Young leading innovators and the EU's R&D intensity gap

Europe's innovation gap relative to the USA is often attributed to its industrial structure in which new firms do not play a significant role, especially in high-tech sectors. This view of a structural European Union (EU) innovation deficit is popular in European innovation policy discussions, but has received little or no thorough empirical investigation. This article aims to address this ‘evidence gap’. Using industrial R&D Scoreboard data from leading world innovators, we find that compared to the USA, the EU has fewer young firms among its leading innovators. Using a decomposition analysis, we show that having fewer young firms accounts for about one-third of the EU–US differential in R&D intensity, while 55% of the differential is due to the fact that young leading innovators in the EU are less R&D intensive than their US counterparts. Further analysis shows that this is almost entirely due to a different sectoral composition. We thus confirm that the EU–US private R&D gap is indeed mostly a structural issue.     

R&D Investments,Information and Strategy

This paper argues that firms can best realize the value of their investments in R&D by exploiting the associated information asymmetries. Attention is directed away from the physical results of R&D and towards the firm's ability, more generally, to earn rents from the private information emanating from its R&D. Four strategies may be used to exploit the information asymmetries from R&D: (1) publish the details of the innovation in return for legal protection; (2) keep the information inside the firm; (3) make the information selectively, informally available to others; and (4) disseminate the information as widely and rapidly as possible. To implement these strategies, resources may be allocated both to the commercial development of new technologies, and/or to related market opportunities (investing in other companies, assets and technologies). Of critical importance are the innovator's own skills and resources in effectively gathering, understanding, and commercially exploiting R&D-generated information asymmetries, both internally and in relation to other firms. This study should yield new insights to managers in designing strategies (and counter-strategies) to position themselves not only at the technological edge, but more fundamentally, at the 'information edge'.     

Innovation behaviour of firms in a small open economy: the case of the Czech manufacturing industry

This paper describes the role of R&D and analyse its impact on productivity in the Czech economy in a CDM model. Four CIS waves (2001, 2003, 2006, and 2008) were used in the CDM model. The estimated low innovation input elasticity around 9 % describes the Czechs as poor innovators in the EU. This economy was a developing country until 2006 and we have observed a substantive FDI inflow since 1998. Multinationals have a higher sales share now and are an essential part of the economy. Multinationals engage less in innovation, but innovating MNEs spend more on R&D per employee and appropriate more from their innovated goods. The FDI inflow was a form of innovation wave. Innovation output is an important determinant for boosting productivity among SME’s. Public support had positive effect on innovation intensity; however, no additional effect on innovation output.     

Cooperation in R&D through a network,an ‘organizational gamble’? an empirical analysis of rhône poulenc rorer-gencell

This paper is based on the empirical analysis of innovation challenges to Rhône Poulenc Rorer-Gencell (RPR-Gencell) resulting from development of biotechnology in the pharmaceutical industy. These we identify as an organizational innovation involving the development of a network of partners following and/or inducing a technological innovation. RPR-Gencell represents a ‘style of innovation’ since it is based on various factors specific to the firm and corresponds to a new organizational form, the ‘tight network’ of partners. We argue that this organizational from, in the context of the development of biotechnology in the pharmaceutical industry, can be likened to an ‘organizational gamble’ associated with a ‘technological gamble’ Altogether, this ‘gamble’ dimension means that the network of partners in R&D is still a marginal organizational form. After an introduction we show that the specficities of the pharmaceutical industry especialy since the emergence of biotechnohgy have led to the emergence of a multiplicity of institutional arrangements governing cooperation in R&D. We take as a specific example that of gene therapy. Later on, we present some stylized facts to emphasize the diversity among the network organizational forms. The network of partners is an alternative to the other complex but ‘clarsical’ forms of cooperation (R&D agreements, cross-licensing, joint-ventures, mergers/acquisilions). We propose a new definition of the network based on the case of RPR-Gencell: the ‘tight network’. We distinguish between the ‘tight network’ and all the other approaches, focusing in particular on the ‘loose network’ of cooperative relationship (mostly multifirm alliances implemented with several bilateral contracts). Only two pharmaceutical companies have adopted the ‘tight network’ to govern their cooperation in R&D. We present the network ofpartners as an organizational innovation governing a technological innovation. We argue that this organizational innovation could be likened to an ‘organizational gamble’ in the case of the pharmaceutical industry. Finally, we show that the network raises several organizational issues since it short-circuits traditional strategic operations in the pharamaceutical industry. We argue that among many different reasons, RPR's technological choices (especially the priorig given to gene therapy) have influenced the creation of its network of partners. As a conclusion, we discuss the link between the organizational innovation and the technological innovation focusing on the ‘gamble’ dimension of such an innovation.     

