Innovation in knowledge intensive industries: The nature and geography of knowledge links

Abstract Knowledge has become a key source of competitiveness for advanced regions and nations, indicating a transformation of capitalism towards a “knowledge economy”. Knowledge intensive sectors in production and in services have a lead in this respect, they can be considered as role models for the future. The innovation process, the mechanisms of knowledge exchange and the respective linkages in those industries differ quite markedly from those in other sectors. Clustering and local knowledge spillovers are frequently stated phenomena, although it is still unclear as to what the nature and geography of those knowledge links are. The aim of this paper is to examine the character of the innovation process and the type of interactions in those industries, in order to find out how strongly they are related to regional, national and international innovation systems. We will analyse the sources and the mechanisms of knowledge exchange and their relevance for innovation. The paper develops a typology of innovation interactions and provides empirical evidence for Austria based on data from a recent firm survey.

[1]  A. Chandler,et al.  Regional Advantage: Culture and Competition in Silicon Valley and Route 128 , 1994 .

[2]  Edward Lorenz,et al.  Why all this fuss about codified and tacit knowledge , 2002 .

[3]  A. Jaffe.  Real Effects of Academic Research , 1989 .

[4]  Maryann P. Feldman,et al.  Innovative clusters and the industry life cycle , 1995 .

[5]  Franz Tödtling.  Regional networks of hightechnology firms — the case of the greater Boston region , 1994 .

[6]  Attila Varga,et al.  Local Geographic Spillovers between University Research and High Technology Innovations , 1997 .

[7]  K. Pavitt.  Sectoral Patterns of Technical Change : Towards a Taxonomy and a Theory : Research Policy , 1984 .

[8]  R. Putnam,et al.  Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy. , 1994 .

[9]  Michaela Trippl,et al.  Knowledge links in high-technology industries: markets, networks or milieu? The case of the Vienna biotechnology cluster , 2007 .

[10]  H. Bathelt,et al.  Clusters and knowledge: local buzz, global pipelines and the process of knowledge creation , 2004 .

[11]  Rod Coombs,et al.  Economics and technological change , 1987 .

[12]  Meric S. Gertler,et al.  The Geography of Innovation: Regional Innovation Systems , 2006 .

[13]  Harald Bathelt,et al.  Regional competence and economic recovery: divergent growth paths in Boston's high technology economy , 2001 .

[14]  J. Hoekman,et al.  Towards a European research area , 2007 .

[15]  Helge Godoe.  Innovation regimes, R&D and radical innovations in telecommunications , 2000 .

[16]  W. Dugger.  The Economic Institutions of Capitalism , 1987 .

[17]  Bengt-Åke Lundvall,et al.  The Globalising Learning Economy: Implications for Innovation Policy , 1998 .

[18]  Harvey Molotch,et al.  The Regional World , 1998 .

[19]  G. Hodgson.  Economics and Institutions: A Manifesto for a Modern Institutional Economics , 1991 .

[20]  Philippe Aydalot,et al.  High Technology Industry and Innovative Environments: The European Experience , 1988 .

[21]  Martha Prevezer,et al.  The Dynamics of Industrial Clustering in Biotechnology , 1997 .

[22]  F. Tödtling,et al.  One size fits all?: Towards a differentiated regional innovation policy approach , 2005 .

[23]  Claire Nauwelaers,et al.  Path-Dependency and the Role of Institutions in Cluster Policy Generation , 2001 .

[24]  A. Malmberg,et al.  The Elusive Concept of Localization Economies: Towards a Knowledge-Based Theory of Spatial Clustering , 2002 .

[25]  Michaela Trippl,et al.  Policy agents as catalysts of knowledge links in the biotechnology sector , 2006 .

[26]  Daniele Archibugi,et al.  The policy implications of the globalisation of innovation , 1999 .

[27]  J. Hagedoorn.  Inter-firm R&D partnerships: an overview of major trends and patterns since 1960 , 2002 .

[28]  Björn Asheim,et al.  Industrial districts as ‘learning regions’. A condition for prosperity? , 1996 .

[29]  C. Carrincazeaux.  The Role of Geographical Proximity in the Organization of Industrial R&D , 2002 .

[30]  Walter W. Powell,et al.  Networks of Innovators , 2006 .

[31]  Richard Florida,et al.  The Learning Region , 2002 .

[32]  M. Fritsch,et al.  Innovation, regional knowledge spillovers and R&D cooperation , 2004 .

[33]  Birgit Gehrke,et al.  Innovationspotenziale deutscher Regionen im europäischen Vergleich , 2001 .

[34]  R. Sternberg.  Innovation Networks and Regional Development—Evidence from the European Regional Innovation Survey (ERIS): Theoretical Concepts, Methodological Approach, Empirical Basis and Introduction to the Theme Issue , 2000 .

[35]  Daniele Archibugi,et al.  The Globalizing Learning Economy , 2002 .

[36]  Frederic M. Scherer.  International high-technology competition , 1992 .

[37]  Gerhard W. Fuchs.  Biotechnology in Comparative Perspective , 2003 .

[38]  E. von Hippel,et al.  Sources of Innovation , 2016 .

[39]  Alexander Kaufmann,et al.  Science–industry interaction in the process of innovation: the importance of boundary-crossing between systems , 2001 .

[40]  T. Bresnahan,et al.  ‘Old Economy’ Inputs for ‘New Economy’ Outcomes: Cluster Formation in the New Silicon Valleys , 2001 .

