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As a research perspective, postcolonial criticism helps overcome the long-standing prevailing Eurocentrism's control over geographical knowledge systems and research theories, thus avoiding neglect of geographical knowledge from non-European areas. The research paradigm of geography of knowledge history which has gradually attracted extensive attention in recent years, is different from the geography of science history based on Eurocentrism. The geography of knowledge history emphasizes the accumulation of non-European geographical knowledge and the importance and academic value of non-European knowledge systems. Experoutination (youli) is the activity in which humans, since ancient times, engage in geographical exploration and experience in distant locations during travels and at destinations, resulting in an amount of diverse records. The experoutination(youli) records are of significant importance for studying the carriers and processes of knowledge spillovers throughout historical periods, providing crucial data sources for research in the history of knowledge geography and postcolonial criticism. Based on processing and coding 32 experoutination (youli) records formed in the South China Sea section of the Maritime Silk Road from the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, this study established a database of experoutination (youli) records. This study finds that the knowledge spillovers, in the South China Sea section of the Maritime Silk Road, caused by experoutination (youli) has three carriers: private individuals, government organizations and trade organizations. The results of content analysis show that geographic knowledge spillovers can be divided into explicit and implicit, which can be further divided into 16 sub types and 63 basic types. The carriers and contents of knowledge spillovers are obviously different during periods. This study proves with historical data and specific cases that the experoutination (youli) records are an important data source for research on knowledge spillovers, which has important theoretical value for the geography of knowledge history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the effects of related and unrelated variety on total factor productivity (TFP) in Poland. Based on dynamic panel data regression results for Polish regions in 2003-2019, we find the positive effect of related variety and the strong negative effect of unrelated variety on TFP. This implies that regions with high related and low unrelated variety optimize TFP. Using the estimated TFP values, we tested for TFP convergence to the technological frontier using convergence tests that take into account significant differences in technological advancement across regions. We reject TFP convergence for all regions, but we find evidence of regional club convergence. The results of the convergence tests obtained for the simulation variants indicate that changes in related and unrelated variety structures may lead to the formation of convergence clubs with the regional technological leader. Furthermore, the changes primarily in related variety structures lead to the convergence of some regions to the regional technological frontier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the New Pattern of Development, knowledge-based entrepreneurial activities have become avital locomotive for high-quality economic growth. The knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship(KSTE)posits that, due to knowledge filters such as organizational inertia, cultural orientation, and resource and capabilities, knowledge-creating organizations as called incumbent organizations are unable to fully commercialize their newly created knowledge. The value embedded in the knowledge is rather realized through venturing behaviors outside the incumbent organizations. As such, this research first overviews the literature related to KSTE by focusing on its two theoretical premises: knowledge filters and knowledge spillovers. Then, this research conducts a comprehensive literature review and organizes this line of inquiry into a framework which includes five parts: levels of analysis, sources and measures of knowledge spillovers, types and measures of knowledge-spillover-based entrepreneurship, factors influencing the process of knowledge-spillover-based entrepreneurship, and outcomes of such entrepreneurial activities. By doing so, this research also uncovers the major limitations of KSTE. Second and more importantly, this research summarizes KSTE studies that were conducted by the research group of digitalization strategy andinnovation at Xi'an Jiaotong University and explicates four theoretical breakthroughs made by this research group:(1)proposes and empirically testes the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship in alliances. It is suggested that partners' knowledge protection can be regarded as an important form of knowledge filters in alliances. As such, this research group extends the theoretical boundary of KSTE and examines the learning paradox in alliances by introducing KSTE from the national level of analysis to organizational and interorganizational levels.(2)This research group proposes and differentiates cultural knowledge filters and capability knowledge filters. Such differences have been investigated in two different countries: the US and India. KSTE has therefore been enriched as different types of knowledge filters have been analyzed.(3)The research group examines how institutional factors such as national institutions, government policy and tax support, government transparency, market competitiveness, and industry technological turbulence can function as boundary conditions for KSTE. In addition, the interaction effects between these institutional factors have also been examined. By doing so, the theoretical boundaries of KSTE have been specified.