Technological Knowledge Spillovers Research Articles

Bringing the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship to circular economies: Knowledge and values in entrepreneurial ecosystems

Transitioning from a linear economy to a circular economy (CE) supports the realisation of societal values towards more sustainable development. This article identifies mechanisms by which circularity can be embedded in entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs) through the flow of relevant knowledge and values. It presents a dynamic model that illustrates how reverse knowledge spillovers from entrepreneurs can complement traditional technological knowledge spillovers from incumbents, ultimately advocating for CE values and validating circular knowledge. The validated circular knowledge, in turn, alters the knowledge filter of incumbents, leading to shifts in their research and development (R&D) focus and their willingness to embrace new knowledge. This symbiotic relationship of knowledge spillovers between circular start-ups and incumbents can significantly enhance the motivation of participants in EEs to adopt CE values and leverage circular knowledge. Overall, the article shows how knowledge spillovers can facilitate a wider adoption of circular knowledge and CE values within EEs.

Understanding technological knowledge spillover in a science technology park ecosystem: an ethnographic study

ABSTRACT Technological knowledge spillover is a passive process that is difficult to exploit due to the unknown nature of the phenomenon. However, spillovers in certain geographical proximity improve growth and beneficial to the surrounding actors. Therefore, it is essential to understand the nature of technological knowledge spillover and how it happens in reality. This study closely observed and unravelled how spillover happened in the Science Technology Park ecosystem through two years of immersive ethnographic research. Two spillovers occurred from several projects. Eleven actors are involved in the technology transfer and knowledge spillover processes within two technological projects in the ecosystem. This study provides a descriptive explanation of how spillovers happen. Also, two propositions are discussed for extending the existing theory in the context of spillover in the Science Technological Park ecosystem. First, actuators and connectors in the ecosystem could promote technological knowledge spillovers; they also influence the breadth of spillovers in the ecosystem. Second, to gain benefits from the spillovers, actors must be adequately motivated and competent enough or able to leverage their network to exploit the spillage into commercial businesses.

Buyer-Supplier Networks and Innovation: The Role of Shared Technological Knowledge

Supplier networks are an important source technological knowledge spillovers. We analyze the role of shared technological knowledge between buyers and their supplier networks on the former’s innovation performance. Using a panel data of buyer-supplier relationships and the patenting activity of the respective firms, we address the following research questions: What moderating role does shared technology between a buyer and its supplier network play on the relationship between technology diversity of a buyer’s supplier network and buyer’s innovation performance? What moderating role does shared technology between a buyer and its supplier network play on the relationship between geographic proximity of the buyer from its supplier network and buyer’s innovation performance? What moderating role does shared technology between buyer and its supplier network play on the relationship between buyer’s diversification level and its innovation performance? We show that the level of shared technological knowledge, representing complementary or similar knowledge, can be significant in strengthening or weakening the associations between different characteristics of supply chain partners and innovation performance.

Waste recycling patents and environmental innovations: An economic analysis of policy instruments in the USA, Japan and Europe

Since natural resources are finite, new policy instruments to sustain the most efficient processes of waste recycling are required in all countries. To this end, it is critical to explore all technology mechanisms underlying solid waste researchers and practitioners’ behaviors. The study focuses on to demonstrate the importance of knowledge diffusion between the source and destination of environmental innovations. This way, policymakers can elaborate opportune strategies to improve the efficiency of innovation activities. By analyzing a sample of 240 large international firms from the USA, Japan, and Europe, this paper discusses the extent to which innovation inputs, research and development, and relative technological spillovers affect environmental innovation—that is measured by the number of waste recycle and land fertilizers patents. The novelty of the study comes from introducing a knowledge production function approach to analyze the role of technological knowledge spillovers on waste recycling and land fertilizers efficiency at the firm level. The technological relatedness between the firms is computed through technological proximity, based on the construction of technological vectors for each firm. The results reveal a significant positive impact of external spillovers on firms’ environmental innovation levels. This finding is important particularly in terms of policy implications concerning industrial strategies; as in order to improve environmental innovation, incentives that favor industrial relatedness and establishing integration between firms are crucial.

Does real exchange rate undervaluation really promote economic growth?

