Amnon Frenkel

R&D, firm size and innovation: an empirical analysis

Abstract Investment in R&D spawns innovations, which in turn, foster economic growth. In recent years, researchers have become increasingly aware of the role of industrial innovation in the rate of regional development and economic growth. In order to innovate, firms must invest in R&D (in-house or out-sourcing), and engage highly skilled labor that is able to cope with complex technological problems. The plethora of empirical studies on the determinants influencing R&D expenditure, and thus the rate of innovation, suggests that this investment is related, in different degrees, to firm size, organizational structure, ownership type, industrial branch and location. Large firms tend to invest more in R&D than do small ones. Numerous studies have found that R&D tends to be concentrated in large urban areas, and it plays a more vital role in creating innovation in central than in peripheral areas. This paper presents a model whose assumption is that expenditure on R&D is influenced by a firm’s characteristics—primarily its size, type of industrial branch, ownership type and location. The results obtained in the empirical analysis are based on data collected through personal interviews involving 209 industrial firms in the northern part of Israel.

Measuring Urban Sprawl: How Can We Deal with It?

Measuring urban sprawl is a controversial topic among scholars who investigate the urban landscape. This study attempts to measure sprawl from a landscape perspective. The measures and indices used are derived from various research disciplines, such as urban research, ecological research, and fractal geometry. The examination was based on an urban land-use survey performed in seventy-eight urban settlements in Israel over the course of fifteen years. Measures of sprawl were calculated at each settlement and were then weighted into one integrated sprawl index through factor analysis, thus enabling a description of sprawl rates and their dynamics over a time period of approximately two decades. The results reveal that urban sprawl is a multidimensional phenomenon that is best quantified by various measures.

Why High-technology Firms Choose to Locate in or near Metropolitan Areas

Various studies have provided evidence of the advantages of the ability of metropolitan areas to attract hi-tech industries, which employ advanced technology and are strongly involved in the process of innovation. This paper presents the results of an empirical study of the location choice of Israeli hi-tech industries within a metropolitan area, carried out in the Northern region of Israel (which encompasses the Haifa metropolitan area and its surrounding localities) and based on field-survey data obtained from hi-tech plants. The study investigates the effect of different factors on location choice and also identifies the direct contribution of each factor to the probability of choosing the metropolitan area as a preferred location. The implications of these findings for industrial policy are also discussed.

Barriers and Limitations in the Development of Industrial Innovation in the Region

The growing interest in public policy contributing to the expansion of industrial innovation, has become increasingly significant, resulting from the interrelationship between innovation, competitiveness, and economic growth. This article presents the results of an empirical study in identifying the most important barriers to the development of innovation, as ascribed by industrial firms belonging to the high-tech sector alongside the more traditional industries. The data were collected through field survey of industrial firms, located in the Northern region of Israel. A considerable unexpected similarity was identified in the most important factors that constitute barriers to innovation, between the industrial sectors and the different regions investigated. The most significant limitations are those that relate to the high risk involved with the engagement in innovation. The risks are related, on the one hand, to the lack of financial resources, and on the other hand, to the high cost needed for this engagement, thereby affecting the time needed for return on investment. Additionally, the lack of highly skilled workers was also found to be a significant barrier.

The linkage between the lifestyle of knowledge-workers and their intra-metropolitan residential choice: A clustering approach based on self-organizing maps

This study investigates the linkage between the lifestyle and the intra-metropolitan residential choice of knowledge-workers in terms of home-ownership, location, dwelling size and building type. Data are retrieved from a revealed-preferences survey among knowledge-workers in the Tel-Aviv metropolitan area and are analyzed with self-organizing maps for pattern recognition and classification. Five clusters are identified: nest-builders, bon-vivants, careerists, entrepreneurs and laid-back. Bon-vivants and entrepreneurs differ in their dwelling size and home-ownership, although both prefer the metropolitan core. Careerists prefer suburban large detached houses. Nest-builders and laid-back are attracted to central locations, conditional on the provision of affordable medium-size dwellings.