In-house R&D,external R&D and cooperation breadth in Spanish manufacturing firms: is there a synergistic effect on innovation outputs?

ABSTRACT

This study explores the nature of relationship between in-house R&D, external R&D and cooperation breadth and their joint impact on patent counts as well as technological, product and process, innovations in Spanish manufacturing firms. With regards to patent counts, empirical findings from a Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimator suggest a complementarity effect of internal and external R&D activities conditional on the breadth of R&D cooperation. Concerning technological innovation, results from dynamic random-effects probit models indicate no synergistic effects. In addition, we find evidence of persistence of all three innovation output measures. Our results suggest policy implications in relation to strengthening firms’ absorptive capacity that could have long-run effects.     

Canada–US productivity gap: The role of competition intensity differential

The relative lack of competitive pressure in product markets and lower investment in both fundamental and applied innovation are among the potential factors that have been put forward to explain Canada’s weak productivity performance with respect to the US. Since competition is generally seen as the single leading catalyst for fundamental and applied innovation, this paper analyzes the role of product market competition in the Canada–US productivity level gap. We develop an empirical framework in which competition exerts both direct and indirect effects on productivity, with the indirect impact coming through fundamental and applied innovation. We find statistically significant evidence that the competition intensity differential (between Canada and the US) has contributed to the Canada–US productivity level gap directly, as well as indirectly through lower investment in both R&D activities and M&E (including ICT) investment. We also find statistically significant evidence that Canada’s relatively poor performance in both productivity and M&E (including ICT) investment have acted as a self-reinforcing mechanism, which further causes detriment to the country’s productivity.     

Proximity,networking and knowledge production in Europe: What lessons for innovation policy?

This paper aims at investigating the role of different types of proximity on the technological activity of a region within the context of a knowledge production function, where R&D expenditure and human capital are the main internal inputs. We thus assess to what extent the creation of new ideas in a certain region is enhanced by knowledge flows coming from proximate regions. In particular, we examine in detail different kinds of proximity by combining the usual geographical dimension with the institutional, technological, social and organizational proximity. The analysis is implemented for an ample dataset referring to 276 regions in 29 European countries (EU27 plus Norway, Switzerland) over the last decade. Results show that human capital and R&D are clearly essential for innovative activity with the former being much more effective in driving the production of knowledge. As for the proximity and network effects, we find that technological proximity outperforms the geographic one, whilst a limited role is played by social and organizational networks. As a result, the first policy message is that European regions still need to focus on policies aimed at increasing the endowments of well-educated labour force and therefore their knowledge base. Furthermore, we need innovation policies based on each region's specific innovation potential, due to the existing differences in geographical, cognitive, institutional, social and organizational structures and networks.     

Home or next door? Patenting by European food and beverage multinationals

We study the location of the inventive activity of 59 major European food and beverage multinationals and their 8432 subsidiaries worldwide, by analysing the geographical distribution of the inventors listed in the European Patent Office (EPO) applications, US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) patents and triadic, international and Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) patent families of the companies filed between 1978 and the early 2000s. The sampled companies tend to locate their R&D activities in the home country. EU-based companies, more specifically, deploy an intra-regional strategy in EU countries, especially with regard to the inventions most closely related to their core businesses (food), for which, however, they do not display a home-country preference. Inventions related to non-core business tend to be produced in extra-regional locations.     

Evaluating R&D performance of EU countries using categorical DEA

Over the coming decade, Research and Development (R&D) performance will be the key component of bringing innovation and the determinant of global competitiveness of nations. Therefore, this paper presents categorical Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) for evaluating R&D performance of European Union (EU) countries. We utilise the output-oriented constant returns to scale (CRS) and variable returns to scale (VRS) DEA models with categorical data, namely, CAT-O-C and CAT-O-V models. In addition to DEA based framework, to examine the relationship between R&D performance and political-regulatory-economic situation of the countries; three research hypotheses are stated and their results are analysed. Policy implications about R&D activities can be derived for EU countries from the findings of this study.     