This article seeks to reassess the empirical literature on real exchange rate misalignment and growth in light of the extensive discussion about the relationship between income distribution and growth in developing economies. We state that the dynamic relationship between changes in the real exchange rate and output growth can be characterized by two conflicting partial effects, as follows: i) undervaluation promotes growth-enhancing changes in the productive structure of the economy by stimulating technological progress and knowledge spillovers, thus affecting positively output growth; ii) undervaluation raises income inequality and hence harms output growth. Though there are a vast number of empirical studies presenting robust evidence of a positive relationship between currency undervaluation and growth for developing economies, none has yet explicitly considered the potentially negative distributional effects of undervaluation on growth. Our empirical model adds to this literature by suggesting that, once both functional income distribution and the level of technological capabilities as relevant features of the structure of the economy are explicitly taken into account, the direct impact of real exchange rate misalignment on growth becomes statistically non-significant for a representative sample of developing countries. Further, based on our results, we state that the real exchange rate only affects growth indirectly through its impacts on functional income distribution and technological innovation. Our estimates have shown that the indirect impact of undervaluation on growth in developing countries is negatively signed. The results are robust to accounting for reverse causality through GMM-system analysis, using lagged observations in difference and level of endogenous variables as instruments.

Frameworks for Data Governance and the Implications for Sustainable Development in the Global South

While the digital transformation opens up new opportunities for convergence of the global south in terms of technological leapfrogging, knowledge spillovers and access to new market platforms, it also throws up some daunting competitive and governance challenges. These include: keeping pace with advanced markets as they embrace new innovation-accelerating technology; dealing with the economic and political governance challenges of the data-driven economy that are only now starting to be addressed in the advanced countries; managing trade relations with the advanced countries; and coping with the looming changes in the division of labour globally between human and machine, and between the north and the south. This note explores these issues and draws provisional conclusions about the prospects for sustainable development in the global south in the brave new world of the digital data-driven economy.

Weak and Strong Cross‐Sectional Dependence: A Panel Data Analysis of International Technology Diffusion

SummaryThis paper provides an econometric examination of technological knowledge spillovers among countries by focusing on the issue of error cross‐sectional dependence, particularly on the different ways—weak and strong—that this dependence may affect model specification and estimation. A preliminary analysis based on estimation of the exponent of cross‐sectional dependence provides a clear result in favor of strong cross‐sectional dependence. This result has relevant implications in terms of econometric modeling and suggests that a factor structure is preferable to a spatial error model. The common correlated effects approach is then used because it remains valid in a variety of situations that are likely to occur, such as the presence of both forms of dependence or the existence of nonstationary factors. According to the estimation results, richer countries benefit more from domestic R&D and geographic spillovers than poorer countries, while smaller countries benefit more from spillovers originating from trade. The results also suggest that when the problem of (possibly many) correlated unobserved factors is addressed the quantity of education no longer has a significant effect. Finally, a comparison of the results with those obtained from a spatial model provides interesting insights into the bias that may arise when we allow only for weak dependence, despite the presence of strong dependence in the data. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Impact of Cultural “Ambiance” on the Spatial Distribution of Creative Professions

Creativity has in recent years received much attention from the research community, in relation to both technological innovation and knowledge spillovers. In the same vein, the concept of a creative class and of a creative city has gained a rising popularity. The present study aims to investigate the impacts of the urban “ambiance” on the spatial dispersion of heterogeneous types of creative people over different urban agglomerations. To that end, creative people are classified according to their profession or job class into Bohemians, creative core, and creative professionals. This article, then, seeks to relate the presence of each of these groups to the cultural ambiance of a given locality beside other moderator variables. Next, an econometric model is constructed and applied to explain the spatial distribution of creative professions in the Netherlands. Our study first maps out the spatial spread of these three creative classes in the Netherlands. Next, the shares of these creative classes are related to cultural, ecological, ethnic, and geographic characteristics of Dutch municipalities. Our results show that Bohemians and people belonging to the creative core exhibit a specific spatial pattern: they appear to be overrepresented in municipalities with a relative overconcentration of culture, nature, and ethnic diversity and with a short distance to job places.

TECHNOLOGICAL SPILLOVERS THROUGH A PATENT CITATION ANALYSIS

The aim of this paper is to analyse the pattern of knowledge flows as evidenced by the patent citations in three economic areas: USA, Japan and Europe. In each economic area, we exploit information from two international patent offices data, the United States Patent and Trademarks Office (USPTO) data and the European Patent Office (EPO) data. In this way, we can investigate the link between the technological proximity and knowledge spillovers for 240 international firms. In particular, the contribution to the existing literature is twofold: First, we use an international sample so that we can compare the empirical results among different economic markets; second, we explore the robustness of results with respect to patent system features. In order to compute the technological proximity, we consider both the symmetrical measure and asymmetrical one. The empirical results indicate that there is a statistically significant correlation between technological proximity and knowledge spillovers measured by patent citations and that these results are robust with respect to patent office data used in the analysis.

