Academic Inventors and the Antecedents of Green Technologies. A Regional Analysis of Italian Patent Data

Abstract

This work investigates the knowledge generation mechanisms underlying the creation of green technologies (GTs) in Italian NUTS 3 regions. We hypothesise that local knowledge spillovers from non-green technological areas positively influence the generation of inventions in green domains, since the latter occur as the outcome of a recombination process among a wide array of technological domains. In addition, we hypothesise that the involvement of academic inventors in patenting activity bears positive effects on the generation of GTs, because inventors are able to manage the recombination process across different, and not necessarily related, technological domains. We also investigate whether academic inventors mitigate the impact of local spillovers from non-green knowledge on the generation of GTs. The results suggest that local spillovers from non-green technological domains as well as the involvement of academic inventors in patenting activity bear positive direct effects on the generation of GTs. We also find that academic inventors compensate for local scarcity of spillovers from non-green technological areas.