(4)The research group develops a novel concept of national entrepreneurial values and examines its moderating role in the link between national knowledge creation and employee venturing behaviors. In this case, this research group is able to empirically examine the core theoretical relationships at the national level. Finally, this research develops several promising research directions based on the main limitations of this line of literature. In a nutshell, KSTE posits that knowledge filters are barriers that can block the transformation of organizational knowledge to commercialized knowledge, suggests that entrepreneurship especially employee venturing behaviors is an important mechanism that can penetrate knowledge filters, and argues that entrepreneurship becomes an importantconduit of knowledge spillovers. All these important propositions of KSTE are aligned perfectly with the main ideas of knowledge economy that emphasizes the creation, sharing, and exploitation of knowledge. Therefore, KSTE becomes an important conduit through which to show how knowledge at the national and organizational levels can promote economic growth and enhance social welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since human capital is the factor that creates and disseminates knowledge and develops and produces technology, it is considered as one of the most important factors affecting growth and development today. On the other hand, universities are one of the most important cornerstones of human capital, knowledge creation and diffusion. In the international and national literature, only citations are used to measure university-based knowledge spillovers and other factors are neglected. To fill this gap in the literature, this study proposes an analogy for the measurement of spillovers created by academic staff, taking into account the literature on knowledge and technology spillovers in the industrial sector. Knowledge spillovers are categorized into explicit and implicit knowledge spillovers under university-to-university and private sector spillovers. Explicit knowledge spillovers from the university to other universities include publications, citations, patents, co-authored works, while tacit knowledge spillovers include conferences, graduate and doctoral students, academic mobility and projects. A similar analogy is proposed for knowledge spillovers from universities to industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge spillovers occur when a firm researches a new technology and that technology is adapted or adopted by another firm, resulting in a social value of the technology that is larger than the initially predicted private value. As a result, firms systematically under-invest in research compared with the socially optimal investment strategy. Understanding the level of under-investment, as well as policies to correct it, is an area of active economic research. In this paper, we develop a new model of spillovers, taking inspiration from the available microeconomic data. The model developed is a mean field game model, which allows for heterogeneity in the productivity of a firm and allows for a novel approach to describing sector-level spillovers. The model is constructed from a network of interacting firms, whose connections represent knowledge transfers. We prove existence and uniqueness of solutions to the model, and we conduct some initial simulations to understand how indirect spillovers contribute to the productivity of a sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital development has been crucial in transforming different aspects of the economy. This paper demonstrates that external networks and spillovers could be important sources for firms’ innovation performance in the digital era, which points to the potential benefits of digitalisation for knowledge spillovers and innovation. This paper employs Chinese city-level and firm-level data with 12,487 firm-year observations from 2011 to 2019 to conduct the empirical analysis. The results show that regional digital development facilitates firm innovation, especially collaborative innovation activities among firms. This paper further shows that firms with lower supplier concentration benefit more from digital development in terms of innovation. In terms of heterogeneity, technology-intensive and relatively small firms benefit from digital development. This paper contributes to the literature by filling the gap about the mechanisms of digital development on firm innovation and by examining the role of suppliers in firm innovation in the digital era. To foster advances in innovation, this paper provides relevant theoretical and practical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inward Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) can generate important knowledge spillovers on local economies, fostering regional innovation, especially in developing countries. In this paper, we analyze how regional industrial structure shapes the effects of inward FDI spillovers on the innovative performance of Brazilian regions. Prior literature has analyzed the effects of FDI spillovers on the productivity of host countries' firms, while less attention has been given to the corresponding effects on regional innovation. Thus, we use data on the investments of Multinational Companies in Brazilian regions for 2003-2014 and relate these data to the innovative performance measured by patents. Our results show that inward FDI positively influences innovation at the regional level since Brazilian regions that receive inward FDI present stronger innovative performance. In addition, the positive effects of inward FDI on local innovation are reinforced by the diversity of the regional industrial structure. Diversified regions that receive inward FDI are therefore better able to leverage the benefits of inward FDI spillovers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article sets out to investigate the relationship between the knowledge spillovers and the potential for high-value inventions to emerge. We study knowledge spillovers through the lens of knowledge networks: a web of interrelated knowledge elements with structural patterns. Knowledge spillovers influence the productivity of a technology sector and hence their pattern should impact the pathways for knowledge appropriation in the sector. It is hypothesized that a robust knowledge network is associated with knowledge appropriation leading to valuable inventions. We test the hypothesis using patent citation network of 1821 patents from 78 inventions belonging to two different technological sectors. Based upon the findings, we suggest network robustness as a new metric for determining the technical value of inventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both the managerial literature and policymakers have recently emphasized the potential role of university spin-offs (USOs) as drivers of regional development. Specifically, USOs may support regional development by exploiting the scientific knowledge developed by their parent universities into industrial innovations, thus