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on Innovation |
| By: | Mariacristina Piva (DISCE, Università Cattolica); Marco Vivarelli (DISCE, Università Cattolica - UNU-MERIT, Maastricht, The Netherlands and IZA, Bonn, Germany) |
| Abstract: | The essay deals with the complex and articulated relationship between technology and employment, offering food for thought about the effects of the current technological trajectory on qualifications and tasks. |
| Keywords: | innovation, technology, employment, skills, tasks |
| JEL: | O33 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctc:serie5:dipe0001&r=ino |
| By: | Erkki Karo; Rainer Kattel |
| Abstract: | In this paper we propose an evolutionary analytical approach to policy capacity with a specific focus on policy domains, where uncertainty and need for policy innovations, or novelty creation, is a central concern for effective policies. From an evolutionary perspective, the core elements of policy capacity are: a) organizational routines and their varieties, b) search and selection and the endogenous and exogenous sources of novelty creation, c) selection and feedback environments. We operationalize these elements and illustrate the value of the evolutionary analytical perspective through discussing the evolution of science, technology and innovation (STI) policy capacities of three Asian Tigers. |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tth:wpaper:72&r=ino |
| By: | Gordon, Robert J |
| Abstract: | U. S. economic growth slowed by more than half from 3.2 percent per year during 1970-2006 to only 1.4 percent during 2006-16, and this decline was divided equally between slower growth in hours of work and slower growth in output per hour. In explaining slower growth in hours, particular emphasis is placed on the slower secular rise of life expectancy in the U.S. compared to other developed countries. Further contributions to slowing growth are made by a decline in the population share of both legal and illegal immigration and a turnaround from rising to declining labor force participation. Causes of declining productivity growth begin with the slowdown in the rate of increase of educational attainment. Why did productivity growth decline after 2006 despite an increase in the rate at which new U.S. patents were issued in 2006-16 compared to earlier decades? Part of the slowdown is attributed to the maturity of the IT revolution, which also helps to explain the trajectory of the college wage premium. Aspects of the productivity growth slowdown include the declining productivity of research workers, diminishing returns to drug innovation, and the evolutionary rather than revolutionary impact of robots and artificial intelligence. |
| Keywords: | Economic Growth; Immigration; Innovation; labor force participation; Mortality; productivity |
| JEL: | D24 E24 |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:13039&r=ino |
| By: | Margit Kirs; Veiko Lember; Erkki Karo |
| Abstract: | Based on the case studies from the Estonian biotechnology sector, we explore the development trajectories of academic business ventures in a country where the formal and linear model of technology transfer and commercialization have been at the core of the innovation policy, but the exploitation and diffusion of knowledge generated through formal university-industry linkages has remained limited. We show that even in the area of biotechnology, where one could expect this model of technology transfer to be most visible, the model is not functioning in practice and the policy has had limited impact. The more systemic evolutionary approach to innovation and knowledge diffusion seems to better grasp the contextual aspects of technology transfer in catching-up context, while also providing more informative input for policy-making. |
| Date: | 2017–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tth:wpaper:79&r=ino |
| By: | Wen, Pei-Chang; Chen, Shin-Horng |
| Abstract: | Although Taiwan made its well-respected economic achievements at the catch-up period, the country is in transition to innovation-driven economic upgrading, which is recently being promoted by a strategic policy package of so-called the Industrial Transformation Program, focusing on 5+N innovative industries. Unlike the previous focus on modularized intermediate goods in the industrialization stage, the new policy package calls for innovation with strong flavor of cross-fertilization, solution-orientation, software and hardware integration. A key issue of this paper is how a latecomer like Taiwan may innovate in a post catch-up manner, which requires a latecomer country to establish new technological trajectories for innovation in a changing competitive environment where scarce opportunity for imitation is present. The paper sets out to examine the ways in which how Taiwanese firms approach or harness IoT innovations, especially via applications at the social sphere. It seems to present more challenges than IoT applications inside the firm (for example Industry 4.0) for the reason that IoT applications at social sphere are related to the aspects of behavior and social interfaces of the broadly-defined customer space.As a result, for innovators in Taiwan, they need to address the social interface involved in an appropriate manner. In many cases, they also need compound innovations, especially in conjunction with business models, not just technological innovation alone. Therefore, innovators in Taiwan have to change the way in which they innovate and interact with the changing innovation ecosystems. Especially in the emerging innovative sectors as 5+N innovative industries targeted by the government, the evolving innovation ecosystems are intrinsically international. Based on two intensive case studies, we would like to draw some lessons learned in Taiwan, which may enrich our understanding of factors underlying industrial innovations in the era of the digital economy, especially for latecomer countries in transition. |
