|
on Innovation |
| By: | Buzard, Kristy (Syracuse University); Carlino, Gerald A. (Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia); Hunt, Robert M. (Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia); Carr, Jake (The Ohio State University); Smith, Tony E. (University of Pennsylvania) |
| Abstract: | Patent citations are a commonly used indicator of knowledge spillovers among inventors, while clusters of research and development labs are locations in which knowledge spillovers are particularly likely to occur. In this paper, we assign patents and citations to newly defined clusters of American R&D labs to capture the geographic extent of knowledge spillovers. Our tests show that the localization of knowledge spillovers, as measured via patent citations, is strongest at small spatial scales and diminishes rapidly with distance. On average, patents within a cluster are about three to six times more likely to cite an inventor in the same cluster than one in a control group. At the same time, the strength of knowledge spillovers varies widely between clusters. The results are robust to the specification of patent technological categories, the method of citation matching and alternate cluster definitions. |
| Keywords: | spatial clustering; geographic concentration; R&D labs; localized knowledge spillovers; patent citations |
| JEL: | O31 R12 |
| Date: | 2017–10–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedpwp:17-32&r=ino |
| By: | Taro Daiko (OECD); Hélène Dernis (OECD); Mafini Dosso (European Commission - JRC); Petros Gkotsis (European Commission - JRC); Mariagrazia Squicciarini (OECD); Alexander Tuebke (European Commission - JRC); Antonio Vezzani (European Commission - JRC) |
| Abstract: | The speed, scale and scope of the digital transformation and the widespread use of digital technologies in most aspects of our daily lives are changing the way we work, innovate, produce, interact and live. Knowledge flows almost instantaneously and digitalised information can be infinitely replicated, making the exploitation of knowledge a key factor for competitiveness. At the same time, changes at the local level may have global implications and innovation ecosystems become more and more global. These dynamics challenge policy making, and call for understanding the drivers of change, detecting trends in a timely fashion, and acting in a coordinated manner. The internet of things, digital manufacturing and 3D printing, industry 4.0 and big data are all components and drivers of the digital transformation, but the ways in which this new technological revolution will transform industries, countries and societies remain difficult to fully anticipate. As we become increasingly aware of the opportunities and the challenges of the digital economy, we also need to better understand how these technologies are forged and to identify the key players in such changes. The original data and statistics on the innovation output of the world's top corporate R&D investors presented in this report and its focus on digital technologies represent an important step towards this direction. It results from a long-term collaboration between the European Commission's Joint Research Centre and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and their joint efforts to provide up-to-date comparable data and state-of-the-art indicators and analysis. This report is directed at a number of stakeholders, including policy makers, industry representatives, practitioners and the scientific community. By exploiting information on patents, trademarks and designs, this work sheds light on the top R&D investors worldwide in the digital economy, their innovative and creative activities and their branding strategies. It is accompanied by a publicly available database that can be used for further analysis in support of evidence-based policy making. |
| Keywords: | Patent, Trademark, Design, Digital, IP bundle, Scoreboard, Top corporate R&D investors, Industrial |
| Date: | 2017–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc107015&r=ino |
| By: | Dawid, Herbert (Bielefeld University); Pellegrino, Gabriele (Ecole polytechnique federale de Lausanne); Vivarelli, Marco (UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University, IZA, Bonn, and Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Institute of Economic Policy, Milano) |
| Abstract: | While the extant innovation literature has provided extensive evidence of the so-called "demand-pull" effect, the possible diverse impact of demand evolution on product vs process innovation activities has not been yet investigated. This paper develops a formal model predicting a larger inducing impact of past sales in fostering product rather than process innovation. This prediction is then tested through a dynamic microeconometric model, controlling for R&D persistence, sample selection, observed and unobservable individual firm effects and time and sectoral peculiarities. Results are consistent with the model and suggest that an expansionary economic policy may benefit the diffusion of new products or even the emergence of entire new sectors. |
| Keywords: | technological change, R&D, demand-pull innovation, dynamic two tobit |
| JEL: | O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2017–09–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2017035&r=ino |
| By: | Asongu, Simplice; Biekpe, Nicholas |
