Verspagen, Bart

Windrum, Paul

English

Research Papers in Economics

Structural Change and Economic Dynamics 20 (2009) 161–162
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Structural Change and Economic Dynamics
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/sced
Introduction
Introduction to the special issue on the regional
dimensions of innovation
Innovation and knowledge have become important top-
ics of economic analysis in the recent literature. They are
crucialphenomenaaffectingthewayﬁrmscompeteinmar-
kets and, consequently, are important for the economic
performance of higher-level aggregates (sectors, regions,
and countries). Access to knowledge is not universal, and
animportantdegreeofheterogeneitycanbeobservedwith
respect to how much and which type of knowledge ﬁrms
use, even when ﬁrms are located close to one another and
compete in the same market(s). These differences between
ﬁrms are related both to the speciﬁc capabilities found
at the ﬁrm level, and to the external links which ﬁrms
enjoy with other ﬁrms or other public/private sector insti-
tutions.
The development of knowledge requires knowledge as
an input. The hypothesis that relevant knowledge inputs
are more easily acquired over short geographical distances
than long distances (e.g., Jaffe et al., 1993), has given rise
to a literature on regional innovation systems. This lit-
erature argues that, despite the rise of information and
communication technology (ICT), knowledge remains tacit
to a large degree, and does not transfer easily over long
distances (Morgan, 2004). Through the activities of proﬁt-
seeking ﬁrms, this leads to a concentration of knowledge in
geographical space. This regional concentration of knowl-
edge, and the mechanisms that cause it, are the topics of
this special issue on the regional dimensions of innova-
tion.
The ﬁrst paper in the special issue, by Dirk Fornahl and
Thomas Brenner, re-examines the geographical clustering
of innovation-related activities in Germany. In common
with previous research, Fornahl and Brenner use patents as
anindicatorofknowledge.Theyareabletoconductananal-
ysis at a detailed geographical decomposition (97 German
regions) and examine 43 technology ﬁelds. A key contri-
bution is their application of a number of concentration
measures. This methodological approach identiﬁes some
characteristics of the innovation process which can lead to
a tendency for geographic clustering, such as market struc-
ture and a pre-existing clustering of economic activity in
space. They arrive at the conclusion that different techno-
logical ﬁelds differ strongly with regards to their tendency
to cluster.
The other three papers in this special issue focus on
the mechanism(s) of knowledge ﬂows, and their regional
dimension. The paper by Lucia Cusmano, Maria Luisa Man-
cusi,andAndreaMorrisonfocusesontheroleofknowledge
spillovers in outsourcing and offshoring. Their analysis is
based on a ﬁrm-level survey of the Italian region of Lom-
bardy, and seeks to explain the propensity of innovation
at the ﬁrm level. The econometric results indicate that
outsourcing strategies are positively correlated with ﬁrms’
innovative performance, but also points to the importance
of local (i.e., within the region) user–producer relation-
ships.
The paper by Christian Østergaard considers the role
of universities in innovation and geographical location. He
focuses on the mobile communication cluster in Jutland,
and asks to what extent, and by which channels, univer-
sity knowledge ﬂows into the ﬁrms who are active in this
locationalcluster.Theresultsfromhissurveypointoutthat
informal contacts between engineers working in ﬁrms and
university researchers are highly important. In many cases,
these informal contacts go back to the ‘local’ education of
engineers at the university in that region.
The ﬁnal paper, by Alessandra Colombelli, Lucio Cassia
and Stefano Paleari, is also concerned with the role of uni-
versities in knowledge production. It examines the effect
of regional knowledge ﬂows between universities and the
private sector on the growth of new businesses in the UK.
The authors apply a database on IPOs and the growth of
ﬁrms involved in these IPOs. The database comprises 37
regions, largely based on the NUTS2 level. For each of these
regions, a number of variables are available which indicate
the nature and quantity of university research carried out
within a region. The econometric results indicate that new
ﬁrms in regions that have large university outputs tend to
grow faster.
Taken together, these papers provide new insights into
the regional dimensions of innovation, and raise a num-
ber of important questions for future follow-up research.
We believe that they also point the way in terms of
0954-349X/$ – see front matter © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.strueco.2009.05.002162 Introduction / Structural Change and Economic Dynamics 20 (2009) 161–162
research methodology, to the extent that they employ orig-
inal databases and use state-of-the-art statistical methods.
The papers were selected from presentations made at the
2007 EMAEE conference held at Manchester Metropoli-
tan University. The sessions from which the papers were
selected were sponsored by the DIME network, under the
6th FWP of the European Union.
References
Jaffe, A.B., Trajtenberg, M., Henderson, R., 1993. Geographic localization
of knowledge spillovers as evidenced by patent citations. Quarterly
Journal of Economics 108 (3), 577–598.
Morgan,K.,2004.Theexaggerateddeathofgeography:learning,proximity
and territorial innovation systems. Journal of Economic Geography 4,
3–21.
Bart Verspagen
Maastricht University, Department of
Economics and UNU-MERIT, The Netherlands
Paul Windrum∗
Manchester Metropolitan University
Business School, Centre for International
Business & Innovation (CIBI),
United Kingdom
∗Corresponding author.
E-mail address: p.windrum@mmu.ac.uk
(P. Windrum)
Available online 18 May 2009

Corresponding author. E-mail address: p.windrum@mmu.ac.uk (P.

Geographic localization of knowledge spillovers as evidenced by patent citations.

Introduction to the special issue on the regional dimensions of innovation.

http://arno.unimaas.nl/show.cgi?fid=17576

Introduction to the special issue on the regional dimensions of innovation.

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