Tom Broekel

Collaboration Intensity and Regional Innovation Efficiency in Germany—A Conditional Efficiency Approach

Many case studies highlight a positive relationship between regions innovation performance and the intensity of collaboration among regional organizations. However, few efforts have been made to analyze this relation with quantitative approaches. In addition to a theoretical discussion, the paper presents an empirical investigation on this issue utilizing conditional efficiency analysis and patent co-application data for the Electrics & Electronics industry in 270 German labor market regions. The results show that the relationship between regions innovation performance and the intensities of regional as well as inter-regional collaboration take the form of an inverted-U shape. Regions with average regional and inter-regional collaboration intensities are found to outperform those characterized by extremely low, high or unbalanced collaboration behavior.

The Co-evolution of Proximities – A Network Level Study

Broekel T. The co-evolution of proximities – a network level study, Regional Studies. Little is known about how network structures and proximity relations between linked actors evolve over time. This paper argues that a number of networks’ internal proximity structures are interrelated, which may give rise to specific types of co-evolution dynamics. An empirical investigation tests these arguments using information on the evolution of 280 networks of subsidized research and development (R&D) collaboration in Germany. The empirical findings clearly confirm the existence of systematic and dynamic interrelatedness between proximities. In this way, the paper underlines the need to consider such relations when investigating the evolution of knowledge networks.

Do Cooperative Research and Development (R&D) Subsidies Stimulate Regional Innovation Efficiency? Evidence from Germany

Broekel T. Do cooperative research and development (R&D) subsidies stimulate regional innovation efficiency? Evidence from Germany, Regional Studies. The subsidization of research and development (R&D) and R&D cooperation has gained in importance in recent years. Building on a rich panel dataset, covering 270 German labour market regions and four industries, it is shown that subsidies for R&D cooperation are a suitable policy measure for stimulating the innovation efficiency of regions. The empirical findings suggest that regions with low innovation capacities benefit the most from cooperation among regional firms and subsidized links to non-regional public research institutes. The subsidization of cooperation with non-regional universities is more important for regions with large innovation capacities. Support for non-cooperative projects is related to negative effects.

Explaining the structure of inter-organizational networks using exponential random graph models

A key question raised in recent years is what factors determine the structure of inter-organizational networks. Most research so far has focused on different forms of proximity between organizations, namely geographical, cognitive, social, institutional and organizational proximity, which are all factors at the dyad level. However, recently, factors at the node and structural network levels have been highlighted as well. To identify the relative importance of factors at these three different levels for the structure of inter-organizational networks that are observable at only one point in time, we propose the use of exponential random graph models. Their usefulness is exemplified by an analysis of the structure of the knowledge network in the Dutch aviation industry in 2008, for which we find factors at all different levels to matter. Out of different forms of proximity, only institutional and geographical proximity remains significant once we account for factors at the node and structural levels.

Factors Explaining the Spatial Agglomeration of the Creative Class: Empirical Evidence for German Artists

Abstract The paper contributes to the on-going debate about the relative importance of economic and amenity-related location factors for attracting talent or members of the creative class. While Florida highlights the role of amenities, openness and tolerance, others instead emphasize the role of regional productions systems, local labour markets and externalities. The paper sheds light on this issue by analysing the changes in the spatial distribution of four groups of artists over time: visual artists, performing artists, musicians and writers. Little evidence is found for amenity-related factors influencing the growth rates of regional artist populations. Moreover, artists are shown to be a heterogeneous group inasmuch as the relative importance of regional factors significantly differs between artistic branches.

Determinants of cross-regional R&D collaboration networks : an application of exponential random graph models

This study investigates the usefulness of exponential random graph models (ERGM) to analyze the determinants of cross-regional R&D collaboration networks. Using spatial interaction models, most research on R&D collaboration between regions is constrained to focus on determinants at the node level (e.g. R&D activity of a region) and dyad level (e.g. geographical distance between regions). ERGMs represent a new set of network analysis techniques that has been developed in recent years in mathematical sociology. In contrast to spatial interaction models, ERGMs additionally allow considering determinants at the structural network level while still only requiring cross-sectional network data.