| Keywords: | IoT innovation, application at the social sphere, post catch-up, case study, O00, O14, O25, O30 |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:agi:wpaper:00000145&r=ino |
| By: | Galasso, Alberto; Luo, Hong |
| Abstract: | Liability laws designed to compensate for harms caused by defective products may also affect innovation incentives. This paper examines this issue, exploiting a major quasi-exogenous increase in liability risk faced by US suppliers of polymers used to manufacture medical devices implanted in human bodies. Difference-in-differences analyses suggest that the surge in liability risk had a large and negative impact on downstream innovation in medical implants but no significant effect on upstream polymer patenting. These findings show how tort laws may affect the development of new technologies and how liability risk may percolate through an industry's vertical chain. |
| Keywords: | Innovation; medical devices; product liability; tort; vertical foreclosure |
| JEL: | K13 O31 O32 O34 |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:13036&r=ino |
| By: | Federico Diez; Daniel Leigh; Suchanan Tambunlertchai |
| Abstract: | We estimate the evolution of markups of publicly traded firms in 74 economies from 1980-2016. In advanced economies, markups have increased by an average of 39 percent since 1980. The increase is broad-based across industries and countries, and driven by the highest markup firms in each economic sector. For emerging markets and developing economies, there is less evidence of a rise in markups. We find a positive relation between firm markups and other indicators of market power, such as profits or industry concentration. Focusing on advanced economies, we investigate the relation between markups and investment, innovation, and the labor share at the firm level. We find evidence of a non-monotonic relation, with higher markups being correlated initially with increasing and then with decreasing investment and innovation rates. This non-monotonicity is more pronounced for firms that are closer to the technological frontier. More concentrated industries also feature a more negative relation between markups and investment and innovation. The association between markups and the labor share is generally negative. |
| Date: | 2018–06–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:18/137&r=ino |
| By: | Kabiraj, Abhishek; Kabiraj, Tarun |
| Abstract: | This paper seeks to examine, in the context of Marjit (1991, Eco. Lett.) and Mukherjee and Marjit (2004, Gr. Dec. Nego.) models, the effect on the choice of R&D organization if the number of research lab is chosen by the firms optimally under R&D cooperation. Given the optimal form of R&D cooperation, the paper further studies the effect of introducing fee licensing under non-cooperative R&D. We show that our results substantially differ from those in the existing literature. The R&D cost, the success probability, and the size of innovation, all these play a crucial role. |
| Keywords: | R&D organization; Cooperative and non-cooperative research; Technology licensing; Cournot competition |
| JEL: | D43 L13 O32 |
| Date: | 2018–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:87503&r=ino |
| By: | Stefano Breschi; Francesco Lissoni; Ernest Miguelez |
| Abstract: | Based on an original dataset linking patent data and biographical information for a large sample of US immigrant inventors with Indian names and surnames, specialized in ICT technologies, we investigate the rate and determinants of return migration. For each individual in the dataset, we both estimate the year of entry in the United States, the likely entry channel (work or education), and the permanence spell up to either the return to India or right truncation. By means of survival analysis, we then provide exploratory estimates of the probability of return migration as a function of the conditions at migration (age, education, patenting record, migration motives, and migration cohort) as well as of some activities undertaken while abroad (education and patenting). We find both evidence of negative self-selection with respect to educational achievements in the US and of positive self-selection with respect to patenting propensity. Based on the analysis of time-dependence of the return hazard ratios, return work migrants appear to be negatively self-selected with respect to unobservable skills acquired abroad, while evidence for education migrants is less conclusive. |
| JEL: | F22 O15 O31 |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24809&r=ino |
| By: | Jakob B. Madsen; Antonio Minniti; Francesco Venturini |
| Abstract: | This paper extends Piketty’s analysis of the wealth-income ratio used as a proxy for wealth inequality, to allow for innovation. Drawing on a Schumpeterian (R&D-based) growth model that incorporates both tangible and intangible capital and using historical data for 21 OECD countries, we find the wealth-income ratio to be significantly and positively related to R&D intensity and the fixed capital investment ratio, but negatively related to income growth. Accounting for the innovation-induced counteracting growth-effect on the wealth-income ratio, we show that the net effect of R&D on wealth inequality is positive. |
| Keywords: | Wealth-income Ratio, Piketty's Second Law, Schumpeterian Growth. |
| JEL: | D30 E10 E20 O30 O40 |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:een:camaaa:2018-35&r=ino |
| By: | ONISHI Koichiro; YAMAUCHI Isamu |
