The role of competences on patenting activities of learning regions : an empirical study on French data

In a learning region interactions between agents strongly determine the territorial capacities to create, develop and diffuse knowledge, and finally to innovate.. More precisely, the interactive model of innovation suggests that several different pieces of knowledge have to be mixed and shared between actors in order to win the innovative race. Indeed, in our current knowledge based economies a maximum of research inputs is not a guarantee of a high level of innovation any more. On the contrary, the entities (whatever their size) which succeed to combine efficiently different and sometimes complementary or conflicting "small" pieces of knowledge inside their borders, might reach unexpected and higher level of invention and innovation. But, because of the multiple facets of knowledge (tacit, explicit, individual, collective..) and of the potential barriers generated by geographic and/or cognitive distances, these knowledge combinations or re-combinations require specific abilities or competences. First of all, firms have to develop abilities to organise internally and efficiently around innovation (we call theses competences organisational and technical ones). Besides, firms try to benefit from external innovative ideas by developing critical interfaces (Pavitt, 1998). In other words, they try and acquire competences in collaborating with customers, suppliers, but also competitors, financers and public institutions so as to reduce their mutual cognitive misunderstandings.. So, we assume that thanks to a large range of complementary competences, firms try to cope with knowledge transmission problems and to keep as innovative as possible (exploiting every external innovative ideas). Using an original (quantitative and qualitative) data base on competences for innovation (Sessi, 1997), we precisely aim at testing this hypothesis. Concretely we run an econometric model evaluating the impact of competences mastered by firms of a region, on the innovative activity (proxied by the ratio patents/GDP) of the same region. We purposely choose to run the analysis at the regional level so as to minimize the geographic distance impact. Indeed, lots of existing articles already analyse the impact of geographic proximity on innovation. We rather aim at analysing the influence of cognitive proximity. Our results allow us to highlight the core competences of innovative regions. We then build a typology of regions coupling the nature of competences a region has to master and its industrial specificities. Based on this typology we suggest some guidelines for policy makers: As regions differ in terms of industrial specificities, they also differ in the competences they have to develop and therefore differentiated innovative policies have to be run.

The determinants of scientific research agenda: Why do academic inventors choose to perform patentable versus non-patentable research?

This paper explores the determinants of scientific research agenda. By using an original dataset that includes extensive information about 269 French academic inventors, we analyze why scientists choose to perform patentable versus non-patentable research. Usually economic studies tackle this problem by using the number of invented patents as a proxy of researchers’ willingness to perform patentable research. The originality of the paper is that, in addition to the number of invented patents, we rely on a survey-base dependant variable that indicates whether or not scientists acknowledge orienting deliberately their research towards patentable areas. Our results indicate that past experience with respect to patenting activity matters: academic inventors who have already experienced a successful technology transfer are more inclined to orient their research towards patentable domains. Similarly, the institutional environment plays an explanatory role, whereas conversely, scientific discipline, age and individual research performance do not seem to affect the decision to orient research towards patentable areas. Yet, age and scientific performance positively influence the number of patents scholars effectively invent.University, patent, scientific agenda, technology transfer, academic inventors.

Do birds of a feather flock together? Proximities and inter-clusters network

The present contribution develops on the analysis of clusters in terms of proximities by exploring the issue of distant inter-cluster collaborations. We mobilize different forms of proximity (geographic, cognitive, social) discussed in the literature in order to identify their respective influence on intercluster collaboration by taking the example of French Pôles de Compétitivité. Our results echo previous results applied to intra-cluster collaborations since inter-cluster collaboration mostly relies on a form of social capital due to the key roles played by relational and cognitive proximity. Finally, our results exhibit a negative influence of geographic distance on collaboration. JEL: C45, R12, R58 Keywords: clusters, network analysis, proximities, intercluster collaboration

University knowledge networks in space Are far-reaching scientists also international knowledge brokers?

Modern universities are increasingly urged to operate more entrepreneurially, leading them to try to diffuse their knowledge production more systematically, most obviously through scientific articles and patents. The authors investigate the role of universities as knowledge brokers and delimit more precisely the sphere of emergence and influence of university-derived knowledge. The main issue empirically addressed is whether the likelihood of a patenting team being geographically widespread depends on the characteristics of the inventing academic scientists\u27 publishing network. In so doing, the authors estimate the respective influences of scientists\u27 publishing patterns on the range of their entrepreneurial behaviours (represented by their patenting activity)

Identifying Cultural and Cognitive Proximity between Managers and Customers in Tornio and Haparanda Cross Border Region

