nep-ino New Economics Papers
on Innovation
Issue of 2023‒08‒14
ten papers chosen by
Uwe Cantner, University of Jena


  1. Universities that matter for regional knowledge base renewal - the role of multilevel embeddedness By Nils Grashof; Holger Graf
  2. Exploring new metrics to measure environmental innovation By Damien Dussaux; Alberto Agnelli; Nordine Es-Sadki
  3. Innovation and Appropriability: Revisiting the Role of Intellectual Property By Filippo Mezzanotti; Timothy Simcoe
  4. New technologies and jobs in Europe By Albanesi, Stefania; Da Silva, António Dias; Jimeno, Juan F.; Lamo, Ana; Wabitsch, Alena
  5. Post-growth and the demand-pull hypothesis of innovation: Biting the hand that feeds you? By Jasny, Johannes; Schubert, Torben
  6. Bottlenecks: Sectoral Imbalances and the US Productivity Slowdown By Daron Acemoglu; David Autor; Christina Patterson
  7. Economic stimulus effects of product innovation under demand stagnation By Daisuke Matsuzaki; Yoshiyasu Ono
  8. Assessing the Institutions-Innovation Channel within the Inequality-Growth Nexus By Sun, Yang; Easaw, Joshy; Logothetis, Vassilis
  9. The creation of digital innovative start-ups: the role of digital knowledge spillovers and digital skill endowment By Alessandra Colombelli; Emilio Paolucci; Elisabetta Raguseo; Gianluca Elia
  10. Transformative innovation policy in practice in Austria, Finland and Sweden: What do the Recovery and Resilience Plans tell us about linking transformation and innovation policy? By Sylvia Schwaag Serger; Bernhard Dachs; Paula Kivimaa; David Lazarevic; Jani Lukkarinen; Lennart Stenberg; Matthias Weber

  1. By: Nils Grashof (Friedrich Schiller University Jena, School of Economics and Business Administration); Holger Graf (Friedrich Schiller University Jena, School of Economics and Business Administration)
    Abstract: We analyze the role of universities or, more generally higher education institutions (HEIs), in terms of their regional and international embeddedness for regional knowledge base renewal. We assume that the introduction of radical patents in the sense of novel technological combinations contributes to the renewal of the knowledge base. For our empirical study, we combine information from patent applications, scientific publications and higher education statistics. We find that HEIs contribute most to knowledge base renewal if they have a strong research output and are locally embedded. International research embeddedness of HEIs benefits regional development only if combined with a central position in the regional network.
    Keywords: higher education institutions, universities, knowledge base renewal, radical innovation, SNA, embeddedness
    JEL: I20 I23 I25 O3 R11
    Date: 2023–07–20
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2023-009&r=ino
  2. By: Damien Dussaux; Alberto Agnelli; Nordine Es-Sadki
    Abstract: Several efforts have been made to track progress on environmental innovations using very different approaches. However, many lack coverage, granularity, timeliness and may involve high data collection costs, especially when conducted on a large scale. Traditional indicators also overlook commercialised innovation and breakthrough innovation. This issue is particularly relevant for environmental innovation, where scaling-up is considered key to address the climate, biodiversity and pollution crises. The paper reviews potential metrics to measure commercialised climate change-related innovation and to measure breakthrough environmental innovation. By comparing advantages and drawbacks of various options, the paper selects two families of metrics to measure commercialised climate change-related innovation: one based on patent assignments and the other one based on licensing agreements. For breakthrough environmental innovation, the paper concludes that a family of metrics based on venture capital data is currently the most promising option to pursue. The paper then develops the selected new metrics and provides trends in environmental innovation over time, across sectors and when possible across countries. The paper concludes that additional data sources should be explored to extend the application of the proposed new metrics in more countries and consider a more comprehensive set of supports to innovation.