기술적 파급효과 도출을 통한 기술융합 분석 연구 : 나노바이오 융합기술 사례를 중심으로

기술지식의 결합을 통해 발현되는 기술융합은 분야 간 경계를 벗어나 혁신적 기술개발을 위한 방향을 제시하는 수단으로 인식되고 있다. 이에 많은 국가들은 미래 경쟁력을 확보하기 위한 목적으로 융복합 R&D 지원을 강화하고 있다. 따라서 융합기술 R&D 전략을 수립하고 방향을 설계할 수 있도록 해당 연구분야에 대한 기술융합 특성과 동향을 분석하는 노력이 필요하게 되었다. 본 연구에서는 대표적 융복합 분야인 나노바이오 융합기술을 대상으로 특허데이터를 활용하여 기술적 파급효과를 도출하고 이를 통해 기술융합을 분석하고자 한다. ARM을 활용하여 직접적 기술지식흐름을 도출하고 DEMATEL을 적용하여 종합적 파급효과를 산출한다. 또한 기술지식흐름 수준에 따라 기술융합의 특징을 규명할 수 있도록 중요도-인과도 맵을 작성하고, 맵의 각 영역에 대한 의미부여를 통해 기술융합 관점에서 R&D 기획 시 고려할 수 있는 전략적 방향을 도출한다. 본 연구는 기술융합의 특성을 정량적으로 분석하며, 국가적 관점에서 융합기술 창출을 위한 R&D의 방향을 체계적으로 설계할 수 있도록 지원한다. 또한 본 연구는 정량적 분석을 기반으로 하기 때문에 추후 기술융합 분석 시스템의 구현을 위한 밑바탕이 될 것이며, 나아가 국가 R&D 기획 및 운영의 효율성을 높이기 위한 수단으로서 활용될 수 있을 것이다.

The public sector and convergence with spatial interdependence: empirical evidence from Spain

ABSTRACTWe propose a framework to analyse convergence between regions, incorporating the public sector and technological knowledge spillovers in the context of a Neoclassical Growth Model. Second, we apply novel estimation methods pertaining to the spatial econometrics literature introducing a spatial Durbin panel data model based on instrumental variables and maximum-likelihood estimation. Our model makes it possible to analyse, in terms of convergence, the results obtained in Spanish regions with the policies implemented during the period 1980–2011. The results support the idea that education and fiscal policies have a positive effect on regional development and cohesion. Therefore, we can conclude that it is possible to obtain better results for regional convergence with higher rates of public investment in education and tax revenues. We also obtain interesting results that confirm the existence of spillover effects in economic growth and public policies, identifying their magnitude and significance.

Clusters, technological knowledge spillovers, and performance

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to explore the cluster effect by decomposing the broad category of “clusters” into cluster size and technological knowledge spillovers. Further, this study questions whether all foreign firms benefit equally from participation in geographic clusters. Specifically, the paper examines the moderating roles of local ownership ties and a local market orientation with respect to the benefits of cluster size and technological knowledge spillover.Design/methodology/approach– Using the Database of Enterprises in China, this study examines a sample of 2,200 Taiwanese manufacturing firms operating in China from 2005 to 2007.Findings– The paper found that increased cluster size and technological knowledge spillovers help to enhance foreign firms’ financial performance. The analysis also shows that local ownership ties and a local market orientation have a positive moderating effect on the relationship between cluster size, technological knowledge spillovers, and performance.Originality/value– This study distinguishes between the effects of cluster size and technological knowledge spillovers, which is an important step toward demystifying the “black box” of cluster benefits. Further, due to the liability of foreignness and the lack of legitimacy that foreign firms face when operating in emerging economies, this study integrates the cluster perspective and the legitimacy perspective to discuss whether foreign firms can actively adopt strategic behaviors that will help to improve their legitimacy and enable them to better capture potential cluster benefits.

Analyzing Causality of Technological Knowledge Spillovers: Patent Analysis Approach

Converging different technologies in different domains generally increases the possibility of creating new market values that cannot be realized by utilizing technologies within a single domain. Therefore, analyzing technological knowledge spillovers between technology classes can lead to identify new opportunities for technologies or products. This study proposes a systematic approach to analyze the causality of knowledge spillovers. It measures the degree of direct influences between classes and derives the extent of indirect knowledge flows from the direct influences. By integrating the direct and indirect influences, it identifies the causality of knowledge spillovers through an impact-causality map of classes. This study is expected to contribute to exploring the effects of comprehensive technological knowledge spillovers and clarifying the characteristics of each technology class in terms of knowledge diffusers or absorbers. Further, it can be a basis for useful tool to establish R&D plans since it provides a direction to create convergent inventions at the level of technology classes based on the quantitative analysis.

