Developing technology in the vicinity of science: Do firms really benefit? An empirical assessment on the level of Italian provinces.

The article examines whether firms benefit from the presence of universities when developing technology. By estimating regional knowledge production functions for 101 Italian regions, we observe a strong positive relation between industrial technological performance – measured by patents – and the local presence of universities. In addition, 'academic' regions witness higher levels of industrial technological output, the more pronounced the scientific eminence of the regional universities. Finally, our analysis indicates that the observed spillover effects are field-specific, with domains situated in the vicinity of science benefiting most. Together, these findings suggest complementary roles for scientific and industrial actors within regional innovation systems.Regional Innovation Systems; Technology transfer; University-Firm Knowledge Spillovers; Technology; Science; Firms; Research;

Technological diversification, coherence and performance of firms.

Technological diversification at the level of the firm, i.e. the expansion of a firm’s technology base into a wide range of technology fields, is found to be a prevailing phenomenon in all three major industrialized regions: US, Europe and Japan, prompting the term multi-technology corporation. Whereas previous studies have provided insights into the composition of technology portfolios of multi-technology firms, little is known about the link between technological diversification and firms’ technological performance. Against a backdrop of the technology and innovation management literature, this article investigates the relationship between technological diversification and technological performance, taking into account the moderating role of technological coherence in firms’ technology portfolios. Hereby, technological coherence is defined as the degree to which technologies in a technology portfolio are technologically related. In order to measure the technological coherence of portfolios, a measure of technological relatedness of technology fields is constructed based on patent citation patterns found in 450,000 EPO patent grants. Two hypotheses are presented in this article: (1) Technological diversification has an inverted U-shaped relationship with technological performance; and (2) Technological coherence moderates the relationship between technological diversification and technological performance positively. These hypotheses are tested empirically using a panel dataset (1995-2003) on patent portfolios pertaining to 184 US, European, and Japanese firms. The firms selected are the largest R&D actors in five industries: Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology, Chemicals, Engineering & General Machinery, IT Hardware (computers and communication equipment), and Electronics & Electrical Machinery. Empirical results, obtained by fixed-effects negative binomial regressions, support both hypotheses in this article. Technological diversification has an inverted U-shaped relationship with technological performance. While technological diversification offers opportunities for cross-fertilization and technology fusion, high levels of diversification may yield few marginal benefits as firms risk lacking sufficient levels of scale to benefit from wide-ranging technological capabilities, and firms may encounter high levels of coordination and integration costs. Further, the results show that the net benefits of technological diversification are higher in technologically coherent technology portfolios. If firms build up a technologically coherent diversified portfolio, the presence of sufficient levels of scale is ensured and coordination costs are limited. This article clearly identifies the important role of technological coherence and points out in the discussion session the relevance of future research on interface management practices directed to the realization of the benefits of technological diversification.technology diversification; technology relatedness; innovation; firm performance;

Economic growth and labour productivity in Europe : half a century of east-west comparisons

This paper discusses the comparative productivity performance of Eastern and Western Europe since 1950. Firstly, it looks at the productivity estimates since the beginning of transition in 1989. Despite a decline in output, the turmoil of the late 1980s affected labour participation more strongly, so that labour productivity growth has been less affected than per capita income growth. Presently, there are signs of a renewed slowdown in productivity growth in Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC’s), even though there is much diversity between the countries. Secondly an historical approach is adopted by taking into account the growth performance of CEEC’s for the period 1950-1989. The estimates suggest a long-term trend towards productivity slowdown in Eastern Europe beyond the slowdown in Western Europe since 1973. Indeed the growth path in the CEEC’s before transition can be characterised as “extensive growth”. Growth was based on rapid accumulation of resources without successful application of new technologies, which led to declining efficiency in the use of resources. It is argued that the present difficulties in closing the productivity and income gap between East and West are still partly due to the legacy of the past. Policies to improve work organisation, change production strategies, and strengthen quality of training are typically effective in the long run and will not materialise in immediate sustained gains in productivity. Thirdly the paper takes a look at the convergence and divergence trends in productivity since 1950. It outlines a continuous process of productivity divergence between Eastern and Western Europe, despite convergence within each of the two regions. It is argued that the brief episode of convergence since 1992 is primarily the result of the recovery of shock effects of the transition. A long term process of productivity convergence depends on the success by which the past process of extensive growth can be transformed into intensive growth, i.e., growth based on efficient resource use and successful adaptation of new technologies. This requires institution building to strengthen the effectiveness of product, labour and capital markets in the long run.

Accumulation, productivity and technology: measurement and analysis of long term economic growth

This paper provides a brief overview of the "state of the art" on research on the sources of long term economic growth. It is argued that, despite the enormous progress in development of the theory and empirics on long term economic growth, we are still not able to unambiguously distinguish between the determinants of growth. The distinction between accumulation, productivity and technology is a useful device to structure the debate, as the former two tend to emphasize the importance of investment and increased efficiency in use of resources, whereas the latter puts the contribution of invention and innovation change into the spotlight. However, the most powerful explanations of economic growth are those which combine these various aspects of growth with an explicit focus on historical, institutional and political factors in the growth process. To strengthen empirical research, the paper recommends greater attention for reconstruction of historical national accounts, the development of a broad range of technology indicators.

Integration of driver support functions: the driver's point of view

Integration of driver support functions is a key issue in the development of in-vehicle systems that assist the driver with the driving task. This paper discusses a user needs survey that provides more insight into this issue from the perspective of the driver. Car drivers are asked to indicate their needs for driver assistance during certain driving tasks (e.g. congestion driving) and circumstances (e.g. reduced visibility). From this, consequences for the integration of functions can be deduced with respect to technology, HMI and functional operation. Preliminary results of a pilot test of the user needs survey are highlighted in this paper. These results indicate starting points for integrated driver assistance, such as the adaptability of systems based on personal needs for support, and the functional integration of driver support functions, for instance with respect to inter-vehicle communication