nep-ino New Economics Papers
on Innovation
Issue of 2014‒02‒21
sixteen papers chosen by
Steffen Lippert
University of Otago, Dunedin

  1. The effects of production offshoring on R&D and innovation in the home country By Dachs, Bernhard; Ebersberger, Bernd; Kinkel, Steffen; Som, Oliver
  2. The patenting activity of the top IRI Scoreboard Companies: an introductory note By Antonio Vezzani; Fabio Montobbio; Sandro Montresor; Gianluca Tarasconi
  3. Innovation decision of Tunisian service firms: an empirical analysis By Hanen SDIRI; Mohamed AYADI
  4. Identifying European Poles of Excellence: The Methodology By Daniel Nepelski; Giuditta de Prato
  5. Demand-driven innovation policies in the EU By Camilla Jensen; Itzhak Goldberg
  6. An analysis of the knowledge base of Scientific Research & Development Business Services By Consoli,Davide; Elche,Dioni
  7. Access to finance, product innovation and middle-income traps By Agenor, Pierre-Richard; Canuto, Otaviano
  8. Intelligent Demand: Policy Rationale, Design and Potential Benefits By OECD
  9. Regional productivity effects of multinational firm affiliates By Andersson, Martin; Gråsjö, Urban; Karlsson, Charlie
  10. The efficiency of universities’ knowledge transfer activities: A multi-output approach beyond patenting and licensing By Federica Rossi
  11. Human capital, basic research, and applied research: Three dimensions of human knowledge and their differential growth effects By Prettner, Klaus; Werner, Katharina
  12. Net Neutrality with Competing Internet Platforms By Marc Bourreau; Frago Kourandi; Tommaso Valletti
  13. Shareconomy: Performance-oriented systems as a strategy By Schiederig, Tim; Herstatt, Cornelius
  14. Fishing for Complementarities: Competitive Research Funding and Research Productivity. By Hottenrott, Hanna; Lawson, Cornelia
  15. How Industry Inventors Collaborate with Academic Researchers: The choice between shared and unilateral governance forms. By Bodas Freitas , Isabel Maria; Geuna, Aldo; Lawson, Cornelia; Rossi, Federica
  16. Debates on the criteria of copyrightability in the Russian legal literature By Andrey V. Kashanin

  1. By: Dachs, Bernhard; Ebersberger, Bernd; Kinkel, Steffen; Som, Oliver
    Abstract: We investigate the effects of production offshoring on the innovation activities of manufacturing firms in the home country. The analysis is based on a dataset of more than 3000 manufacturing firms from seven European countries. We find that offshoring firms on average employ a higher share of R&D and design personnel, introduce new products more frequently to the market, and invest more frequently in advanced process technologies compared to non-offshoring firms. Concerns that offshoring may hurt innovation because of the lost links between production and product development are not supported by the evidence. --
    Keywords: offshoring,R&D,home country effects,investment,product innovation,process innovation
    JEL: F23 O31 O33
    Date: 2014
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fisidp:39&r=ino
  2. By: Antonio Vezzani (JRC-IPTS); Fabio Montobbio (Università degli Studi di Torino ? Dipartimento di Economia e Statistica "Cognetti de Martiis"); Sandro Montresor (University of Bologna); Gianluca Tarasconi (CRIOS - Center for Research in Innovation, Organization and Strategy, Bocconi University)
    Abstract: The present note contains an explorative and introductory analysis of the patenting activity exhibited by the top 100 companies of the IRI Scoreboard, and intends to identify strengths and weaknesses for its possible future extension to the whole Scoreboard. With respect to these companies, patent data are drawn from Patstat, on the basis of which patent families are built up, and crossed with other data on their R&D investments. Both the R&D and the patent applications of the investigated sample of companies increase over time. At the same time, important sector specificities in the R&D-patent relationship have been found. The analysis of the technological competences of the overall sample yields promising results. A first examination of the IPC classes of the patent applications suggests a certain concentration in the kind of technological knowledge that companies master. The analysis of the knowledge base and, more specifically, the companies' involvement in the creation of key enabling technologies (KETs) also highlights that important sector specificities go along with firm specific factors. All-in-all “augmenting” the Scoreboard data with company level patent information appears to be an interesting extension to be pursued.