| Abstract: | This study assesses how knowledge diffusion modulates the effect of the mobile phone on entrepreneurship in Sub-Saharan Africa with data for the period 2000-2012.The empirical evidence is based on interactive Generalised Method of Moments in which mobile phones are interacted with three knowledge diffusion variables, namely: education, internet penetration and scientific output. Ten variables of entrepreneurship are used. The following three main findings are established. First, the net effects from interacting mobile phones with the internet and scientific publications are negative whereas the corresponding net impact from the interaction between mobile phones and education is positive on the cost of doing business. Second, the mobile phone interacts with education (the internet) to have a positive (negative) net effect on the time needed to construct a warehouse whereas, the corresponding interaction with the internet yields a net negative effect on the time to enforce a contract. Third, there is a positive net effect from the interaction of mobile phones with education on the time to start a business. Given the construction of the education variable, the positive net effects from education are consistent with corresponding negative net effects from the other knowledge diffusion variables. The main policy implication is that mobile phone innovation (by means of internet penetration, scientific output and quality education) decreases constraints of entrepreneurship. Suggestions on how to boost these knowledge diffusion channels are discussed. Other practical and theoretical implications are also covered. To the best our knowledge, this is the first inquiry to assess the relevance of mobile phone innovation in entrepreneurship in Sub-Saharan Africa. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship; the Mobile Phone; Knowledge Diffusion; Sub-Saharan Africa |
| JEL: | L59 L98 O10 O30 O55 |
| Date: | 2017–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:81703&r=ino |
| By: | Anderson, Robert D.; Kovacic, William E. |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the evolution of national competition (antitrust) policies and enforcement approaches vis-à-vis intellectual property rights (IPRs) and associated anti-competitive practices in major jurisdictions over the past several decades. It focuses especially on the underlying process of economic learning that has, the authors suggest, driven relevant policy changes. Part 2 of the paper outlines the breakthroughs in understanding that have underpinned the evolution of competition policy approaches toward intellectual property licensing arrangements in the US, Canada and the EU. Part 3 elaborates the foundational insights that have motivated competition policy interventions with respect to 'newer' issues such as anti-competitive patent settlements and hold-ups in relation to standard setting processes, in addition to the modern focus on mergers that potentially lessen incentives for innovation and on abuse of dominance/single firm exclusionary practices in IP-intensive network industries. Part 4 outlines some of the core policy concerns and insights driving the increased emphasis that leading competition authorities now devote to policy advocacy and research in relation to the scope and definition of IP rights. Overall, the analysis suggests, firstly, that competition policy applications in the intellectual property sphere are matters of fundamental importance for economic advancement and prosperity, having a direct bearing on innovation, growth and the diffusion of new technologies. Indeed, the roles of IP and competition policy are now sufficiently intertwined and interdependent that neither can be well understood or applied in an optimal fashion in the absence of the other. Secondly, the thought evolution described herein implies that successful policy applications require careful study of market structure and behaviour, not in the abstract but with reference to the particular markets affected. Thirdly, it augurs favourably for the prospects of continuing gradual and incremental convergence in national approaches in this area, even spanning developed and developing countries, on the basis of continual learning and informed self-interest. |
| Keywords: | intellectual property,patents,international trade and competition policy,antitrust,innovation,mergers,anti-competitive settlements,standards,network industries,competition advocacy |
| JEL: | K21 L4 L41 L43 O3 O34 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:wtowps:ersd201713&r=ino |
| By: | Fagerberg, Jan (TIK, University of Oslo); Lundvall, Bengt-Åke (Aalborg University); Srholec, Martin (CERGE EI) |
| Abstract: | This paper deals with the role of global value chains (GVC) and other aspects of “openness” for economic development. To analyse the issue a comprehensive framework that allows for the inclusion of a range of relevant factors including not only different form of openness, such as GVC participation, but also technological and social capabilities, is developed. The analysis is based on evidence from 125 countries, including many developing nations, over the period 1997-2013. It is shown that economic growth reflects the strength of the national innovation system and that GVC participation is not the potent driver of economic growth that tends to be assumed. |
| Keywords: | Global value chains; openness; capability; national innovation system; economic development |
| JEL: | F43 O10 O30 O40 O57 |
| Date: | 2017–10–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2017_015&r=ino |
| By: | Castellani, Davide (University of Reading); Fassio, Claudio (CIRCLE, Lund University) |
