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on Knowledge Management and Knowledge Economy |
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Issue of 2015‒04‒25
four papers chosen by Laura Ştefănescu Centrul European de Studii Manageriale în Administrarea Afacerilor |
| By: | Teresa de Noronha Vaz (University of the Algarve, Faro, Portugal); Purificación Vicente Galindo (University of the Algarve, Faro, Portugal); Peter Nijkamp (VU University Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | This paper offers a new methodology to identify R&D and innovation clusters, on the basis of a regional analysis of innovation support systems in Portugal. Using a web-based inventory of R&D and innovation agencies, an extensive data base is created. This data set is next analyzed by means of Principal Coordinates Analysis followed by a Logistic Biplot approach (leading to Voronoi mappings) in order to design a systematic typology of innovation clusters in the main regions in Portugal. A striking result is the significant difference in innovation systems at regional level in Portugal. The paper is concluded with policy recommendations. |
| Keywords: | R&D and innovation, regional innovation systems, principal coordinates analysis, logistic biplot, Voronoi mapping, public policy |
| JEL: | Q55 Q16 |
| Date: | 2013–08–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20130107&r=knm |
| By: | Teresa de Noronha (Research Centre for Spatial and Organizational Dynamics, University of the Algarve, Faro, Portugal; Cities Centre, University of Toronto, Canada); Purificación Vicente Galindo (University of Salamanca, Spain); Peter Nijkamp (VU University Amsterdam); Eric de Noronha Vaz (Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada) |
| Abstract: | The strategic choices regarding innovation and R&D policy in Portugal have, over the last two decades, produced various positive benefits, in which particularly the regions of Lisbon and Algarve have taken the lead. These are the only parts of the country that converge towards the European average growth rate. The other Lisbon and Algarve have taken the lead, and are the only ones in the country to converge towards the European average growth rate. Other Portuguese regions – despite significant national growth rates in the 1990s and a successful attempt to cope with the EMU – are lagging behind the EU average with respect to gross production, investment and employment generation. Meanwhile, one of the greatest public policy efforts was to diffuse much of the European funds across the entrepreneurial sector. This paper aims to evaluate the firms’ contribution to national and regional growth, their obstacles and impacts, and to explain the present performance of Portuguese firms located throughout the country, and to explore those innovation determinants that have a region-specific connotation. In our paper, innovation is used as a major contributor to the policy evaluation process referred to above. To provide a thorough investigation, our analysis defines, on a regional basis, a set of firms’ behavioural patterns regarding innovation. In our modelling, we employ a new methodology, viz. the External Logistic Biplot method, which is applied to an extensive sample of innovative institutions in Portugal. Variables such as ‘Promoting knowledge’, ‘Management skills’, ‘Promoting R&D’, ‘Knowledge transfer’, ‘Promoting partnership & cooperation’, and ‘Orientation of public measures’ have been identified as crucial determinants in earlier studies and are now used to describe regional institutional profiles. |
| Keywords: | Regional Asymmetries, Innovation, Firms' Performance, Regional Innovation Systems, Principal Coordinates Analysis, External Logistic Biplot, Voronoi Diagram, Dissimilarity Matrix |
| JEL: | O50 O3 |
| Date: | 2013–09–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20130133&r=knm |
| By: | Andrea Caragliu (Politecnico di Milano, Italy); Peter Nijkamp (VU University Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | Usually, the diffusion of a non-rival market knowledge externality - called a Knowledge Spillover (KS) - is related to geographical proximity. In this paper we explore the channels through which knowledge spreads. Compared with earlier work on KS measures, this study makes a step forward by calculating KS (as a balance of positive and negative absolute knowledge flows) on the basis of different proximity matrices. In particular, we focus on the relational, social, technological, and cognitive channel, along with the traditional geographical channel. In the light of previous studies on KS, we examine: (i) which types of proximity enhance or hamper the outward flow of knowledge; and (ii) whether the local endowment of absorptive capacity reduces such a flow. Our results show that KSs vary across alternative definitions of proximity. The parameter estimates of such a KS model show interesting patterns, with geographical and cognitive proximity having the highest explanatory power am ong all the types of proximity considered. Local absorptive capacity is found to be negative only when a region is surrounded by regions with similarly high levels of absorptive capacity. Furthermore, outward KSs decrease as geographical, relational, social, technological and cognitive distance increase. This points to the emergence or existence of large clusters of regions <I>('absorptive capacity clubs')</I>, where relational, social, technological and cognitive proximity lock-in maximizes the returns to local investment in R&D. |
| Keywords: | knowledge spillover, total factor productivity, proximity, absorptive capacity, knowledge production function |
| JEL: | R1 D8 |
| Date: | 2013–09–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20130148&r=knm |
| By: | Kamal Saggi (Vanderbilt University); Difei Geng (Vanderbilt University) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines trends in innovative activity in several major Asian countries during 1997-2011 as measured by their filings and grants of various types of intellectual property (IP). By almost all measures, there has been a remarkable increase in innovative activity in China. In fact, in 2011 China accounted for roughly 25% of global patent applications. However, several indirect measures suggest that the quality of this newly created Chinese IP is not (yet) world class. For example, relative to residents of other major Asian countries and the United States, Chinese residents tend to file IP applications in foreign markets at a much lower rate. Similarly, the ratio of royalty payments earned by Chinese residents to the number of patents granted to them is fairly low by international standards. Finally, the ratio of patent to utility model applications (typically granted for relatively minor innovations) in China is also relatively small. |
| Keywords: | innovation, protection of intellectual property, patents, trademarks, industrial designs, TRIPS, Asia |
| JEL: | O3 O5 |
| Date: | 2014–05–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:van:wpaper:vuecon-14-00003&r=knm |