nep-ino New Economics Papers
on Innovation
Issue of 2022‒01‒31
eight papers chosen by
Uwe Cantner
University of Jena

  1. Innovation Networks and Innovation Policy By Ernest Liu; Song Ma
  2. What prevents spillovers from the pool of knowledge? By Lööf, Hans
  3. No-Challenge Clauses in Patent Licensing - Blessing or Curse? By Buehler, Benno; Hunold, Matthias; Schlütter, Frank
  4. Innovation Ecosystems in the Creative Sector: The Case of Additive Manufacturing and Advanced Materials for Design By Ubaldo Spina; Ramón Compañó
  5. TRIPS to Where? A Narrative Review of the Empirical Literature on Intellectual Property Licensing Models to Promote Global Diffusion of Essential Medicines By Shiri Mermelstein; Hilde Stevens
  6. Tackling the Scale-up Gap: Evidence and impact of the scale-up financing gap for innovative firms in Europe and reflections on potential solutions By Anita Quas; Colin Mason; Ramón Compañó; James Gavigan; Giuseppina Testa
  7. Structural transformations and cumulative causation towards an evolutionary micro-foundation of the Kaldorian growth model By Lorentz, André; Ciarli, Tommaso; Savona, Maria; Valente, Marco
  8. A Golden Opportunity: The Gold Rush, Entrepreneurship and Culture By Stuetzer, Michael; Brodeur, Abel; Obschonka, Martin; Audretsch, David; Rentfrow, Peter J.; Potter, Jeff; Gosling, Samuel D.

