Public Innovation Support Research Articles

Knowledge Spillovers through Labour Mobility: An Employer–Employee Analysis

Using a 16-year employer–employee panel dataset that contains the entire population of firms and workers in Argentina, this paper provides evidence of the benefits of public support for firm-level innovation for the firms that received support, the workers who were employed by them, and the firms that hired beneficiary workers. The results confirm that participant firms improve their performance and generate valuable productive knowledge, which spills over to workers who directly participated in the program and is diffused through labour mobility to other firms. The worker-level results show that workers exposed to innovation projects receive higher wages. High-skilled workers receive most of the benefits from exposure to innovation, and the wage premium is higher for workers who moved to other firms. At the firm level, the paper provides evidence that hiring workers previously exposed to innovation projects is associated with an increase in firm performance. The findings suggest that labour mobility is an important mechanism for transmitting knowledge between firms.

DIFFERENT INFLUENCE OF COOPERATION AND PUBLIC FUNDING ON INNOVATION ACTIVITIES WITHIN GERMAN INDUSTRIES

The aim of this research is to analyse (i) influence of cooperation with different partners and public funding on firms´ willingness to innovate; (ii) how public funding and cooperation with different partners influence firms´ innovation performance (turnover); (iii) effects of mutual interactions between firms´ innovation activities, cooperation with different partners and public funding on firms´ innovation performance (measured with turnover). The situation of 561 firms in Machines and Equipment industries in Germany was analysed because it is one of the most competitive economy in the world and one of the leaders in innovation within European Union. It allows to create unique benchmark and to propose implications that will be more appropriate and applicable also in other countries. For analyses, the data from Community Innovation Survey 2012-2014, which is a harmonized questionnaire and provides EU's science and technology statistics, was used, and new binary and multiple linear regression models were employed. Results of analyses show that provision of public subsidies, unlike cooperation, strongly influence firm’s motivation to innovate. However, results also showed that supported innovation activities do not always lead to an increase in firms´ innovative performance. Therefore, it can be pointed to the phenomenon of inefficiency of public innovation support in final consequence.

The landscape of open innovation in Brazil: An analysis of the recent literature

Abstract Paper aims This article aims to identify and analyze the main studies, practices, and challenges for the adoption of open innovation (OI) presented in recent Brazilian literature. Originality Although many studies have already been carried out in Brazil in the area of OI, there is a lack of theoretical research which analyzes the Brazilian research in this field. Research method Firstly, we identified the articles on OI in important Brazilian journals. Secondly, we carried out a qualitative analysis of these publications. Main findings The focus of research in the area can be divided into three main areas: (i) university–company collaboration; (ii) public support for innovation; and, (iii) integration in new product development. Implications for theory and practice This study presents a synthesis of results of research on OI in the Brazilian scenario. Furthermore, we present practices and difficulties for the adoption of OI identified by the Brazilian studies.

Impact of public support on the innovation probability in Chilean firms

ABSTRACTThis research evaluates the impact of public funding on the probability of performing various innovative activities in Chilean firms during the period of 2007–2014, using binary choice models applied to a pseudo-data panel. The results indicate that public support for innovation has a positive and statistically significant effect on internal and external Research and Development (R&D) and also increases the probability of having a formal R&D department. However, the results are not robust regarding innovation for products, services, processes, logistics, marketing and organizational innovation. On the other hand, collaborative actions were shown to positively impact the realization of all types of innovation and stimulate internal and external R&D. Thus, it is concluded that public support programs could be more successful if they promote cooperation with public and / or private actors.

The Impact of the Learning Organization on Product Innovation Performance: an Empirical Assessment in the French Biotechnology Industry

This paper examines the role played by the learning organization culture in generating product innovation performance. It also aims at assessing the moderating effects of environmental turbulence, export intensity and public innovation support on the aforementioned relationship. We use structural equations modeling with partial least squares technique to test our hypotheses on a data set from the French biotechnology industry. The results generally support theoretical predictions and emphasize the key role that learning organization has for product innovation performance.

Will China Become a Global Technological Giant?