The effects of cooperative R&D subsidies and subsidized cooperation on employment growth

The paper investigates the contribution of cooperative and non-cooperative R and D subsidies to firm growth. Of particular interest is hereby firms’ embeddedness into subsidized cooperation networks. For the empirical analysis we utilize an unbalanced panel of 2.199 German manufacturing firms covering the time period from 1999 to 2009. A dynamic panel estimation technique is employed to control for growth autocorrelation as well as endogeneity. Our findings show that non-cooperative R and D subsidies have a stimulating impact on large firms’ employment growth. In contrast being engaged in many subsidized cooperation is related to significant growth-reducing effects. In the case of large firms, exceptions are subsidized cooperation with geographically distant firms, which can positively influence employment growth. For small firms, rather interactions with research organizations are found to facilitate their development.

Joint R&D Subsidies, Related Variety, and Regional Innovation

Subsidies for research and development (R&D) are an important tool of public R&D policy, which motivates extensive scientific analyses and evaluations. This article adds to this literature by arguing that the effects of R&D subsidies go beyond the extension of organizations’ monetary resources invested into R&D. It is argued that collaboration induced by subsidized joint R&D projects yield significant effects that are missed in traditional analyses. An empirical study on the level of German labor market regions substantiates this claim, showing that collaborative R&D subsidies impact regions’ innovation growth when providing access to related variety and embedding regions into central positions in cross-regional knowledge networks.

Institutional change and network evolution : explorative and exploitative tie formations of co-inventors during the dot-com bubble in the Research Triangle region

ABSTRACT Institutional change and network evolution: explorative and exploitative tie formations of co-inventors during the dot-com bubble in the Research Triangle region. Regional Studies. This paper investigates how institutions impact tie formation, arguing that institutions can direct firm strategies towards exploration or towards exploitation. It translates these strategies into tie formations: explorative tie formation produces structural holes as a source of good ideas, while exploitative tie formation closes structural holes to facilitate the mobilization of resources to move ideas into products. Using the example of co-inventors in information and communication technology in Research Triangle region during the dot-com bubble, explorative tie formation during the bubble and exploitative tie formations after its burst were expected. Stochastic actor-oriented models did not clearly support our assumptions. It was found that the emergence of venture capital led to a large variance in connection patterns during the bubble, probably resulting from overlapping institutional effects. After the burst of the bubble, these incoherencies disappeared.

Analyzing demand-side efficiency in global health: an application to maternal care in Vietnam.

This article investigates demand-side efficiency in global health-or the efficiency with which health system users convert public health resources into health outcomes. We introduce and explain the concept of demand-side efficiency as well as quantitative methods to empirically estimate it. Using a robust nonparametric form of technical efficiency analysis, we estimate demand side efficiency and its social determinants. We pilot these methods looking at how efficiently pregnant women in Northern Vietnam convert public health resources into appropriate maternal care as defined by national policy. We find that women who live in non-mountainous geographies, who are formally employed, who are pregnant with a boy and who are ethnic minorities are all more likely to be efficient at achieving appropriate care. We find no significant association between wealth or education and efficiency. Our results suggest that, in the Vietnamese context, women who are the most likely to achieve appropriate maternal care, are not necessarily the most likely to do so efficiently. Women who live in non-mountainous geographies and who are formally employed are both more likely to achieve appropriate care and to do so efficiently. Yet ethnic minority women, who do not systematically achieve better care, are more likely to be efficient or to achieve better care when compared with those with the same endowment of public health resources. On the methodological level, the pilot highlights that this approach can provide useful information for policy by identifying which groups of people are more and less likely to be efficient. By understanding which groups are more likely to be efficient-and in turn how and why-it may be possible to devise policies to promote the drivers of, or conversely address the constraints to, optimizing demand-side efficiency.