadler (Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona); David Pérez-Castrillo (Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | We study collaborative and non-collaborative projects that are supported by government grants. First, we propose a theoretical framework to analyze optimal decisions in these projects. Second, we test our hypotheses with a unique dataset containing academic publications and research funds for all the academics at the major engineering departments in the UK. We find that the type of the project (measured by its level of appliedness) is increasing in the type of both the university and firm partners. Also, the quality of the project (number and impact of the publications) increases with the quality of the researcher and firm, and with the affinity in the partners’ preferences. The collaboration with firms increases the quality of the project only when the firms’ characteristics make them valuable partners. |
| Keywords: | industry-science links, research collaborations, basic versus applied research |
| JEL: | O32 I23 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:2011/9/doc2011-23&r=ino |
| By: | Natalia Ortiz-de-Mandojana (Universidad de Granada. Department of Business); Javier Aguilera-Caracuel (Universidad de Granada. Department of Business); José Manuel de la Torre-Ruíz (Universidad de Granada. Department of Business); Vera Ferrón-Vílchez (Universidad de Granada. Department of Business) |
| Abstract: | Environmental regulatory uncertainty has attracted extraordinary attention among scholars, managers, policy-makers and other members of society. Despite this increasing attention, the impact of environmental regulatory uncertainty on the environmental approaches of firms is difficult to estimate in the business context. Considering that environmental regulations are not the only mechanism enabling firms to develop proactive environmental management practices, we show that the national institutional profile delineates a firm’s environmental progress. Specifically, we argue that the national level of innovation is an essential institutional condition that can encourage firms to develop advanced environmental approaches and even overcoming the effect of environmental regulatory uncertainty on corporate environmental performance. Using a sample of 1,912 firms from 19 countries, we developed different scenarios that combine the effects of environmental regulatory uncertainty and the national level of innovation. Knowledge of these different situations illustrates how managers cope with environmental regulatory uncertainty. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Regulatory Uncertainty; National Level of Innovation; Corporate Environmental Performance |
| JEL: | M1 |
| Date: | 2011–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gra:fegper:05/11&r=ino |
| By: | García-Quevedo, José; Mas-Verdú, Francisco; Montolio, Daniel |
| Abstract: | Knowledge intensive services (KIS) and, in particular, R&D services contribute significantly to innovation in firms. The objective of this paper is to find out which characteristics of firms explain the acquisition of R&D services and to analyse whether there are differences depending on the typology of the supplier universities, technology centres and consulting firms). Three main conclusions emerge from the econometric estimations. Firstly, the results show that size and age matter in the decision to buy R&D services, but these characteristics of firms do not have any particular influence in the decision to choose a specific supplier. Secondly, our results are consistent with the relevance that the literature gives to human capital in absorbing external knowledge. The variables used to control for human skills have a positive effect on the decision to buy R&D services. On the contrary, the estimates of other variables that capture internal knowledge base suggest that there is a substitution process between internal R&D activities and acquiring R&D services. Thirdly, innovation policy has a significant influence on the decision to acquire R&D services. |
| Keywords: | Knowledge intensive services; R&D services; universities; technology centres; consulting firms; innovation policy |
| Date: | 2011–10–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ing:wpaper:201108&r=ino |