| Abstract: | Although computer software has been protected by both patent rights and copyrights, the mixed effects of these two intellectual property rights have not been relatively explored. In this study, we examine the signaling value of patenting and copyright protection in software technology on receiving venture capital (VC) financing using notable Japanese software SMEs data. We find that both obtaining software patents and copyright registrations accelerate the VC financing for smaller firms. We also find that possessing both intellectual property rights have a significantly negative impact on the finance of VC. The results show that software patents and copyright registrations are largely substitutes in terms of signaling. |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:18036&r=ino |
| By: | Øivind Anti Nilsen; Arvid Raknerud; Diana-Cristina Iancu |
| Abstract: | We analyse all the major sources of direct and indirect R&D subsidies in Norway in the period 2002-2013 and compare their effects on individual firms’ performance. Firms that received support are matched with a control group of firms that did not receive support using a combination of stratification and propensity score matching. Changes in performance indicators before and after support in the treatment group are compared with contemporaneous changes in the control group. We find that the average effects of R&D support among those who obtained grants and/or subsidies are positive and significant in terms of performance indicators related to economic growth: value added, sales revenue and number of employees. The estimated effects are larger for start-up firms than incumbent firms when the effects are measured as relative effects (in percentage points), but smaller when these effects are translated into level effects. Finally, we do not find positive effects on return to total assets or productivity for firms who received support compared with the control group. |
| Keywords: | public policy, firm performance, treatment effects, stratification, propensity score matching, productivity |
| JEL: | C33 C52 D24 O38 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7131&r=ino |
| By: | Antonin Bergeaud; Yoann Potiron; Juste Raimbault |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we extend some usual techniques of classification resulting from a largescale data-mining and network approach. This new technology, which in particular is designed to be suitable to big data, is used to construct an open consolidated database from raw data on 4 million patents taken from the US patent office from 1976 onward. To build the pattern network, not only do we look at each patent title, but we also examine their full abstract and extract the relevant keywords accordingly. We refer to this classification as semantic approach in contrast with the more common technological approach which consists in taking the topology when considering US Patent office technological classes. Moreover, we document that both approaches have highly different topological measures and strong statistical evidence that they feature a different model. This suggests that our method is a useful tool to extract endogenous information. |
| Keywords: | Patents, Semantic Analysis, Network, Modularity, Innovation, USPTO |
| JEL: | O3 O39 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bfr:banfra:685&r=ino |
| By: | WADA Tetsuo |
| Abstract: | This paper compares X/Y patent citations (i.e., those cited as grounds for rejections) between major patent offices. It reveals discrepancies between the offices, despite the common patentability criteria of novelty and inventive steps to generate citations. This paper also examines how the discrepancies of X/Y patent citations at the European Patent Office (EPO) and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) relate to the characteristics of applications and longitudinal aspects of office actions. X/Y patent citations of both the EPO and USPTO commonly show that the range of patent application classes is positively correlated with divergent reasons for refusal. One novel methodological feature of this paper is that examiner citations across jurisdictions are comparable if we employ family-to-family citations and common criteria for the X/Y citation category. Furthermore, unlike the normal citation-generating process where a citing document adds citations to prior art only once, this paper represents the first attempt to analyze a citation network with multiple citing opportunities for separate parties, thereby providing a new perspective on the notion of breadth in citation impact. |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:18046&r=ino |
| By: | Batabyal, Amitrajeet; Kourtit, Karima; Nijkamp, Peter |
| Abstract: | We analyze the growth effects over space arising from the adoption of new agricultural technology in a rural-urban setting. We use a dynamic model to study the impacts of technology and learning on the steady state growth rates of rural and urban regions that produce agricultural goods. New applications of agricultural technologies are tested and adopted in the rural region and they are gradually learned by the urban region. Our analysis leads to four results. First, we determine the steady state growth rate of agricultural output per worker in the rural region. Second, we define an urban to rural region agricultural technology knowledge ratio, analyze its stability properties, and then use this ratio to compute the steady state growth rate of agricultural output per worker in the urban region. Third, for specific parameter values, we study the ratio of agricultural output per worker in the urban to the rural region when both regions have converged to their balanced growth paths. Finally, we discuss the policy implications of our analysis. |
