Tommy Høyvarde Clausen

External knowledge sourcing from innovation cooperation and the role of absorptive capacity: empirical evidence from Norway and Sweden

Open innovation (OI) is an innovation paradigm which argues that firms should use external knowledge in order to succeed in the innovation process. It is currently unclear however how firms are able to source external knowledge from external actors when attempting to innovate. In this paper we examine the relationship between absorptive capacity and firms’ ability to enter into innovation cooperation with external actors. Our econometric results show that internal R&D, training and an educated workforce, as core aspects of firms’ absorptive capacity, are positively associated with (the intensity of) innovation cooperation. An implication is that external knowledge does not enter the firm freely. The costs firms must invoke in order to be able to source external knowledge in the OI context is considerable. Without investing in internal R&D, training and recruiting workers with good educational qualifications, firms may not be able to follow the open approach to innovation.

Open innovation policy through intermediaries: the industry incubator programme in Norway

In this paper, we discuss whether, and to what extent, open innovation is a relevant perspective for policymakers seeking to foster innovation and entrepreneurship. Our analysis and discussion are structured around the authors’ evaluation of a publicly co-sponsored industry incubator programme that focuses on theoretical ideas from the open innovation model. Based on our empirical example, we conclude that open innovation policies may be implemented through a hands-on approach, in which the ultimate goal is to preserve and retain knowledge that has an economic value to society, but which large corporations choose not to exploit. By acting as open innovation intermediaries, the publicly supported incubators in our example were able to transfer knowledge from large firms to society. Most of these activities would not have taken place without the incubators, suggesting a high degree of additionality.

Persistence of product innovation: comparing breakthrough and incremental product innovation

In this paper we examine whether and to what extent breakthrough and incremental product innovation is persistent at the firm level. Drawing on a panel database created from the Community Innovation Survey (CIS) we find that lagged breakthrough product innovation ‘new to the market’, has a significant and positive influence on firms’ ability to develop current breakthrough innovation, while this is not the case for incremental-product innovation ‘only new to the firm’. Our findings show that the dynamics of innovation persistence differ across types of (product) innovations.

Promoting the entrepreneurs of tomorrow: entrepreneurship education and start-up intentions among schoolchildren

Research and policy literature stress entrepreneurship and innovation at higher education institutions as central driving forces behind job creation and economic growth, but few studies have looked at how secondary schools can contribute to create a more dynamic enterprise culture. In this paper, we correct this gap in our knowledge. The main aim is to evaluate to what extent a European entrepreneurship programme promotes start-up intentions among schoolchildren. The programme investigated is the company programme (CP) provided by the NGO Junior Achievement – Young Enterprise Europe. CP is taught in 40 European countries. Our study is done in Norway, and CP reaches 10% of all children in the Norwegian upper secondary school. Our econometric results indicate that CP stimulates start-up intentions. Hence, it indicates that entrepreneurship education programmes are able to influence entrepreneurial intentions among children with different social backgrounds.

Firm heterogeneity within industries: how important is ‘industry’ to innovation?

In this paper, we assess how important ‘industry’ is to innovation. Our empirical estimates show that ‘industry factors’ matter little to how firms’ search for new innovations and that firms within the same industry have widely different perceptions of the obstacles constraining technological change. These results offer empirical support to recent evolutionary theory where firms have heterogeneous capabilities and pursue different approaches to innovation. Structural variables at the industry level have a stronger influence on firm innovation. This result supports ‘sectoral innovation system’ approaches where firms are more ‘constrained’ by technological regimes underlying industry evolution. Hence, the driving forces behind technological evolution are found at both the firm and industry level, but to different degrees.In this paper we assess how important “industry” is to innovation. Our empirical estimates suggest that “industry factors” matter little to how firms’ search for new innovations. These results offer empirical support to recent evolutionary theory where firms have heterogeneous capabilities and pursue different approaches to innovation. Structural variables at the industry level do however have a substantial influence on the firm level propensity to innovate. This result supports “sectoral innovation system” approaches where firms are “constrained” by technological regimes underlying industry evolution. Hence, the driving forces behind technological evolution are found at both the firm and industry level.

Comparing start-up activity across capitalist economies

In this article, I analyse a theoretical multi-level model of entrepreneurship in which institutional variables associated with different variants of capitalism and individual level differences in resources can potentially explain whether and why new firms are created. Our model answers calls for more research on why countries differ in terms of ‘entrepreneurial spirit’ and whether and how individual level predictors of start-up activity vary across countries and institutional contexts. In addressing these issues, I ‘merge’ insights from ‘entrepreneurship studies’ in management and the varieties of capitalism tradition in economic sociology. The empirical research draws on a database containing information about 188,835 individuals from 21 countries.

Examining the Schumpeter hypothesis in the context of closed and open innovation: survey evidence from Norway and Sweden

In this paper, we examine the relevance of the Schumpeter hypothesis in the context of open and closed innovation. The Schumpeter hypothesis states that larger firms are more innovative than smaller firms. Our findings suggest that there is a tight link between larger firm size, internal R&D and turnover from incremental innovation among incumbent older firms in the context of closed innovation. In the closed context, we find rather strong empirical support for a traditional interpretation of the Schumpeter hypothesis. In the open innovation context, we find much stronger links between start-up firms, external R&D and radical innovation. Here we find empirical support for a more evolutionary interpretation of the Schumpeter hypothesis highlighting also start-up firms as a source of innovation.