| By: |
Rosa, Julio M. (Statistics Canada);
Mohnen, Pierre (UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University) |
| Abstract: |
This study examines whether the transfer of knowledge flows from universities
to enterprises in Canada is hampered by the geographical distance that
separates them. The transfer of knowledge flows are measured by the amount of
R&D payments from business enterprises to universities that are directly
reported in Statistics Canada's survey on Research and Development in Canadian
Industry. We use data from the 1997 to 2001 surveys. After controlling for
unobserved individual heterogeneity, selection bias as well as for other
covariates that could affect the extent of industry-university R&D
transactions such as absorptive capacity, foreign control, belonging to the
same province, past experience with a given university and other firm and
university characteristics, it is found that a 10% increase in distance
decreases the proportion of total R&D paid to a university by 1.4 percent for
enterprises that do not report any codified transfer of knowledge flow, and by
half as much for enterprises that report codified knowledge flows. |
| Keywords: |
knowledge transfer, university-industry relationships, codified knowledge, tacit knowledge, spatial proximity |
| JEL: |
O31 O33 D83 D85 |
| Date: |
2008 |
| URL: |
http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:unumer:2008017&r=knm |