| Keywords: | Economic Growth, Learning, Rural Region, Technology, Urban Region |
| JEL: | O18 Q16 R11 |
| Date: | 2018–01–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:87607&r=ino |
| By: | Veiko Lember; Rainer Kattel; Piret Tõnurist |
| Abstract: | Technology is clearly a critical factor in the lives of organizations, yet there are only few studies that deal with technology and public organizations. In this paper we propose to understand technological change in public sector, in particular how technology influences administrative capacity, through the new concept of technological capacity. We use the case of Estonia – internationally associated with a strong e-state profile – as an exploratory case to answer two research questions: how does technological change influence administrative capacity in public organizations, and why and how does technological change take place in the public sector. By conducting document analysis and a series of interviews with public sector representatives, we demonstrate how dynamic and static change in technological capacities is influenced by four different public-sector feedback and selection mechanisms. Organizations with dynamic technological capacities solve the ambidexterity dilemma in the public sector: they introduce radical new technological solutions while they keep providing services required by laws and regulations. We conclude that in spite of the neglected position of technology in public administration literature, technology is an intrinsic factor in how administrative capacity evolves. |
| Date: | 2016–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tth:wpaper:71&r=ino |
| By: | G. Marletto; C. Sillig |
| Abstract: | Grassroots innovations provide a significant contribution to sustainability transitions. They differ from other innovations as they originate in civil society and are mostly inspired by ideological values. While there is extensive literature on the embeddedness of grassroots innovations at the local scale, there is a lack of systematic analysis in the most prominent processes at supra-local and global scale, including mainstreaming. The mainstreaming of grassroots innovations is often characterized by ideological conflicts between (both grassroots and non-grassroots) actors that can give rise to multiple pathways, corresponding to different interpretations and divergent practices of the same grassroots innovation. This paper investigates two issues that are not considered by the relevant literature - 1) the factors underlying the generation of multiple pathways of the same grassroots innovation; 2) the relationship between the dynamics of each pathway and its outcome. Six agrifood and urban mobility grassroots innovations are considered - Fair Trade, Organic, Veganism, Carsharing, Cycling, Shared Space; their analysis is carried out through longitudinal global scale case studies. The comparison between the case studies put in evidence some recurrent patterns between the dynamics and outcome of grassroots innovation pathways. In particular, the presence of bifurcations resulting in multiple pathways is systematic and is always linked to mainstreaming. In terms of outcomes, a trade-off is observed between the congruence with original values (usually high in non-mainstreaming pathways and low in mainstreaming pathways) and the level of empowerment (usually low in non-mainstreaming pathways and medium-high in mainstreaming pathways). Compared to Big Firms, the involvement of institutions into mainstreaming results in less pronounced trade-offs and greater empowerment. |
| Keywords: | grassroots innovation;mainstreaming; agrifood;urban mobility |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cns:cnscwp:201808&r=ino |
| By: | Dan Andrews; Giuseppe Nicoletti; Christina Timiliotis |
| Abstract: | Insufficient diffusion of new technologies has been quoted as one possible reason for weak productivity performance over the past two decades (Andrews et al., 2016). This paper uses a novel data set of digital technology usage covering 25 industries in 25 European countries over the 2010-16 period to explore the drivers of digital adoption across two broad sets of digital technologies by firms, cloud computing and back or front office integration. The focus is on structural and policy factors affecting firms’ capabilities and incentives to adopt -- including the availability of enabling infrastructures (such as high-speed broadband internet), managerial quality and workers skills, and product, labour and financial market settings. We identify the effects of structural and policy factors based on the difference-in-difference approach pioneered by Rajan and Zingales (1998) and show that a number of these factors are statistically and economically significant for technology adoption. Specifically, we find strong support for the hypothesis that low managerial quality, lack of ICT skills and poor matching of workers to jobs curb digital technology adoption and hence the rate of diffusion. Similarly our evidence suggests that policies affecting market incentives are important for adoption, especially those relevant for market access, competition and efficient reallocation of labour and capital. Finally, we show that there are important complementarities between the two sets of factors, with market incentives reinforcing the positive effects of enhancements in firm capabilities on adoption of digital technologies |
| Keywords: | diffusion, digital skills, Digital technologies, productivity |
| JEL: | D24 J24 O32 O33 |
| Date: | 2018–07–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1476-en&r=ino |
| By: | Michael Webb; Nick Short; Nicholas Bloom; Josh Lerner |
