Does intentional mean hierarchical? Knowledge flows and innovative performance of European regions

Abstract

The production of scientific and technical knowledge is mostly concentrated in specific locations (high-tech clusters, innovative industry agglomerations, centres of excellence, and technologically advanced regions). Knowledge flows very easily within regions; however, scientific and technical knowledge also flow between regions. The aim of this paper was to analyse how knowledge flows between regions, and the effect of these flows on the innovative performance, measured by patent applications. We estimate a regional knowledge production function, and, using appropriate spatial econometric estimation techniques, we test the effect of both geographical and relational autocorrelation (measured by participation in EU funded research networks as part of Fifth Framework Programme). We model unobservable structure and link value of knowledge flows in these joint research networks. We find that knowledge Previous versions of this paper were presented at the 7th European Meeting on Applied Evolutionary Economics, Pisa, February 2011; Dimetic Conference on 'Regional Innovation and Growth: Theory, empirics and policy analysis', Pècs, March 2011; Eurolio Conference on the Geography of Innovation, Saint Etienne, January 2012. We thank participants for useful comments and suggestions. In depth, discussions with E. Bergman, P. Elhrost, S. Beretta, B. Dettori, K. Frenken, G. Fagiolo, E. Marrocu, S. Usai and the recommendation from three referees for a thorough revision of the paper have substantially improved its structure and the arguments. The usual caveats apply. flows within inter-regional research networks, along non-symmetrical and hierarchical structures in which the knowledge produced by network participants tends to be exploited by the network coordinator. JEL Classification

Subsidized to change? The impact of R&D policy on regional technological diversification

“…All of these features are used in contemporary policies to varying degrees. For instance, the EU-Framework Programmes (EU-FRP) are focused on supporting R&D and on stimulating inter-regional as well as international knowledge diffusion by exclusively supporting collaborative projects (Scherngell and Barber 2009;Maggioni et al 2014). Another example of R&D subsidization with specific features is the German BioRegio contest.…”

“…Secondly, the effects of project-based R&D subsidies unfold beyond the individual organization (Broekel 2015;Maggioni et al 2014). Organizations are embedded into regional economies through labor mobility, collaboration, social networks, input-output linkages, and other types of interactions.…”

“…Our paper thereby fills a gap in the existing literature, as, so far, few efforts have been made to assess systematically the contribution of R&D policy to regional technological diversification (Boschma and Gianelle 2014). Moreover, most evaluations of R&D subsidization programs are restricted to the firm level (Czarnitzki et al 2007;Czarnitzki and Lopes-Bento 2013), while attention has only recently been drawn to the regional level (Maggioni et al 2014;Broekel 2015;Broekel et al 2017).…”

Another cluster premium: Innovation subsidies and R&D collaboration networks

“…In contrast to the national R&D subsidies data, in FP6 projects it can be differentiated between project leaders and partners. A recent study by Maggioni et al (2011) shows that knowledge exchange between FP6 partners is hierarchically structured "in which knowledge produced by network participants is exploited by the coordinator" (Maggioni et al, 2011, p. 1). We therefore consider only FP6 projects with German organizations being project coordinators.…”

Does EU Framework Program Participation Affect Regional Innovation? The Differentiating Role of Economic Development

“…Although there is an example in the literature to use different internal network structures for the projects (see, e.g., Maggioni, Uberti, and Nosvelli 2012), we would argue that in these projects, the possibility is given for all participants to communicate through project events and meetings. As a result, it is rather the strength of ties is important than their pure existence; however, there is no available information for this in our data set.…”