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on Innovation |
| By: | Salvatore Viola (AQR-IREA, University of Barcelona); Ernest Miguelez (AQR-IREA, University of Barcelona); Rosina Moreno (AQR-IREA, University of Barcelona); Davide Consoli (Universitat Politècnica de València - CSIC-UPV); François Perruchas (Universitat Politècnica de València) |
| Abstract: | One important factor in addressing climate change is the development and deployment of environmental-related, or green, technologies (GT). Environmental-related technologies are distinct, requiring specific conditions to be developed which vary depending on their relative level of technological maturity. Recent studies have focused on the role of migrant inventors in creating these conditions and spurring regional diversification into new technological domains. Regional diversification helps regions avoid lock-in and even escape fossil fuel dependencies. While the contribution of migrants to science and innovation is well documented, less attention has been given to migrants and diversification, especially in the case of GT and along the technological life cycle. In this study, we investigate the role of US-based migrant inventors in regional GT diversification using patent data from the USPTO between the year 1990 and 2012. We find that migrant inventors are positively associated with regional GT diversification, partly as a result of their previous patenting experience as well as the specializations of their countries of origin. With regard to the technological life cycle, while geographically diffused technologies rely on corresponding inventor experience, emergent technological diversification benefits from inventors from specialized countries. These findings highlight the bridging role that migrant inventors in international knowledge transfer and their importance in regional diversification in particular environmental-related technologies. |
| Keywords: | Regional Diversification; Green Technology; Immigration; Technological Life Cycle JEL classification:O33; Q55; J61; R11 |
| Date: | 2025–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aqr:wpaper:202508 |
| By: | Bianca CAVICCHI (European Commission); Oceane PEIFFER SMADJA (European Commission); Julien RAVET (European Commission,) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the European Framework Programme (FP) for Research and Innovation's (R&I) evolution over the last two decades, focusing on its integration of Transformative Innovation Policy (TIP) elements. Our objective is to assess whether the European Framework Programme for R&I has evolved to include elements of R&I policy for societal challenges and transformative change (Transformative Innovation Policy) and offer related policy recommendations. We do so by analysing the Framework Programme from 2002 to 2023 through within-case and cross-case studies using systems dynamics. It provides original insights into applying the TIP framework and system dynamics to evaluate R&I public policies targeting systemic societal shifts. We demonstrate that, while the EU FP for R&I has progressively incorporated transformative elements like demand articulation and policy coordination, room for improvement remains in terms of reflexivity. Our findings also emphasize the interdependence of transformative features, necessitating ongoing adaptations throughout the policy cycle to reinforce the FP's transformative nature. |
| Keywords: | European Framework Programme, Research and Innovation, Transformative Innovation Policy, Systems Dynamics, Policy Evolution |
| JEL: | F15 F36 O16 E44 G1 |
| Date: | 2024–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eug:wpaper:ki-bd-23-012-en-n |
| By: | Lisa Keding (RWTH University); Marten C. Ritterrath (University of Cologne) |
| Abstract: | We show that personal experiences affect high-stakes economic decisions among inventors. Using matched patent and survey data from French and German inventors linked to natural disaster records, we exploit exogenous variation in disaster exposure. Inventors personally affected by natural disasters subsequently produce 8.2% more green patents, primarily driven by emission-reducing mitigation technologies, while non-green innovation remains unaffected. The absence of sizable spatial spillovers highlights the importance of personal experience. Disaster exposure shapes innovation choices by altering profitability expectations through shifting higher-order beliefs about consumer demand and anticipated regulation. Embedding this channel in a formal model, we disentangle the role of expectations and intrinsic motivation. The model predicts, and the data confirm, that effects are strongest in competitive markets, where profit incentives matter most. |
| Keywords: | Inventors, Personal Experiences, Green Innovation, Expectation Formation, Natural Disasters |
