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on Innovation |
| By: | Joëlle Noailly (CIES, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, Switzerland and CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis, The Hague, The Netherlands); Roger Smeets (Rutgers Business School, Newark, USA) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the determinants of directed technical change in the electricity generation sector. We use firm-level data on patents led in renewable (REN) and fossil fuel (FF) technologies by about 7,000 European firms over the period 1978-2006. We separately study specialized firms that innovate in only one type of technology during the sample period, and mixed firms that innovate in both technologies. We find that for specialized firms the main drivers of innovation are fossil-fuel prices, market size, and firms' past knowledge stocks. Also, prices and market size drive the entry of new REN firms into innovation. By contrast, we find that innovation by mixed firms is mainly driven by strong path-dependencies since for these firms past knowledge stock is the major driver of the direction of innovation. These results imply that generic environmental policies that affect prices and energy demand are mainly effective in directing innovation by small specialized firms. In order to direct innovation e orts of large mixed corporations with a long history of FF innovation, targeted R&D policies are likely to be more effective. |
| Keywords: | Directed Technical Change, Energy, Patents, Firms' Dynamics |
| JEL: | Q4 |
| Date: | 2013–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2013.34&r=ino |
| By: | Daron Acemoglu; Ufuk Akcigit; Nicholas Bloom; William R. Kerr |
| Abstract: | We build a model of firm-level innovation, productivity growth and reallocation featuring endogenous entry and exit. A key feature is the selection between high- and low-type firms, which differ in terms of their innovative capacity. We estimate the parameters of the model using detailed US Census micro data on firm-level output, R&D and patenting. The model provides a good fit to the dynamics of firm entry and exit, output and R&D, and its implied elasticities are in the ballpark of a range of micro estimates. We find industrial policy subsidizing either the R&D or the continued operation of incumbents reduces growth and welfare. For example, a subsidy to incumbent R&D equivalent to 5% of GDP reduces welfare by about 1.5% because it deters entry of new high-type firms. On the contrary, substantial improvements (of the order of 5% improvement in welfare) are possible if the continued operation of incumbents is taxed while at the same time R&D by incumbents and new entrants is subsidized. This is because of a strong selection effect: R&D resources (skilled labor) are inefficiently used by low-type incumbent firms. Subsidies to incumbents encourage the survival and expansion of these firms at the expense of potential high-type entrants. We show that optimal policy encourages the exit of low-type firms and supports R&D by high-type incumbents and entry. |
| JEL: | E02 L1 O31 O32 O33 |
| Date: | 2013–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18993&r=ino |
| By: | Edquist , Charles (CIRCLE, Lund University); Zabala-Iturriagagoitia , Jon Mikel (CIRCLE, Lund University) |
| Abstract: | In 2006 the European Commission introduced the concept of "Pre-Commercial Procurement" as an instrument to promote innovation and to mitigate grand challenges. One of the main motivations for the support of Pre-Commercial Procurement schemes was to use public needs as a driver for innovation. This concept was also introduced as a response to the need to reinforce the innovation capabilities of the EU, while improving the quality and efficiency of public services. However, there is still a certain degree of confusion as to what is meant by Pre-Commercial Procurement and what rationales are behind it. This paper addresses the differences between two public policy instruments, PreCommercial Procurement (PCP) and Public Procurement for Innovation (PPI), and clarifies what is meant by each of them. The analysis is based on three cases, one from the Netherlands, one from the UK and one from Australia. While PPI is a demand-side policy instrument, these cases provide evidence of the supply-side nature of Pre-Commercial Procurement in relation to innovation. The paper claims that PCP is a matter of R&D funding of a specific kind, geared towards very specific goals and in a focused way. Thus, we would like to raise a flag for going back to the origins of the PCP program, and calling it a precompetitive R&D program rather than talking about procurement. |
| Keywords: | Pre-Commercial procurement; Public Procurement for Innovation; R&D; Innovation; Innovation policy |
| JEL: | H57 L38 M38 O25 O32 |
| Date: | 2012–11–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2012_011&r=ino |
| By: | Ahlin, Lina (CIRCLE, Lund University); Andersson, Martin (CIRCLE, Lund University); Schubert , Torben (CIRCLE, Lund University and Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI)) |