| Abstract: | This paper focuses on the determinants of export innovation, that is innovation in a firm’s export product portfolio. We argue that this novel measure is an important proxy of the overall competitiveness of exporters. We identify two main factors that contribute to the introduction of export innovations at the firm level: importing new inputs and being part of a multinational group. Based on a sample of more than 14,000 Swedish manufacturing firms over the period 2001-2012, we show that importing new inputs is a key determinant of innovation in exported products, even after controlling for multinationality and a number of other firm characteristics. The effect of new imports is particularly strong for small firms and is mainly due to the import of new intermediate inputs. Being part of a multinational group has instead an ambivalent effect on export innovations of Swedish firms: while small firms acquired by foreign MNEs show a short term reduction in export innovation, this is not true for large firms, which instead increase their export innovation when they establish subsidiaries abroad or become part of a Swedish-owned multinational group. |
| Keywords: | innovation; importing; exporting; multinational enterprises; Sweden |
| JEL: | F23 O30 |
| Date: | 2017–10–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2017_016&r=ino |
| By: | Fatime Barbara Hegyi (European Commission - JRC); Ruslan Rakhmatullin (European Commission - JRC) |
| Abstract: | This paper offers an overview of policy and economic reasons behind the launch of the new Smart Specialisation Platform for Industrial Modernisation. It is argued that modernisation of the European Industry depends upon multiple innovations across many industrial areas linked to emerging value chains. Some European regions have access to leading R&D and upstream innovation facilities; others have industrial skills needed in downstream testing and industrial upscaling. This paper looks at how the new Industrial Modernisation Platform can help European regions to create and/or join transnational networks of knowledge and expertise, and drive the development of transnational and macro-regional value chains. Cooperation and outward-looking disposition promote an understanding of the competitive position of the country/region with regard to others, and with respect to global value chains. The paper summarises the progress made since the formal launch of the new platform in June 2016 and offers an overview of the existing partnerships that are currently supported by the platform. |
| Keywords: | Regional innovation policy, smart specialisation, industrial policy, trans-regional cooperation, Thematic Smart Specialisation Platform on Industrial Modernisation |
| Date: | 2017–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc108028&r=ino |
| By: | Iizuka, Michiko (UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University); Hollanders, Hugo (UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University) |
| Abstract: | Innovation is becoming more and more important as a driver of economic growth. In developed countries, a diverse set of innovation indicators has been developed to monitor innovation performance and the impact of innovation policies. Developing countries have been late to jump on this bandwagon and are now faced with a set of well-established innovation indicators that might not be that well suited to measure innovation in their economies. Existing innovation indicators can be broadly classified into three different types: Science & Technology (S&T) indicators, Innovation survey indicators, and Composite innovation indicators combining different indicators, including S&T and Innovation survey data, into one indicator. All of these have their own particular strengths and weaknesses, and they score above or below average on a wide range of attributes considered to be favourable, if not downright necessary, for innovation indicators. This paper argues that, for innovation indicators, and for innovation survey indicators in particular, data collection has to be customised to the different socio-economic structures of developing countries. For this, the definition of innovation has to become more inclusive by recognising the multitude of innovation actors and processes in developing countries. Developing countries also need to build competence regarding innovation indicators, not only within their statistical systems but also among their policy makers. |
| Keywords: | innovation, indicators, developing countries, policy use |
| JEL: | O38 O32 O29 P47 |
| Date: | 2017–08–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2017032&r=ino |
| By: | Monica Plechero (Dept. of Management, Università Ca' Foscari Venice); Claudio Cozza (Istituto Ricerche, AREA Science Park); Raquel Ortega-Argiles (City-REDI, Birmingham Business School) |
| Abstract: | Health represents one of the thematic priorities for smart specialisation. Until now the difficulty in properly measuring research and innovation (R&I) in Health sector has represented a barrier to address specific policies in favour of less performing regions. This is due to two factors: a lack of available data particularly at regional level; and the difficulty in clearly defining the boundaries of the Health sector. Data provided by European Commission, focusing on Health as FP7 thematic priority, as well as recent data on ongoing clinical trials and Health infrastructure at regional level developed by university of Trieste allow the use of a novel regional and sectorial breakdown to deeper investigate the mechanisms supporting R&I in European Regions. The paper provides an analysis of possible determinants of EU regional Health R&I inequalities, disentangling the factors related to publications propensity from those related to patents propensity. The results show that despite one of the most relevant determinants of R&I in the Health sector remain the level of R&D expenditure, other factors such as the size or degree of Health specialisation of the region should also be taken into account. While patenting activity in this sector remains a prerogative of regions with already technological and industry capacity, publications activities result less context specific being present also in peripheral regions. Our results are in line with the new place-based smart specialisation- type policy thinking. |