| JEL: | D9 D84 O31 O34 Q54 Q55 |
| Date: | 2025–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ajk:ajkdps:380 |
| By: | Eugenie Dugoua; Jacob Moscona |
| Abstract: | This chapter examines the economics of climate innovation and its role in the clean technology transition. It outlines the incentives, market failures, and policy levers that shape the development and diffusion of clean technologies; traces global patterns in technology development and deployment; and highlights frontier challenges and open questions related to climate adaptation, critical mineral supply chains, artificial intelligence, and geopolitics. The analysis explores the role of effective climate policy, stressing the relevance of coordinated approaches that match instruments to technology maturity and local context. |
| Keywords: | climate change, innovation, R&D, clean energy, energy transition, industrial policy, climate adaptation, critical minerals, AI |
| JEL: | O3 Q5 O13 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12267 |
| By: | Alessio MITRA (European Commission); Konstantinos NIAKAROS (European Commission) |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates the causal impact of the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation on financial firm-level outcomes using a Difference-in-Differences (DiD) approach. We use administrative data from CORDA and financial data from ORBIS spanning from 2010 to 2022, for a sample of approximately 40 thousand unique private companies that applied for Horizon 2020 funding. The findings suggest that firms receiving Horizon 2020 grants exhibit an average increase of 20% in employment and about 30% in total assets and revenues, compared to comparable companies in the control group, in the years after receiving their first grant. Positive effects persist even after 2.5 years, which is the average duration of a project in our sample. Companies in the “Information and communication” and “Professional, scientific and technical activities” NACE sectors are driving the results, while other sectors show insignificant effects. |
| Keywords: | Research and Innovation funding, impact assessment, econometric methods, spillover effects, mediation analysis, policy evaluation |
| JEL: | O32 O38 C18 |
| Date: | 2025–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eug:wpaper:ki-bd-23-010-en-n |
| By: | VEUGELERS, Reinhilde (Directorate-General for Research and Innovation) |
| Abstract: | This report proposes a framework on how to collect evidence on the use of directionality in national R&I systems in the EU. It adopts a dual approach: a macro perspective using publicly available datasets, and a micro-level approach focusing on specific programs, with Flanders as an example. It finds that most of GBARD is still undirected, but there is a modest shift towards a larger share for directed GBARD. The most important areas for targeting in public R&D budgets in the EU-27 are industrial, health and space, and these are quite stable. The report also highlights the importance of combining a macro (cross country) approach with a deeper dive harmonized micro approach per country, to better identify trends in approaches to directionality and similarities and differences between countries’ approaches to directionality. |
| Keywords: | directionality, transformative research and innovation policy, R&I policy, GBARD, EU Member States |
| JEL: | O31 O32 O38 |
| Date: | 2024–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eug:wpaper:ki-bd-24-001-en-n |
| By: | Hellsten, Mark (University of Tubingen); Khanna, Shantanu (Northeastern University); Lodefalk, Magnus (The Ratio Institute); Yakymovych, Yaroslav (Uppsala University) |
| Abstract: | Artificial intelligence (AI) is expected to reshape labor markets, yet causal evidence remains scarce. We exploit a novel Swedish subsidy program that encouraged small and mid-sized firms to adopt AI. Using a synthetic difference-in-differences design comparing awarded and non-awarded firms, we find that AI subsidies led to a sustained increase in job postings over five years, but with no statistically detectable change in employment. This pattern reflects hiring signals concentrated in AI occupations and white-collar roles. Our findings align with task-based models of automation, in which AI adoption reconfigures work and spurs demand for new skills, but hiring frictions and the need for complementary investments delay workforce expansion. |
| Keywords: | Artificial intelligence; Labor markets; Hiring; Task content; Technological change |
| JEL: | J23 J24 O33 |
| Date: | 2025–11–14 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ratioi:0386 |
| By: | Igor CZERMAINSKI de OLIVEIRA (European Commission); Bianca CAVICCHI (European Commission) |
