The regional embeddedness of small manufacturing and service firms: regional networking as knowledge source for innovation?

Information and knowledge are important prerequisites for innovation activity in firms. One important means of acquiring coplementary knowledge are innovation networks. Depending on their absortive capacity and knowledge base, firms develop different abilities to access and utilise external knowledge. These abilities might also be linked to firm size. Although size as such is not a decisive criterion for distinguishing between the innovative performance of firms, it can at least be used to classify firms according to common structural characteristics. It is objective of this paper to analyse whether the size of a firm significantly affects its innovative behaviour and cooperation pattern and whether there are differences between manufacturing firms and business-related service firms. Using data from a regional innovation survey carried out in Germany, we come to the conclusion that for structural firm characteristics, innovation strategies, information use and innovation network size matters. Small manufacturing and service firms mainly behave similar and are more regionally orientated in their market reach and knowledge acquisition than large firms- Especially small firms in intermediate and rural areas strongly depend on regionally available knowledge sources and are therefore discriminated compared to large firms which make a more frequent use of knowledge and information sources from outside the region. --

Business services as actors of knowledge transformation and diffusion: some empirical findings on the role of KIBS in regional and national innovation systems

Over the last years, there has been a significant increase in the attention paid to the activities of knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS). KIBS produce and duffus knowledge, which is crucial for innovation processes. The paper gives an overview of the role and function of KIBS in innovation systems and their knowledge production, transformation and diffusion activities. Focusing on innovation interactions between manufacturing small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and KIBS; the empirical analyses gasps KIBS in position in five contexts. The analysis leads to the conclusion that innovation activities links SMEs and KIBS through the process of knowledge and diffiusion. --

The performance of innovation networks in transition economies: An empirical study of Slovenia

Although the post-socialist countries in Eastern Europe experienced radical economic reforms, in many cases, the transformation of the industry sector has not been completed. As a result, the majority of enterprises is not internationally competitive and technological innovation is low. A model to foster innovation and competitiveness of Eastern European industries could be provided by western European regions with above-average growth rates during the last decades. The success of these regions, as is argued by an extensive literature on industrial districts, innovation networks and innovative milieux, relies on a special form of co-operation between companies from inside (and outside) the region. The aim of this paper is to assess the performance of networks and their impact on innovation activities in the transition context and to identify starting points for innovation policies. The empirical analysis is based on an extensive survey of industry and science in Slovenia. The theoretically guided empirical study of Slovenia further develops network analysis in the transformation context. Although Slovenia is one of the most developed transition economies, the socialist legacy, such as the fragmentation of research, applies to her as well. The first step assesses existing newly emerged and established networks in terms of type and quality of relations. As the opportunities of learning, technology transfer and innovating depend to some extend on the type of network, supplier-user relationships and horizontal networks between industry and science are distinguished. The quality of networks refers to their transactional and informational structure, trust relationships and regional dimensions. Special attention is on old versus new networks and their conduciveness to innovation: Whereas many actors in transition economies mourn about lost partnerships, these might hamper innovation. Therefore, the second step of this analysis documents the innovation performance of the sample. It relates the propensity of firms to engage in networks to the impact on process and product innovation. The third part is oriented towards policy recommendations. The Slovenian innovation policy is evaluated from the enterprises? point of view. This relies on the basis of the empirical analysis of the emergence of innovation networks and support by public programmes. The Ministry for Science and Technology has introduced various measures to realise the country?s innovation potential. The aim of the analysis is to suggest further improvements to effectively stimulate the development and consolidation of innovation networks. This benefits from extensive qualitative research carried out during the past years.

France: innovation system and innovation policy

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Entering the KIBS' black box: there must be an angel! (or is there something like a knowledge angel?)

The undeniable importance of knowledge and innovation in modern economies justifies the increasing interest that scholars are taking in studying knowledge-intensive busi-ness services (KIBS). Since the mid 1990s, there has been a significant increase in the attention paid to KIBS and their role and functions in innovation systems (den Hertog 2000; Illeris 1991; Miles et al. 1995; Muller/Zenker 2001; Strambach 2001; Tether 2005; Wood 2002). In general terms, the activity of KIBS can be mainly described as the provision of knowledge-intensive inputs to the business process of other organiza-tions, private as well as public sector clients. [...] To sum up, this paper focuses on creative individuals in KIBS, i.e. those persons sus-pected of playing a pertinent role with respect to the innovativeness of their company. We call these specific actors knowledge angels by analogy with business angels. In the same way that business angels can play a decisive role in the development of innova-tive firms through financial support, we assume here that specifically gifted persons can be the knowledge 'catalysts' within KIBS (and in relationship with their clients). The paper contains three sections: the first one formulates the assumption of the exis-tence of knowledge angels and attempts to elaborate a working definition of this spe-cific kind of actor. The second section displays the results of an empirical research pro-ject conducted in France and Germany, whereas the third section synthesizes the find-ings. --

A regional typology of innovation capacities in new member States & candidate countries

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Services à forte intensité de connaissances, contexte régional et comportements d'innovation: une comparaison internationale

L'enjeu de cet article est de montrer dans quelle mesure des contextes régionaux différents impliquent des comportements d'innovation différents de la part des services à forte intensité de connaissances SFIC. L'analyse s'appuie sur une comparaison des régions suivantes: le Bas-Saint-Laurent et la Beauce (toutes deux au Canada), l'Alsace (en France) et le Pays de Bade (en Allemagne). Tout en étant conscient de la diversité des terrains empiriques et de la variété des configurations régionales l'analyse s'interroge quant à l'existence d'un rapport spécifique entre comportement d'innovation des SFIC et environnement régional. --Entreprises de service à forte intensité de connaissances (SFIC),comportements d'innovation,perceptions,systèmes régionaux d'innovation,Alsace,Bas-Saint-Laurent,Beauce,Pays de Bade

Report No. 23: Traditionelle Beschäftigungsverhältnisse im Wandel

Bericht auf Basis eines Projekts im Auftrag der Bertelsmann Stiftung, Bonn 2010 (66 Seiten)

La mesure de l'impact des clusters: Quelques éléments de réflexion et de bibliographie

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