Determinants influencing the choice of a cooperation partner

This paper provides empirical tests of hypotheses of cooperative behavior provided by evolutionary approaches in the resource-based view of the firm. The influences of "technological proximity", individual incentives to cooperate and managerial tools to the choice of research partner are analyzed. Using German patent data we can show the positive influence of those three determinants. The results of this paper confirm theories dealing with the path-dependency of research activities.innovation, resource-based view of the firm, cooperation, technological proximity, organizational know-how

Picking the Winner? - Empirical Evidence on the Targeting of R&D Subsidies to Start-ups

This paper investigates the allocation of R&D subsidies given to start-ups. Considering the coexistence of various R&D project schemes, we take an aggregate view and analyze the determinants of the receipt of (any) R&D subsidies within the first three business years of the start-ups. We argue that policymakers and funding authorities follow a strategy of "picking the winner". Analyzing a unique data set of start-ups in the East German state of Thuringia, we conduct logistic regressions and find ambiguous support. R&D subsidies are given to start-ups with innovative business ideas, especially academic spin-offs. On the other hand, the ambitions and the patent stock of the founder(s) do not decide the receipt of R&D subsidies. These insights into the overall allocation of R&D subsidies are important since they have implications for policy effectiveness and efficiency. The implied difficulties of policy targeting fundamentally question the massive subsidization of private R&D.Start-ups, R&D subsidies, Subsidy allocation

Cooperation and Specialization in German Technology Regions

We investigate cooperative behavior within technology regions in patenting activities. Case studies of local innovation systems point out certain characteristics fruitful to innovation and regional growth but often pronounce historical singularities as major influence. We provide evidence on the same theoretical basis in an econometric study. Based on a theoretical discussion of research cooperation hypotheses are derived which relate a regions technological characteristics to that regions account of research cooperation. Patent data are used to define the technological specialization of German regions and identify cooperations within and between them. Most cooperations tend to take place in modestly specialized regions, indicating a need for similar technological capabilities between partner firms.

The Network of Innovators in Jena: An Application of Social Network Analysis

We apply social network analysis methods to describe the evolution of the innovator network of Jena, Germany in the period from 1995 to 2001. We find this evolution to be directed towards an increasing focus on core competencies of the local innovation system. Further we analyze the network resulting from R&D cooperations and explain - by means of network regression techniques - that the job mobility of scientists and the technological overlap between the actors, rather than past cooperations, can best predict the resulting structure. We also observe an increasing importance of the university while the former "Kombinate" begin to lose their prominent role.Innovator Networks, Network Regression, Local Innovation Systems, R+D Cooperation, Research University

The Use and Effect of Social Capital in New Venture Creation - Solo Entrepreneurs vs. New Venture Teams

This paper examines the use of social capital in the venture creation process. We compare solo entrepreneurs (n=182) and new venture teams (n=274) from a random sample of start-ups in innovative industries and test social capital use and its effects on firm performance. Our results reveal that solo entrepreneurs and new venture teams do not differ in their degree of use of social capital. However, there are differences in the determinants of social capital use in both groups. We find that weak ties assist solo entrepreneurs and have positive significant effects on new venture performance. For team start- ups, we find no direct effect of social capital. However, further tests indicate for teams that human capital variety positively moderates the effect of social capital on performance.Entrepreneurship, Nascent entrepreneurship, Social capital, Start-up teams, Entrepreneurial learning

Classifying Technology Policy from an Evolutionary Perspective

Asked for the most important driving forces of economic development, most economists do not hesitate to state, that it is technical progress which is the main source of quanti-ta-ti-ve and qualitative economic development generated in National Systems of Innovation (NSI). To classify and analyze NSI's the con-cepts of mission- and diffusion-oriented policy designs were introduced. Although, we suppose this taxonomy to be well suited to analyze techno-logy policy, it seems to us in its basic formulation somewhat crude, especially with respect to the supposed characteristics to assign a specific innovation system to the one or the other policy design. To surmount these shortcomings we develop a new classificatory scheme building on a questionnaire approach and suggesting four categories to spread out between the tech-nology and the economic side. This scheme allows for deeper insights and more evident com-pa-risons of different NSI's.

Heterogeneity and Evolutionary Change - Empirical Conception, Findings and Unresolved Issues

In this position paper we deal with the conception of heterogeneity as both the force and the result of evolutionary change. We ask, how this heterogeneity can be measured empirically and how we can get a measure which allows to get a broad comparable empirical account especially on several levels of aggregation. Based on this discussion we suggest that for several questions the measures of total factor productivity (TFP) and local changes of TFP seem to be acceptable candidates for measuring heterogeneity and its dynamics. Examples out of a number of empirical investigations applying this measures show how interesting empirical facts about evolutionary change on several levels of aggregation can be detected. The paper concludes by raising a number of unresolved issues mainly related to the question about the relationship between evolutionary dynamics on several levels of aggregation.

The Regional Dimension of Sectoral Innovativeness An Empirical Investigation of Two Specialised Supplier and Two Science-Based Industries

The aim of this paper is to test how geographical and technological proximity relate to a particular industry's innovative output. Two mechanisms are therefore tested, i.e. agglomeration economies and the regional exploitation of technological proximity. A new dataset is applied, which includes German patent applications from within the period 1995 to 2006. Four industries are considered, two of which are science-based, whereas the remaining two are specialised supplier industries. While diversity is associated with high innovative output in the specialised supplier industries, the results for specialisation are mixed. However, all industries seem to benefit, at least to a certain degree, from the regional re-combination of their own technologies with those of specific key industries.Innovation, Proximity, Diversity

Local Innovation Systems and Benchmarking

This paper reviews approaches used for evaluating the performance of local or regional innovation systems. This evaluation is performed by a benchmarking approach in which a frontier production function can be determined, based on a knowledge production function relating innovation inputs and innovation outputs. In analyses on the regional level and especially when acknowledging regional innovation systems those approaches have to take into account cooperative invention and innovation the core of the innovation system approach. To make these interactive effects visible, a method is suggested to identify the relative regional impact on cooperative innovative activities

International Research Networks in Pharmaceuticals: Structure and Dynamics

Knowledge production and scientific research have become increasingly more collaborative and international, particularly in pharmaceuticals. We analyze international research networks on the country level in different disease groups. Our empirical analysis is based on a unique dataset of scientific publications related to pharmaceutical research. Using social network analysis, we find that both the number of countries and their connectivity increase in almost all disease groups. The cores of the networks consist of high income OECD countries and remain rather stable over time. We use network regression techniques in order to analyze the dynamics of the networks. Our results indicate that an accumulative advantage based on preferential attachment and point connectivity as a proxy for multi-connectivity are positively related to changes in the countries' collaboration intensity.International Cooperation, Pharmaceuticals, Research Networks, Network Dynamics, MRQAP