    Keywords: assignment, breakthrough innovation, green innovation, innovation metrics, licensing, patent, transfer, venture capital
    JEL: O31 Q55
    Date: 2023–07–24
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:envaaa:221-en&r=ino
  3. By: Filippo Mezzanotti; Timothy Simcoe
    Abstract: It is more than 25 years since the authors of the Yale and Carnegie surveys studied how firms seek to protect the rents from innovation. In this paper, we revisit that question using a nationally representative sample of firms over the period 2008-2015, with the goal of updating and extending a set of stylized facts that has been influential for our understanding of the economics of innovation. There are five main findings. First, while patenting firms are relatively uncommon in the economy, they account for an overwhelming share of R&D spending. Second, firms consider utility patents less important on average than other forms of IP protection, like trade secrets, trademarks, and copyrights. Third, industry differences explain a great deal of the level of firms’ engagement with IP, with high-tech firms on average being more active on all forms of IP. Fourth, we find no significant differences in the use of IP strategies across firms at different points of their life cycle. Lastly, unlike age, firms of different size appear to manage IP significantly differently. On average, larger firms tend to engage much more extensively in the protection of IP, and this pattern cannot be easily explained by differences in the type of R&D or innovation produced by a firm. We also discuss the implications of these findings for innovation research and policy.
    JEL: D2 L25 O3
    Date: 2023–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:31428&r=ino
  4. By: Albanesi, Stefania; Da Silva, António Dias; Jimeno, Juan F.; Lamo, Ana; Wabitsch, Alena
    Abstract: We examine the link between labour market developments and new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and software in 16 European countries over the period 2011-2019. Using data for occupations at the 3-digit level in Europe, we find that on average employment shares have increased in occupations more exposed to AI. This is particularly the case for occupations with a relatively higher proportion of younger and skilled workers. This evidence is in line with the Skill Biased Technological Change theory. While there exists heterogeneity across countries, only very few countries show a decline in employment shares of occupations more exposed to AI-enabled automation. Country heterogeneity for this result seems to be linked to the pace of technology diffusion and education, but also to the level of product market regulation (competition) and employment protection laws. In contrast to the findings for employment, we find little evidence for a relationship between wages and potential exposures to new technologies. JEL Classification: J23, O33
    Keywords: artificial intelligence, employment, occupations, skills
    Date: 2023–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20232831&r=ino
  5. By: Jasny, Johannes; Schubert, Torben
    Abstract: The post-growth discourse emphasizes the role need to limit economic growth as a primary means to stop continuous environmental degradation associated with production induced overexploitation of natural resources. A criticism of the post-growth discourse is, however, that innovation is known to be demand-driven implying that limiting growth may then undermine incentives to innovate. This may reduce the speed with which new environmentally friendly technologies are developed. Empirical analysis of this claim however do not exist. Relying on data from the European Manufacturing Survey 2018 for Germany, we match macroeconomic sector-growth statistics from the German Statistical Office and analyse how firm-level and sector level growth drive firms' innovation activities with a specific focus to environmental innovations. We find that while firm-level growth is strongly associated with all kinds of innovation activities, sector-level growth is not. Our results suggest that limiting overall economic growth may not undermine incentives to innovate as long as growth is still feasible on the level of the firm.
    Keywords: Economic growth, Innovation, Post-growth, Demand pull hypothesis, Green growth
    Date: 2023
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fisidp:76&r=ino
  6. By: Daron Acemoglu; David Autor; Christina Patterson
    Abstract: Despite the rapid pace of innovation in information and communications technologies (ICT) and electronics, aggregate US productivity growth has been disappointing since the 1970s. We propose and empirically explore the hypothesis that slow growth stems in part from an unbalanced sectoral distribution of innovation over the last several decades. Because an industry's success in innovation depends on complementary innovations among its input suppliers, rapid productivity growth that is concentrated in a subset of sectors may create bottlenecks and consequently fail to translate into commensurate aggregate productivity gains. Using data on input-output linkages, citation linkages, industry productivity growth and patenting, we find evidence consistent with this hypothesis: the variance of suppliers' Total Factor Productivity growth or innovation adversely affects an industry's own TFP growth and innovation. Our estimates suggest that a substantial share of the productivity slowdown in the United States (and several other industrialized economies) can be accounted for by a sizable increase in cross-industry variance of TFP growth and innovation. For example, if TFP growth variance had remained at the 1977-1987 level, US manufacturing productivity would have grown twice as rapidly in 1997-2007 as it did—yielding a counterfactual growth rate that would have been close to that of 1977-1987 and 1987-1997.
