Regional systems of innovation and the knowledge production function: the Spanish case

Abstract

This working document is based on a broad multivariate data analysis of the regions conforming the Spanish R&D system, with the purpose of establishing a typology of the regional innovation systems. The paper consists of four parts. It begins with a brief introduction reviewing the main theoretical approaches. In the second part, we use a factorial analysis, which allows us to differentiate between four main factors that have an impact on the regional innovation capacity: The Regional Production and Innovation Environment, the University, the Public Administration and Private Enterprise. In the third part, we determine a typology of the Spanish R&D system using the cluster analysis with the four factors detected before. The regions that stand out are Madrid (Public Administration), Catalonia (Environment), Basque Country (Enterprises) and Navarra (University), the rest of regions showing the heterogeneity of the regional R+D system in Spain. Finally, we use patents as a measure of the innovative capacity of the Spanish regions, calculating a regression with the four factors explained before. We confirm the importance of the Regional Production and Innovation Environment more than other factors on this kind of output.