Emmanuel Muller

Business services as actors of knowledge transformation: 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 diffuse 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 grasps KIBS position in five regional contexts. The analysis leads to the conclusion that innovation activities link SMEs and KIBS through the process of knowledge generation and diffusion.

Regional Innovation Capacities in New Member States: a Typology

Abstract The paper examines the characteristics and performance of regional innovation systems in 12 new member states of the European Union. More specifically, it develops a typology that differentiates their various potentials as innovative regions. Based on a principal component analysis, five different groups of regions are identified. The characteristic profile of each group is detailed and exploration of possible paths of innovation‐based regional development is presented for each type of region. The paper concludes with an examination of policy implications emerging from the analysis.

Tracking knowledge angels: a research proposal

This research note aims at presenting a new concept: the knowledge angels, i.e., the specific individuals acting within Knowledge-Intensive Business Services (KIBS) who are potentially explaining the innovativeness of this type of firm. So far, the individual motivations and specific knowledge value-added of the key actors inside KIBS are not the object of targeted investigations. The working hypotheses that are related to the existence and possible detection of knowledge angels are explored.

KIBS startups in the Stuttgart region: a surprisingly below-average rate?

Although the Stuttgart region is among the top performing regions in the European Union (EU) in terms of Research and Development (R&D) expenditures, employment and overall competitiveness, a clear weakness regarding the startup intensity of Knowledge-Intensive Business Services (KIBS) firms can be observed. In this research note, it is argued that the Stuttgart region shows the structural characteristics of a routinised technological regime, in which below-average startup and closure rates in the KIBS area occur. Within this context, survivors and growing KIBS startups presumably adapt quite successfully to the existing institutional setup in the region.

Statistical exploitation of the SME sample

This first chapter dealing with empirical results is focussed on the SME sample. The methodology adopted is the one described in the previous chapter, combining, in a successive way, segmentation procedures, multiple correspondence analysis and PROBIT algorithms

Innovation as the expression of firms’ evolution capacity

This chapter is devoted to the conceptual exploration of the innovation phenomenon itself. Innovation is at first presented as a process, specific to the evolution of the firm. Then, in the next section, the informational content of innovation is featured in relation with the knowledge base of the firm. Finally, and after having discussed the nature and forms of innovation in manufacturing and service firms, a continuum approach or broader conception of innovation is proposed

Operationalisation of the analysis

The present chapter is devoted to the operationalisation of the analysis and makes the link between the theoretical reflections and the empirical investigation. Firstly, a conceptual model of the analysis will be developed. This model encompasses the key variables selected for the statistical analysis and is derived from the previously expressed hypotheses. Secondly, the structure of the data collected for the analysis will be examined in terms of regions surveyed and of firm samples. The last section presents the statistical analysis procedure, constituted as a methodology specific to this investigation, combining three distinct data processes successively

Main findings and policy implications

The final chapter attempts to present a general interpretation of the key findings related to SMEs and KIBS, to provide a broader scope to the analysis and to draw policy relevant conclusions from the whole investigation. In this respect, the results of the investigation are synthesised and discussed in the light of other studies in section 7.1. Then, adopting a broader perspective, an integrated typology of innovation interactions involving SMEs and KIBS is proposed in section 7.2. Finally, the main policy implications of the research are discussed in section 7.3 which notably details elements contributing to a renewed policy agenda at regional level

Territorial determinants and evolution capacities of SMEs and KIBS

In the two previous chapters, innovation has been considered as an evolutionary process as well as an interactive knowledge-based phenomenon. Nevertheless, until this point, the spatial dimension has (deliberately) not been encompassed in the discussion. This will be done in this chapter, which aims at introducing spatial determinants in the analysis of innovation interaction. These spatial determinants are based on two main concepts: (i) the proximity between actors (i.e.considering interactions, the closeness according to different dimensions of interacting actors); and (ii) the territory on which actors are located (i.e.the elements geographically identifiable as a set which constitutes the reference environment of the considered actors). This chapter examines firstly the concept of proximity with regard to knowledge and innovation. The second section deals with the influence of the territory on innovation activities, considered as a system from a national and regional perspective. The final section exposes a synthesis of the impact of territorial determinants on the evolution of SMEs and KIES.

Interactions between KIBS and SMEs and impact on innovation capacities

Following the review of the concept of innovation from the point of view of individual firms, the analysis will now turn to interactions between actors. More precisely, this chapter aims at exploring innovation-related interactions taking place between KIBS and SMEs. Firstly, different theoretical approaches to interactions will be confronted: the “make or buy” approach, the transaction costs theory and the network analysis. Then, the impacts of interactions with KIBS and SMEs between each other will be considered respectively