Olivier Brossard

Is there a fallacy of composition of external R&D? An empirical assessment of the impact of quasi-internal, external and offshored R&D

Abstract Empirical studies at the individual firm level often find a positive impact of external R&D on innovation. However, external R&D sourcing might produce an impoverishment of the local knowledge base and thus damage innovation production at the regional level. To address this possible fallacy of composition, we first review the various forms of ‘external’ R&D. We then use the French R&D survey to assess the impact of four different ways of transacting or collaborating on R&D: onshore affiliate external R&D, offshore affiliate external R&D, onshore non-affiliate and offshore non-affiliate external R&D. We then estimate knowledge production functions on the 94 metropolitan French NUTS3 regions observed between 1997 and 2008, differentiating internal R&D and these categories of external R&D. We obtain that the impact of onshore non-affiliate external R&D is significantly negative. The other external R&D categories are non-significant and we do not detect any complementarity between internal and external R&D.

Knowledge Phases, Cognitive and Relational Distance in ICT Alliance Networks

This ground-breaking book offers a coherent theoretical analysis of contemporary industrial knowledge flow dynamics. Furthermore, it advances wide-ranging and varied empirical findings from international comparative research which demonstrate that knowledge cross-pollination, often from industrially unrelated business sectors, is now commonplace in the economics of innovation. This, the authors argue, represents the rise of an externalized ‘matrix’ of knowledge flow dynamics among firms and industries. The book also examines related economic governance research that reveals the catalytic role that leading innovation policy agencies play in animating knowledge flow dynamics, particularly at the regional level. The chapters address various sectors including food and drink, biotechnology, ICT, new media, the automotive industry and tourism.

The Trilogy of Knowledge Spillovers in French Regions: A History of Nature, Channels and Boundaries

We suggest three theoretical propositions on the nature, channels and boundaries of knowledge spillovers, and we test them with knowledge production functions estimated on French NUTS 3 regions over 2002–2008. Several innovations are introduced. First, we quantify external R&D to complement the usual internal R&D variable and assess the effect of knowledge nature on knowledge spillovers. Second, we construct several measures of the quantity and quality of regional knowledge diffusion channels and introduce them in our knowledge production functions. Third, we test several spatial panel specifications to assess robustness and evaluate the geographical boundaries of various types of knowledge spillovers. All methods converge to provide evidence for the following: 1) spillovers from internal R&D are larger than spillovers from external R&D; 2) the quantity and quality of regional knowledge transmission channels are important determinants of regional innovation; and 3) industrial and technological diversity produces positive knowledge externalities, not only locally but also in the neighbourhood of French regions.

Croissance.net: Perspectives 2000-2001 pour l'économie française

Au debut du printemps 2000, les perspectives de croissance sont tres favorables dans la quasi-totalite des zones de l’economie mondiale. Apres une croissance de 2,5 % en 1998 et de 3,2 % en 1999, la croissance mondiale pourrait etre de 4,2 % en 2000 et de 3,9 % en 2001 (tableau 2). Cette vigueur resulte de la conjonction de la poursuite d’une forte expansion aux Etats-Unis, d’une nette reprise dans la zone euro, de la rapide sortie de recession au Royaume-Uni, du dynamisme retrouve des nouveaux pays industrialises d’Asie (NPIA) et des economies en transition, enfin du rebond en Russie et en Amerique latine. A l’echelle mondiale demeurent quelques exceptions, la plus notable etant celle du Japon ou la relance publique n’a pas encore ete relayee par un net dynamisme de la demande privee (...).