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on Innovation |
| By: | Michael Peneder (WIFO); Mark Thompson; Martin Wörter |
| Abstract: | We test whether intellectual property rights foster or hinder innovation by estimating IV structural equations for a large sample of Swiss firms. We find that better appropriability conditions at the industry level raise the number of competitors. However, conditional on the given industry structure, individual firms face fewer competitors, if they actually use intellectual property rights. The further impact of fewer competitors is to raise R&D, when initial competition is strong, but to reduce it, when initial competition is weak ("inverted U"). |
| Keywords: | patents, innovation, competition, simultaneous system |
| Date: | 2019–03–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wfo:wpaper:y:2019:i:577&r=all |
| By: | Fitjar, Rune Dahl; Haus-Reve, Silje; Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés |
| Abstract: | Product innovation is widely thought to benefit from collaboration with both scientific and supply-chain partners. The combination of exploration and exploitation capacity, and of scientific and experience-based knowledge, are expected to yield multiplicative effects. However, the assumption that scientific and supply-chain collaboration are complementary and reinforce firm-level innovation has not been examined empirically. This paper tests this assumption on an unbalanced panel sample of 8337 firm observations in Norway, covering the period 2006â??2010. The results of the econometric analysis go against the orthodoxy. They show that Norwegian firms do not benefit from doing "more of all" on their road to innovation. While individually both scientific and supply-chain collaboration improve the chances of firm-level innovation, there is a significant negative interaction between them. This implies that scientific and supply-chain collaboration, in contrast to what has been often highlighted, are substitutes rather than complements. The results are robust to the introduction of different controls and hold for all tested innovation outcomes: product innovation, new-to-market product innovation, and share of turnover from new products. |
| Keywords: | firms; Innovation; Interaction; Norway; scientific and supply-chain collaboration |
| JEL: | O31 O32 O33 |
| Date: | 2019–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:13622&r=all |
| By: | Akçomak, Ibrahim Semih (TEKPOL, Middle East Technical University); Bürken, Serkan (TEKPOL, Middle East Technical University) |
| Abstract: | This paper argues that Turkey has fallen into a middle-technology trap on the borders of a weak innovation system (IS) and strong global value chains (GVCs). Detailed information from a primary R&D and innovation funding agency is used to show that the technological characteristics of the funded automotive R&D and innovation projects remained reasonably stable between 1995 and 2011. This result is cross-validated with two qualitative designs on beneficiary firms and automotive industry experts. The qualitative designs aided in identifying three mechanisms that explain how the Turkish automotive industry has fallen into a middle-technology trap. Analysis at the project, firm, and expert levels indicate that despite extensive upgrading and learning in manufacturing, the automotive industry has failed to build innovation capabilities. Turkey's delegated role in the automotive GVC, the joint venture (JV) structure and the lack of complementarities collectively work in creating a trap that impedes further technological development. |
| Keywords: | Middle-technology trap, automotive industry, technology, innovation, Turkey |
| JEL: | O12 O25 O33 L62 |
| Date: | 2019–03–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2019006&r=all |
| By: | Pieper, Thorsten; Herstatt, Cornelius |
| Abstract: | User innovation is a broadly discussed phenomenon in the context of open innovation which describes, for instance, the customer integration into the early phases of new product development). Despite there existing a large body of research in the field of lead users and user innovation, scientific literature provides only a few insights into how barriers are influencing user innovators and their development processes (Braun and Herstatt, 2007). In addition, there is still little research into the effects of user innovation barriers on user-generated products, and how user innovators' personal characteristics remedy or foster the effect of barriers on user-generated products along the user innovation process. Accordingly, this study contributes to lead user and user innovation theory by analyzing quantitative data from 299 respondents in the field of Fab Labs and makerspaces. An empirical model comprising user innovation barriers (technological, social, legal and ownership), user innovators' personal traits (lead userness and openness) and user innovations' product properties (perceived complexity) is analyzed by applying multivariate regression methods. Findings from the study reveal a hierarchical allocation of the barriers' impacts on the dependent variable perceived complexity, along the development stages. Barriers in user innovation processes serve as factors hindering, but also promoting, user innovation activities. It has been found, for instance, that technological barriers in the conceptualization and social barriers in the prototyping phase increase user innovations' perceived complexity. Instead, legal barriers in prototyping even decrease perceived complexity. Furthermore, an influence of openness as a direct and moderating personal trait to overcome user innovation barriers has been confirmed by this study. |