| Abstract: | Evolutionary economic theorizing and related approaches explain persistent heterogeneity in R&D activities between firms with persistent inter-firm differences in R&D-related routines and capabilities. Emphasizing the importance experiential learning leading to pathdependence of R&D strategies, this raises the question of how firms can organize strategy transitions towards continuous R&D, in particular, if they had not been R&D active before. Building on a growing literature trying to identify the micro-foundations of organizational routines and capabilities, we argue that recruitment of experienced R&D workers is an important means by which firms without prior internal R&D experience can build routines and capabilities needed to implement and sustain an R&D strategy shift. We test our predictions using rich matched employer-employee panel data for Sweden, which allows for the identification of firms that implement a strategy of continuous R&D activities without prior R&D experience. Our findings confirm recruitment of experienced R&D workers as an important mechanism by which firms prepare and sustain a transition towards persistent R&D. |
| Keywords: | routines; capabilities; R&D strategy; micro-foundations; recruitment |
| JEL: | D22 J24 J63 O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2013–05–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2013_003&r=ino |
| By: | Markus Simeth (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), College of Management, Switzerland); Julio Raffo (World Intellectual Property Organization, Economics and Statistics Division, Geneva, Switzerland) |
| Abstract: | Whereas recent scholarly research has provided many insights about universities engaging in commercial activities, there is still little empirical evidence regarding the opposite phenomenon of companies disseminating scientific knowledge. Our paper aims to fill this gap and explores the motivations of firms that disclose research outcomes in a scientific format. Besides considering an internal firm dimension, we focus particularly on knowledge sourcing from academic institutions and the appropriability regime using a cost-benefit framework. We conduct an econometric analysis with firm-level data from the fourth edition of the French Community Innovation Survey (CIS4) and matched scientific publications for a sample of 2,512 R&D performing firms from all manufacturing sectors. The analysis provides evidence that the access to important scientific knowledge imposes the adoption of academic disclosure principles, whereas the mere existence of collaborative links with academic institutions is not a strong predictor. Furthermore, the results suggest that overall industry conditions are influential in shaping the cost-benefit rationale of firms with respect to scientific disclosure. |
| Keywords: | R&D, Industrial Science, Knowledge Disclosure, University-Industry collaboration |
| Date: | 2013–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wip:wpaper:6&r=ino |
| By: | Travis J. Lybbert (Department Agricultural & Resource Economics, University of California, Davis); Nikolas J. Zolas (Center for Economic Studies, United States Census Bureau) |
| Abstract: | International technological diffusion is a key determinant of cross-country differences in economic performance. While patents can be a useful proxy for innovation and technological change and diffusion, fully exploiting patent data for such economic analyses requires patents to be tied to measures of economic activity. In this paper, we describe and explore a new algorithmic approach to constructing concordances between the International Patent Classification (IPC) system that organizes patents by technical features and industry classification systems that organize economic data, such as the Standard International Trade Classification (SITC), the International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC) and the Harmonized System (HS). This ‘Algorithmic Links with Probabilities’ (ALP) approach incorporates text analysis software and keyword extraction programs and applies them to a comprehensive patent dataset. We compare the results of several ALP concordances to existing technology concordances. Based on these comparisons, we select a preferred ALP approach and discuss advantages of this approach relative to conventional approaches. We conclude with a discussion on some of the possible applications of the concordance and provide a sample analysis that uses our preferred ALP concordance to analyze international patent flows based on trade patterns. |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wip:wpaper:5&r=ino |