spreading knowledge spillovers that can be in turn exploited by other local firms. In this paper, we analyse how the use of these spillovers at the regional level may depend on the USOs' capabilities to implement scientific knowledge into their innovation development as well as to align this knowledge to the needs of local organizations. We discuss how these capabilities may be more easily developed by USOs of generalist universities that focus their scientific effort on a broader range of scientific domains and tend to establish stronger relationships with local firms. To test our hypotheses, we analyse data on the patents filed by a large sample of German and Italian USOs. Our results confirm that both a larger use of scientific knowledge and a higher generality of the parent university increase the regional impact of the USOs' inventions. These findings may shed further light on the actual contribution of USOs to the regional development, by providing a better understanding of their role in the transfer of scientific knowledge from the parent universities to the other actors operating in the regional environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main goal of this paper is to empirically examine the effects of related and unrelated variety on per employee income in Polish NUTS 2 regions, and the resulting income inequality. The study is based on regional panel data for the 2003–2018 period using the GMM estimator system. The positive effect of related variety on per employee income and the negative effect of unrelated variety on per employee income are reported. Our simulation results show that regional income inequality could be reduced by promoting related variety in eastern regions of the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main sources of technological development are from abroad rather than domestic in many countries. The global networks for knowledge and technology flows are becoming sophisticated. This article examines how a country's embeddedness in the global knowledge spillover networks, particularly trade and FDI, is related to national innovation performance. Network closure and structural hole, the main arguments in network theory literature, represent the main objectives of our network analysis. The results are subsequently used to assess how these network characteristics are related to national innovation performance via panel negative binomial regression analysis. The findings show an overall tendency of a negative effect of network closure and a positive one of structural holes on a country's innovative outcome. In conclusion, this article not only highlights the significant role of network characteristics in national innovation performance, but also provides implications on how to leverage such network resources to improve national innovation systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship (KSTE) explores the effects that new knowledge and proximity have on the exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities and the resultant creation of start-ups. This paper aims to identify the types of knowledge spillovers that affect entrepreneurs in the early stages of start-up development. A conceptual model is proposed, using a multi-case study approach involving high-tech start-ups that have attended accelerator and incubator programs in Greater London, United Kingdom. The research involved 32 semistructured interviews with chief executive officers and cofounders of start-up companies. Our findings suggest that entrepreneurs are influenced by various forms of knowledge spillover which assist in determining the strategic decision of the company, in terms of formation, including partnerships or alliances, allocation of Research and Development budgets, and engagement in product innovation. Further observations confirm that high-tech start-ups focus on a fast pace of constant product innovation to cover identified gaps in the market. One significant finding is that start-ups use various technological platforms to access knowledge spillovers which challenge the ideas of geographical proximity present in existing KSTE understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a novel approach to capture 'buzz', the vibrancy and knowledge exchange propensity of localised informal communication flows. Building on a conceptual framework based on relational economic geography, we argue the content of buzz may allow to probe into the character of places and investigate what is 'in the air' within regional entrepreneurial milieux. In particular, we analyse big data to listen for the presence of buzz about innovation – defined by discursive practices that reflect an innovative atmosphere – and explore how this may influence regional firm creation. Using information from 180 million geolocated Tweets comprising almost two billion words across NUTS3 regions in the UK for the year 2014, our results offer novel evidence, robust to different model specifications, that regions characterised by a relatively higher intensity of discussion and vibrancy around topics related to innovation may provide a more effective set of informal resources for sharing and recombination of ideas, defining regional capabilities to support and facilitate entrepreneurial processes. The findings contribute to the literature on the intangible dimensions in the geography of innovation and offer new insights on the potential of natural language processing for economic geography research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the determinants of knowledge flows, proxied by patent citations, within 31 Chinese administrative provinces. Relying on patent data from the US Patent and Trademark Office during the period 1995-2019, we are able to identify 27118 patent citation pairs (focusing only on USPTO patents with first inventors residing in China). In order to explain the number of citations from a Province to another, in addition to geographic and technological proximity, we use factor analysis in order to capture the effect of regional research structure. In particular, we measure the private versus public research intensity of each Chinese administrative province. Our econometric results show that, as expected, geographical and technological distance between Provinces are negatively correlated with patent citations. In addition, we find that Chinese administrative provinces that show bigger intensity with regard to public and to private research both receive more patent citations and cite more other