| Keywords: | Open and User Innovation,User Innovation Process,User Innovator Characteristics,Lead User Research,Collaborative Workspaces |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:tuhtim:106n&r=all |
| By: | Abrams, David; Akcigit, Ufuk; Oz, Gokhan; Pearce, Jeremy |
| Abstract: | How do non-practicing entities ("Patent Trolls") impact innovation and technological progress? Although this question has important implications for industrial policy, little direct evidence about it exists. This paper provides new theoretical and empirical evidence to fill that gap. In the process, we inform a debate that has historically portrayed non-practicing entities (NPEs) as either "benign middlemen", who help to reallocate IP to where it is most productive, or "stick-up artists", who exploit the patent system to extract rents and thereby hurt innovation. We employ unprecedented access to NPE-derived patent and financial data, as well as a novel model that guides our data analysis. We find that NPEs acquire patents from small firms and those that are more litigation-prone, as well as ones that are not core to the seller's business. When NPEs license patents, those that generate higher fees are closer to the licensee's business and more likely to be litigated. We also find that downstream innovation drops in fields where patents have been acquired by NPEs. Finally, our numerical analysis shows that the existence of NPEs encourages upstream innovation and discourages downstream innovation. The overall impact of NPEs depends on the share of patent infringements that come from non-innovating producers. Our results provide some support for both views of NPEs and suggests that a more nuanced perspective on NPEs and additional empirical work are needed to make informed policy decisions. |
| Keywords: | Innovation; Non-practicing entity; NPE; PAE; patent assertion entity; Patent litigation; patent troll |
| JEL: | O31 O34 |
| Date: | 2019–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:13620&r=all |
| By: | Isabelle Liotard (CEPN - 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); Valérie Revest (TRIANGLE - Triangle : action, discours, pensée politique et économique - ENS Lyon - École normale supérieure - Lyon - UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2 - UJM - Université Jean Monnet [Saint-Étienne] - IEP Lyon - Sciences Po Lyon - Institut d'études politiques de Lyon - Université de Lyon - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | An increase of the innovation contests and their associated prizes have been observed since the 90s especially in the US through the sponsorship of the American Federal Agencies. The purpose of this article is to shed light on some of the direct and indirect effects of US federal agency contests not only on economic dynamics but also on social dynamics. Based on recent case studies, this paper describes the various positive impacts that federal agency contests may have: i) contests may display a strong incentive effect ex-ante and during the contest; ii) they may produce favorable spillovers after the contests, at innovation and economic levels in specified economic/industry sectors and iii) they may also play a beneficial social role, contributing to citizens' education and awareness. Nevertheless, as a contest remains a sophisticated device, public decision makers must comply with certain requirements if they wish to benefit from this particular policy tool in order to spur innovation. |
| Keywords: | Contests,prizes,innovation,patents,public policy |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02067342&r=all |
| By: | Naude, Wim (UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University and MSM, and RWTH Aachen, and IZA Bonn) |
| Abstract: | After a number of AI-winters, AI is back with a boom. There are concerns that it will disrupt society. The immediate concern is whether labor can win a `race against the robots' and the longer-term concern is whether an artificial general intelligence (super-intelligence) can be controlled. This paper describes the nature and context of these concerns, reviews the current state of the empirical and theoretical literature in economics on the impact of AI on jobs and inequality, and discusses the challenge of AI arms races. It is concluded that despite the media hype neither massive jobs losses nor a `Singularity' are imminent. In part, this is because current AI, based on deep learning, is expensive and dificult for (especially small) businesses to adopt, can create new jobs, and is an unlikely route to the invention of a super-intelligence. Even though AI is unlikely to have either utopian or apocalyptic impacts, it will challenge economists in coming years. The challenges include regulation of data and algorithms; the (mis-) measurement of value added; market failures, anti-competitive behaviour and abuse of market power; surveillance, censorship, cybercrime; labor market discrimination, declining job quality; and AI in emerging economies. |
