Regional Innovation Performance Research Articles

Outward foreign direct investment and domestic innovation performance: Evidence from China

Recent years have witnessed substantial outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) from many emerging economies. Should the governments of these economies encourage OFDI in order to promote domestic innovation? Much OFDI by emerging economy multinational enterprises (EMNEs) has been undertaken to acquire strategic assets overseas, but do these acquisitions bring innovation benefits at home? The empirical analysis presented in this paper considers the effects of OFDI on regional innovation performance, using a panel of Chinese provinces, and finds that OFDI has a very significant impact on domestic innovation. Furthermore, we also identify three contingent factors – absorptive capacity, foreign presence, and the competition intensity of the local market – that moderate the impact of OFDI on innovation performance.

Regional Cluster, Innovation and Export Performance: An Empirical Study

Regional clusters and innovations in product and processes are found in the literature as important determinants of firms' export performance. However, this relationship is still controversial and very highly constrained by industry, and by regions. Based on a more integrative perspective, the aim of the present article is to investigate the role of agglomeration economies of a regional cluster on the export performance of firms. Furthermore, we will test the mediating effect of innovation and the extent by which the technological intensity of the industry can perform a moderating effect between the constructs. Based on a sample of 100 export companies operating in the manufacturing industries, we use structural equation modeling to estimate the determinants of export performance. The results reveal that the agglomeration economies of a regional cluster have been found determinant factors of the export performance, as well as a significant source to generate innovations by firms. However, we found no evidence between the innovations in products and processes and export performance. The results have also shown that there are no differences among technological intensity of the industries, suggesting that the firms will access agglomeration resources of regional cluster in a complementary way to their internal resources.

Evaluation of China's Provincial Regional Innovation Performance as Exemplified by Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Guangdong, and Zhejiang

Evaluation of China's Provincial Regional Innovation Performance as Exemplified by Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Guangdong, and Zhejiang

Patent elasticity, R&D intensity and regional innovation capacity in China

This study uses patent to measure regional innovative capacity and its changing tendency in mainland Cina. We provide an empirical analysis of patent applications from above-scale enterprises between 2008 and 2012 in China along two dimensions, geographical location and R&D intensity. We found that patents are much more elastic, than that in Japan, US and Europe. The gaps in provincial innovation capacity in China are narrowing as a whole, whereas the gaps in the central region and western region continue to grow. Furthermore, regional innovation performance can be both affected by patent application fees and R&D input.

Regional Importance of Mittelstand Firms and Innovation Performance

Berlemann M. and Jahn V. Regional importance of Mittelstand firms and innovation performance, Regional Studies. Despite the deeply rooted belief of politicians all over the world about the important role of Mittelstand firms, there has yet been surprisingly little empirical research on this issue. This article contributes to the literature by studying whether the relative regional importance of Mittelstand firms has an effect on regional innovation performance. Using a cross-section of German NUTS-3 regions, a significantly positive relation between the relative importance of owner-managed small and medium-sized enterprises and patent applications is identified. This finding is highly robust when controlling for spatial correlations as they often occur in highly disaggregated regional analyses.

Regional Innovation Systems Based on Stochastic Frontier Analysis: A Study on Thirty-One Provinces in China

This article summarises the literature on regional innovation system (RIS) The study uses thirty-one Chinese provinces and cities as the unit of analysis. Subsequently, an empirical study is conducted using stochastic frontier analysis on unbalanced panel data covering 31 provinces. The empirical result shows that innovation performance of RISs differs greatly in the various provinces and cities analyzed. The average score of the national regional innovation performance is 0.4514, indicating that non-efficiency is very common in Chinese provinces and cities. There are various factors that should be considered to promote innovation performance of the RIS. These are openness of RISs, maturity of the technology market, collaboration of RISs and intellectual property protection. Interestingly the unique circumstances of the Chinese market show that enterprise technology input and government investments have a negative impact on the regional innovation performance.

Productivity growth persistence: firm strategies, size and system properties

This paper investigates the dynamics of productivity in a large sample of Italian manufacturing firms, focusing on the determinants of firm-level persistence in time of high total factor productivity (TFP) growth rates relative to the corresponding sectoral distributions. In particular, we assess the impact of both the internal characteristics of companies, including size and management strategies, and external systemic conditions, including business cycles and regional innovation performance. In order to disentangle the effects of the mix of internal and systemic factors in shaping firm-level persistence, we implement both transition probability matrices and dynamic probit models. Results reveal the presence of significant persistence in TFP growth rates. Such persistence turns out to be path-dependent since it is shaped by a number of complementary and contingent factors that locally affect the dynamics of the process.