Spatial Distribution of High-rise Buildings within Urban Areas: The Case of the Tel-Aviv Metropolitan Region

The spatial aspects of high-rise buildings in the Tel-Aviv metropolitan region are examined, using empirical data gathered through a field survey. A multinomial logit model is employed to test hypotheses concerning the cyclic model of metropolitan region development. The results support empirical evidence of the spatial dispersal of high-rise buildings, indicating an initial process of reconcentration in the Tel-Aviv metropolitan pattern. The study concludes that intensive high-rise building is expected to develop extensively in the future, particularly in the core and inner-ring areas. The dispersal of this construction indicates a classic negative gradient pattern, moving from the core area towards the outskirts of the metropolitan region. In contrast, the classic pattern between centre and fringes does not hold within the built-up area of the metropolitan region.

The Role of Location and Regional Networks for Biotechnology Firms in Israel

This article presents results of a study of the Israeli biotechnology sector. The findings of the study show that despite the small geographical size of the country, the Israeli biotechnology industry tends to a great extent to cluster around leading research institutes. Based on a survey of 109 high-tech projects, the study suggests that the relatively weak business background of the entrepreneurs, the fact that most of them have worked at research institutes and that most new biotechnology firms were originated from ideas that came out of universities or research institutes, can provide possible explanations for this geographical concentration. The research emphasizes the relative importance biotechnology entrepreneurs ascribe to networking, both in very early stages as well as in advanced stages of the firm development process. It is argued that although the focus of the network changes over time, both geographically and in content, its links to local research partners are maintained. It is suggested that earmarked regional support policies are crucial to the development of networks required by new biotechnology firms.

Different Paths to Success: The Growth of the Electronics Sector in Ireland and Israel

Both Ireland and Israel have, over the last three decades, established internationally competitive electronics industries. Israeli electronics has its origins in locally initiated R&D, is dominated by indigenously owned firms, and has its main export-market strengths in the research-intensive leading-edge markets for telecommunications and medical diagnostic equipment. In contrast, large-scale, US-owned plants producing computer equipment and components dominate the Irish electronics sector. The authors explore the factors that have contributed to these very different development paths. Social and political factors are examined, along with differences in technology and industrial policy, and the availability and cost of suitably skilled labour. The suggestion is that Ireland retains some cost advantages for large-scale manufacturing operations whereas Israel provides a more attractive location for research-intensive activities or niche manufacturing. The experience of the two nations suggests important policy lessons for Israel if it is to capture more of the value added generated by the products it develops and for Ireland if it is to move towards more research-intensive electronics activities.

Public versus Private Technological Incubator Programmes: Privatizing the Technological Incubators in Israel

Abstract Private technological incubators began operating in Israel in 2000, and developed thanks to the rapidly growing private (venture) capital (VC) sector, which traditionally had not funded such projects. The present study examines the differences and similarities between two types of technological incubators—public and private. It addresses the question whether the need still exists for the Public Technological Incubators Programme (PTIP). Based on our empirical analysis and findings, the main conclusion is that private incubators cannot fully replace public incubators; even after the entry of the private sector into the area of technological incubator activity, there is still justification for the continuation of the PTIP. Private incubators tend to concentrate in selected fields, whereas public incubators sponsor a large variety of activities. The PTIP was found to provide answers to advancing national objectives, such promoting peripheral regions and providing special incentives to selected population groups (e.g. new immigrants) for whom such activities would otherwise be out of reach.

Methodology Matters: Measuring Urban Spatial Development Using Alternative Methods

The effectiveness of policies implemented to prevent urban sprawl has been a contentious issue among scholars and practitioners for at least two decades. While disputes range from the ideological to the empirical, regardless of the subject of dispute, participants must bring forth reliable data to buttress their claims. In this study we discuss several sources of complexity inherent in measuring sprawl. We then exhibit how methodological decisions can lead to disparate results regarding the quantification and characterization of sprawl. We do so by employing three GIS-based methods for quantifying the amount and defining the configuration of land-cover change from open to built space in a 350 km2 area in central Israel over a five-year period. We then calculate values for a variety of spatial indices commonly associated with urban sprawl. Our results reveal that some urban growth patterns are so robust that multiple methods and indices yield similar results and thus lead to similar conclusions. However, we also note that many divergent and even contradictory results are produced depending on the measurement method used and the index selection.