Detecting which firm-specific characteristics impact market-oriented R&D

This paper investigates which firm-specific characteristics lead multinational enterprises (MNEs) to increase their R&D expenditure in host countries as a way of expanding their business into local markets (market-oriented R&D). The literature that addresses this topic is quite limited because of the difficulty of separating market-oriented R&D expenditure from knowledge-sourcing R&D expenditure in the data. We argue that determining the relationship between local sales and R&D expenditure is a better way to identify whether MNEs are investing market-oriented R&D than is separating the two types of R&D. For connecting firm-specific characteristics, local-market sales, and R&D expenditure together, we adapt two-stage regressions. By employing data from Taiwanese multinationals from 2003 to 2006, we found that if an MNE moves its technology toward capital-intensive products, it increases its R&D expenditure to promote its sales in the local markets in the host country.     

Is R&D always growth-enhancing? Empirical evidence from the EU countries

This study provides empirical evidence regarding the effects of R&D on economic growth in a panel of 28 European Union (EU) countries over the period 1997–2014. In particular, we investigate whether the impact of business and government R&D stocks on economic growth depends on the country’s distance to the world technology frontier. The main findings are that in the EU (i) there is positive, statistically significant business R&D stock–economic growth nexus in countries that are relatively close to the frontier and (ii) no statistically significant relationship was found to exist between government R&D stock and economic growth. From the policy perspective, the results suggest that designing proper national policies that allow switching from investment-based to innovation-based strategies at appropriate moments may be far more important than a simple call for increase in R&D expenditures and setting common numerical targets for all EU-member states.     

Technology diffusion and global welfare effects: Imitative R&D vs. South-bound FDI

A country in question is positioned in the middle of a global technology race. To shorten its technology gap with the forerunner (North), this middle country must invest in imitative R&D. To exploit cheap labor in the technological laggard (South), it also must invest in South-bound FDI. A dynamic general-equilibrium model of three countries (North, Middle, South) is set up to numerically analyze how the Middle’s refraining South-bound FDI affects international technology diffusion, international wage gaps, and international welfare. The Middle always finds a need to socially optimize investing balance between imitative R&D and South-bound FDI, while the South is instead in favor of as much South-bound FDI as possible. Interestingly, the North may, or may not, align with the Middle’s tightening South-bound FDI, depending on how fast the Northern product innovation can proceed over time. Both transitional dynamics and the steady-state equilibrium are computed.     

Structural and geographical patterns of knowledge networks in emerging technological standards: evidence from the European GNSS industry

The concentration and dispersion of innovative activities in space have been largely explained and evidenced by the nature of knowledge and the geographical extent of knowledge spillovers. One of the empirical challenges is to go beyond this by understanding how the geography of innovation is shaped by particular structural properties of knowledge networks. This paper contributes to this challenge, focusing on the particular case of global navigation satellite systems at the European level. We exploit a database of R&D collaborative projects based on the fifth and sixth European Union Framework Programs, and apply social network analysis in economic geography. We study the properties both of the network of organizations and the network of collaborative projects. We show that the nature of the knowledge involved in relationships influences the geographical and structural organizations of the technological field. The observed coexistence of a relational core/periphery structure with a geographical cluster/pipeline one is discussed in the light of the industrial and geographical dynamics of technological standards.     

Does R&D spending boost tangible investment? An analysis on European firms

This article investigates the relationship between firm’s R&D intensity, expressed as R&D expenditure over sales, and investment intensity in tangible assets. It is commonly acknowledged that R&D requires additional physical investment to be implemented. R&D increases a firm’s productivity and return to tangible investments, thus, providing to the firm incentives to bear high tangible capital costs and to invest more. This represents a crucial issue for a firm’s growth, particularly considering the strong interaction between physical capital accumulation and technological progress. The analysis is based on a large sample of manufacturing firms across seven European countries in the period 2007–2009. Since the sub-sample of firms performing R&D might not be random, there may potentially be an endogeneity issue. The analysis also considers that firms may decide to spend on R&D and investment in physical capital simultaneously. The questions of both endogeneity and simultaneity are dealt with by employing an instrumental variable two-step procedure. We find a positive and significant impact of R&D intensity on firms’ tangible investment intensity. The econometric results highlight the importance of financial factors, particularly with respect to firms’ internal resources. Exposure to international trade has a negative impact on investment, possibly depending on the time-span of the sample used.

