We need to talk: Or do we? Geographic distance and the commercialization of technologies from public research

Using a new dataset with detailed geographic information about licensing activities of the Max Planck Society, Germany's largest non-university public research organization, we analyze how the probability and magnitude of commercial success are affected by geographic distance between licensors and licensees. Our evidence suggests that proximity is not generally associated with superior commercialization outcomes. A negative association between distance and commercialization success is identified only for the specific cases of, first, spin-off licensees located outside Germany and, second, foreign licensees within the subsample of inventions with multiple licensees

Gender and Immigration: Double Negative Effects in the Labor Market Outcomes of University Graduates in Germany?

Survey data for a large sample of recent graduates from 37 German universities are used to study labor market outcomes of highly skilled young women and immigrants. Our results indicate a systemic wage gap for women, but not for male immigrants. We find no evidence that female immigrants suffer from a double-negative effect of being disadvantaged twofold (in terms of gender and immigration status). Similar patterns are obtained for job satisfaction and the match quality of competences and job requirements

Regional Knowledge and the Emergence of an Industry: Laser Systems Production in West Germany, 1975-2005

We analyze the emergence and spatial evolution of the German laser systems industry. Regional knowledge in the related field of laser sources, as well as the presence of universities with physics or engineering departments, is conducive to the emergence of laser systems suppliers. The regional presence of source producers is also positively related to entry into laser systems. One important mechanism behind regional entry is the diversification of upstream laser source producers into the downstream systems market. Entry into the materials processing submarket appears to be unrelated to academic knowledge in the region, but the presence of laser source producers and the regional stock of laser knowledge are still highly predictive in this submarket.Innovation, regional knowledge, laser technology, emerging industries, diversification

Smile or die: Can subjective well-being increase survival in the face of substantive health impairments?

A robust relationship between subjective well-being and mortality has been established in the literature. While this relationship has been confirmed for many measures and data sets, few studies address how it is affected by concrete diseases. In this paper we assess for the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) data set from 1991-2008 how life satisfaction interacts with twelve concrete health impairments. Specifically, we analyze whether subjective well-being predicts longer survival in the panel for individuals having the respective impairments. We find that cancer, chest pains and diabetes consistently decrease survival in our sample, even controlling for the severity of health problems. But our results cast doubt on strong claims for the benefits of well-being on mortality: while life satisfaction generally predicts longer survival in the data set, this finding is not robust to controlling for the endogeneity of subjective well-being, and we do not find significant interactions between substantive health impairments and life satisfaction. Higher subjective well-being may keep you healthy, but once you have gotten sick, it does not predict your survival

Regional knowledge and the emergence of an industry: Laser systems production in West Germany, 1975-2005

We analyze the emergence and spatial evolution of the German laser systems industry. Regional knowledge in the related field of laser sources, as well as the presence of universities with physics or engineering departments, is conducive to the emergence of laser systems suppliers. The regional presence of source producers is also positively related to entry into laser systems. One important mechanism behind regional entry is the diversification of upstream laser source producers into the downstream systems market. Entry into the materials processing submarket appears to be unrelated to academic knowledge in the region, but the presence of laser source producers and the regional stock of laser knowledge are still highly predictive in this submarket

2008,14: The origins of entrants and the geography of the German laser industry

Entry into an industry often clusters in regions where the industry is already concentrated, which is suggestive of agglomeration economies. Regional public research activities may exert another attracting force on entrants into science-based industries. Empirically these proximity effects are confounded by other influences on where entrants originate and locate. This paper begins to disentangle the effects of agglomeration, public research, and the supply of capable entrants for the German laser industry. Our findings indicate that the industry's geography was shaped by the local availability of potential entrants rather than localization economies. The impact of public research increased over time. -- Industry clusters ; agglomeration economies ; public research ; entry ; heritag

2009,15: Submarket dynamics and innovation : the case of the US tire industry

Beginning in 1922, the rate of exit of U.S. tire producers increased sharply and the industry began a severe and protracted shakeout. Just five years earlier, the tire industry experienced a surge in entry that led to a rise of over 80% in the number of producers. We propose an explanation for this episode based on the idea of industry submarkets, which we incorporate in a model of shakeouts. We test this theory and alternative explanations for the surge in entry and exit and the shakeout using a novel data set on patenting in tires and production in the early 1920s of the cord tire, a key innovation we feature in our theory. Our analysis suggests that the development of a new submarket can open up opportunities for entry but also stimulate innovation and in the process reinforce the advantages of the leading incumbents, accentuating the shakeout of producers. -- Submarkets ; Innovation ; Shakeout

Selbstorganisation als "Missing Link"?

Selbstorganisation ist ein grundlegender Prozeß wirtschaftlicher Entwicklungsdynamik. Mit Hilfe der in den Naturwissenschaften entwickelten Konzepte zur Beschreibung von Selbstorganisationsprozessen lassen sich umweltökonomische Probleme als Effekte interdependenten individuellen Handelns verstehen. Gleichzeitig ist die Selbstorganisation an biophysikalische Bedingungen geknüpft, die auch für das menschliche Wirtschaften gelten. Sie scheint deshalb geeignet, eine Verbindung zwischen Evolutionsökonomik und ökologischer Ökonomik herzustellen

2009,20: Not invented here : technology licensing, knowledge transfer and innovation based on public research

Using a new dataset encompassing more than 2,200 inventions made by Max Planck Society researchers from 1980 to 2004, we explore how licensee and technology characteristics affect the licensing and commercialization of technologies from public research. We find no evidence that spin-offs and external licensees systematically differ in their likelihood of successful commercialization. Technologies licensed to foreign firms are less often commercialized, which may reflect selection effects. Patented technologies and inventions by senior scientists are more likely to be licensed, but patent protection is related to lower commercialization odds and lower royalty payments. -- Licensing ; public research ; cognitive distance ; entrepreneurship ; Max Planck societ

Räumliche Implikationen verstärkter Drittmittelorientierung in der Hochschulfinanzierung

Untersucht wurden räumliche Implikationen der zunehmenden Drittmittelorientierung in der Deutschen Wissenschaftspolitik seit Ende der 1990er Jahre. Die empirischen Ergebnisse legen nahe, dass jenseits der Faktoren, die den Förderumfang aus den unmittelbaren Förderzielen der Drittmittelgeber heraus determinieren - der wissenschaftlichen Exzellenz und disziplinären Ausrichtung eines Fachgebiets -, auch das innovative Milieu der Hochschulregion sowie die Größe der Universität zu einer erfolgreichen Einwerbung von Forschungsdrittmitteln beitragen. Da es sich bei Hochschulregionen mit großen Universitäten und ausgeprägtem innovativem Milieu überwiegend um strukturstarke Regionen handelt, ergibt sich ein Zielkonflikt zwischen der zunehmenden Exzellenzorientierung in der Wissenschaftspolitik und den Zielen einer ausgleichsorientierten Regionalpolitik.The article investigates spatial implications of the recent shift towards merit-based public research funding in German science policy since the late 1990s. The empirical results presented indicate advantages for regions with an encompassing innovative milieu and larger overall university size. The factors directly targeted by the research funding - excellence and disciplin of the researcher - also contribute to the amount of funding. Since regions with larger universities and intensive innovative milieus are in general regions with higher economic prosperity, the recent shift towards merit-based public-research funding in science policy does not contribute to the objective of regional convergence