Bart Verspagen

Systems of Innovation

We review the literature on national innovation systems. We first focus on the emergence of the concept of innovation systems, reviewing its historical origins and three main flavors (associated to three “founding fathers” of the concept). After this, we discuss how the notion of innovation systems filled a need for providing a broader basis for innovation policy. We conclude with some perspectives on the future of the innovation systems literature.

Knowledge Spillovers in Europe: A Patent Citations Analysis

This paper addresses the pattern of knowledge flows as indicated by patent citations between European regions. Our findings support the hypothesis that there are important barriers to knowledge flows in Europe. Patent citations occur more often between regions which belong to the same country and which are in geographical proximity. Furthermore, patent citations are industry specific and occur most often between regions that are specialised in industrial sectors with specific technological linkages between them. Patent citations are also more frequent when the citing region belongs to the same linguistic group as the cited region.

A NEW EMPIRICAL APPROACH TO CATCHING UP OR FALLING BEHIND

The literature on ‘catching up’ suggests that due to technology spill-overs, relatively backward countries should grow at a faster rate. The possibility of ‘falling behind’ is not considered (explicitly) in most of these models. In this paper a dynamic (non-linear) model is developed in which ‘catching up’ and ‘falling behind’ are both possible. The model is tested empirically using non-linear least squares methods.

The Impact of EU Regional Support on Growth and Convergence in the European Union

The evidence presented in this article suggests that EU regional support has a significant and positive impact on the growth performance of European regions. Moreover, there are signs of a change in the impact of this support in the 1990s, indicating that the major reform of the structural funds undertaken in 1988 may have succeeded in making EU regional policy more effective. However, the results also indicate that the economic effects of such support are much stronger in more developed environments, emphasizing the importance of accompanying policies that improve the competence of the receiving environments.

Technology-gaps, innovation-diffusion and transformation:an evolutionary interpretation

This paper discusses and outlines a perspective on economic growth based on evolutionary theorizing. Consistent with this perspective, capitalist development is shown to be a process of alternating periods of convergence and divergence, with some signs of a shift towards divergence recently. We also show that the importance of innovation for economic growth has increased lately, while at the same time imitation, (or diffusion) has become more demanding. The manufacturing sector which used to be very important for growth has lost much of its dynamism. We relate these findings to the big technological shifts that have occurred during the last decades.

Intellectual property rights, strategic technology agreements and market structure The case of GSM

This paper investigates the role of intellectual property rights (IPRs) in shaping the GSM industry. This industry is an example of a high-tech industry in which standards play a large role. In the process of designing the GSM standard, a lot of attention has been given to IPRs, mainly to avoid a situation in which a single IPR holder could hamper or even totally block the development of the standard. Nevertheless, the ultimate GSM standard contains a large amount of so-called ‘essential IPRs’, i.e., IPRs without which the implementation of GSM products is impossible. The paper starts with a general discussion of the development of GSM, and the role of firm strategy and IPRs in this process. Next, we present a database on the essential IPRs in the GSM standard. This database has been compiled on the basis of international patent statistics, and the data that manufacturers have supplied to ETSI, the European standardization body re sponsible for defining the GSM standard. We use this database to assess the dynamic IPR position of firms in the original GSM standard and its subsequent development. In a next part of our analysis, we relate the firm’s IPR p osition to the trends in strategic technology agreements in the mobile telecommunications field. We ask the question whether firms that are powerful in terms of IPRs are also the firms that are ‘central’ in the technology agreements network (or vice versa). We also investigate whether developments over time in the technology agreements data follow from the dynamic movements in the IPR position of a firm, and which other factors play a role in this.

Estimating International Technology Spillovers : using Technology Flow Matrices

Estimating International Technology Spillovers Using Technology Flow Matrices. — This paper investigates the impact of international R & D spillovers on sectoral growth patterns in OECD countries. It applies panel regression techniques to a time-series cross-section panel. It arrives at the conclusion that knowledge spillovers are an important contributor to economic growth. The estimation results are applied in the form of a ‘simulation’ of TFP growth per country, splitting (R & D-related) TFP into a component due to domestic R & D and one due to foreign R & D. The results also show that the United States and Germany are the most influential countries in terms of contributions to other countries’ TFP growth.ZusammenfassungDie Schätzung internationaler Technologie-Spillover mit Hilfe von Technologiefluß-Matrizen. — Der Verfasser untersucht die Auswirkung internationaler Spillover von Forschung und Entwicklung (R & D) auf die sektoralen Wachstumsmuster in OECD-Ländern. Er wendet Panel-Regressionstechniken auf ein Zeitreihen-Querschnitts-Panel an. Dabei kommt er zu dem Schluß, daß die Spillover von Kenntnissen wesentlich zum wirtschaftlichen Wachstum beitragen. Die Schätzer-gebnisse werden in Form einer “Simulation” des Wachstums der totalen Faktorproduktivität (TFP) pro Land angewandt, wobei die (R & D-relevante) TFP aufgespalten wird in eine Komponente, die durch heimische Forschung und Entwicklung (R & D) verursacht worden ist, und eine, die auf ausländischer R & D basiert. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, daß die Vereinigten Staaten und Deutschland die einflußreichsten Länder sind im Hinblick auf den Beitrag zum Wachstum der TFP anderer Länder.

The small worlds of strategic technology alliances

Abstract This paper analyzes the phenomenon of strategic technology alliances. It is proposed that the concept of small worlds, which has been adopted from mathematical graph theory, is a useful model to combine two theoretical streams that have previously analyzed this phenomenon. These are the theory of social capital and the theory of structural holes. We outline a small worlds model, and apply it to data on strategic technology alliances. We find that networks of strategic technology alliances can indeed be characterized as small worlds, and that this has favorable implications for knowledge transfer. There are, however, also important differences between two different technology fields that we consider: chemicals and food, and electricals.

Technology, Growth and Unemployment across European Regions

FAGERBERG J., VERSPAGEN B. and CANIE¨LS M. (1997) Technology, growth and unemployment across European regions, Reg. Studies 31, 457‐466. The process of convergence in GDP per capita levels across European regions came to a halt in the 1980s, although the differences in GDP per capita remain substantial. Moreover, these differences are related to similarly persistent differences in unemployment rates. This paper argues that a perspective which, in addition to other factors, takes into account differences across regions in innovation and diffusion of technology may explain these findings. A simultaneous equation model with GDP per capita growth, employment growth and migration as endogenous variables is proposed and estimated using data for 64 European regions in the 1980s. The results show that innovation and the diffusion of technology are indeed important factors behind European growth in the 1980s. However, due to a lack of own R&D capabilities, most poor regions fail to take advantage of the more advan...

The role of technology in market shares dynamics

The paper presents the estimation of an empirical model of market share dynamics for five industrialized countries and 18 industries. The emphasis is put on the importance of non-price factors of competitiveness, Whereas most traditional explanations rest on the influence of relative prices. Among the former type of factor, the role of variables reflecting technological advantage is privileged. In particular the role of innovations has received considerable attention in the literature on international trade as well as the literature on endogenous growth. In this spirit, the paper introduces patent counts and investment as explanatory variables for the export-market share. The results show that-non-price variables have an important impact on the determinations of long-run competitiveness.