Model for development of energy technologies in technology-follower countries

In this study, a comprehensive analytical tool for assessment of energy technologies and R&D resource allocation is developed taking into account the specific conditions of technology follower countries. The analytical instrument includes two interlinked models: technology assessment and optimal R&D resource allocation. Energy technology assessment and prioritization of new energy technologies are provided by a dynamic systems engineering optimization model of energy supply system. Then based on the economic and environmental impacts of technologies, optimal allocation of R&D resources for new technologies is estimated with the help of the R&D resource allocation model. This model is formulated as an optimal control problem and it considers the R&D activities and knowledge stock as the main control and state variables. This model maximizes the total net present value of resulting R&D benefits taking into account the dynamics of technological progress, knowledge and experience spillovers from advanced regions, technology adoption and R&D constraints. In this model, the role of degree of spillover, follower country’s innovation capacity, knowledge complexity and absorption capacity is highlighted in the modeling of knowledge accumulation in follower countries. In this paper the mathematical formulation of the R&D resource allocation model and its linkage with the energy supply model will be described. Thereafter, the application of the interlinked models will be explained through a test case and the applicability of the energy R&D resource allocation model and its contribution to the profession of energy modeling will be concluded.

The Impact of Local Demand on Innovation in a Global Industry

AbstractLocalization of knowledge flows has been extensively examined in the literature on innovation. However, almost all previous research has focused on technological knowledge. This study examines why knowledge of demand can also be tacit and localized. We provide a detailed empirical study of the global pharmaceutical industry and find not only that demand is as important as technological knowledge in determining the pattern of innovation in this industry but also that innovation is a locally determined phenomenon. These findings contribute to research regarding determinants of innovations and provide an explanation for geographic patterns of innovation that is distinct from technological knowledge spillovers. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

DETERMINANTS OF KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION AND THEIR EFFECTS ON REGIONAL ECONOMIC GROWTH

ABSTRACT We provide a Bayesian spatial Markov Chain Monte Carlo model composition (MC3) analysis of growth rates in European regional patenting activity. Based on theoretical models on innovation and growth, we identify a large set of candidate explanatory variables that characterize regional stocks of knowledge, including: human resources devoted to innovative activity, scientific and technical capabilities, public and private investments, government policies, as well as regional industry structure, and indicators of regional technology gaps that reflect distance from the technological frontier. Our analysis shows that accommodating spatial dependence and heterogeneity leads to different conclusions regarding factors important for technological transfer and knowledge spillovers.

Do clusters really matter for innovation practices in Information Technology? Questioning the significance of technological knowledge spillovers

A widespread assumption in economic geography and the economics of innovation is that firms located in clusters benefit from territorial learning and knowledge spillovers. However, it remains unclear to what extent these benefits actually occur. This article aims to address this issue and examines to what extent research and development workers in the Cambridge Information Technology Cluster benefit from being located in the Cluster. The study shows why many do not believe that their work benefits from being located in the Cluster. The results suggest that academics as well as policy makers need to be more careful with the assumption of technological knowledge spillovers in innovative clusters. The significant advantages of the Cambridge IT Cluster seem to be of a different nature; in particular they concern labour market advantages and benefits from the global 'brand' of Cambridge.

Human mobility and international knowledge spillovers: evidence from high‐tech small and medium enterprises in an emerging market

AbstractUsing novel survey data, we examine the relationship between returnee entrepreneurs, multinational enterprise (MNE) work experience of domestic entrepreneurs, and firms' innovation performance in high‐tech SMEs in China. We adopt an integrated framework that combines the knowledge‐based view and social capital theory to investigate whether human mobility across national borders and MNE work experience facilitate international knowledge spillovers. We find that firms founded by returnees are more innovative than their local counterparts. We also find that returnee firms have an indirect impact/spillover effect on non‐returnee firms' innovation performance and act as a new channel for technological knowledge spillovers. The findings show that the presence of a technology gap positively moderates the effect of returnee spillovers on non‐returnee firms' innovation performance, but the impact of MNE work experience on local innovation is constrained by the technology gap. Our results extend the existing literatures on knowledge spillovers and strategic entrepreneurship and have important managerial and policy implications. Copyright © 2010 Strategic Management Society.

