Daniel Coronado

Science–technology flows in Spanish regions: An analysis of scientific citations in patents

Abstract Many regions of the European Union with a high degree of autonomy have elected very clearly to stimulate scientific research and technological development (R&D) as a specific means of promoting economic growth and the welfare of their citizens. In Spain, several autonomous regions have organised their efforts in science and technology by means of the adoption of regional R&D plans. In some cases, particular concern is taken to link the scope of scientific research with that of technology, but even in these few cases, it is acknowledged that little is known of the mechanisms by which the results of scientific research are translated into technological development, and how this latter in turn influences the objectives of scientific research. Our aim in this article is to study in greater depth the relationship between science and technological development in the various regions of Spain. The methodology that we apply to investigate the links between science and technology is based on an analysis of scientific citations in patent documents (non-patent citation (NPC)). The results obtained from this study provide some relevant data on the interconnection between the scientific and technological systems from a regional perspective.

Factors affecting inter-regional academic scientific collaboration within Europe: the role of economic distance

This paper offers some insights into scientific collaboration (SC) at the regional level by drawing upon two lines of inquiry. The first involves examining the spatial patterns of university SC across the EU-15 (all countries belonging to the European Union between 1995 and 2004). The second consists of extending the current empirical analysis on regional SC collaboration by including the economic distance between regions in the model along with other variables suggested by the extant literature. The methodology relies on co-publications as a proxy for academic collaboration, and in order to test the relevance of economic distance for the intensity of collaboration between regions, we put forward a gravity equation. The descriptive results show that there are significant differences in the production of academic scientific papers between less-favoured regions and core regions. However, the intensity of collaboration is similar in both types of regions. Our econometric findings suggest that differences in scientific resources (as measured by R&D expenditure) between regions are relevant in explaining academic scientific collaborations, while distance in the level of development (as measured by per capita GDP) does not appear to play any significant role. Nevertheless, other variables in the analysis, including geographical distance, specialization and cultural factors, do yield significant estimated coefficients, and this is consistent with the previous literature on regional SC.

Exploring the quality of environmental technology in Europe: evidence from patent citations

In this paper we carry out an empirical analysis to address some questions concerning the production and quality of technology in environmental sectors. The methodology involves patents as a measure of the generation of new knowledge, and patent citations as a proxy for the quality of a technological invention. The sample contains more than 12,000 environmental European patents from firms and government institutions from 1998 to 2004. From our econometric analysis, we found that environmental patents applied by individual inventors present on average less quality that those applied by institutional inventors. The size of family patent is relevant to explain forward patent citation. Furthermore, patents coming from abroad (out of Europe), in particular with US and Japan priority, are more cited on average than local patents (with European priority). Lastly, the specialization in environmental fields of a patent plays a negative role in determining the frequency of forward citation.

Port competitiveness in container traffic from an internal point of view: the experience of the Port of Algeciras Bay

The objective of this article is to analyse the factors that affect port competitiveness from the perspective of the agents and companies that operate in one of the Mediterranean ports most active in container traffic: the Port of Algeciras Bay (PAB). It is essential to understand the perspective of the suppliers of port services, in order to apply the necessary judgment when formulating policies to strengthen the competitive position of a port. The model selected to meet the objective outlined is based on the ‘extended diamond’ of Porter. The universe for the study comprises all the institutions and companies involved in the containerization process in the Port of Algeciras Bay. Within this methodology, two procedures are utilised. First, from the quantitative perspective, a survey has been conducted to obtain responses to two groups of questions, one dealing with situation and the other with perceptions. Second, and from a qualitative perspective, several open interviews have been conducted to corroborate the responses obtained to the questionnaire. From the data obtained in the survey, a model has been estimated that minimises the sum of the residuals in absolute value, utilizing the L1 regression; this model enables the competitive advantages and disadvantages of the PAB, from the point of view of the port operators, to be determined by an analysis of residuals. This analysis demonstrates that the variables representing greater competitive advantages are associated with trans-shipment, and with the maritime accessibility of the Port to vessels, whereas those generating greater disadvantages are associated with rail transport (which, according to those surveyed, has resulted in the diversion of significant volumes of traffic to other Spanish or European ports with better communications, particularly Valencia, Barcelona and Gioia-Tauro, and with the state of competition in container trans-shipment activities.

Regional Scientific Production and Specialization in Europe: The Role of HERD

This paper analyses the effects of R&D expenditure in the higher education sector on the scientific production across regions in Europe 15. Our research questions relate to the regional production of science and the role of academic R&D expenditures on regional scientific output. The results show that money affects the production of scientific results in regions. On average, we found different impacts and lags of R&D expenditure according to the level of regional development. Our findings also suggest that scientific specialization is a significant factor affecting scientific outputs, although its effects differ across disciplines and regions.