| Keywords: | Technology, artificial intelligence, productivity, labor demand, innovation, inequality |
| JEL: | O47 O33 J24 E21 E25 |
| Date: | 2019–03–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2019005&r=all |
| By: | Isabel Álvarez (Instituto Complutense de Estudios Internacionales (ICEI), Universidad Complutense de Madrid.); Cipriano Quirós (Instituto Complutense de Estudios Internacionales (ICEI), Universidad Complutense de Madrid.); Francisco J. Santos (Instituto Complutense de Estudios Internacionales (ICEI), Universidad Complutense de Madrid.) |
| Abstract: | The effects of open innovation strategies on the economic efficiency of firms is a topic often avoided, and about which little is known. This paper contributes to the exploration of that connection, revealing persistent collaboration and the embeddedness of firms within their environments to be two crucial aspects. Impacts on efficiency are conditioned by the type of external links employed, by the agents with whom a firm collaborates, and by the inherent differences between foreign and domestic firms. Findings obtained from fresh empirical evidence provided in this paper reveal that: 1) collaboration with competitors on innovation generates a direct effect on a firm’s efficiency, whether foreign or domestic; 2) only persistent and vertical linkages have a positive impact; and 3) access to complementary sources of knowledge becomes increasingly relevant to a rise in efficiency as a firm increases its embeddedness within a location, making institutional collaboration especially significant for domestic firms. |
| Keywords: | Open innovation; Collaboration; Efficiency of firms; Foreign firms; Embeddedness. |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucm:wpaper:1807&r=all |
| By: | Andrea Bellucci (European Commission - Joint Research Centre); Luca Pennacchio (Parthenope University of Naples); Alberto Zazzaro (University of Naples Federico II, CSEF and MoFiR) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the impact of public subsidies for research and development (R&D) on the debt financing of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). It examines a public program implemented in the Marche region of Italy during the period 2005–2012. The study combines matching methods with a difference-in-difference estimator to examine whether receiving public subsidies affects total indebtedness, the structure and cost of debt of awarded firms. The results indicate that R&D subsidies modify firms' (especially young firms') debt structure in favor of long-term financing, and help firms to limit the average cost of debt. Subsidies also foster the use of bank financing, but do not affect the overall level of debt. Taken together, these findings suggest that public funding of SMEs' innovation projects plays a certification role in access to external financial resources for firms receiving subsidies. |
| Keywords: | R&D subsidies; Finance gap; Debt financing; Debt structure; Certification effects; Resource effects. |
| JEL: | G30 H25 O31 O38 R58 |
| Date: | 2019–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:anc:wmofir:153&r=all |
| By: | José Guimón (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid); Caroline Paunov (OECD) |
| Abstract: | Countries deploy a variety of financial, regulatory and soft policy instruments to promote science-industry knowledge exchange. While these instruments are often discussed in isolation, they are implemented collectively and may reinforce and complement but also weaken or even negatively affect each other and add excessive complexity. This paper develops a conceptual framework to map policy instruments for knowledge exchange and assess the interactions between them. The framework also considers how national contexts and global trends influence the choice of policy instruments. Policy examples drawn from the EC-OECD STIP Compass database and from case studies show that there are significant differences across countries in the relative importance given to each policy instrument in terms of budget, target groups, eligibility criteria, time horizon and implementation. These differences are also a consequence of different country conditions. |
| Keywords: | co-creation, collaboration, evaluation, intellectual property, interaction, intermediary organisations, knowledge transfer, policy instrument, public research, spin-offs |
| JEL: | H11 I23 I28 O38 |
| Date: | 2019–04–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:stiaac:66-en&r=all |