| Keywords: | Health, patents, scientific publications, regions, smart specialisation, Europe |
| JEL: | O33 O34 R11 R58 |
| Date: | 2017–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vnm:wpdman:146&r=ino |
| By: | Steff De Visscher; Markus Eberhardt; Gerdie Everaert |
| Abstract: | We develop a new way to estimate cross-country production functions which allows us to parametrize unobserved non-factor inputs (total factor productivity) as a global technology process combined with country-specific time-varying absorptive capacity. The advantage of our approach is that we do not need to adopt proxies for absorptive capacity such as investments in research and development (R&D) or human capital, or specify explicit channels through which global technology can transfer to individual countries, such as trade, foreign direct investment (FDI) or migration: we provide an endogenously-created index for relative absorptive capacity which is easy to interpret and encompasses potential proxies and channels. Our implementation adopts an unobserved component model and uses a Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm to obtain posterior estimates for all model parameters. This contribution to empirical methodology allows researchers to employ widely-available data for factor inputs (capital, labor) and GDP or value-added in order to arrive at policy-relevant insights for industrial and innovation policy. Applying our methodology to a panel of 31 advanced economies we chart the dynamic evolution of global TFP and country-specific absorptive capacity and then demonstrate the lose relationship between our estimates and salient indicators of growth-enhancing economic policy. |
| Keywords: | total factor productivity, absorptive capacity, common factor model, time-varying parameters, unobserved component model, MCMC |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:not:notgep:17/11&r=ino |
| By: | Asongu, Simplice; Nwachukwu, Jacinta |
| Abstract: | This study investigates how the mobile phone can complement knowledge diffusion in order to influence CO2 emissions in 44 Sub-Saharan African countries for the period 2000-2012. The empirical evidence is based on Generalised Method of Moments. Three knowledge diffusion variables representing three of the four pillars of the World Bank’s Knowledge Economy Index are employed: educational quality, information and communication technology (ICT) and scientific output. Six CO2 emission variables are used, namely: CO2 per capita, CO2 from electricity and heat, CO2 from liquid fuel, CO2 from manufacturing and construction, CO2 from transport and CO2 intensity. In the assessments, a decreasing tendency in these variables translates into positive conditions for environmental sustainability. Based on net effect from complementarities, the following findings are established. First, the mobile phone complements education to have a net negative effect on CO2 emissions per capita and CO2 emissions from the consumption of liquid fuel. Second, where some positive net effects of knowledge diffusion are apparent, corresponding marginal effects are negative. Corresponding mobile phone penetration thresholds at which the positive net effects on CO2 emissions can be dampened and reversed are largely within policy range. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed. |
| Keywords: | CO2 emissions; ICT; Economic development; Africa |
| JEL: | C52 O38 O40 O55 P37 |
| Date: | 2017–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:81705&r=ino |
| By: | Anna Comacchio (Dept. of Management, Università Ca' Foscari Venice); Elena Bruni (Dept. of Management, Università Ca' Foscari Venice) |
| Abstract: | Design thinking has been a growing topic over the past years in management literature. The novelty brought by this approach to managing innovation processes is not simply due to an enriched set of phases and principles, but it rests on the way innovation opportunities are framed through design. We suggest that the design thinking approach helps to deal with an inner and deeper level of each innovation process, that is the conceptual one. Counterintuitively, we argue, that this process of conceptual innovation starts much earlier than the Òconcept generation phaseÓ already enucleated within the design thinking process. Drawing on most recent contributions on the cognitive nature of innovation processes, the paper aims at investigating the conceptual innovation mechanisms that are at play in design thinking dynamics. Through a multiple case study of three iconic design innovations in Italy, that revolutionized the way a scooter, a moka or a shop was conceived, and gave rise to a new generation of products and concept shops, we have identified the three phases of the design thinking in each innovation process and detected the mechanisms of conceptual innovation operating in each of them. |
| Keywords: | design thinking, conceptual combination, innovation |
| JEL: | M13 |
| Date: | 2017–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vnm:wpdman:147&r=ino |
| By: | Parantap Basu (Durham University Business School, Durham University, Durham, UK); Yoseph Getachew (Department of Economics, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa) |