The article argues that China has achieved a remarkable progress in promoting technology absorption and innovation over the past decade. China today spends 2.1 percent of GDP on R&D, more than the OECD average. By 2020, China together with the US will be responsible for more than half of the world’s R&D spending. These two countries may thus largely de-cide about the speed and direction of mankind’s technological progress. Despite the pro-gress, however, China still faces several challenges to becoming a global technological giant. To face these challenges, China would be well advised to increase the quality of innovation outputs, strengthen efficiency of public support for innovation, further strengthen intel-lectual property rights, and help enhance managerial practices of Chinese firms.

Promoting cooperation in innovation ecosystems: evidence from European traditional manufacturing SMEs

We investigate whether public support for innovation increases the propensity of SMEs in traditional manufacturing industries to cooperate for innovation—in particular, for incremental innovation—with other firms and external knowledge providers. Using data from seven EU regions, we find that support programmes do not promote cooperation with competitors, marginally promote cooperation with customers and suppliers and strongly promote cooperation with knowledge providers. These findings suggest that, in this case, the role of public policy is systems conforming rather than systems creating. Innovation support programmes can assist SMEs in traditional manufacturing industry to consolidate and/or extend their innovation ecosystems beyond familiar business partners by promoting cooperation with both private and public sector knowledge providers. Finally, our findings suggest that evaluation studies of innovation support programmes should be designed to capture not only input and/or output additionality but also behavioural and systemic effects.

How to make Polish SMEs more innovative?

The article presents the main results of the World Bank study undertook between 2014 and 2015, during which the Bank conducted more than 500 face-to-face interviews with top management of SMEs in four regions of Poland. The objective of the study was to identify key drivers and constraints of SME innovation, discover firms with the most innova-tion-based growth potential, and assess the quality of public support for innova-tion-oriented SMEs. The study found that among the interviewed SMEs there was a large group of companies with a significant potential for innovation-based growth. To help in-novative SMEs fully leverage their capa- city, public support for innovation will need to be modernized.

The effect of public support on senior manager attitudes to innovation

Senior manager innovation-orientated attitudes are key drivers of innovation within micro and smaller firms. Despite this, little guidance exists on the initiatives organisations can utilise to induce and strengthen such desirable attitudes. In this paper, we investigate whether innovation vouchers, an increasingly prevalent form of public innovation support that funds short-term collaborative projects to solve innovation problems for micro and smaller firms, influence senior manager innovation-orientated attitudes. We use a treatment effects approach to examine our question, specifically, propensity score nearest neighbour matching on a U.K. dataset of firms that received an innovation voucher between 2012 and 2015, and a control group of those that did not. Overall, we find that innovation vouchers induce small positive changes in senior manager innovation-orientated attitudes, with the largest change observed for senior manager openness to external knowledge, followed by risk tolerance. Overall, we show innovation vouchers strengthen senior manager innovation-orientated attitudes, thus advancing insights into the determinants of innovation-orientated attitudes and the additionality effects of public support programmes. We discuss implications for innovation policy and practice.

Innovation, Public Support, and Productivity in Colombia. A Cross-industry Comparison

Summary We investigate the association between perceived barriers to innovation and the allocation of public support for innovation in manufacturing and service industries in Colombia, as well as the potential heterogeneity of returns to innovation across the firm-level productivity distribution. Extending the CDM recursive system, we include an equation for the allocation of direct support and use quantile regression methods to estimate the productivity equation. We find some differences across manufacturing and service industries. Financing constraints are correlated with obtaining public support in manufacturing and in some services, but in knowledge-intensive services (KIS) barriers associated with regulations are more significant. The introduction of innovations increases mostly the productivity of firms below the median of the productivity distribution, especially in services. Increasing human capital would boost productivity of firms in all industries, providing support to the hypothesis that human capital is indeed a bottleneck for productivity growth across the board in Colombia. We conclude that addressing factors that hinder innovation by low-productivity firms in all service industries could significantly contribute to increasing productivity and reduce its dispersion.

Geographical clustering and the effectiveness of public innovation programs

The paper analyzes how geographical clustering of beneficiaries might affect the effectiveness of public innovation support programs. The geographical proximity of firms operating in the same industry or field of technology is expected to facilitate innovation through knowledge spillovers and other localization advantages. Public innovation support programs may leverage these advantages by focusing on firms that operate in a cluster. We investigate this link using data from a large German program that co-funds R&D projects of SMEs in key technology areas called ‘Innovative SMEs’. We employ three alternative cluster measures which capture industry, technology and knowledge dimensions of clusters. Regardless of the measure, firms located in a geographical cluster are more likely to participate in the program. Firms being part of a knowledge-based cluster significantly increases their chance of receiving public financial support. We find no effects, however, of geographical clustering on the program’s effectiveness in terms of input or output additionality.