[41]  Meric S. Gertler,et al.  Implementing Advanced Manufacturing Technologies in Mature Industrial Regions: Towards a Social Model of Technology Production , 1993 .

[42]  Erkko Autio,et al.  Evaluation of RTD in regional systems of innovation , 1998 .

[43]  Frank Wilkinson,et al.  High-technology clusters, networking and collective learning in Europe , 2000 .

[44]  Michael Fritsch,et al.  Does R&D-Cooperation Behavior Differ between Regions? , 2003 .

[45]  Kenneth W. Koput,et al.  The Spatial Clustering of Science and Capital: Accounting for Biotech Firm-Venture Capital Relationships , 2002 .

[46]  I. Nonaka,et al.  The Knowledge Creating Company , 2008 .

[47]  Regionale Verankerung von Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologie-Unternehmen , 2001 .

[48]  W. Powell,et al.  Interorganizational Collaboration and the Locus of Innovation: Networks of Learning in Biotechnology. , 1996 .

[49]  Frank Moulaert,et al.  The geography of advanced producer services in Europe , 1995 .

[50]  E. Malecki.  Knowledge Economies: Clusters, Learning, and Cooperative Advantage , 2003 .

[51]  D. Barnett,et al.  The governance of innovation , 2004, The British journal of surgery.

[52]  Rui Baptista,et al.  A comparison of clustering dynamics in the US and UK computer industries , 1999 .

[53]  Loet Leydesdorff,et al.  The Knowledge-Based Economy , 2006 .

[54]  J. Dunning.  Regions, globalization, and the knowledge-based economy , 2002 .

[55]  Roberta Capello,et al.  SME Clustering and factor productivity: A milieu production function model , 1999 .

[56]  David A. Wolfe,et al.  SOCIAL CAPITAL AND CLUSTER DEVELOPMENT IN LEARNING REGIONS , 2001 .

[57]  D. Doloreux,et al.  What we should know about regional systems of innovation , 2002 .

[58]  Frank Moulaert,et al.  The European Geography of Advanced Producer Services Sector in Europe , 1995 .

[59]  R. Putnam.  Making Democracy Work , 1993 .

[60]  Philip Cooke,et al.  The governance of innovation in Europe , 2000 .

[61]  Michaela Trippl,et al.  The Vienna software cluster: Local buzz without global pipelines? , 2007 .

[62]  M. Storper.  The Resurgence of Regional Economies, Ten Years Later , 1995 .

[63]  S. Iammarino,et al.  Innovation Policy in a Global Economy: The policy implications of the globalisation of innovation , 1999 .

[64]  L. Bottazzi,et al.  Innovation and Spillovers in Regions: Evidence from European Patent Data , 2002 .

[65]  Franco Malerba,et al.  Sectoral Systems: How and Why Innovation Differs across Sectors , 2006 .

[66]  Tichy Gunther,et al.  Regionale Kompetenzzyklen – Zur Bedeutung von Produktlebenszyklus- und Clusteransätzen im regionalen Kontext , 2001 .

[67]  Michaela Trippl,et al.  From the ivory tower to the market place? The changing role of knowledge organisations in spurring the development of biotechnology clusters in Austria , 2006 .

[68]  Staffan Laestadius,et al.  Technology Level, Knowledge Formation, and Industrial Competence in Paper Manufacturing , 1998 .

[69]  W. Powell.  Learning from Collaboration: Knowledge and Networks in the Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Industries , 1998 .

[70]  A. Amin,et al.  Architectures of Knowledge: Firms, Capabilities, and Communities , 2004 .

[71]  Bengt-Åke Lundvall,et al.  National Systems of Innovation: towards a theory of innovation and interactive learning London: Pint , 1995 .

[72]  The locational geography of advanced producer services firms in the United Kingdom , 1995 .

[73]  A. Bramanti,et al.  The Dynamics of Innovative Regions , 1996 .

[74]  J. Fagerberg,et al.  The Oxford handbook of innovation , 2006 .

[75]  Michaela Trippl.  Cross-Border Regional Innovation Systems , 2006 .

[76]  P. David,et al.  Economic Fundamentals of the Knowledge Society , 2003 .

[77]  Franz Tödtling,et al.  Effects of the Internet on the spatial structure of innovation networks , 2003, Inf. Econ. Policy.

[78]  C. Debresson,et al.  Networks of innovators:A review and introduction to the issue , 1991 .

[79]  Nick Henry,et al.  Spatialising knowledge: placing the knowledge community of Motor Sport Valley , 2000 .

[80]  Patrick Lehner,et al.  Do Different Types of Innovation Require Specific Kinds of Knowledge Links , 2006 .

[81]  M. Feldman,et al.  Innovation in Cities: Science-Based Diversity, Specialization and Localized Competition , 1999 .

[82]  P. David,et al.  AN INTRODUCTION TO THE ECONOMY OF THE KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY , 2002 .

[83]  Maureen McKelvey,et al.  Does co-location matter for formal knowledge collaboration in the Swedish biotechnology-pharmaceutical sector? , 2003 .

[84]  Michaela Trippl,et al.  Knowledge Spillover Agents and Regional Development , 2010 .

[85]  Innovation und Wissensnetze im Wiener Informations- und Kommunikationtechnologiecluster , 2007 .

[86]  Franz Tödtling,et al.  The changing location of advanced producer services in Austria , 1995 .