Credit depth, government intervention and innovation in China: evidence from the provincial data

This paper investigates the role of regional credit systems for Chinese regional innovation, using data for the period 2000–2008. Both the effects of credit depth and government intervention are investigated. Results show that regional credit depth has a significantly positive effect on regional innovation performance. Credit depth has more marked impacts on major innovations (i.e., invention patents) than on less complicated innovations (i.e., utility model and external design patents). Additionally, our results do not suggest a reduction in the efficiency of regional innovation from increased government intervention via state-owned commercial banks.

Regional innovation system, absorptive capacity and innovation performance: An empirical study

Abstract Recent studies have separately investigated the importance of regional innovation systems (RISs) and absorptive capacity (AC) to innovation performance. This study explores their interdependency on the premise that better utilization of RIS enhances innovation performance because the RIS enhances the absorptive capacity of the firm. In this study, we cover three typical elements of RIS: regional innovation initiatives (RII), knowledge-intensive business services (KIBSs) and value chain information sources. This study explores the relationships of these elements on the acquisition, assimilation, transformation and exploitation learning processes of absorptive capacity. Data were obtained through a mailed survey using a self-administered questionnaire. The results show that RII, KIBS and value chain information sources affect a firm's absorptive capacity, leading to better innovation performance. Specifically, KIBS improves the acquisition process, value chain information sources improve the acquisition and assimilation processes, and RII improve the transformation process. This study contributes to the literature by exploring how a firm interacts with RIS by utilizing various RIS initiatives to enhance the firm's absorptive capacity and innovation performance. It also increases our understanding of how AC learning processes relate to RIS and innovation performance.

On the correlation between innovation performance and DMSP-OLS nighttime stable lights: evidence from the US

Innovation has been widely acknowledged as one of the key driving forces for regional economic development. Since nighttime lights based on Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Operational Line-scan System has been used as an effective tool to estimate economic growth, a potential correlation between nighttime stable lights (NTSL) and innovation performance has been strongly indicated. To this end, this study examined the relationship between NTSL and innovation performance of 3105 counties in the United States of America through grey relation analysis. In order to test the validity of NTSL mapping of the innovation performance, all the sample data of NTSL and innovation performance were separately grouped into five categories using k-means clustering method, and the deviation between two classifications was calculated. Overall, NTSL shows a noticeable connection to innovation performance with a grey relation grade of 0.76, indicating that NTSL could properly simulate innovation performance with slight deviation, which is mainly caused by differences of industrial structure and natural environment. It is demonstrated that NTSL data could be used as a proxy for regional innovation performance. This study contributes to a better understanding of the relation between NTSL and innovation performance as well as offering an efficient approach to detect the differences in regional innovation performance.

The Role of R&D Collaboration Networks on Regional Innovation Performance

In this study, we consider R&D collaboration networks as a mechanism that modifies knowledge flows in space, and hence as another source of interaction among regional innovation processes. Our objective is to understand the relative role of spatial neighbors and network neighbors on patenting performance of regions. We make use of data on R&D collaborations supported by the European Union’s Framework Programs (FP) and empirically investigate the patent activity of 213 European regions in the field of ICT during 2003-2009. Concerning the short length of the time frame we adopt a static modeling strategy and specify a spatial Durbin Model. As spatial neighbors intersect with network neighbors we decompose neighbor regions into three sets: spatially proximate regions that are not collaboration partners, spatially proximate regions that are collaboration partners, and distant collaboration partners. We express the weight matrix as a convex combination of these three sets and by means of gridding we compare how model fit changes as we move from a purely space based view to a purely network based view to express the dependence structure. The weight matrix that performs the best accords 60% weight to distant collaboration partners, 30% weight to proximate collaboration partners and 10% weight to proximate regions with whom there is no FP collaboration. This result reveals that the interaction (proximate and distant) among European regions within FP networks in the field of ICT is key for understanding dependence among their patenting performances.