Inward FDI and Productivity Performance in Canadian Industries: Does the Country of Origin Matter?

This paper investigates whether the productivity impact of inward FDI in Canada differs by country of origin. Using panel data on Canadian industries, we find that only FDI originating from the U.S. has a significant positive impact on productivity growth in industries in which it operates. This could be the result of higher productivity of U.S.-owned firms, technological knowledge spillovers from the U.S, or a combination of the two effects. A further investigation also shows that foreign investment from the U.S. generates positive productivity spillovers to Canadian-owned firms within industries.

Innovation and Spatial Knowledge Spillovers: Evidence from Brazilian Patent Data

Gonçalves E. and Almeida E. Innovation and spatial knowledge spillovers: evidence from Brazilian patent data, Regional Studies. The aim of this paper is to analyse the determinants of regional innovative capacity, measured by patents per capita, for Brazil. This purpose is achieved by means of a comprehensive empirical model based upon the knowledge production function, which comprises the characteristics of the Brazilian microregions such as their industrial basis, urban environment, scientific and technological infrastructure, and also their neighbourhood's innovative activities. The results show that all these factors have a distinctive role in providing local technological change. The hypothesis concerning the existence of technological knowledge spillovers in Brazil is corroborated by the empirical model, suggesting that the industrial and regional policies should be integrated to tackle Brazilian regional disparity problems. Gonçalves E. et Almeida E. Innovation et retombées de la connaissance spatiale: preuves de données de brevets au Brésil, Regional Studies. Le sujet de cet article est l'analyse des déterminants de la capacité novatrice régionale mesurée par le nombre de brevets par habitant au Brésil On atteint cet objectif en utilisant un modèle empirique complet basé sur la fonction de production de connaissances, qui comprend les caractéristiques des micro régions brésiliennes comme leurs bases industrielles, l'environnement urbain, l'infrastructure scientifique et technologique ainsi que les activités novatrices du voisinage. Les résultats montrent que tous ces facteurs ont un rôle distinct dans les changements technologiques locaux. L'hypothèse concernant l'existence de retombées de la connaissance spatiale au Brésil est corroborée par le modèle empirique suggérant que les politiques industrielles et régionales devraient être intégrées pour s'attaquer aux problèmes des disparités régionales au Brésil. Changement technologique régional Brevets Retombées de la connaissance spatiale Brésil Gonçalves E. und Almeida E. Innovation und räumliche Wissensübertragungen: Belege anhand der Daten von brasilianischen Patenten, Regional Studies. Mit diesem Beitrag sollen die Determinanten der regionalen innovativen Kapazität analysiert und anhand der Patente pro Kopf für Brasilien gemessen werden. Zu diesem Zweck setzen wir ein umfassendes empirisches Modell ein, das auf der Wissensproduktionsfunktion basiert und die Merkmale der brasilianischen Mikroregionen umfasst, wie z. B. ihre Industriebasis, ihre Stadtumgebung, die wissenschaftliche und technologische Infrastruktur und die innovativen Aktivitäten der Nachbarschaft. Aus den Ergebnissen geht hervor, dass sämtliche dieser Faktoren bei der Herbeiführung von lokalen technologischen Änderungen eine charakteristische Rolle spielen. Die Hypothese der Existenz von technologischen Wissensübertragungen in Brasilien deckt sich mit dem empirischen Modell, was nahelegt, dass die Industrie- mit der Regionalpolitik integriert werden sollte, um die Probleme regionaler Disparität in Brasilien zu lösen. Regionale technologische Änderungen Patente Räumliche Wissensübertragungen Brasilien Gonçalves E. y Almeida E. Innovación y desbordamientos de conocimiento espacial: ejemplo de los datos de patentes en Brasil, Regional Studies. La finalidad de este artículo es analizar los determinantes de la capacidad innovadora regional medida en función de las patentes per cápita en Brasil. Este objetivo se logra mediante un modelo empírico global basado en la función de la producción de conocimiento que abarca las características de las micro-regiones de Brasil, tales como su base industrial, el entorno urbano, la infraestructura científica y tecnológica y también sus actividades innovadoras en el área local. Los resultados indican que estos factores tienen una función distintiva a la hora de ofrecer un cambio tecnológico local. La hipótesis con respecto a la existencia de los desbordamientos de conocimiento tecnológico en Brasil se corrobora mediante el modelo empírico, lo que indica que las políticas industriales y regionales deberían estar integradas para poder solucionar los problemas de las desigualdades regionales en Brasil. Cambio tecnológico regional Patentes Desbordamientos de conocimiento espacial Brasil