The Role of Multinational Corporations in Metropolitan Innovation Systems – Empirical Evidence from Europe and South-East Asia

Using firm-level survey data from Barcelona, Stockholm, Vienna in Europe and Singapore, Penang (Malaysia) and Bangkok in South-East Asia the paper enquires into the different R&D and innovation behaviour of multinational and local companies in these Metropolitan Regions. Scrutinizing a set of input, throughput and output indicators as well as information on cooperation characteristics, we try to evaluate a) if the spatial pattern of more (intense) innovation activity in Europe when compared to South-East Asia is still valid; and b) if there are reasons to believe that R&D units of multinational corporations in Europe are mainly concerned with the enhancement of the knowledge base and the development of future competitiveness by tapping into localized knowledge and using the particular host regions’ innovation systems, while, on the other hand, MNCs in South-East Asia use R&D to support existing production facilities in order to exploit an existing competitive advantage. We are able to show that there is still a major gap in the innovation performance between South-East Asia and Europe and that there are indeed indications that R&D units in Europe are more orientated towards the augmentation of the company’s knowledge base.

Barriers Against the Transfer of Knowledge Between Universities and the Industry in Newly-Industrialised Countries - An Analysis of the Regional Innovation System of Bangkok

This paper presents empirical evidence on university-industry relations (UIR) and knowledge transfer in the regional innovation system of Bangkok and broaches the issue of adapting well-established concepts for the analysis of innovation processes in newly industrialising countries. The potential for UIR is restricted due to 1) a weak and fragmented innovation system, 2) low technological and absorptive capacities in the industrial sector, and 3) slowly improving research capabilities in the scientific sector. Hence the level of UIR in the regional innovation system of Bangkok is mainly limited to occasional and personal modes. It is suggested to strengthen the knowledge transfer capabilities within both actors and to establish effective mechanisms for bridging institutional barriers between academia and industry.

Evolving into a Regional Innovation System: How Governance impact on Innovation in Shenzhen and Dongguan, China?

Governance constitutes elementary supportive infrastructure for regional innovation systems. This paper extends the evolutionary lens of governance into initial industrialization phase and examines the impact of their evolution into regional innovation systems on fostering innovation activities. Drawing on the empirical substances in Shenzhen and Dongguan, China, a path-dependent nature of institutional design on supporting innovation has been discovered. The paper shows that the dirigiste globalized production system in Shenzhen in 1980s has gradually evolved to a higher level of interactive regional innovation system than the grassroots globalized production system in Dongguan, where innovation is still passively managed by global players. Finally, policy implication is discussed for the construction of regional innovation systems under different governance modalities in the initial industrialization phase.ego-networks, geographical proximity, innovation performance, knowledge networks, technological relatedness

The Role of Multinational Corporations in Metropolitan Innovation Systems – Empirical Evidence from Europe and South-East Asia

Using firm-level survey data from Barcelona, Stockholm, Vienna in Europe and Singapore, Penang (Malaysia) and Bangkok in South-East Asia the paper enquires into the different R&D and innovation behaviour of multinational and local companies in these Metropolitan Regions. Scrutinizing a set of input, throughput and output indicators as well as information on cooperation characteristics, we try to evaluate a) if the spatial pattern of more (intense) innovation activity in Europe when compared to South-East Asia is still valid; and b) if there are reasons to believe that R&D units of multinational corporations in Europe are mainly concerned with the enhancement of the knowledge base and the development of future competitiveness by tapping into localized knowledge and using the particular host regions’ innovation systems, while, on the other hand, MNCs in South-East Asia use R&D to support existing production facilities in order to exploit an existing competitive advantage. We are able to show that there is still a major gap in the innovation performance between South-East Asia and Europe and that there are indeed indications that R&D units in Europe are more orientated towards the augmentation of the company’s knowledge base

Opportunity entrepreneurs - potential drivers of non-farm growth in rural Vietnam?

In this paper we apply the concept of necessity and opportunity entrepreneurship to rural Vietnam. The aim is to evaluate whether opportunity entrepreneurs in rural areas in developing countries have a greater potential to stimulate endogenous non-farm growth than necessity entrepreneurs. The results show that opportunity entrepreneurs are relatively frequent. They have an agricultural background less often and are better educated and skilled. In addition, they are more successful in terms of profits, even after controlling for general business and locational characteristics. However, even rural opportunity entrepreneurs are often not oriented towards employment growth and thus have a limited capacity to generate non'farm employment for other households. It becomes clear that although the necessity/opportunity concept has so far been primarily applied to developed countries, distinguishing opportunity and necessity entrepreneurship is very suitable in a rural developing context if some contextual specifics of the rural environment are taken into account