Abbreviations: Technological Innovation and R&D; Investment Capital; Industry Studies; Firm Behavior; Empirical Analysis     

Determinants of TFP growth: A close look at industries driving the EU–US TFP gap

This paper explores the determinants of the EU–US TFP growth gap using EU KLEMS. As found in previous analyses, TFP growth appears to be driven by catching-up phenomena associated with the gradual adoption of new technologies. TFP growth is also significantly driven by developments at the “technological frontier”, especially since the mid-1990s. Industries with higher R&D expenditures and higher adoption rates for ICT-intensive technologies appear to exhibit higher TFP growth rates, whilst human capital has mostly a significant effect across countries. Regarding determinants in industries relevant for the different TFP performance of the EU versus the US, ICT-producing industries appear to benefit from R&D in terms of stronger spillovers from TFP gains at the frontier, network utilities are strongly affected by product market regulations, whilst the retail and wholesale trade industry is significantly influenced by consumption dynamics which permit a better exploitation of scale economies.     

The influence of user-supplier relationship on innovation dynamics of Oil & Gas industry

ABSTRACT

This paper analyses the role of user-supplier relationships in the innovation dynamics of the Oil and Gas (O&G) industry, from an analysis supported by R&D and patent application data. This paper points to some recent interesting phenomena in the O&G sector, such as: (i) the remarkable advancement of two Chinese oil companies; (ii) the significant growth in O&G companies’ technological engagement in exploration and production (E&P) from the 2000s; (iii) the non-negligible increase in the application of O&G companies’ patents for renewable energy. Moreover, by working with the oil and gas chain complete, we show that the performance of the companies oil and gas equipment and services industry (O&GES) is restricted to the upstream activities. Finally, we bring up some arguments that have as objective relativise the typology of R&D intensity adopted by OECD.     

A technology opportunities analysis model: applied to dye-sensitised solar cells for China

Technology opportunities analysis (TOA) can support policy-makers or managers in making strategic technical decisions so as to enhance their technological innovation capability and international competitiveness. This paper presents a multi-level framework to support and systematically identify technological opportunities. Patent data as a key component of technology innovation are used to enable TOA within the framework in the present research. At the research and development (R&D) level, we anticipate the directions of technology development based on technology morphology. Countries’ development emphases can also be investigated in order to help identify their R&D strengths and weaknesses and to seek promising development pathways. At the level of competition, we devise the assignee-technology analysis to obtain insight into competitive participants’ technical emphases and intents. It is also used to explore possible collaboration opportunities among them. At the market level, we apply patent family analysis to understand countries’ target markets and to assess prospects for the commercialisation of their technology. We pursue TOA to explore China's opportunities and challenges in dye-sensitised solar cells. The empirical case analysis supports the effectiveness of the TOA model. We believe it can be adapted well to fit other emerging technologies.     

Persistence and economic effects of technological innovations: a dynamic and sequential analysis of Uruguayan manufacturing firms

This paper analyzes the long-term relationship between research and development (R&D), innovations and productivity in 400 Uruguayan manufacturing firms during the period 2001–2009 based on a modified version of the structural model of Crepon, Duguet and Mairesse. The paper also analyzes thoroughly the decision of these firms to engage in R&D activities by using a novel categorical dependent variable, which takes three values: non-performance R&D activities, occasional performance or continuous performance over the period. Furthermore, the study investigates whether these manufacturing ?rms innovate persistently or discontinuously over the period. The results suggest a positive link between the intensity of R&D activities and the generation of product and process innovations. They also indicate that innovation probability is temporally persistent at the ?rm-level only for product innovations. Finally, the empirical findings reveal that these technological innovations have a positive effect on firm’s productivity.     

Open innovation and intellectual property strategy: the catch-up processes of two Chinese pharmaceutical firms

We explore the interaction of open innovation and intellectual property (IP) in two Chinese latecomer pharmaceutical firms in their catch-up process. Studying archival data, documentation, and interviews, we found that the two firms exhibited five periods that were characterised by different open innovation activities and R&D capabilities. In their early stages, the two firms lacked R&D functions; thus, they imported technologies and pursued production-oriented strategies. As they gradually entered into collaborations and established their R&D departments, open innovation and IP protection played important and dynamic roles in this process. Thus, a catch-up process involves not only acquiring technological capabilities and innovative competencies but also transforming a firm's capacity to strategies.     

Foreign and domestic R&D investment

A considerable share of R&D investment is due to multinational firms that simultaneously operate R&D bases at home and abroad. We develop a simple model of foreign and domestic R&D investment and test the model's predictions on a sample of 146 Japanese multinational firms’ R&D investments in Japan and the United States in 1996. The empirical results confirm that the foreign to domestic R&D ratio depends on relative technological opportunities and relative demand conditions, with foreign research expenditures responding to technological opportunity and foreign development expenditures responding to demand.