| Abstract: | This study focuses on two critical technological domains: mRNA technology in biotechnology and green hydrogen in clean energy, aligning with Ursula von der Leyen’s political guidelines for the 2024–2029 (European Commission, 2024c). mRNA technology represents a breakthrough in precision medicine, through its rapid, scalable and adaptable solutions, enhancing health resilience and long-term societal well-being. Similarly, green hydrogen is central to achieving climate neutrality and strategic autonomy under the European Green Deal, as it provides a pathway for industrial decarbonisation and energy security. The study demonstrates that system dynamics modelling can contribute significantly to the ex-ante impact assessment and, potentially, to ex-post evaluations of research and innovation (R&I) policies and policy portfolios. This methodological approach captures the complex interdependencies and non-linearities inherent in innovation systems, providing policymakers with a better, evidence-based understanding of how R&I policy measures interact over time and what plausible medium- and long-term outcomes different policy interventions may yield on competitive sustainability. Enriching a pipeline view of the innovation process by considering delays and feedback mechanisms brings these analytical possibilities but also emphasises on a deterministic view of the innovation process that is more consistent with the reality of research organisations and corporations than startups and other types of innovative organisations. |
| Keywords: | Research and Innovation funding, impact assessment, econometric methods, spillover effects, mediation analysis, policy evaluation |
| JEL: | O32 O38 C18 |
| Date: | 2025–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eug:wpaper:ki-01-24-079-en-n |
| By: | Christopher Teh (Toulouse School of Economics, France & School of Economics); Chengsi Wang (Department of Economics and Monash Digital Lab, Monash University) |
| Abstract: | This survey explores how startup acquisitions influence innovation and competition. We review two key streams of literature: post-acquisition innovation, which examines whether incumbents develop or terminate acquired projects, and pre-acquisition innovation, which investigates how the prospect of acquisition shapes startups’ and incumbents’ incentives and innovation strategies. We also assess the implications for merger policy design, highlighting recent competition authority responses and dynamic considerations. Our work provides insights into the ongoing debate on how competition policy should regulate startup acquisitions in fast-evolving and uncertain markets. |
| Keywords: | acquisition, innovation, merger policy, startup |
| JEL: | G34 L12 L41 O3 |
| Date: | 2025–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mos:moswps:2025-14 |
| By: | Stefano BIANCHINI (European Commission); Valentina DI GIROLAMO (European Commission); Julien RAVET (European Commission); David ARRANZ (European Commission) |
| Abstract: | The use of AI for scientific discovery has advanced at pace in the last decades. While this technology holds great potential to transform research, concerns have been voiced about its adverse, often unintended consequences. Can AI actually boost scientific creativity and lead to more innovative and impactful discoveries? Thus far, answers to this question remain largely anecdotal and confined to a handful of disciplines. In this paper, we study the diffusion of AI across 80 scientific fields from 2000 to 2022 and its impact on creativity – measured through novelty and impact. We find that AI adoption has accelerated in nearly all disciplines since the early 2010s, with research activity becoming increasingly concentrated in three major regions: the EU, the US, and China. Our analysis confirms an overall positive effect of AI on scientific creativity, though with considerable variation across fields: while most have benefited, some have seen little to no gains, and a few have even experienced negative returns. We propose that the structural organisation of knowledge within a field – and, by extension, the patterns of knowledge production – may moderate the influence of AI on scientific discovery. Specifically, we show that AI has greater transformative potential in “rough” knowledge spaces, where ideas are more fragmented and disconnected, and human cognition struggle to cope with complexity. These findings contribute to the ongoing debate on the role of AI in science and are contextualised within recent policy initiatives designed to promote AI-powered science. |
| Keywords: | Research and Innovation funding, impact assessment, econometric methods, spillover effects, mediation analysis, policy evaluation |
| JEL: | O32 O38 C18 |
| Date: | 2025–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eug:wpaper:ki-01-25-085-en-n |