| Abstract: | Using a heterogenous-agent growth model with in-house R&D and incomplete capital markets, we examine the efficiency and distributional effects of alternative public R&D policies that target high-tech and low-tech sectors. We find that such policies have important implication for efficiency, inequality and social mobility. A regressive public R&D investment financed by income tax could boost growth and welfare via a positive effect on individual savings and effort. However, it could also discourage them via its effect on the efficiency-inequality trade off. The relationship between public R&D spending and welfare is therefore hump shaped admitting an optimal degree of regressivity in public R&D spending. A case for optimal progressive public R&D investment, however, can be made with a properly designed R&D policy that combines consumption tax and investment subsidy policies. |
| Keywords: | Public R&D investment, inequality dynamics, social mobility, growth, welfare |
| JEL: | D31 E13 H4 O41 |
| Date: | 2017–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pre:wpaper:201768&r=ino |
| By: | Pietro Moncada-Paterno-Castello (European Commission - JRC); Nicola Grassano (European Commission - JRC); Antonio Vezzani (European Commission - JRC) |
| Abstract: | The document provides background information of the content of the 6th European Conference on Corporate R&D (CONCORDi 2017. Seville, 27-29 September 2017). After a short introduction, the challenges that the EU is expected to face over the coming decades are proposed, considering the thematic focus of the selected papers. Then the contents of the papers' contribution are presented. Finally, the key subjects of the contribution by the invited speakers and the policy-stakeholders panellists are introduced. |
| Keywords: | corporate, R&D, innovation monitoring, analysis, industrial, research |
| Date: | 2017–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc107903&r=ino |
| By: | Andreas Reinstaller (WIFO); Peter Reschenhofer (WIFO) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines whether PageRank algorithms are a valid instrument for the analysis of technical progress in specific technological fields by means of patent citation data. It provides evidence for patent data in biotechnology. Recent literature has been critical with regard to the use of PageRank for the analysis of scientific citation networks. The results reported in this paper indicate, however, that with some minor adaptations and careful interpretation of the results the algorithm can be used to capture some important stylised facts of technical progress and the importance of single patents relatively well especially if compared to indicators based on direct inward citations only. |
| Keywords: | patent citations, technological progress, PageRank algorithm, biotechnology |
| Date: | 2017–10–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wfo:wpaper:y:2017:i:543&r=ino |
| By: | Hottenrott, Hanna; Demeulemeester, Sarah |
| Abstract: | Information asymmetry and outcome uncertainty increase the cost of debt for R&D. This study shows that recipients of public R&D grants face lower costs of debt. Immediate effects suggest that quality certification explains this observation. For younger ventures certification is accompanied by liquidity effects. Short-term effects stem from grants for research. In addition, longer-term liquidity effects point to grants facilitating young firms’ investments in R&D that advance project maturity. |
| JEL: | O31 O38 L26 G30 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc17:168093&r=ino |
| By: | Dawid, Herbert; Hellmann, Tim |
| Abstract: | We study investments in R&D and the formation of R&D clusters of firms which are competitors in the market. Firms first decide on long-term R&D investment, then form research clusters according to the unanimity game, and finally compete in quantities. Equilibria with no-investment might co-exist with equilibria where a large fraction of firms invest in R&D. Firms tend to over-invest compared to a scenario where research clusters are ex-ante fixed and also compared to the welfare optimum. |
| JEL: | C71 C72 L13 O30 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc17:168233&r=ino |
| By: | Simplice Asongu (Yaoundé/Cameroun) |
| Abstract: | The study investigates how education, scientific output and the internet complement mobile phone penetration to affect technology commodity exports in Sub-Saharan Africa for the period 2000-2012. The empirical evidence is based on Generalised Method of Moments. The following main findings are established. First, the internet complements the mobile phone to boost technology goods exports. Second, the internet also complements the mobile phone to boost technology service exports. Third, positive marginal effects are apparent in the roles of educational quality and scientific output on technology goods exports and technology service exports respectively while negative marginal impacts are apparent in the roles of scientific output and educational quality on technology goods exports and technology service exports respectively. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed. |
| Keywords: | Technology exports; Knowledge Economy; Development; Africa |
| JEL: | L59 L98 O10 O30 O55 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:agd:wpaper:17/042&r=ino |
| By: | Anne Rainville (Management Consultant, Vtrek BV, The Netherlands and Research Fellow, Maastricht School of Management, the Netherlands); Ramona Apostol (Senior Legal Advisor, Corvers Procurement Services, the Netherlands and Research Fellow, Maastricht School of Management, the Netherlands) |