Key Trends and Problems of Regional Innovation Systems' Development in Poland and Ukraine

This article is devoted to comparative study of regional innovation development in Poland and Ukraine. Innovation potential and performance of Ukrainian regions assessment is grounded on the regional innovation systems approach, employing selected indicators of the EU regional innovation evaluation criteria. Key trends and problematic issues of regional innovation development are captured through a number of methods: comparative analysis, calculating variation of regional innovation capacity indicators within countries and their correlation versus per capita GDP of regions in Poland and Ukraine. The overall low level of R&D and innovation expenditure, high variation of regional innovation performance, insufficient effects of innovations on the regional GDP dynamics as well as lack of feasible policy instruments to support innovations constitute the main risks for the regional innovation systems considered. Weak and patchy regional innovation performance in both countries fosters import dependent managerial practices driven by foreign technology adoption.

Firm ownership, industrial structure, and regional innovation performance in China's provinces

This paper uses panel data between 2000 and 2010 to explore how firm ownership and regional industrial structures contribute to regional innovation performance in Chinese provinces. Specifically, we explore how the extent of specialisation and diversification in regional industrial structures at the province level fosters both Marshall–Arrow–Romer and Jacobs spillovers, as well as how foreign and state ownership influence regional innovation. We find: (i) China's regional innovation systems benefit from Jacobs but not MAR externalities, with the former spurring higher quality innovation in the form of increased invention patenting; (ii) state-owned enterprises and foreign-invested enterprises advance local innovation, with the latter again fostering higher quality innovation; and (iii) a convergence towards a combination of low specialisation and high diversity in provincial industrial structure is taking place between China's more developed inland coastal provinces and less developed inland provinces. Implications and suggestions for policy-making and future research are discussed.

Innovation, Knowledge Spillovers and High-Tech Services in European Regions

Regions rely not only on their own efforts and characteristics but also on their capacity to attract and assimilate knowledge produced elsewhere to innovate. In other words, interactions among individuals, firms and institutions produce the transmission of knowledge in the form of knowledge spillovers. In the case of knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS), one of their main features is their capacity to adapt and disseminate tacit knowledge. Despite a variety of recent studies have contributed to improve one´s understanding of the tacit knowledge diffuser role of KIBS, there has been little investigation on the spatial effects related to the presence of KIBS. This article represents an attempt to combine in one model knowledge spillovers and availability of a group of KIBS, those called high-tech services (HTS). The objective is to shed some light on the role of both geographical and technological distance in the knowledge diffusion process and to show how HTS account for a significant part of the regional innovation process using an extended knowledge production function (KPF) framework applied to 240 European regions from 23 countries. Two major findings of this analysis are following. For one part, inter-regional knowledge flows are key elements for explaining regional innovation performance, although technological proximity is far less important than geographical proximity. For the other part, regions with a higher specialization in HTS, or proximate to regions with a higher presence of HTS, tend to innovate more, mainly because HTS can improve their capacity to transform knowledge into innovation. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ee.25.1.3207

Informal and Formal Sources of Knowledge as Drivers of Regional Innovation: Digging a Little Further into Complexity

We study the combined effect of formal (FSK) and informal (ISK) sources of knowledge on European regional innovation performance. Our findings show that the effect of the two sources of knowledge on innovation performance is not simple and linear. First, both sources of knowledge have an interaction effect on innovation performance (ie, the effect of FSK on regional innovation depends on the level of access to ISK in the region, and vice versa). Second, while the effect of ISK is linear (although different for each region), the effect of the FSK (which is more intensive in monetary, time, effort, and opportunity costs) has a diminishing-returns form, and achieves a saturation point at high levels of use of FSK. Our findings also show that the balanced access to both types of sources is important and that, for instance, regions with limited access to ISK should not expect miraculous effects from high levels of FSK. To the best of our knowledge, no previous research has been reported which has empirically studied the combined effect of both sources of knowledge at a European regional level.

Technology intermediaries and regional innovation performance: an empirical study in China

In this study, we examine the innovation effects of technology intermediaries on different types of innovation and the roles they play in different sectors at a regional level. Using a panel of data for 31 Chinese provinces during the period 2003–2011, we empirically test the relationship between numbers of technology intermediaries and regional innovation performance. The results show that technology intermediaries make positive contributions to regional product-related innovation and have more positive effects on innovation performance in high-tech industries, improving both knowledge-related innovation and product-related innovation in high-tech sectors. These findings could extend our understanding on the innovation effects of intermediary institutions at the regional level. The research also suggests clearer and more specific goals for policies favourable to intermediary institutions.

