Innovation Effects of Science-Related Technological Opportunities - Theoretical Considerations and Empirical Findings for Firms in the German Manufacturing Industry -

This paper investigates the innovation effects of science-related technological opportunities. Against the background of theoretical considerations about the interrelation of innovation and the adaptation of external (knowledge) resources, the impacts of technological opportunities stemming from scientific institutions on firms' innovation input and output are empirically analyzed for the German manufacturing industry. The investigations focus on the question whether science-related technological opportunities are used as complements or substitutes in the innovation process. The estimations indicate complementary relationships between firms' innovation input and technological opportunities stemming from scientific institutions. The adaptation of science-related knowledge resources has stimulating effects on the intensity of inhouse R&D. The results for the innovation output effects are ambiguous. On the one hand, empirical evidence for complementary impacts on the realisation of improved products could be found. On the other hand, science-related technological opportunities have no enhancing effects on the probability of realizing new products. Obviously, knowledge from universities and research institutes stimulates the development of new products more indirectly by increasing inhouse capacities and enhancing R&D efficiency.innovation activities, technological opportunities, scientific institutions, manufacturing industry

Technological Opportunities, Absorptive Capacities, and Innovation

The aim of this paper is to analyze the effects of technological opportunities on the innovation activities of firms, depending on their absorptive capacities. The importance and impacts of the ability of firms to use external knowledge sources were inquired especially for external knowledge stemming from scientific research. Using a simple theoretic model, different innovation effects were empirically outlined for the German manufacturing industry for the first time. On the innovation input side, the effects of science-related technological opportunities in combination with absorptive capacities variables are stronger on the intensities as in the estimations without such proxies. Further, the innovation output of firms is positively influenced by the ability to adapt external knowledge efficiently. Firms in the German manufacturing industry with inhouse absorptive capacities and a high importance of scientific knowledge are characterized by higher sales shares of new and improved products and higher probabilities of patent registrations than other firms.

R&D Cooperation and Innovation Activities of Firms - Evidence for the German Manufacturing Industry -

The aim of the paper is to investigate in a simultaneous equation framework the role of R&D cooperation in the innovation process under two specific aspects. First, the analysis is concentrated on the impact of R&D cooperation - in line with other factors - on firm's innovation input and output. Second, it will be analyzed how the number of cooperation partners affects the development of new products. Starting with the discussion of theoretically expected effects of successfully R&D cooperation on the innovation activities of firms, the importance of inter-organizational arrangements in R&D is empirically investigated for firms in the German manufacturing industry. The estimation results can be summarized as follows: In the German manufacturing industry, R&D cooperations are used complementary in the innovation process, enhancing the innovation input and output of firms measured by the intensity of inhouse R&D respectively the realization of product innovations. On the input side, the intensity of inhouse R&D also stimulates the probability and the number of R&D cooperations with other firms and institutions.R&D cooperation, innovation behaviour, technological opportunities, manufacturing industry

The diffuse neutrino flux from FR-II radio galaxies and blazars: A source property based estimate

Water and ice Cherenkov telescopes of the present and future aim for the detection of a neutrino signal from extraterrestrial sources at energies E>PeV. Some of the most promising extragalactic sources are Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). In this paper, the neutrino flux from two kinds of AGN sources will be estimated assuming photohadronic interactions in the jet of the AGN. The first analyzed sample contains FR-II radio galaxies while the second AGN type examined are blazars. The result is highly dependent on the proton's index of the energy spectrum. To normalize the spectrum, the connection between neutrino and disk luminosity will be used by applying the jet-disk symbiosis model from Falcke and Biermann (1995). The maximum proton energy and thus, also the maximum neutrino energy of the source is connected to its disk luminosity, which was shown by Lovelace (1976) and was confirmed by Falcke et al. (1995).Comment: 24 pages, 14 figures, to be published in Astroparticle Physic

Gesamtwirtschaftlicher Stellenwert der Humankapitalproduktion im Hochschulbereich in Westdeutschland

Producing human capital universities contribute to the preservation and accumulation of an economy's stock of human capital on a large scale. Based on this an evaluation of the extent and the development of the university-related stock of human capital in West Germany is investigated for the period from 1975 through 1995. For the year 1995 the university-related share in the total stock of human capital came up to 22.4 percent, thereby using the cost of preservation and exten-sion of the respective stock of human capital as the major determinant (inputoriented approach). Using the income resulting from the usage of human capital in the production, the university-related share of the year 1995 is 21.9 percent (outputoriented approach). From 1975 to 1995 the variation in the university-related stock of human capital turned out to be more than proportionate in the university sector compared to other educational institutions.