nep-ino New Economics Papers
on Innovation
Issue of 2022‒01‒03
six papers chosen by
Uwe Cantner
University of Jena

  1. The creation and diffusion of knowledge: Evidence from the Jet Age By Pauly, Stefan; Stipanicic, Fernando
  2. Barriers to Creative Destruction: Large Firms and Nonproductive Strategies By Salomé Baslandze
  3. Reaching for the Stars: When Does Basic Research Collaboration between Firms and Academic Star Scientists Benefit Firm Invention Performance? By Relinde Colen; Rene Belderbos; Stijn Kelchtermans; Bart Leten
  4. Improving knowledge transfer and collaboration between science and business in Spain By OECD
  5. Firms going digital: Tapping into the potential of data for innovation By David Gierten; Steffen Viete; Raphaela Andres; Thomas Niebel
  6. Firm responses to the pandemic crisis: sticky capabilites and widespread restructuring By Stefano Costa; Stefano De Santis; Giovanni Dosi; Roberto Monducci; Angelica Sbardella; Maria Enrica Virgillito

  1. By: Pauly, Stefan; Stipanicic, Fernando
    Abstract: This paper provides new causal evidence of the impact of improvements in air travel during the beginning of the Jet Age on the creation and diffusion of knowledge. We digitize airlines’ historical flight schedules and construct a novel data set of the flight network in the United States. Between 1951 and 1966, travel time between locations more than 2,000km apart decreased on average by 41%. The reduction in travel time explains 33% of the increase in knowledge diffusion as measured by patent citations. The increase in knowledge diffusion further caused an increase in the creation of new knowledge. The results provide evidence that jet airplanes led to innovation convergence across locations and contributed to the shift in innovation activity towards the South and the West of the United States.
    Keywords: O31, O33, R41, N72
    Date: 2021–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpm:docweb:2112&r=
  2. By: Salomé Baslandze
    Abstract: This working paper reviews recent empirical evidence on large firms and nonproductive strategies that hinder creative destruction and reallocation. The focus is on three types of nonproductive strategies: political connections, nonproductive patenting, and anticompetitive acquisitions. Across different contexts using granular micro data sets, we overwhelmingly see that as firms gain market share, they increasingly rely on nonproductive strategies but reduce their productive, innovation-based strategies. I also discuss theoretical channels, aggregate implications, and potentials for some policies.
    Keywords: creative destruction; innovation; growth; patents; political connections; firm dynamics
    JEL: O3 O4
    Date: 2021–09–30
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedawp:93478&r=
  3. By: Relinde Colen; Rene Belderbos; Stijn Kelchtermans; Bart Leten
    Abstract: While their expertise and scientific excellence make academic star scientists attractive collaboration partners for firms, this study indicates that firms face difficulties in capturing value from collaborations with academic stars. Stars are time constrained, may be less committed to commercialization, and can be a source of undesired knowledge spillovers to other firms. The purpose of this study is to recognize the contingencies under which collaboration with star scientists is positively associated with a firm’s ability to produce valuable patents (invention performance). We analyze a panel dataset on the collaborations in basic research(publication data) and invention performance (patent output) of 60 prominent pharmaceutical firms. We find that basic research collaboration with academic stars is on average not associated with a performance premium above the overall positive influence of collaborating with academia. We only observe this premium if the star scientist abstains from simultaneous collaboration with other firms (‘dedication’) and extend her collaboration with the firm to involvenot only basic but also applied research (‘translation’). Extending prior work that has focused on corporate star scientists, we find that if the collaboration involves an internal firm star scientist, a translational contribution of the academic star is no longer a prerequisite, and may even be detrimental to inventive performance. Our findings inform the literatures on industry-science links and firms’ (scientific) absorptive capacity by revealing the crucial contingencies for firms to benefit from partnering with the best and brightest among academic scientists. Practitioner Points: - Intuitively we may expect that collaborating with the very top among academics benefits firms, yet collaborating with these academic star scientists also entails important challenges. - Organizations seeking to benefit from the extraordinary expertise of academic star scientists should take into account two important conditions: o The top academic should be a dedicated collaboration partner, and avoid simultaneous collaboration with other firms. o The top academic should not only be involved in basic research but also in applied research collaboration with the firm, enhancing her ability to assist the firm in the translation of research into a marketable product. - When the firm also employs a star scientist who is engaged in the collaborative research with an academic star scientist, the translation of the joint research is better performed by the internally employed star scientists instead of the academic star scientist.
    Keywords: university-industry collaboration, knowledge transfer, star scientists
    Date: 2021–11–29
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ete:msiper:684436&r=
  4. By: OECD
    Abstract: This study provides an in-depth assessment of Spain’s innovation system and the current state of knowledge transfer and collaboration. It identifies five priority areas for reform and long-term investment that should provide the basis of a new Roadmap. These include granting greater operational autonomy to universities and public research organisations in return for accountability on outcomes, putting in place a better integrated system of incentives that takes both individuals and organisations into account, and ensuring sustained investment in core capabilities to connect science and business. To put these reforms in motion and sustain them over time, a new type of covenant between science and society is needed in Spain today. This should be based on a ‘new deal’ between actors in the science and innovation system and society at large, committing to place the pursuit of concrete social benefits in return for more stable and predictable support.
    Keywords: country study, higher education institutions, innovation, innovation policy, intermediation agents, knowledge transfer, public research organisations, science-business collaboration, universities
    JEL: O3 O38 I23
    Date: 2021–12–16
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:stiaac:122-en&r=
  5. By: David Gierten; Steffen Viete; Raphaela Andres; Thomas Niebel
    Abstract: This paper aims to help policy makers understand and improve the conditions for firms to thrive in an increasingly digital economy where data has become an important resource for innovation. The paper: 1) analyses trends in the adoption of information and communication technologies and activities that enable firms to collect, store and use data, including big data analysis (BDA); 2) provides new evidence from micro-econometric analysis of firms’ BDA and innovation in products, processes, marketing and organisation, considering different types of data used for BDA; 3) examines business models of firms that successfully innovate with data; and 4) discusses policies that can help improve the conditions for all firms to go digital and tap into the potential of data for innovation.
    Date: 2021–12–20
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:stiaab:320-en&r=
  6. By: Stefano Costa; Stefano De Santis; Giovanni Dosi; Roberto Monducci; Angelica Sbardella; Maria Enrica Virgillito
    Abstract: This paper is meant to address the status of the Italian productive system in the wake of the most severe crisis economies are facing since WWII. In order to accomplish the latter task we rely on the combination of two high quality level dataset informing about so called firm behavioural traits: the first, the IMCPI (2019), collected information on organizational capabilities, practices, attitudes toward innovation, business models and strategies during the period 2016-2018, in so called usual times. The second, the SPIESC-19 (2020), was able to monitor firm responses to the pandemic crisis, collecting information in the period June - October 2020. Two results emerge out of our analysis: first, firm responses are highly path-dependent on their pre-crisis organizational capabilities; second, such crisis might turn out be more pervasive than expected, producing widespread, rather than creative, restructuring processes.
    Keywords: Organizational capabilities; Italian productive structure; Pandemic crisis.
    Date: 2021–12–28
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssa:lemwps:2021/48&r=

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