Knowledge creation and knowledge acquisition in the software industry in Slovakia: the case study of Košice region

AbstractThis paper examines the software industry in the Slovakian Košice region and explains the knowledge creation and acquisition processes in the area. On the basis of the conceptual framework of territorial pattern of innovation, the paper shows that the creation and acquisition of knowledge external to the region plays an important role in different stages of sector and regional development and innovation performance. The software industry is, at present, one of the most dynamic industries in the Slovak economy as the progressive growth of both the number of firms and employment attest. In particular, the development of the software sector in Košice is interconnected with the establishment of a steel company, which had an important influence on the industrial structure of the region, as well as on the its technology profile. Currently, Košice presents a successful case in Slovakia in terms of the localization of the innovative software industry, where knowledge acquired via linkages with other regions shaped the innovation pattern of the region. Namely, whereas process innovation is mostly developed outside the region, product innovation is locally developed and linked to specific ICT product niches.

Knowledge creation and knowledge diffusion in space and regional innovation performance: introductory remarks

This special issue of the Annals of Regional Science provides an up to date state of the art in understanding the complex relationship between knowledge creation, knowledge diffusion, regional innovation, and local economic performance. Research on this issue dates back to the eighties when the neoclassical approach of innovation as a manna from heaven was left aside, and contributions in the field of innovationdriven regional development were put forward. Concepts like innovative milieux, technological districts, regional innovation systems, learning regions, etc., have been introduced at that time to underline the importance of space and regions, as key drivers of innovation (Camagni 1991; Cooke 1992; Storper 1992; Asheim 1996). Nowadays, the issue of knowledge creation and diffusion in determining growth performance is still a hot topic for different reasons. On the one hand, the normative strategy around theEuropeanUnion’sAgenda 2020 calls for ad hoc innovation policies to move toward a knowledge-intensive growth model for Europe on a regional base, supplying operational answers to the request of one of its ‘flagship initiatives’, namely ‘Innovation Union’ (EC 2010). On the other hand, the role of space in knowledge creation and diffusion processes requires additional thoughts largely expanding from the initial simple interpretation of space as a geographic barrier. In fact, over time, a strong belief accompanied innovation studies at local level that not only spatial proximity matters as a channel for knowledge transmission, but different types of cultural, social, and cognitive proximities make the difference: “being simply there” is not enough (Boschma 2005; Capello 2009; Breschi and Lissoni 2001; Capello

R&D, Socio‐Economic Conditions, and Regional Innovation in the U.S

AbstractThis paper looks at the genesis of innovation in the U.S. from a territorial perspective. The analysis aims to disentangle the impact of local research and development (R&D) expenditure from other contextual conditions supportive of the process of innovation. Particular emphasis is devoted to the role of socio‐economic factors and systems of innovation (“social filter” conditions) and to their impact on the returns of R&D expenditure in different territorial contexts. The empirical analysis is based on a regional knowledge production function approach, leading to an empirical model estimated by means of panel data analysis for the period between 1994 and 2007 at the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis‐Economic Area level. The results unveil the complexity of the territorial dynamics of innovation of the U.S. Local R&D investments are important predictors for regional innovative performance and their impact is highly localised. However, social filter conditions are fundamental for the productivity of innovation efforts.

Innovative firms behind the regions: Analysis of regional innovation performance in Portugal by external logistic biplots

The strategic choices regarding innovation and research and development (R&D) policy in Portugal have, over the past two decades, produced various positive benefits, in which the regions of Lisbon and Algarve, in particular, have taken the lead. These are the only regions in Portugal which converge towards the European average growth rate with respect to gross production, investment and employment creation. It is now timely to evaluate firms’ contributions to national and regional growth, their obstacles, and impacts. After a conceptualization of innovation policy in Portugal, the present paper treats innovation as a major criterion for the policy evaluation process referred to above. Our empirical investigation aims to explain the innovation performance of Portuguese firms throughout the country, and to explore those determinants of innovation which are region-specific. Therefore, the analysis addresses a set of firms’ achievement patterns, by focusing on ways in which institutions interact in the process of innovation at the regional level. In our modelling study, we employ a new methodology, viz. the external logistic biplot method, which is applied to an extensive sample of innovative institutions in Portugal. Variables identified as crucial determinants in earlier studies are used to describe regional institutional profiles. Such profiles exhibit a great variety of ways in which these determinants are able to promote regional innovation. The creation of a Gradient of Capacity to Dynamically Innovate associated with each firm enables an analysis of the innovation gradient of each region in Portugal. Our paper presents and investigates these findings, and offers some policy lessons.