Embracing a systems perspective of innovation – Evidence from Ireland on the use of innovation links, 1991 to 2002

Conceptual perspectives on the innovation process have moved dramatically in the past decade from a linear model of the innovation process to one based on an evolutionary or systems perspective of innovation. This has also been referred to as moving from a closed to an open innovation paradigm. In this systems perspective, innovation networks are critical with innovation being driven by interaction and co-operation between firms and other organisations. Empirical research has supported this paradigmatic shift by providing evidence that firms engaged in innovation networks are more likely to undertake innovation, have higher sales from innovation and be growing faster. From a resource based view of the firm this might suggest that the competitive position of the firm is due to their internal resource base being enhanced through external innovation links. For small firms, innovation links may be particularly important in providing access to financial, technological and human resources and increasing the probability of innovation. Together, the conceptual and empirical literatures have encouraged changes in policy initiatives to promote innovation resulting in the formulation of regional and national innovation strategies. This paper draws on longitudinal plant-level survey data in Ireland from 1991 to 2002 (Irish Innovation Panel) to determine if evidence exists to support the conceptual perspective that innovation links have increased in recent years. The data analysis also examines if there have been changes in the intensity of innovation links, and if differences exist in innovation links by firm size, sector, ownership or location over the period. The paper also compares the use of horizontal and vertical links and examines if this has changed over the 1991 to 2002 period. This is significant given increased emphasis on technology transfer initiatives by the public sector in recent years. The paper also examines the extent to which the pattern of innovation links reflect the underlying innovation system and public policy initiatives to promote technology transfer and networking as implemented throughout Ireland from 1991 to 2002.

Assessing the Effectiveness of Innovation Grants – Evidence from the Irish Innovation Panel

Innovation grants are a ubiquitous feature of industrial support regimes across the industrial world. Evidence on their effectiveness is less widespread, however, due to a lack of consistent longitudinal or panel data on innovation outcomes and company performance. In this paper we investigate the effectiveness of R&D and innovation grants support in Ireland and Northern Ireland using panel data and a sample selection approach to the modelling of grant impacts. The study is based on the Irish Innovation Panel which provides panel data on the innovation activities of manufacturing firms in Ireland and Northern Ireland over the 1991-2002 period. The use of panel data allows us to investigate the medium to long-term effect of innovation grant support. In other words, we are able to identify whether the receipt of an innovation grant merely increases innovation activity in the short-term or has any lasting effect on either innovation capability or firms’ technological trajectory. The latter outcome is clearly desirable for any region or nation seeking to use innovation grants as a means of boosting long term competitiveness. The use of a sample selection approach allows us to identify separately the ‘selection’ and ‘assistance’ elements of the impact of any innovation grant. In other words, it allows us to control for the positive effects of any targeting of assistance on more innovative or better performing companies and isolate the ‘true’ effect of any innovation grant. To our knowledge this is the first time this approach has been used to assess the impact of innovation grant support although the technique has been used by the authors in a previous analysis of small business assistance. Our results suggest very different time profiles in terms of the benefits from product and process innovation grants suggesting alternative managerial and regional development strategies. Grant support is also found to have strong positive effects on innovation activity even allowing for a wide range of conditioning effects. Our results therefore suggest the continued value of innovation grant support as an element of regions’ industrial support regimes.

Closing the knowledge gap in Irish manufacturing - a north-south comparison

Knowledge, however defined, is perceived as firms "key" source of competitive advantage and a central determinant of productivity and wealth creation. The value of knowledge as a competitive asset is not intrinsic, but depends instead on its application, i.e. innovation or the transformation of knowledge into new technologies, products and, or services. Therefore, the extent of innovation within an economy depends crucially on the rapid diffusion of new technology and best practice, which it is argued depends in turn on building strong regional networks. So, knowledge, its distribution and diffusion - particularly through the supply chain - form the central focus of this paper. For some economies (e.g. Finland, Israel) with high levels of domestic R&D spending much of the ''new'' knowledge driving local business competitiveness is created domestically. For Ireland, both North and South, however, historically low levels of domestic R&D spending mean that inward technology transfer - primarily associated with inward investment - has been crucial to recent economic development. This suggests two main questions. First, how does the knowledge transferred to Ireland, North and South, through international inward investment compare to international best practice? And, second, to what extent does this knowledge then diffuse to other manufacturing businesses located in Ireland? A third, and related, question concerns the contrasting experiences of Ireland, North and South, particularly given the very different history of inward investment in the two areas. The analysis in the paper is based on data collected through face-to-face interviews with 94 Multi-national enterprise (MNE) plants in the South and North of Ireland. The relatively high response rates achieved and the fact that the final sample coverage resembles relatively closely that of the underlying population suggests that the sample is likely to provide results which are representative of the whole population of large MNE plants in both the South and North of Ireland. The research findings demonstrate that the potential to transfer knowledge from MNE plants to local firms through the supply chain is higher in the South of Ireland than in the North. Yet, Northern suppliers' adoption of a range of best practice techniques lags further behind their MNE plants than in the South. Therefore, larger average knowledge gaps suggest a greater potential benefit from knowledge transfers in the North of Ireland. Yet, while general contact as part of normal trading relations between MNE plants and their suppliers is more common in the North, contact in the South of Ireland is characterised by developmental interactions such as collaboration on product developments and quality assurance systems. Furthermore, southern MNE plants report having had a significantly greater impact on both the performance and the competitiveness of local suppliers than their Northern counterparts.

Investigating a neglected part of Schumpeter's creative army: What drives new-to-the-market innovation in micro-enterprises?

Schumpeterian arguments related to creative destruction place small, entrepreneurial firms at the centre of the innovation process. The exclusion of micro-enterprises (with less than 10 employees) from most innovation surveys means, however, that we know relatively little about innovation among this group of firms. Here, using new survey data on a thousand micro-enterprises we explore the determinants of new-to-the-market innovation, the basis for the Schumpeterian creative destruction (CD) process. Our results provide strong support for the interactive nature of micro-enterprise innovation, and suggest the potential value of a model of interactive creative destruction (ICD). Contrary to some other recent evidence, market-based and supplier-based collaboration both prove important for new-to-the-market innovation. Our results suggest the importance of micro-enterprises as sources of new-to-the-market innovation and the potential value of including such firms in future innovation studies