    Keywords: patents, technological profile, KETS, R&D, IRI Scoreboard companies
    JEL: O30 O31 O32
    Date: 2014–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc86166&r=ino
  3. By: Hanen SDIRI; Mohamed AYADI
    Abstract: Innovation is widely recognized as a key driver of economic growth and competitiveness. Previous works dealing with it has specially focused on its effect on the economic performance of innovators. In this context, the literature distinguishes between four kinds of innovation: product, process, radical and incremental. Indeed, despite their importance, the innovation determinants and the innovation making-decision are less studied. Based on a sample of 108 Tunisian service firms, the purpose of this paper is to find out the way by which firms make their decision to innovate: simultaneously (one-stage model) or sequentially (twostage model). We obtain that the two-stage model has a statistically significant advantage in predicting innovation. In practice, we argue that the sequential model illustrates well the innovation making-decision procedures.
    Keywords: Innovation, Decision making, Service sector
    JEL: L80 O31 O32
    Date: 2014–02–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipg:wpaper:2014-092&r=ino
  4. By: Daniel Nepelski (European Commission – JRC - IPTS); Giuditta de Prato (European Commission – JRC - IPTS)
    Abstract: The EIPE project aims to identify ICT R&D&I-related activities which are geographically concentrated and which demonstrate high performance in ICT innovative activities: the European ICT Poles of Excellence. It also aims to help map the dynamics of ICT-related innovation and economic geography in Europe, pointing to the presence and possibly the emergence of agglomerated and globally performing ICT activities. An additional challenge of the EIPE project is that this identification process had to be based only on the analysis of quantitative data, and built on a set of relevant criteria leading to measurable indicators. The present report documents the methodologies and data sources used for this purpose.
    Keywords: ICT; information and communication technologies; innovation, R&D, ICT industry; region; Europe; Poles of Excellence; clusters; indicators; methods
    JEL: O32 O52 R12 R28
    Date: 2014–02
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc85356&r=ino
  5. By: Camilla Jensen; Itzhak Goldberg
    Abstract: The objective of the PICK-ME (Policy Incentives for Creation of Knowledge – Methods and Evidence) research project is to provide theoretical and empirical perspectives on innovation which give a greater role to the demand-side aspect of innovation. The main question is how can policy make enterprises more willing to innovate? This task is fulfilled by identifying what we consider the central or most salient aspect of a demand-side innovation-driven economy, which is the small and entrepreneurial yet fast growing and innovative firm. We use the term ?Gazelle? to signify this type of firm throughout the paper. The main concern of policy-makers should therefore be how to support Gazelle type of firms through various policies. The effectiveness of different policy instruments are considered. For example, venture capitalism is in the paper identified as an important modern institution that renders exactly the type of coordination necessary to bring about an innovation system more orientated towards the demand side. This is because experienced entrepreneurs with superior skills in terms of judging the marketability of new innovations step in as financiers. Other factor market bottlenecks on the skills side must be targeted through education policies that fosters centers of excellence. R&D incentives are also considered as a separate instrument but more a question for future research since there is no evidence available on R&D incentives as a Gazelle type of policy. Spatial policies to foster more innovation have been popular in the past. But we conclude that whereas the literature often finds that new knowledge is developed in communities of physically proximate firms, there is no overshadowing evidence showing that spatial policies in particular had any impact on generating more of the Gazelle type of firms.
    Keywords: Innovation, demand-side driven policies, Gazelles, bottlenecks in factor markets, venture capitalism, ontology of knowledge, education systems, clusters
    JEL: B52 B53 D78 D83 G24 M13 N94 O3 O43
    Date: 2014–02
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sec:cnstan:0468&r=ino
  6. By: Consoli,Davide; Elche,Dioni
    Abstract: It is argued that the literature on SR&D outsourcing focuses mostly on client firms, that is, the demand side, while little is known of the characteristics of the supplying sector. The present paper tackles this gap by elaborating an exploratory analysis of this business service sector with a view to analyse the main patterns of specialization and their evolution over time. Using data on job content and skill requirements in the United States we explore how different forms of knowledge co-exist and co-evolve within a changing sector.