patents in other Provinces. This effect is particularly significant when the two regions are specialized in private research, which indicates a strong effect of cognitive proximity. Finally, and at odds with prior research, we find that controlling for social proximity between Provinces does not impact the effect of geographical and technological proximity. These results, if confirmed by further studies, might have significant policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The benefits of related variety on regional employment growth have become a prevailing view. However, these remain potential benefits unless channels (e.g. labour flows, inter-firm cooperation) and regional capabilities are in place to convert them into actual growth. This paper focuses on the labour mobility channel and proposes a way to measure the realized part of related variety. It demonstrates that in Sweden, core regions make ten times more use of their related variety potential via labour mobility than small, peripheral regions. Moreover, even in core and large regions only a handful of potential ties are realized. Most firms in small regions must rely on other channels to convert related variety potential into growth. Furthermore, while local labour flows between related industries are associated with higher employment growth, no evidence is found that, on average, other channels bring growth benefits in small regions. Thus, the paper argues that the role of market-mediated knowledge flow channels like labour mobility is underestimated compared to pure spillovers via unintended interactions. Consequently, it is important to go beyond assuming that the benefits of related variety are 'in the air' or in local 'buzz' and focus on specific channels at work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• In the short-run more openness is conducive to TFP gains. • There is no permanent effects of trade on TFP. • More openness may impede TFP gains despite domestic technological efforts in low-income countries. • Openness leads TFP growth for high-income countries. The present study examines a database of 58 countries for a period of 45 years to assess whether trade openness can operate as a technology transfer channel. The examination has a twofold purpose: determining the impact of openness on total factor productivity and verifying whether this relationship holds for low-income and emerging countries. Employing the generalized method of moments for a data-panel model (System GMM), the analysis focuses on domestic and foreign knowledge capital stocks and level and variation of openness, among other variables. The results indicate that the level of trade openness does not affect productivity growth, though its variation rate has temporary positive effects on total factor productivity. However, for high- and middle-income countries, the openness level affects productivity positively. In the case of low-income and emerging countries, however, openness affects productivity growth negatively even when the degree of openness interacts with domestic knowledge stock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the influence of related variety (RV) and unrelated variety (UV) on the basic variables of the labour market, i.e.: employment growth rates, increase in unemployment rates and real gross wages in the regional approach in Poland. The basic difference between the presented and the current research in this area is that the RV and the UV are introduced into the estimation taking into account the basic determinants of the analysed labour market variables resulting from simple economic models. Moreover, an attempt was made to determine the impact of the RV and the UV on real gross wages, which was not covered in the literature. The research was based on panel data for 16 Polish voivodships (NUTS2) and in the group of regions of Western Poland in the years 2004–2017 using SYS-GMM estimator of Dynamic Panel Data Model. In this paper, a significant positive impact of the RV on the rate of employment growth and wages was found, as well as a negative correlation between the RV and the increase in unemployment rates. On the other hand, the UV positively determined the increase in unemployment rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how team learning is enhanced through facilitated knowledge sharing, leading to knowledge teams that are capable of identifying knowledge gaps and crossing knowledge boundaries. Based on a qualitative study, vignettes are used to illustrate the dynamics of team learning in different situational contexts, facilitating the way knowledge plays out at the intersection of knowledge boundaries. The study examines how team members integrate or downplay knowledge resources based on the trajectory of participation and learning. Such trajectory helps determine the extent to which knowledge spillovers create wider networks of learning, leading to different forms of organizational learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the role of the regional context with regard to the influence of human capital and knowledge spillovers on SMEs' financial soundness. Our empirical setting is based on a multilevel analysis of panel data, which allows superior treatment of hierarchical data. The analysis is applied to SMEs belonging to the manufacturing sector and operating in four European countries over the period 2010–2015. We find that a combination of individual and regional‐level characteristics explains firm soundness better than individual features alone. Furthermore, we find that a high local educational level and knowledge spillovers improve firm soundness and that their effects vary according to the regional level of knowledge. These results are confirmed by several robustness tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: What is the effect of an increase of migration inflows on the R&D and innovative performance of developing countries? The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of migration inflows on the R&D and innovation activity (measured as expenditures on R&D and technological innovations) in Russian regions. Design/methodology/approach: To this end, the authors use data on 85 Russian regions for the period 2010-2016 through a multi-region economic geography model. In particular, the authors test the hypothesis about the importance of migration inflows on R&D and technological innovation activity (H1) and the hypothesis about the importance of immigrants' (incoming migrants) human