    JEL: O30 O47
    Date: 2023–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:31427&r=ino
  7. By: Daisuke Matsuzaki; Yoshiyasu Ono
    Abstract: When confronting economic stagnation, innovation (product innovation in particular) is often cited as an effective stimulus because it is assumed to encourage household consumption and lead to higher demand. Using a secular stagnation model with wealth preference, we examine the effects of product innovation on employment and consumption. This study examines three types of product innovation, including quantity-augmenting-like innovation, addictive innovation, and variety expansion. The first works as if a larger quantity were consumed although the actual quantity remains the same, the second reduces the elasticity of the marginal utility of consumption, and the third increases the variety of consumption commodities. We find that the first and third reduce both consumption and employment, whereas the second expands them. It suggests that policy makers should carefully choose the type of product innovation to promote as an economic stimulus: addictive innovation stimulates business activity whereas quantity-augmenting-like innovation and variety expansion worsen stagnation.
    Date: 2023–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dpr:wpaper:1204r&r=ino
  8. By: Sun, Yang (Cardiff Business School); Easaw, Joshy (Cardiff Business School); Logothetis, Vassilis (Cardiff Business School)
    Abstract: The present paper assesses the interactions between innovation and economic institutions within the context of the inequality-growth nexus. By carrying out fixed effects estimations on a cross-country panel, we find that both institutional quality and innovations improve economic growth at the expense of income equality. We show that the marginal effects of innovations on growth and inequality diminish as institutions increase in quality, and the effects of institutions can be influenced by level of innovations. This indicates that while institutions and innovations can be inequality-inducing, their interactions dampen the effect. Similarly, both variables positively affect growth but their interactions are negative. More importantly, we note a series of transitory interactive effects on growth which show property right protection as the principal growth-enhancing institutions in earlier stages of development, and broader institutional quality in later stages. These results are verified and reinforced by GMM and IV estimations, the latter of which uses judicial independence as an instrument, as well as additional robustness tests.
    Keywords: income inequality, economic growth, institutions, entrepreneurship, innovation.
    JEL: C33 C36 D63 O33 O34 O43 O47
    Date: 2023–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdf:wpaper:2023/21&r=ino
  9. By: Alessandra Colombelli; Emilio Paolucci; Elisabetta Raguseo (Polito - Politecnico di Torino = Polytechnic of Turin , CERGAM - Centre d'Études et de Recherche en Gestion d'Aix-Marseille - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - UTLN - Université de Toulon); Gianluca Elia
    Abstract: Abstract Building on the Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship (KSTE) and the Digital Entrepreneurial Ecosystem (DEE) approach, this paper investigates the relationship between the local availability of digital knowledge (i.e., digital knowledge spillovers and digital skill endowment) and the creation of digital innovative start-ups in Italian NUTS3 regions. The obtained results show that both elements are significant for the creation of digital innovative start-ups at the province level, and a two-fold contribution has been made: from a theory perspective, an extension of KSTE to digital settings has been used to assess the relevance of geographical issues, while, from a DEE perspective, the study contributes by empirically analyzing the specific characteristics of the local ecosystem that can affect the creation of digital innovative start-ups. Finally, we discuss the implications for entrepreneurship and technology policy at the local level.
    Keywords: Digital start-ups, Digital knowledge spillovers, Digital skill endowment, Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship
    Date: 2023–06–08
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04138894&r=ino
  10. By: Sylvia Schwaag Serger; Bernhard Dachs; Paula Kivimaa; David Lazarevic; Jani Lukkarinen; Lennart Stenberg; Matthias Weber
    Abstract: Governments are increasingly utilising research and innovation (R&I) policy to foster economic and societal change. Yet, the empirical correlation between these policies and socio-technical transformations remains under-explored. The report investigates this relationship by comparing the Recovery and Resilience Plans (RRPs) of Austria, Finland and Sweden, initiated under the NextGenerationEU framework post Covid-19. The report finds significant disparities in the content, process and transformative value of the RRPs among these countries. The differences in the content of the national RRPs, and the ability and willingness to seize the opportunity presented by the RRPs to drive transformation, are explained by existing national policy contexts and frameworks. Surprisingly, the role of R&I policy in the RRPs is less important than expected, despite its emphasised importance in literature and political rhetoric. The report further identifies implications for a transformative innovation policy as well as areas for further research.
    Date: 2023–07–24
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:stiaac:156-en&r=ino

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