    Keywords: R&D, Skills, Occupations
    JEL: O32 L84 J24
    Date: 2014–02–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ing:wpaper:201401&r=ino
  7. By: Agenor, Pierre-Richard; Canuto, Otaviano
    Abstract: This paper studies interactions between access to finance, product innovation, and labor supply in a two-period overlapping generations model with an endogenous skill distribution and credit market frictions. In the model lack of access to finance (induced by high monitoring costs) has an adverse effect on innovation activity not only directly but also indirectly, because too few individuals may choose to invest in skills. If monitoring costs fall with the number of successful projects, multiple equilibria may emerge, one of which, a middle-income trap, characterized by low wages in the design sector, a low share of the labor force engaged in innovation activity, and low growth. A sufficiently ambitious policy aimed at alleviating constraints on access to finance by innovators may allow a country to move away from such a trap by promoting the production of ideas and improving incentives to invest in skills.
    Keywords: Labor Policies,Access to Finance,Debt Markets,Economic Theory&Research,Banks&Banking Reform
    Date: 2014–02–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6767&r=ino
  8. By: OECD
    Abstract: Policy interest in demand-side initiatives has grown in recent years. This may reflect an expectation that demand-side policy could be particularly effective in steering innovation to meet societal needs. In addition, owing to constrained public finances in most OECD countries, the possibility that demand-side policies might be less expensive than direct support measures is attractive. Interest may also reflect some degree of disappointment with the outcomes of traditional supply-side measures. This paper reviews demand-side innovation policies, their rationales and importance across countries, different approaches to their design, the challenges entailed in their implementation and evaluation, and good practices. Three main forms of demand-side policy are considered: innovation-oriented public procurement, innovation-oriented regulations, and standards. Emphasis is placed on innovation-oriented public procurement.
    Date: 2014–02–14
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:stiaac:13-en&r=ino
  9. By: Andersson, Martin (CIRCLE, Lund University); Gråsjö, Urban (University West); Karlsson, Charlie (Jönköping International Business School, and Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies (CESIS))
    Abstract: Multinational firms (MNFs) have been shown to have a set of defining characteristics. Compared to domestic firms, they have a larger fraction of skilled workers, higher R&D to sales ratios and established networks to knowledge sources in several different countries. As illustrated by the so-called ‘anchor-tenant’ hypothesis, they can be described as “knowledge spillover agents”. MNF affiliates, as defined in this paper, are firms that are part of large domestic and foreign MNFs. In this paper we test whether the local presence of MNF affiliates generate spillover effects on the local industry. The empirical analysis focuses on as¬sessing whether the productivity of the regional manufacturing industry of non-affiliated firms is higher in regions with a large fraction of MNF affiliates. The analysis uses data on Swedish firms and is conducted on regional level as well as on firm level. The regressions show that local presence of MNFs in a region has a positive effect on Gross Regional Product (GRP) from non-MNFs. The paper also shows that regions where the low-productive non-MNFs are located appear to benefit the most from local presence of MNFs. The MNFs have, on the other hand, no effect on non-MNF productivity in regions where the high-productive non-MNFs are located.
    Keywords: Multinational firms; affiliates; productivity; R&D; knowledge; spillovers; skilled workers; region
    JEL: F23 J24 O33 R11
    Date: 2014–02–13
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0343&r=ino
  10. By: Federica Rossi (Birkbeck, University of London)
    Date: 2014–02
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:img:wpaper:16&r=ino
  11. By: Prettner, Klaus; Werner, Katharina
    Abstract: We analyze the differential growth effects of basic research, applied research, and embodied human capital accumulation in an R&D-based growth model with endogenous fertility and endogenous education. In line with the empirical evidence, our model allows for i) a negative association between long-run economic growth and population growth, ii) a positive association between long-run economic growth and education, and iii) a positive association between the level of per capita GDP and expenditures for basic research. Our results also indicate that raising public investments in basic research reduces the growth rate of GDP in the short run because resources have to be drawn away from other productive sectors of the economy. These short-run costs of basic research might be an explanation for the reluctance of governments to increase public R&D expenditures notwithstanding the long-run benefits of such a policy. --
    Keywords: basic vs. applied science,endogenous schooling decisions,endogenous fertility decisions,R&D-based growth,governmental research policies
    JEL: H41 J11 J24 O32 O41
    Date: 2014
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:cegedp:186&r=ino
  12. By: Marc Bourreau (Telecom ParisTech and CREST-LEI); Frago Kourandi (Athens University of Economics and Business); Tommaso Valletti (University of Rome Tor Vergata and Imperial College London)
    Abstract: We propose a two-sided model with two competing Internet platforms, and a continuum of Content Providers (CPs). We study the effect of a net neutrality regulation on capacity investments in the market for Internet access, and on innovation in the market for content. Under the alternative discriminatory regime, platforms charge a priority fee to those CPs which are willing to deliver their content on a fast lane. We find that under discrimination investments in broadband capacity and content innovation are both higher than under net neutrality. Total welfare increases, though the discriminatory regime is not always beneficial to the platforms as it can intensify competition for subscribers. As platforms have a unilateral incentive to switch to the discriminatory regime, a prisoner's dilemma can arise. We also consider the possibility of sabotage, and show that it can only emerge, with adverse welfare effects, under discrimination.