| By: | Borrás, Susana (Department of Business and Politics, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark CIRCLE, Lund University, Sweden); Edquist, Charles (CIRCLE, Lund University) |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this article is to discuss the different types of instruments of innovation policy, to examine how governments and public agencies in different countries and different times have used these instruments differently, to explore the political nature of instrument choice and design (and associated issues), and to elaborate a set of criteria for the selection and design of the instruments in relation to the formulation of innovation policy. The article argues that innovation policy instruments must be designed and combined into mixes in ways that address the problems of the innovation system. These mixes are often called “policy mix”. The problem-oriented nature of the design of instrument mixes is what makes innovation policy instruments ‘systemic’ |
| Keywords: | Policy mix; innovation system; innovation policy instruments; governance; regulation; public policy |
| JEL: | O30 O31 O32 O33 O38 |
| Date: | 2013–02–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2013_004&r=ino |
| By: | Klarizze Anne Martin Puzon (LAMETA-Université Montpellier I, France) |
| Abstract: | This study proposes a new mechanism for the resource curse: crowding-out of innovation due to the existence of an option to engage in conflict. Using a game theoretical framework, it is argued that an increase in the amount of natural resources (in the informal sector here conflict for a common-pool rent materializes) reduces the incentives of entrepreneurial groups to engage in cost-reducing R&D (in the non-resource sector where production occurs). Compared to most models of the resource curse, the impact of resource abundance on income and welfare was interestingly observed to be non-monotonic. An increase in the amount of resources in the common pool induces intensified conflict among groups and less R&D investment. Depending on the relative strengths of the income and diversion effects, three scenarios were exhibited. First, there is a 1.) Pure Blessing. This happens when both the extent of technological spillovers and the initial level of resource are low. Starting from scarcity, the increase in natural resource generates an overall jump in the groups' income levels. Even if an increase in resources decreases innovation in the formal sector, both income and welfare still go up. Meanwhile, for intermediate initial values of the natural resource, there is a 2.) Pseudo-curse. A resource boom induces an immediate income effect. However, this income gain is dominated by the indirect diversion effect due to lower output and higher price (because of less cost-reducing R&D). Consequently, while income increases, the welfare of the economy decreases. The range of resource levels where this occurs is greater when spillovers are high. Finally, a 3.) Double Curse occurs for extremely high initial levels of natural resources. Both aggregate income of the economy and welfare suffer. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, Appropriation, Natural Resources |
| JEL: | O13 Q33 P48 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2013.30&r=ino |
| By: | Dachs, Bernhard; Peters, Bettina |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how foreign-owned and domestically owned firms transform innovation into employment growth. The empirical analysis, based on the model of Harrison, Jaumandreu, Mairesse and Peters (2008) and CIS data for 16 countries, reveals important differences between the two groups: Due to general productivity increases and process innovation, foreign-owned firms experience higher job losses than domestically owned firms. At the same time, employment- creating effects of product innovation are larger for foreignowned firms. Together with employment-stimulating effects stemming from existing products, they overcompensate the negative displacement effects resulting in net employment growth in foreign-owned firms. However, net employment growth turns out to be smaller in foreign-owned firms than in domestically owned firms. -- |
| Keywords: | employment,innovation,foreign ownership,Community Innovation Survey,host country effects |
| JEL: | O31 O33 F23 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:13019&r=ino |
| By: | V. Rekers, Josephine (CIRCLE, Lund University) |
| Abstract: | The design and construction of ESS is portrayed as an enormous injection of scientific infrastructure in the (innovation-based) economy of Lund, Skåne and the Øresund region. Innovation processes are however, inherently uncertain, unanticipated and non-linear, where investments do not directly and predictably lead to successful outputs. This chapter presents the theoretical underpinnings of localized knowledge spillovers, and demonstrates that the prospected local benefits associated with ESS are tied to the degree of embeddedness of the facility in regional knowledge networks that facilitate localized learning. This future scenario is challenged by the level of absorptive capacity of university and industry partners in the region, the presence of institutions that support an innovative milieu, and the multiplicity of ambitions set for ESS by the local, multi-national and global bodies. If actors in the regional economy are to take advantage of the opportunity that is associated with the technical design and construction of ESS in Lund, organizational and institutional features of an innovation milieu need to be prioritized. |