Daily intercultural interactions in cross-border regions such as those between customers and managers can be a source of knowledge and ideas. However, such interactions can pose distinctive constraints and opportunities for learning and exchange of ideas. This study adopts a relatively fine–grained quantitative approach to study elements of cognitive and cultural proximity which have a major impact on these interactions. It is based on a survey of 91 managers of small service firms and 312 customers in the twin city of Tornio and Haparanda on the border between Finland and Sweden. Seven elements of proximity were identified and measured. Six elements of perceived cognitive and cultural proximity including values, conservative values towards new ideas, knowledge and use of technology, use of a foreign language, sufficiently focusing or providing specific details and ways of solving problems were found significant in terms of shaping perceptions of Swedish and Finnish managers and customers, which shape these interactions. The results enhance our understanding of how daily cross-border intercultural can be examined in the context of cross-border regional knowledge transfer

Exceptional preservation of palaeozoic steroids in a diagenetic continuum

The occurrence of intact sterols has been restricted to immature Cretaceous (~125 Ma) sediments with one report from the Late Jurassic (~165 Ma). Here we report the oldest occurrence of intact sterols in a Crustacean fossil preserved for ca. 380 Ma within a Devonian concretion. The exceptional preservation of the biomass is attributed to microbially induced carbonate encapsulation, preventing full decomposition and transformation thus extending sterol occurrences in the geosphere by 250 Ma. A suite of diagenetic transformation products of sterols was also identified in the concretion, demonstrating the remarkable coexistence of biomolecules and geomolecules in the same sample. Most importantly the original biolipids were found to be the most abundant steroids in the sample. We attribute the coexistence of steroids in a diagenetic continuum-ranging from stenols to triaromatic steroids-to microbially mediated eogenetic processes

Evolution in the Disks and Bulges of Group Galaxies since z=0.4

We present quantitative morphology measurements of a sample of optically selected group galaxies at 0.3 < z < 0.55 using the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and the GIM2D surface brightness--fitting software package. The group sample is derived from the Canadian Network for Observational Cosmology Field Redshift survey (CNOC2) and follow-up Magellan spectroscopy. We compare these measurements to a similarly selected group sample from the Millennium Galaxy Catalogue (MGC) at 0.05 < z < 0.12. We find that, at both epochs, the group and field fractional bulge luminosity (B/T) distributions differ significantly, with the dominant difference being a deficit of disk--dominated (B/T < 0.2) galaxies in the group samples. At fixed luminosity, z=0.4 groups have ~ 5.5 +/- 2 % fewer disk--dominated galaxies than the field, while by z=0.1 this difference has increased to ~ 19 +/- 6 %. Despite the morphological evolution we see no evidence that the group environment is actively perturbing or otherwise affecting the entire existing disk population. At both redshifts, the disks of group galaxies have similar scaling relations and show similar median asymmetries as the disks of field galaxies. We do find evidence that the fraction of highly asymmetric, bulge--dominated galaxies is 6 +/- 3 % higher in groups than in the field, suggesting there may be enhanced merging in group environments. We replicate our group samples at z=0.4 and z=0 using the semi-analytic galaxy catalogues of Bower et al (2006). This model accurately reproduces the B/T distributions of the group and field at z=0.1. However, the model does not reproduce our finding that the deficit of disks in groups has increased significantly since z=0.4.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 20 pages, 17 figure

GEMS Imaging of Red Sequence Galaxies at z~0.7: Dusty or Old?

We have used the 30'x30' Hubble Space Telescope image mosaic from the Galaxy Evolution from Morphology and SEDs (GEMS) project in conjunction with the COMBO-17 deep photometric redshift survey to define a sample of nearly 1500 galaxies with 0.65 < z < 0.75. With this sample, we can study the distribution of rest-frame V-band morphologies more than 6 Gyr ago, without differential bandpass shifting and surface brightness dimming across this narrow redshift slice. Focusing on red-sequence galaxies at z ~ 0.7, we find that 85% of their combined rest-frame V-band luminosity density comes from visually-classified E/S0/Sa galaxies (at V-band magnitudes brighter than -19.5). Similar results are obtained if automated classifiers are used. This fraction is identical to that found at the present day, and is biased by less than 10% by large scale structure and the morphology-density relation. Under the assumption that peculiar and edge-on disk galaxies are red by virtue of their dust content, we find that less than 13% of the total rest-frame V-band luminosity of the z ~ 0.7 red galaxy population is from dusty galaxies.Comment: ApJL, in press. For a version of this paper with a full-resolution figure visit http://www.mpia-hd.mpg.de/homes/bell/res.html The GEMS collaboration website is http://www.mpia-hd.mpg.de/GEMS/gems.htm Added discussion of the implications of our results for hierarchical and monolithic formation scenarios for early-type galaxie