| Abstract: | Since 2000, the European Union (EU) has promoted innovation procurement to improve public services while supporting economic growth. Despite these potential benefits, it has become evident that procurers are not participating in innovation procurement to the extent expected – both for pre-commercial procurement (PCP), and the public procurement of innovative solutions (PPI). Key barriers are a lack of incentive and a high risk-aversion on behalf of procurers. In this paper, we introduce a business case methodology for innovation procurement that can help to overcome these barriers by capturing project value and providing justification for project approval. We describe how to construct a business case for PCP or PPI across six steps: 1) needs identification and assessment; 2) prior art analysis and intellectual property rights (IPR) search; 3) analysis of the standards’ landscape; 4) preliminary estimates; 5) open market consultation; and 6) detailed economic calculations. Using case studies from Transport for London and the Lombardy Region of Italy, we apply elements of this methodology to show how it can be applied in practice. The methodology can be directly applied by public procurement practitioners during the preparatory phase, and provides valuable insight for policy makers into decision parameters for innovation procurement. Through multidisciplinary research, it furthers academic discussion of technical and economic evaluation of demand-side mechanisms. Further elaboration of the business case methodology is required for its extension to tender design and project management, as is investigation into its congruence with the new innovation partnership mechanism introduced in 2014. |
| Date: | 2017–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:msm:wpaper:2017/2&r=ino |
| By: | OA Carboni; G. Medda |
| Abstract: | It is widely recognized that innovative firms have an advantage in terms of competitiveness which allow them to successfully operate in global markets. Coincidently, entering and surviving in global markets require additional tangible assets aimed at the expansion of production capacity. This work investigates innovation activities and tangible investments as factors enhancing exporting propensities and performances by the firms. Particularly emphasis is given to product innovation, as it is directly related to the penetration of foreign markets. More in detail, we empirically study a) the relationship between product innovation and export intensity, and b) between tangible investment and export in a large sample of European firms. The analysis controls for internal and external structural characteristics, taking into account that innovative activities, resources devoted to the accumulation of tangible assets, and export intensity are simultaneously determined. The results suggest that both product innovation and tangible investment have a positive and significant impact on the export intensity of firms. |
| Keywords: | r&d;innovation;tangible investment;export;simultaneous equations |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cns:cnscwp:201708&r=ino |
| By: | Gustavsson Tingvall, Patrik (The Ratio Institute); Videnord, Josefin (The Ratio Institite) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores regional variation in the effects of publicly sponsored R&D grants on SME performance. The results suggest that there is no guarantee that the grants will impact firm growth, either positive or negative. Studying the heterogeneity of the results, positive growth effects are most likely to be found for publicly sponsored R&D grants targeting SMEs located in regions abundant with skilled labor, whereas the opposite is found for SMEs located in regions with a limited supply of skilled workers. |
| Keywords: | R&D grants; SME; Economic growth; Regional growth; Selective policies |
| JEL: | H81 O18 O38 O40 R11 R58 |
| Date: | 2017–04–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ratioi:0289&r=ino |
| By: | Maria Cesira Urzi Brancati (European Commission - JRC); Csaba Kucsera (National University of Public Service, Hungary); Gianluca Misuraca (European Commission - JRC) |
| Abstract: | This issue of JRC Insights presents results from the analysis of initiatives and case studies on ICT-enabled social innovations promoting social investment in the field of Active and Healthy Ageing (AHA) conducted as part of the JRC-led IESI research, in collaboration with DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion. It highlights how over 70% of the initiatives in the field of AHA promote social investment by supporting the modernisation of social protection systems as well as by supporting investment in people throughout their lives. It also reveals that AHA initiatives are frequently characterised by radical innovation potential and higher integration at the service level, often combining funding, administrative and service delivery systems. Finally, the article illustrates how ICTs drive the organizational transformation of service delivery, by reducing overlaps and strengthening integration among service providers. In addition, they increase efficiency and reduce costs by improve targeting and personalisation of services. |
| Keywords: | active and healthy ageing, long-term care, social care, ICT-enabled social innovation |
| JEL: | I10 L31 L32 |
| Date: | 2017–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc107828&r=ino |
| By: | Barany, Zsofia L. (SciencesPo Paris); Siegel, Christian (University of Kent) |
