This article examines empirically the relative influence of static and dynamic agglomeration effects on the one hand and research networking [measured by Framework Programme (FP) participation] on the other on regional R&D productivity in the European Union. We found that agglomeration is an important predictor of R&D productivity in the case of market-oriented (Edison-type) research while interregional scientific networking is an important determinant of R&D productivity in the case of science-driven (Pasteur-type) research. Importantly, the two determinants are never jointly significant. This finding indicates that in a knowledge production context, and contrary to what may happen in other areas of economic activity, agglomeration and scientific networking are neither substitutes nor complements but operate at distinct parts of the knowledge production process. Our findings uncover the principal components of regional knowledge production processes across European regions in a dynamic setting. They therefore allow us to explore counterfactual scenarios and characterize the effects of policy interventions. A simulation of the likely impacts of FP6 funds on regional R&D productivity demonstrates that the dynamic effect is greater in regions with high agglomeration.

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In this paper, we chart the historical evolution of the national innovation systems of Ireland and Greece, under the light of contemporaneous economic, technological and institutional developments. We argue that, among other things, the drafting of policy and the consequent shaping of their institutions has been an important delineator. We observe that importing solutions from abroad, with Greece looking to Brussels andIreland to the USA, was central to their respective experiences. We conclude that effective innovation policy must also take into account of novel, context-specific approaches to governance.

While policy recognises the need to facilitate university-industry technology transfer (UITT), international studies indicate that the setup and effectiveness of the associated instruments is highly context-specific. We examine the reorientation of Irish universities in the direction of facilitating UITT, with a substantive focus on the role of Ireland's technology transfer offices. This paper also questions how academic research is changing in line with policy rhetoric. We find that Irish university research and the management of its output are changing in a manner that is not incompatible with UITT, although with significant resource and skills constraints. These findings hold important lessons for national economic and innovation systems of comparable size, with a development trajectory shaped by foreign direct investment. olicy makers in Ireland 1 have placed a marked emphasis on matters of innovation and view universities 2 as a key node in the Irish national innovation system (Forfás, 2004a). Yet with the exception of skill provision, the specific ways with which the capabilities of universities may be harnessed have entered the debate relatively recently (Forfás, 2007b).We examine the changing face of Irish universities, placing particular attention on the recent evolution of technology transfer offices (TTOs). Although the present work is an exploratory analysis of selected university-industry technology transfer (UITT) issues, it attempts to fill an important gap in the literature complementing the generalised observations of Cunningham and Harney (2006) with empirical insights from individual universities.Ireland, a small, open and rapidly growing economy, is a special case in that it possesses a technologically advanced economic system which, however, owes more to foreign direct investment than indigenous development. In that sense the broad innovation policy drive (and UITT) has an ex post 'afterthought' character, intended to sustain (rather than induce) the atypical Irish development model. Therefore, the insights provided here hold interest for the ex nihilo development of knowledgetransfer policies in similar environments, particularly in the new EU member states.We find that both the scale and direction of research in Irish universities are changing in a manner that is not incompatible with UITT, although with significant resource and skills constraints. PWill Geoghegan is at