| Abstract: | Patenting in software, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence has grown rapidly in recent years. Such patents are acquired primarily by large US technology firms such as IBM, Microsoft, Google, and HP, as well as by Japanese multinationals such as Sony, Canon, and Fujitsu. Chinese patenting in the US is small but growing rapidly, and world-leading for drone technology. Patenting in machine learning has seen exponential growth since 2010, although patenting in neural networks saw a strong burst of activity in the 1990s that has only recently been surpassed. In all technological fields, the number of patents per inventor has declined near-monotonically, except for large increases in inventor productivity in software and semiconductors in the late 1990s. In most high-tech fields, Japan is the only country outside the US with significant US patenting activity; however, whereas Japan played an important role in the burst of neural network patenting in the 1990s, it has not been involved in the current acceleration. Comparing the periods 1970-89 and 2000-15, patenting in the current period has been primarily by entrant assignees, with the exception of neural networks. |
| JEL: | L86 O34 |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24793&r=ino |
| By: | Lars Hornuf; Sabrina Jeworrek |
| Abstract: | In this study, we investigate whether and to what extent community managers in online collaborative communities can stimulate crowd activities through their engagement. Using a novel data set of 22 large online idea crowdsourcing campaigns, we find that active engagement of community managers positively affects crowd activities in an inverted Ushaped manner. Moreover, we evidence that intellectual stimulation by managers increases community participation, while individual consideration of users has no impact on user activities. Finally, the data reveal that community manager activities that require more effort, such as media file uploads instead of simple written comments, have a larger effect on crowd participation. |
| Keywords: | crowdsourcing, open innovation, crowdsourced innovation, crowdworking, ideation, managerial attention |
| JEL: | J21 J22 L86 M21 M54 O31 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7153&r=ino |
| By: | Riccardo Cappelli; Fabio Montobbio; Andrea Morrison |
| Abstract: | We investigate the impact of the 2008 crisis to study the relationship between economic and technological resilience in 248 European Union regions. For economic resilience we measure the difference between the level of unemployment rate before crisis and the level of unemployment rate at its peak after the crisis - i.e., the unemployment resistance. Using European Patent Office patents, we look at all technological crises in each region since 1978 and build a variable of technological resilience measuring the historical ability of a region to maintain its level of knowledge creation in face of adverse shocks - i.e., the technological resistance. We find that technological resistance is a good predictor of economic resistance. In particular, our results show that (1) important interaction effects exist between technological resistance and human capital, (2) technological resistance and the level of human capital are less effective in protecting female and elder adult workers in an economic crisis and (3) important country level effects are present. |
| Keywords: | Economic resilience, technological resilience, unemployment, recession, human capital |
| JEL: | R11 J64 J24 |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1831&r=ino |
| By: | Lori Beaman (Northwestern University); Ariel BenYishay (College of William and Mary); Jeremy Magruder (UC-Berkeley); Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak (Cowles Foundation, Yale University) |
| Abstract: | In order to induce farmers to adopt a productive new agricultural technology, we apply simple and complex contagion diffusion models on rich social network data from 200 villages in Malawi to identify seed farmers to target and train on the new technology. A randomized controlled trial compares these theory-driven network targeting approaches to simpler strategies that either rely on a government extension worker or an easily measurable proxy for the social network (geographic distance between households) to identify seed farmers. Our results indicate that technology diffusion is characterized by a complex contagion learning environment in which most farmers need to learn from multiple people before they adopt themselves. Network theory based targeting can out-perform traditional approaches to extension, and we identify methods to realize these gains at low cost to policymakers. |
| Date: | 2018–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cwl:cwldpp:2139&r=ino |
| By: | Francisco Serranito (CEPN - Centre d'Economie de l'Université Paris Nord - UP13 - Université Paris 13 - USPC - Université Sorbonne Paris Cité - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | This paper aims at testing the determinants of TFP in the case of a panel of African and Middle-East countries for the period 1970-2010. We get two main results. Firstly, the degree of openness of a country is the only variables that have a positive and robust effect on the TFP growth. Secondly, convergence is not an automatic phenomenon for all countries. The possibility of a convergence effect depends on the ability of countries to adopt foreign technology. The absorptive capacity depends on the stock of human capital and the degree of financial market development. |
| Keywords: | Technology gap, Catching-up, Dynamic Panel Data, GMM estimation, Middle-East and North Africa, Sub-Saharan African countries |
| Date: | 2017–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-01551076&r=ino |