| Abstract: | Occupational and sectoral labor market patterns display a significant overlap. This implies that economic models can explain these patterns to a large degree through either sector- or occupation-specific technological change, but stay silent about the level of specificity. We propose a model where technologies evolve at the sector-occupation level, allowing us to extract sector-only and occupation-only components and to quantify their importance. We find that most of productivity changes are occupation-specific, but that there is also a sizable sector component. We contrast the data and our baseline model against implications of models where technological change is restricted to be either at the sector or at the occupation level, or both. All three restricted models can replicate both sectoral and occupational outcomes very well, but occupation-specific changes are crucial for within-sector changes of occupational employment and income shares. |
| Keywords: | structural change, polarization, biased technological change |
| JEL: | O41 J24 O33 |
| Date: | 2017–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ihs:ihsesp:331&r=ino |
| By: | Alexander Konon (German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin)); Michael Fritsch (FSU Jena); Alexander Kritikos (German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin), University of Potsdam, IZA, and IAB) |
| Abstract: | We analyze whether start-up rates in different industries systematically change with business cycle variables. We mostly find correlations that are consistent with counter-cyclical influences of the business cycle on entries in both innovative and non-innovative industries. Entries into the large-scale industries, including the innovative part of the manufacturing sector, are more strongly influenced by changes in the cyclical component of unemployment, while entries into small-scale industries, like the knowledge intensive services, are merely influenced by changes in the cyclical component of GDP. Business formation may therefore have a stabilizing effect on the economy. |
| Keywords: | New business formation, Entrepreneurship, business cycle, manu- facturing, services, innovative industries |
| JEL: | L26 E32 L16 R11 |
| Date: | 2017–10–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2017-013&r=ino |
| By: | Grafström, Jonas; Söderholm, Patrik; Gawel, Erik; Lehmann, Paul; Strunz, Sebastian |
| Abstract: | Bottom-up processes of policy convergence are increasingly discussed as a substitute for the absence of supranational energy policy coordination and harmonization in the EU. The overall objective of this paper is to analyse the development of government support to renewable energy R&D across EU countries over time: does the empirical evidence suggest bottom-up convergence? In order to answer this question, we first construct country-specific R&D-based knowledge stocks, and then investigate whether the developments of these stocks tend to converge or diverge across EU countries. A data set covering 12 EU Member States over the time period 1990-2012 is employed to test for the presence of conditional â-convergence using a bias-corrected dynamic panel data estimator. The empirical results are overall robust and suggest divergence in terms of public R&D-based knowledge build-up in renewable energy technology. This finding is consistent with free-riding behavior on the part of some Member States, and the presence of industrial policy motives in other States in combination with agglomeration effects in the renewable energy sector. Energy import dependence and electricity regulation are found to influence the growth of the R&D-based knowledge stock, and the deregulation of the EU electricity markets has tended to contribute to a lower speed of divergence. |
| Keywords: | renewable energy sources,public R&D support,convergence,European Union |
| JEL: | O44 Q55 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ufzdps:52017&r=ino |
| By: | Bakker, Gerben (London School of Economics); Crafts, Nicholas (University of Warwick); Woltjer, Pieter (University of Groningen) |
| Abstract: | We develop new aggregate and sectoral Total Factor Productivity (TFP) estimates for the United States between 1899 and 1941 through better coverage of sectors and better-measured labor quality, and find TFP-growth was lower than previously thought, broadly based across sectors, and strongly variant intertemporally. We then test and reject three prominent claims. First, the 1930s did not have the highest TFP-growth of the twentieth century. Second, TFP-growth was not predominantly caused by four ‘great inventions’. Third, TFP-growth was not driven indirectly by spillovers from great inventions such as electricity. Instead, the creative-destruction-friendly American innovation system was the main productivity driver. |
| Keywords: | productivity growth; total factor productivity; great inventions; spillovers; United States — history JEL Classification: N11, N12, O47, O51. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:341&r=ino |
| By: | Koch, Michael; Smolka, Marcel |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates theoretically and empirically firm-internal skill adjustments upon acquisition by a foreign investor and adresses the following questions: i) Does a acquired firm change its demand for skill and how (via hiring or training)? ii) Why would acquired firms engage in skill upgrading? Is it driven by by a greater market scale granted by the foreign parent? iii) How do technology and skill upgrading jointly affect the productivity of acquired firms? |
| JEL: | D22 D24 F23 G34 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc17:168202&r=ino |