Assessing the impact of public support for innovation in an emerging innovation system

In developing countries, most public programs supporting innovation are intended to enlarge firms' technological capabilities. Although these programs may induce firms to change their innovative behaviour, their effects have not been evaluated yet. This paper examines the impact of various innovation support programs upon firms' innovation inputs in the context of an emerging innovation system. Following Leuven and Oosterbeek (2008) in order to control for selection bias, we narrow down the comparison group by only taking into account the firms that applied to at least one program but were not accepted for any. Results show that only personal training and technology adoption and management programs contribute to an increase in R&D intensity, while personal training and export promotion programs increase innovation expenditures. These results suggest that in developing countries public support for innovation should be more concerned with competence building rather than with the exploitation of the existing innovation frontiers.

Assessing the impact of public support for innovation in an emerging innovation system

In developing countries, most public programs supporting innovation are intended to enlarge firms' technological capabilities. Although these programs may induce firms to change their innovative behaviour, their effects have not been evaluated yet. This paper examines the impact of various innovation support programs upon firms' innovation inputs in the context of an emerging innovation system. Following Leuven and Oosterbeek (2008) in order to control for selection bias, we narrow down the comparison group by only taking into account the firms that applied to at least one program but were not accepted for any. Results show that only personal training and technology adoption and management programs contribute to an increase in R&D intensity, while personal training and export promotion programs increase innovation expenditures. These results suggest that in developing countries public support for innovation should be more concerned with competence building rather than with the exploitation of the existing innovation frontiers.

Barriers of non-technological innovation - explorative case study insight from European firms

Today, it is widely agreed that non-technical innovation significantly contributes to firms' competitive advantage. Against this backdrop, public innovation support programs are increasingly extended towards non-technological fields of innovation, like the new European framework program, Horizon 2020. Along these lines, however, the question arises whether non-technical innovations, comparably to technical innovations, are subject to firm-external barriers resulting in a suboptimal degree of innovation activities. Existing concepts like market failure and systemic failure have so far only been applied to R&D-based or technical modes of innovation like product or technical process innovation. Based on a qualitative analysis of innovation projects targeting organisational and marketing innovation in 11 European firms of different sectors, industry, and size, this paper provides pioneer insight that non-technological innovations are affected by external barriers to a comparable extent than technological innovations. The aim of the paper is to nurture further academic discussion and quantitative research on this topic as well as to improve policy makers' and innovation practioneers' understanding the specific nature of non-technological innovation processes and their firm-external barriers. Last but not least, the findings can contribute to improve and adjust existing policy instruments targeting at non-technological innovation.

Does Internal and External Research and Development Affect Innovation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises? Evidence from India and Pakistan

This study investigates the impact of internal and external research and development (R&D) on the innovation performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in India and Pakistan. Micro-level data was obtained for 3,492 Indian and 696 Pakistani SMEs from the World Bank’s Enterprise Survey, and bivariate probit estimation techniques were used. The results show that internal and external R&D positively affects product and process innovations. However, this effect is stronger for Indian SMEs. The negative relationship between firm size and innovation output implies that SMEs in both countries face resource constraints. Further, Indian SMEs are dominant in terms of undertaking internal R&D and generating product and process innovations relative to those in Pakistan. The complementary relationship between internal and external R&D has been examined for both countries. The study is unique in comparing Indian and Pakistani SMEs innovation activities using micro-level data. The results suggest that business managers can utilize a balanced combination of internal and external R&D to accelerate innovation output and increase absorptive capacity. Specifically, public support for innovation, such as R&D grants, subsidies, and tax credits, could encourage SMEs to undertake more radical innovations.

