Knowledge Spillovers and High‐technology Clustering: Evidence from Taiwan's Hsinchu Science‐Based Industrial Park

Abstract

Knowledge spillovers of high-technology industries are alleged to be important determinants of industrial clustering. Dynamic production modeling is applied to measure the sectoral and spatial spillover effects to study the implications of various types of knowledge spillovers on high-technology industry clustering in Taiwan's Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park (HSIP). The analysis is performed using the Taiwanese government's industrial census of technological activities at the micro level with 2340 plants for the period 1986-1995. We find substantive sectoral and spatial knowledge spillover effects, which are considered to be major motivating forces for regional concentration patterns of Taiwan's high-technology industries. (JEL L10, O30)

RFID within High-Tech Clusters – Towards a Knowledge-Based Economy

“…New technologies within the cluster can facilitate the creation and transmission of tacit and explicit knowledge. R&D externalities associated with learning and transfer of new technological knowledge, which depends positively on the proximity of early users and of technologically close stakeholders, can reduce the costs of undertaking technology embodying capital goods and help facilitate the assimilation of new technologies into the firms' own value chains (Tsai, 2005).…”

Technology transfer as a driver for location of R&D active firms on science parks

“…In a knowledge-based economy, institutional agents pursue a joint strategy to enhance the generation (by science) and use (by industry) mediated by stable interactions and exchange (by government) (Cooke and Leydesdorff, 2006). Science parks are considered an infrastructural policy instrument to transfer knowledge from science to industry (Löfsten and Lindelöf, 2002;Cassingena Harper and Georghiou, 2005;Tsai, 2005). Massey et al (1992), Kline and Rosenberg (1986), Cabral (1998) and Chesbrough (2003a) The innovation process has evolved from a linear and closed model to the model of open innovation (Chesbrough, 2003a(Chesbrough, , 2003b.…”

“…Spatially this implies that innovations are fostered by interaction with industry outside the science park boundaries (Feldman et al, 2005). Thus science parks become urbanised catalysts for innovation (Annerstedt and Haselmeyer, 2004;Tsai, 2005). Its residents interact with all urban and regional activities and thus they contribute to clusters of a high tech nature: in short a knowledge-based economy (Mae Phillips and Yeung, 2003;Teirlinck and Spithoven, 2008).…”

“…Impressed by the success stories of role models like Silicon Valley, Boston (USA), Technopolis (Japan), Cambridge (UK), Sofia-Antipolis (France), Oulu-Tampere (Finland) and many others, science parks have received a lot of attention from academics and policy makers, aiming at creating wealth and employment in their region (Gibb, 1985). Science parks are especially popular in Asian countries such as Japan (Bass, 1998;Fukugawa, 2006), Taiwan (Tsai, 2005;Chen, 2006), China (Hu, 2007), Singapore (Mae Phillips and Yeung, 2003), Korea (Shin, 2001), Philippines (Macdonald and Joseph, 2001), and others (Yeoh et al, 2005).…”

“…The literature on science parks has identified a number of potential benefits science parks bring in their wake. These include: the reinforcement or regeneration of regional expertise (Löfsten and Lindelöf, 2001;Feldman and Francis, 2003;Siegel et al, 2003), the creation of economic growth by increasing or diffusing innovation (Cooke, 2001;Link and Scott, 2003;Herstatt and Lettl, 2004;Zhu and Tann, 2005;Hu, 2007), the creation of high value added activities (Cooke, 2001;Löfsten and Lindelöf, 2002;Ferguson and Olofsson, 2004;Garnsey and Longhi, 2004;Tsai, 2005), the generation of highly skilled labour (Anderson and Sjölund, 2005), the attraction of international investors (Blanc et al, 2004;British Council, 2002), and the facilitation of transfer of knowledge and technology (Cabral, 1998;Macdonald and Joseph, 2001;Löfsten and Lindelöf, 2002;Link and Scott, 2003;Nursall, 2003;Cassingena Harper and Georghiou, 2005). All in all, science parks have become a key instrument of regional economic development (Wessner, 2009).…”