| Keywords: | Large research facilities; big science; agglomeration economies; knowledge spillovers; European Spallation Source (ESS) |
| JEL: | O31 R11 |
| Date: | 2012–10–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2012_009&r=ino |
| By: | Raquel Ortega-Argilés (IN+ Center for Innovation, Technology and Policy Research, Instituto Superior Técnico); Mariacristina Piva (DISCE, Università Cattolica); Marco Vivarelli (DISCE, Università Cattolica) |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between a firm's R&D expenditures considered as an investment in knowledge, and its productivity, looking at sectoral peculiarities which may emerge; to this end, we use a large unique longitudinal database consisting of 1,809 US and European manufacturing and service firms over the period 1990-2008, for a total of 16,079 observations. Our main findings can be summarised as follows: knowledge stock has a significant positive impact on a firm's productivity, with an overall elasticity of about 0.10; this general result is largely consistent with findings presented in previous literature in terms of the sign, the significance and the estimated magnitude of the relevant coefficient. More interestingly, the coefficient turns out to be significantly larger in the service and high-tech sectors than in the non-high-tech manufacturing sectors. These outcomes suggest that firms in high-tech sectors are still ahead in terms of the impact on productivity of their R&D investments; moreover, a shift in favour of the service sectors seems to emerge. |
| Keywords: | R&D; Productivity; Knowledge stock; Panel data |
| JEL: | O33 L25 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctc:serie2:dises1390&r=ino |
| By: | Asheim, Bjørn (CIRCLE and the Department of Human Geography, Lund University; Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education (NIFU), Norway); M. Bugge, Markus (Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education, Norway); Coenen, Lars (CIRCLE, Lund University; Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education (NIFU), Norway); Herstad, Sverre (NIFU, Oslo Norway) |
| Abstract: | The article discusses the strategic roles of public policy and institutions and the way this effect to the efficiency of regional innovation systems in the landscape of evolutionary economic geography. It argues that the current emphasis on path dependency historically contingent preconditions has provided important insights into the interdependencies between industrial knowledge bases and routines, regional system dynamics and long-term development paths. Yet, it falls short of capturing the scope of policy intervention which follows logically from the evolutionary framework itself. Anchored in a renewed regional innovation systems approach, the article presents a policy intervention framework for constructing regional advantage in different contexts. |
| Keywords: | evolutionary economic geography; institutions; regional innovation policy; clusters; regional innovation systems |
| JEL: | B52 O33 O38 |
| Date: | 2013–02–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2013_005&r=ino |
| By: | Qazi, Ahmar Qasim; Zhao, Yulin |
| Abstract: | The study employs the panel data of 15 hi-tech industries over the period of 2000-2010 in order to examine the effectiveness of R&D with respect to productivity change and indentify the significant contributing factors with intensity in the Chinese hi-tech sector. The Malmquist Productivity Indexes are calculated by using the non-parametric programming technique and censored regression model is applied to conduct the empirical investigation. We find that on average, the sector is confronting productivity deterioration which is mainly due to the technical inefficiency. The Office Equipments industry has the highest productivity gain in our sample at the rate of, on average, 3.7% per year and all of which is caused by technical change. Furthermore, the electronic components industry is found to be the most efficient industry in the sector that drives an industry to have productivity progress on average, of 1.7% per year over the study period. At last, Tobit results indicate that spillovers through FDI and technology import are having significant and positive effect on the productivity progress. |
| Keywords: | Productivity Growth;DEA;Tobit Model |
| JEL: | C34 C61 D24 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:46589&r=ino |
| By: | Jonathan Chiu; Cesaire Meh; Randall Wright |