Towards internationally competitive regions in Ukraine: critical assessment

Globalisation as a dominant tendency of the XXI century has initiated the rise of the scale and dynamics of economic interactions on the international, national and regional levels. Regions have started to compete as the sources of economic growth since the disproportional levels of their development led to the escalation of the disparities on the global economic platform. Experience of the most successful and highly developed states clearly shows that the growth of the competitive economy on the macro-level is only possible through the accumulation of the regional economic potentials on the meso-level. The notion of international regional competitiveness has been paid attention to in economic and regional science literature, but still there is no one single definition of what a competitive region means. The paper presents the author's own definition of an internationally competitive regional economy as the starting point of the assessment of the scientific and innovative potentials of the regions of Ukraine, their link to the regional competitiveness of the Ukrainian economy and its regional attractiveness towards FDI. Analysis of the impact of FDI on the local business, of whether MNCs do add value to the local regional growth, situating the regional competitive advantage, of the level of embeddedness of MNCs into regional innovation systems as the primary sources of regional competitiveness is introduced in the paper within the methodology framework of the survey carried out in three regions of Ukraine within the SEARCH Project of the Seventh Framework Programme. Formulation of strategic policies targeting at raising the level of the regional competitiveness stands as a coherent discussion focus after cluster models of boosting the levels of international competitiveness with the means of increasing the level of productivity and economic connectivity are proposed. The paper aims at, firstly, the assessment of the theoretical aspects and up-to-date methodologies of the analysis of the international competitiveness of the regions; secondly, at identification of the system of determinants of the level of international competitiveness of the regions within the conditions of globalisation; thirdly, at the study of the economic potential of the regions of Ukraine as one of the drivers of regional competitiveness; and fourthly, the paper will come up with the strategic ways of accumulation of the innovative competitiveness of the regions of Ukraine

Innovation potentials and innovative networks in European metropolitan regions: Some empirical evidence from the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona

Innovation potentials and innovative networks in European metropolitan regions - some empirical evidence from the Metropolitan Area of Barcelone Revilla Diez, Javier; Escorsa, Pere and Camacho, Jaime Alberto Interregional competitiveness and the relationship between technology and competitiveness has increasingly become the object of considerable interest. The stimulation of innovation potentials within a region is becoming more and more decisive in the competition between regions. Although a precise definition of the term innovation potential is difficult, there is no doubt that it is essentially the stock of knowledge and its use which makes up the innovation potential of a region. This stock, however, is an inert factor. Its conversion into innovation underlines the importance of linkages and relationships in everyday innovation processes. Firms pursue co-operative agreements in order to gain rapid access to new technologies or new markets, to benefit from economies of scale in joint R&D and production to tap into essential resources of know-how and to share risks. These linkages possess a number of features which make the network mode a distinct from inter-firm organisation. This paper attempts to give a clear documentation of current innovation activities in the metropolitan region of Barcelone between the three major actors in innovations systems: industrial firms, producer services and research institutions. The presented results are based on representative surveys within an international comparative study in three major metropolitan areas in Europe (Barcelone, Stockholm and Vienna). The results of this research will be relevant for an understanding of how and why different industries build cooperative relationships in metropolitan regions. The results will also provide insights for policy efforts that can help to nurture and expand the regional economic base in the face of the current rapid globalisation of production. Keywords: Innovation potential, Innovation networks, Metropolitan regions, Barcelona

Barriers Against the Transfer of Knowledge Between Universities and the Industry in Newly-Industrialised Countries - An Analysis of the Regional Innovation System of Bangkok

This paper presents empirical evidence on university-industry relations (UIR) and knowledge transfer in the regional innovation system of Bangkok and broaches the issue of adapting well-established concepts for the analysis of innovation processes in newly industrialising countries. The potential for UIR is restricted due to 1) a weak and fragmented innovation system, 2) low technological and absorptive capacities in the industrial sector, and 3) slowly improving research capabilities in the scientific sector. Hence the level of UIR in the regional innovation system of Bangkok is mainly limited to occasional and personal modes. It is suggested to strengthen the knowledge transfer capabilities within both actors and to establish effective mechanisms for bridging institutional barriers between academia and industry

The determinants of regional disparities in skill segregation: Evidence from a cross section of German regions

Increasing inequality in qualification specific employment prospects characterises labour markets in most highly developed countries. Theoretical models suggest that in-plant skill segregation might matter for the polarisation of employment and wages. According to these models production technology and the educational level of the work force are important determinants of skill segregation. There are some studies that investigate the increasing in-plant skill segregation at the national level. However, since production technologies and skill structures are characterised by pronounced regional disparities, there are likely significant differences in the level of segregation between regions. But empirical evidence on corresponding regional inequalities is lacking. The objective of this analysis is to investigate regional disparities in skill segregation in Germany. Our findings point to marked disparities among German regions. Moreover, we analyse the determinants of these differences at the regional level. The results of a regression analysis indicate that the local endowment with human capital is an important determinant for the regional level of skill segregation. Furthermore, skill segregation is increasing in most areas during the period under consideration, which may lead to unfavourable labour-market conditions for low-skilled workers in corresponding regional labour markets. --regional labour markets,skill segregation,human capital