Factors affecting the diffusion of patented military technology in the field of weapons and ammunition

In this paper, we carry out an empirical analysis to address some questions concerning the flow of knowledge stemming from military patented technologies. Patented military technology consists of a set of inventions which nature, uses or/and applications have defensive or offensive purposes. In this paper, we focus on the field of weapons and ammunition. Our objective is to identify, why the knowledge embedded in a military technology diffuses into other patented technologies. The methodology relies on a patent citations analysis and involves the specification of several multilevel logit models to identify the individual and country characteristics that determine the citation of military patents in subsequent patents. The data contain 1,756 citations to 582 patents of military origin with a simultaneous Europe–US protection and registered by companies/institutions from 1998 to 2003. The results reveal that military knowledge diffuses more intensively across civil patents, when the original military patent includes diverse technologies (civil and military) and is progressively less specific in terms of weapons and ammunition. Military patents filed by British, French, US, Japanese and German companies are, in this order, more likely to have a larger number of citations in subsequent civil patents. The ownership of the original military patent is not a determining factor for explaining the diffusion into civil patents, but it does influence the diffusion across mixed and military technologies. Finally, the technological capacity of the citing company also affects the type and intensity of the diffusion of the military knowledge.

Trends in the acquisition of external knowledge for innovation in the food industry

Abstract: Within the framework of ‘open innovation’, a number of key issues related to the acquisition of external knowledge in food technology are addressed. The methodology relies on patents as a measure of the generation of new knowledge, and patent citations as a proxy for external knowledge acquisition towards innovation in food technology. The main results reveal different patterns of knowledge acquisition depending on the sector, and strong differences across countries. In addition, in relative terms, our data showed few differences in knowledge acquisition patterns between large firms (large in terms of their capacity to develop many patented technologies) and smaller firms.

POTENTIAL DUAL‐USE OF MILITARY TECHNOLOGY: DOES CITING PATENTS SHED LIGHT ON THIS PROCESS?

This paper explores the potential civil use from the knowledge embedded in military technology. Using forward patent citation as indicator and from a comprehensive sample of 582 military patents with both US and European protection, we analysed the citations received for a military patents in subsequent patents. The technological origin of the citing patents will determine the use of a military technology. The methodology involves a descriptive analysis and the estimation of a multilevel logit model to determine the factors explaining the civilian use of military technology. The results show a differential behaviour among countries and types of military technology. Characteristics of firms, such as the technological experience of the company or institution in using military technology, are critical for a civilian use of the military knowledge.

The geography of university scientific production in Europe: an exploration in the field of Food Science and Technology

This paper contributes to the literature on the factors explaining the regional university production of science and its quality in the field of Food Science and Technology (FS&T). We hypothesized that the regional quantity of science generated by universities is shaped not only by the amount of research and development (R&D) funds, as the main mainstream literature suggests, but also by the demand for science at the regional level. Furthermore, given the evolutionary nature of knowledge production, we suggest that the number of publications has a significant effect on the quality of scientific research at the regional level. Drawing on a sample of 48,207 scientific papers in FS&T over the period 1998–2010, we first map and examine the regional distribution of science and its quality across Europe-15. Second, we address our hypotheses by specifying several econometric models to identify the factors affecting the quantity and quality of scientific production. Our results show that the regional demand for FS&T—captured by the regional employment in the food and beverage industry—matters for the generation of science. Additionally, our findings support the hypothesis of a positive and significant effect of the production of papers on the scientific quality at the regional level.

Patents and Dual-use Technology: An Empirical Study of the World's Largest Defence Companies

Abstract This paper examines the generation of technological knowledge by leading companies in the defence industry. In particular, we test whether the characteristics of large defence companies are related to both the production of different types of patents (civilian, military and mixed), and the generation of dual-use technologies. To explore these links, we rely on economic data for the top 100 defence companies from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute database, and patent information from the Worldwide Patent Statistical Database. Our results show that the relationship between the production of civilian patents and the size of the company is positive and significant. However, this relationship does not hold for the production of military patents. Furthermore, the military commercial profile is unrelated to the generation of military patents. Regarding the involvement in dual-use technologies, firms engaged in dual-use are those with higher military sales, a greater number of employees and a larger number of patents (civilian, military and mixed) than those not engaged in dual-use. Furthermore, we found a skill effect (more involvement in dual-use per employee) in European firms compared to US firms. These findings help to identify which firms should be targeted by government policies if increasing dual-use technologies becomes a political objective.