| Abstract: | The generation and implementation of ideas, or knowledge, is crucial for economic performance. We study this process in a model of endogenous growth with frictions. Productivity increases with knowledge, which advances via innovation, and with the exchange of ideas from those who generate them to those best able to implement them (technology transfer). But frictions in this market—including search, bargaining, and commitment problems—impede exchange and thus slow growth. We characterize optimal policies to subsidize research and trade in ideas, given both knowledge and search externalities. We discuss the roles of liquidity and financial institutions, and show two ways in which intermediation can enhance efficiency and innovation. First, intermediation allows us to finance more transactions with fewer assets. Second, it ameliorates certain bargaining problems, by allowing entrepreneurs to undo otherwise sunk investments in liquidity. We also discuss some evidence suggesting that technology transfer is a significant source of innovation and showing how it is affected by credit considerations. |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedacq:2013-01&r=ino |
| By: | Elvira Périac (CGS - Centre de Gestion Scientifique - MINES ParisTech - École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris); Sébastien Gand (CGS - Centre de Gestion Scientifique - MINES ParisTech - École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris); Jean-Claude Sardas (CGS - Centre de Gestion Scientifique - MINES ParisTech - École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris) |
| Abstract: | Among researches on knowledge issues in M&As, there has been a stream underlining the importance of knowledge integration process (i.e process of transfer or combination - within or between firms -, resulting in the production of a new/renewed form of knowledge) in post merger phases. In these researches, Knowledge integration appears as a key issue for the success of M&As. Our paper aims at contributing to understand knowledge integration processes in M&As, and more precisely, the way specific individual roles intervene in these processes: their action, their abilities and their specificities. Based on an empirical study of a merger between 3 French public administrations, we propose a framework to analyze individual roles in knowledge integration processes in M&As. Based on the concept of Knowledge Broker, we specify the existing view by proposing two sub-categories of individual roles: first, Knowledge Mediators who achieve knowledge integration both by mediating knowledge between actors to lead them to produce new/renewed knowledge and by producing a new/renewed knowledge themselves; second, Knowledge Developers who achieve knowledge integration by combining themselves several areas of knowledge to produce a new/renewed knowledge out of any action of mediation between actors or specific position in a network. Such a framework contributes to a better understanding of two issues for knowledge integration in M&As literature: the importance of the human factor and the diversity of the mechanisms to achieve knowledge integration. |
| Keywords: | Merger, Knowledge integration, knowledge broker, public administration |
| Date: | 2012–07–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00818093&r=ino |
| By: | Ernest Miguelez (World Intellectual Property Organization, Economics and Statistics Division, Geneva, Switzerland) |
| Abstract: | The goal of this paper is to assess the influence of spatial mobility of knowledge workers on the formation of ties of scientific and industrial collaboration across European regions. Co-location has been traditionally invoked to ease formal collaboration between individuals and firms, since tie formation costs increase with physical distance between partners. In some instances, highly-skilled actors might become mobile and bridge regional networks across separate locations. This paper estimates a fixed effects logit model to ascertain precisely whether there exists a ‘previous co-location premium’ in the formation of networks across European regions. |
| Keywords: | inventors’ mobility, technological collaborations, co-location, European regions, panel data |
| JEL: | C8 J61 O31 O33 R0 |
| Date: | 2013–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wip:wpaper:7&r=ino |
| By: | Gilad Sorek |
| Abstract: | The direct medical costs associated with obesity, smoking, and other non-healthy habits are estimated to account for more than 20% of U.S. health spending. Hence, poor health choices induce significant aggregate shift in spending away from treating competing?non preventable?medical risks and from nonmedical consumption. Such a shift in spending distorts relative incentives to innovate in different sectors, through market-size effect. As consumers fail to internalize these aggregate-level externalities, private-prevention is generally inefficient. We show that private prevention is insufficient compared with social optimum, unless technological opportunities to develop cures for preventable diseases are sufficiently superior. Furthermore, under multiple preventable-risks, prevention efforts are biased in favor of the risk with higher potential for curing advances. |
| Keywords: | Self-Protection; Efficient Prevention; Medical Innovation |
| Date: | 2013–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:abn:wpaper:auwp2013-07&r=ino |