  1. By: Ernest Liu; Song Ma
    Abstract: We study the optimal allocation of R&D resources in an endogenous growth model with an innovation network, through which one sector’s past innovations may benefit other sectors’ future innovations. First, we provide closed-form sufficient statistics for the optimal path of R&D resource allocation, and we show that planners valuing long-term growth should allocate more R&D toward key sectors that are upstream in the innovation network. Second, we extend to an open-economy setting and illustrate an incentive for countries to free-ride on fundamental technologies: an economy more reliant on foreign knowledge spillovers has less incentive to direct resources toward innovation-upstream sectors, leading to cross-country differences in unilaterally optimal R&D allocations across sectors. Third, we build the global innovation network based on over 30 million global patents and establish its empirical importance for knowledge spillovers. Fourth, we apply the model to evaluate R&D allocations across countries and time. Adopting optimal R&D allocations can generate substantial welfare improvements across the globe. For the United States, R&D misallocation accounts for about 0.68 percentage points of missing annual growth since the 2000s.
    JEL: F43 O33 O38
    Date: 2021–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:29607&r=
  2. By: Lööf, Hans (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology)
    Abstract: This paper surveys theoretical and empirical literature on non-pecuniary flow of knowledge and the conditions and limitations for firms to benefit from positive externalities. Spillovers from the pool of accumulated knowledge generated by technological and scientific development is considered to be a key factor for economic development in modern growth models. Knowledge spillovers has also been a major topic of empirical research on firms’ innovation and economic performance over the last thirty years or more. By exploiting theoretical and methodological advances, and using more comprehensive, complex and detailed data sources, scholars from various scientific disciplines have improved the identification of factors, mechanisms, and channels that influence flows of knowledge within and across industries, technological regimes and regions. This research has deepened the understanding of the economic importance of knowledge spillovers.
    Keywords: externalities; innovation; knowledge spillovers; productivity; technology
    JEL: L20 M13 O31 O33 O40
    Date: 2022–01–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0489&r=
  3. By: Buehler, Benno; Hunold, Matthias; Schlütter, Frank (Université catholique de Louvain, LIDAM/CORE, Belgium)
    Abstract: We analyze the effects of no-challenge clauses that prevent licensees from challenging the validity of patents. Contrary to popular arguments, we show that banning these clauses does not necessarily improve the frequency of successful patent challenges. Depending on the patent strength, patent holders may profitably offer license contracts that incentivize licensees to not challenge the patent. Even worse, such a strategy can lead to higher running royalties and lower consumer surplus compared to contracts with no-challenge clauses. We demonstrate that measures that aim at improving the prospects of patent challenges, such as prohibiting termination-upon-challenge clauses, can cause additional detrimental effects.
    Keywords: No-challenge clause ; probabilistic patents ; license contracts
    JEL: K11 K41 L24 L42
    Date: 2021–12–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cor:louvco:2021032&r=
  4. By: Ubaldo Spina; Ramón Compañó (European Commission - JRC)
    Abstract: This report provides an ecosystem analysis of cultural and creative industry (CCI) sector with regard to the adoption of new technologies and as case studies additive manufacturing and advanced materials as these two technologies are becoming consolidated in prototyping and manufacturing in many industrial sectors, but are still in their infancy in the CCI. The introduction of these two technologies, however, is the base of emerging new business models as showcased by a number of promising startups. We identified 430 CCI-startups in Europe that operate innovative products or services and that were further analysed via an online survey to which 83 companies participated. In addition, we discuss the role innovation ecosystems for the CCI development in Europe taking four ecosystems as example, namely the ‘Finnish Additive Manufacturing Ecosystem’ in Helsinki, the ‘Design Farm’ in Berlin, the ‘Sustainable and Tech Fashion’ hub in Amsterdam and “Portuguese footwear cluster” in the northern region of Portugal. Our study shows that green and digital transformations make additive manufacturing and advanced materials technologies quite worth looking into for CCI firms. The survey demonstrates a high degree of business dynamism of those companies that have fully embraced additive manufacturing and advanced materials as their operational basis. Furthermore we show that an effective ecosystem are key for deploying novel technologies to the sector, mostly composed by small and very small enterprises.
    Keywords: cultural and creative industries, additive manufacturing, 3D printing, materials, startups, business models,innovation
    JEL: O32 O31 O25
    Date: 2021–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc126884&r=
  5. By: Shiri Mermelstein; Hilde Stevens
    Abstract: Governed through the World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) since 1995, the current medical R&D system requires significant trade-offs between innovation and high monopoly prices for patented drugs that restrict patient access to medicines. Since its implementation, few amendments have been made to the original TRIPS agreement to allow low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to facilitate access by generic manufacturers through flexible provisions, such as compulsory licensing and parallel import. Although a useful policy tool in theory, the routine use of TRIPS flexibilities in LMICs in the procurement of new essential medicines (EMs) is regarded as a ‘last resort’ due to strong political response in high-income countries (HICs) and new trade agreements’ restrictions. In this context, access-oriented biomedical Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) have emerged. More recently, leading multilateral health organizations have recommended different types of intellectual property (IP) interventions, voluntary biomedical patent pools, as strategies to reduce prices and increase the diffusion of novel EMs in LMICs. Nevertheless, the recent Ebola and COVID-19 outbreaks highlight growing concerns regarding the use of TRIPS flexibilities and the limited success of voluntary mechanisms in promoting access to medicines in the Global South amidst health crises. This review aims at describing the state-of-the-art empirical research on IP-related options and voluntary mechanisms applied by emerging PPPs to guarantee timely and affordable access to EM in LMICs and reflect on both models as access paradigms. Some suggestions are put forward for future research paths on the basis of these analyses and in response to contemporary debates on waiving key IP rights on COVID-19 therapies, diagnostics, and vaccines.
    Date: 2022–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulb:ulbeco:2013/337220&r=
  6. By: Anita Quas (University of Milan); Colin Mason (University of Glasgow); Ramón Compañó (European Commission - JRC); James Gavigan (European Commission - JRC); Giuseppina Testa (European Commission - JRC)
    Abstract: The number of scale-up businesses in the EU, particularly unicorns, lags behind the US and China. This is partially attributed to a deficit in scale-up finance. Based on an a webinar between experts which took place on 5th October 2021, this paper reports and comments on the available evidence of the scale-up financing gap in the EU and discusses its causes and consequences. The paper also reviews what types of instruments might address this gap and discusses issues that need to be addressed in the formulation of effective policy interventions. Finally, it points to missing data, existing knowledge gaps, and areas on which further analysis is required to define better policies.
    Keywords: startups, scaleups, venture capital, finance, innovation
    JEL: O32 O31 O25
    Date: 2021–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc127232&r=
  7. By: Lorentz, André (Université de Strasbourg, BETA, Université de Lorraine, CNRS); Ciarli, Tommaso (UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University, and SPRU, University of Sussex); Savona, Maria (SPRU, University of Sussex); Valente, Marco (University of L’Aquila)
    Abstract: We derive the Kaldorian cumulative causation mechanism as an emergent property of the dynamics generated by a micro-founded model. We build on an evolutionary growth model which formalises the endogenous relations between structural changes in the production, organisation and functional composition of employment and of consumption patterns (originally proposed by Ciarli et al, 2010). We discuss the main transition dynamics to a self- sustained growth regime in a two-stage growth pattern generated through the numerical simulations of the model. We then show that these mechanisms lead to the emergence of a Kaldor-Verdoorn law. Finally we show that the structure of demand shapes the type of growth regime emerging from the endogenous structural changes, fostering or hampering the emergence of the Kaldor Verdoorn law. This depends on the endogenous income distribution and heterogeneity in consumption behaviour
    Keywords: Structural change, economic growth, final consumption, technological change, cumulative causation, evolutionary economics, Kaldor-Verdoorn Law
    JEL: O14 O33 O41 L16 C63 E11
    Date: 2022–01–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2022001&r=
  8. By: Stuetzer, Michael (Technische Universität Ilmenau); Brodeur, Abel (University of Ottawa); Obschonka, Martin (Queensland University of Technology); Audretsch, David (Indiana University); Rentfrow, Peter J. (University of Cambridge); Potter, Jeff (Atof Inc., Cambridge); Gosling, Samuel D. (University of Texas at Austin)
    Abstract: We study the origins of entrepreneurship (culture) in the United States. For the analysis we make use of a quasi-natural experiment – the gold rush in the second part of the 19th century. We argue that the presence of gold attracted individuals with entrepreneurial personality traits. Due to a genetic founder effect and the formation of an entrepreneurship culture, we expect gold rush counties to have higher entrepreneurship rates. The analysis shows that gold rush counties indeed have higher entrepreneurship rates from 1910, when records began, until the present as well as a higher prevalence of entrepreneurial traits in the populace.
    Keywords: gold rush, entrepreneurship, culture
    JEL: L26 R12 N5 N9
    Date: 2021–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14894&r=

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