    Keywords: Net neutrality; Two-sided markets; Platform competition; Investment; Innovation.
    JEL: L13 L51 L52 L96
    Date: 2014–02–14
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rtv:ceisrp:307&r=ino
  13. By: Schiederig, Tim; Herstatt, Cornelius
    Abstract: Within this paper we examine the strategic perspective of the emerging phenomenon of performance-oriented systems (e.g. car-sharing, cloud computing). Based on twenty-seven system examples from four industries, we derive six founding propositions that delineate their strategic characteristics and identify initial enabling factors. Our research qualifies recent work on superior architectural knowledge and provides managerial guidance for system development. --
    Keywords: Strategy,Innovation Management,System Development,Architectural Knowledge
    Date: 2014
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:tuhtim:77&r=ino
  14. By: Hottenrott, Hanna; Lawson, Cornelia (University of Turin)
    Abstract: This paper empirically investigates complementarities between different sources of research funding with regard to academic publishing. We find for a sample of UK engineering academics that competitive funding is associated with an increase in ex-post publications but that industry funding decreases the marginal utility of public funding by lowering the publication and citation rate increases associated with public grants. However, when holding all other explanatory variables at their mean, the negative effect of the interaction does not translate into an effective decrease in publication and citation numbers. The paper also shows that the positive effect of public funding is driven by UK research council and charity grants and that EU funding has no significant effect on publication outcomes.
    Date: 2013–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uto:labeco:201318&r=ino
  15. By: Bodas Freitas , Isabel Maria; Geuna, Aldo; Lawson, Cornelia; Rossi, Federica (University of Turin)
    Abstract: We investigate under what circumstances firms (industry inventors) are more likely to engage in interactions where governance of the relationship is shared between the firm and the university, as opposed to interactions where the relationship is governed unilaterally by the firm. Using PIEMINV, an original dataset of European industry patents in the Italian region of Piedmont, we analyse the characteristics of inventors with diverse experience in projects involving interactions with universities, governed by institutional contracts or personal contracts. Our results suggest that reliance among inventors of the two forms of governance is almost equal, and that unilateral governance forms are preferred when there are high levels of trust among the parties based on embeddedness in local social and education networks. This is likely because it involves less cumbersome and more direct interactions. We find also that knowledge characteristics are not particularly important discriminants of the choice between governance forms: the advantage of shared governance seems to reside mainly in the possibility to mitigate monitoring and asymmetric information problems in contexts of relatively low levels of mutual knowledge and trust.
    Date: 2014–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uto:labeco:201401&r=ino
  16. By: Andrey V. Kashanin (National Research University Higher School of Economics)
    Abstract: In codifying intellectual property rights, Russian legislators have left what standards of originality and creativity can be considered criteria of copyrightability a moot point. Nevertheless, it is crucial for answering questions about where the lower boundary of copyrightability lies and, consequently, what intellectual products that have an insignificant creative component, but are of high economic importance – such as databases, computer software, advertisement slogans or design work – should be copyrightable. This article addresses the problem of identifying criteria for copyrightability and non-copyrightability in the Russian legal literature by modeling various types of demarcation criteria and analyzing their strong and weak points. Analyzing debates in the legal literature warrant the conclusion that there is a trend to set looser standards for originality and creativity and grant copyright protection to works of low authorship
    Keywords: copyright, intellectual property, intellectual rights, personal non-property rights, exclusive rights, copyrightable work, copyrightability, works of low authorship, originality, creativity.
    JEL: O34
    Date: 2014
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:32/law/2014&r=ino

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