Public support for innovation and the openness of firms’ innovation activities

This study explores empirically the relationship between publicly funded schemes to support innovation and the “openness” of firms’ innovation practices. Using survey data from more than 5000 firms in 29 European countries, we find that support policies for innovation, both monetary and non-monetary, are related to an increase in the degree of openness of individual firms, both in terms of the number of external partners with whom they collaborate and the number of open innovation activities they perform. However, the relationship between support and openness seems to be negatively moderated by the existence of previous innovative activity within the firm. Public support has more impact on less innovative firms and less influence when the firm is already innovative, which could potentially indicate the existence of crowding-out effects. Additionally, our results suggest that non-financial support is more strongly linked to openness than financial support. For policy makers facing salient budgetary constraints, this implies that institutions and government policies could potentially play a more important role than money in fostering open innovation. This article contributes to the open innovation literature by tapping into the underexplored question of the role of public policies and has crucial implications for academics and policy makers.

REGIONALNE ZRÓŻNICOWANIE AKTYWNOŚCI PRZEDSIĘBIORSTW PRZEMYSŁOWYCH W ZAKRESIE WYKORZYSTANIA FINANSOWYCH INSTRUMENTÓW PUBLICZNEGO WSPARCIA INNOWACJI W OKRESIE 2011-2013

Innovations are usually associated with the progress and modernity, and when they spread to the sphere of the functioning, they highly contribute to the economic development. They are impulsion of the economic growth because of their role of a specific entrepreneurship tool. Although the benefits of being innovative are widely known and accepted, the innovative activity of Polish enterprises is not large. One of the major barriers to the innovation process are costs. Often exceed the capabilities of enterprises. Currently on the Polish market there are instruments available to help finance innovation, this article analyzes the activity of industrial enterprises in the use of financial instruments of public support for innovation. Takes into account the size of innovation active industrial enterprises and their location by provinces. Analyzes both the use of domestic support, as well as with the EU, also examined targeted programs in area of which such support is granted. The basis for the analysis were the GUS data PNT-02 study carried out in 2014.

Concentration on the Few? R&D and Innovation in German Firms 2001 to 2013

Innovation activities in the German enterprise sector showed two opposing trends over the past two decades: While total innovation expenditures grew substantially, the number of firms conducting innovation activities fell sharply. Innovation expenditures hence oncentrate on fewer firms. In this paper we analyse the evolution of firms’ innovation and R&D activities. Based on panel data from the German part of the Community Innovation Survey covering a 13 years period (2001 to 2013) we use continuous-time Markov-Chains to analyse the changing properties of the firms’ choices to conduct R&D and non-R&D innovation activities. Our findings are threefold. As compared to the pre-crisis period 2001-2007 there is a considerable change in innovation and R&D behaviour of German firms from 2008 onwards with an increasing number of firms exiting R&D and innovation activities. Smaller firms are the main driver behind this process, particularly with regard to quitting non-R&D innovation activities. Although smaller firms were also less likely to move to higher levels of innovativeness and R&D engagement and more likely to fall back in the pre-crisis period, these trends have been more pronounced in the crisis and even in the post-crisis period. Both public innovation support and better financial capabilities can increase the rate chances to move to higher levels of innovativeness and reduce the chances to fall back.

Undoing gender in EU's social innovation policies?

EU's new policy strategies for growth and innovation include a strong commitment to promote social innovation - in contrast to the earlier focus on technological innovation - potentially decreasing the identified gender gap in innovation. The article scrutinises this potential of 'undoing gender' in Europe 2020 and Innovation Union by means of the new scientific concept 'gendered social innovation' and the discourse analytical approach 'What's the problem represented to be?'. The results expose that the broad approach to innovation identified on a general level in the strategies, seems to open up public innovation support to wider societal participation and benefit with a more equal inclusion of women and men in innovation, by including a broad range of sectors, industries, organisations, disciplines and innovation types. On a more specific level, possible reinforcement of existing gender patterns is identified, however, due to excluding elements in parallel strategies of smart specialisation, critical mass and excellence.

How Corporate Decisions Force Innovations: Factors and Choices to Act

Abstract This theoretical paper identifies the main corporate innovative activities and public innovation support systems characterizing factors and their assessment rates by providing factor groups and measured indicators. Presented complex of various innovation measurement indexes can help corporative decision makers to focus on the areas to be developed as wee as for the trends to be fostered during the estimated strategical corporative decisions making period. Paper presents vertical and horizontal decision making features focused on innovation as most competitive factor as well as the main features and criteria of innovation measurement in corporative decisions, accepted and well-used by main innovations measurement institutions.