capital (measured by the education level of incoming migrants) on R&D and innovation activity (H2). Findings: Empirical findings support the evidence in favour of a positive causal link between innovation and migration inflows. Results of our investigation are important because they suggest useful insights for formulating science and innovation policies in Russia, which is a developing country where the recent policies favouring the technological innovation as the transition period have not yet achieved a satisfying outcome. Originality/value: This paper increases the knowledge in the field with respect to the existing literature, shedding further light on the migration inflows effects, which is a political topic to manage very relevant in all countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: Total factor productivity (TFP) determines how efficiently and intensely the available inputs are used and combined in production process. Improvement of TFP performance requires identification of its determinants, thus enabling policy actions to focus on them. Since the ability to create and absorb innovation is considered as a crucial factor of economic development, the investigation of the impact of the level of regional innovative performance on TFP distribution across EU regions is an important research problem. Purpose of the article: The aim of the paper is twofold. Firstly, we attempt to develop a theoretical framework for the analysis of the impact of innovation on TFP. Secondly, we assess TFP levels for regions in the EU and investigate whether innovations account for the observed regional disparities in TFP. Methods: The research sample consists of 202 European Union (EU) regions at NUTS 1 and NUTS 2 level from 22 countries. The regional data on GDP, employment and gross fixed capital formation come from the Eurostat. The source of data on the level of innovativeness of European regions is the Regional Innovation Scoreboard. To calculate TFP, we use the multiplicativelycomplete Färe-Primont index. In turn, to examine the impact of innovation on TFP, we employ the spatially-lagged X model. Findings & Value added: Our findings show a high degree of dispersion in TFP across EU regions. We find a positive impact of regional innovation performance on TFP. Although theoretical papers on economic development and regional economics suggest that improvements in TFP are key to regional economic performance, and that innovations are crucial to gain such productivity effects, there is a dearth of empirical studies on the link between innovation and TFP at the regional level. Therefore, our paper attempts to fill this gap by providing the evidence of positive effect of innovation externalities on TFP in European regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We test whether there is a link between the performance of universities, measured through a concept of efficiency, and the economic development of the regions in which they operate. Indicators of teaching, research, and third mission are considered as outputs. To handle endogeneity problems between the efficiency of universities and economic development, a system generalized method of moments and then an instrumental variable approach are used. Our findings reveal that the presence of efficient universities fosters local economic development. Knowledge spillovers occur to areas that are in close geographical proximity to efficient universities. Results are robust to different estimation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• I examine the distributional dynamics of establishment total factor productivity growth within India's manufacturing sector from 2001–2015. • I estimate separate rates of conditional convergence to the foreign and domestically owned components of the within industry productivity frontier. • I find positive overall convergence, but convergence to the foreign owned component of the within industry frontier is substantially dampened. • These findings imply significant differences in the nature of technology transfer from highly productive domestic and foreign firms. Inward foreign direct investment (FDI) has the potential to be an important conduit for technology transfer to developing countries. However, a large body of empirical research has found that the realized benefit to domestic productivity is minimal. This apparent absence of productivity spillovers from FDI is particularly surprising in light of recent evidence that firms in developing countries exhibit positive productivity convergence, or catch-up, to their industry's productivity frontier. In this paper, I use establishment level panel data from 21 distinct industries within India's manufacturing sector from 2001–2015 to provide new evidence on this issue. I analyze establishment total factor productivity conditional convergence and examine if the presence of foreign owned establishments within each industry's productivity frontier impacts this relationship. While I find statistically and quantitatively significant conditional convergence to the overall frontier, I show that convergence to the foreign owned component of the frontier is markedly slower. I corroborate this finding by exploring the impact of foreign ownership in the frontier on the dynamics of the within industry productivity distribution. This robust result suggests differences in the nature of technology transfer from highly productive domestic and foreign firms. I argue that my general econometric approach helps to reconcile the previously disconnected findings of negligible spillovers from FDI in developing countries with evidence of positive productivity convergence and the substantial presence of foreign firms in the productivity frontier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Estimate the effects of industrial localization on the spatial persistence of employment. • Software publishing industry is an ideal setting to study knowledge spillovers and labor pooling. • Employment at the facility level exhibits very small persistence. • Employment within the locations of these facilities situated are very persistent. • The evidence is more consistent with labor pooling than with spillovers as the source of agglomeration. We estimate the effects of industrial localization on the spatial persistence of employment in the software industry, using establishment data from Texas for the 2000–2006 period. Locations with an initial concentration of software employment retain an excess number of employees, beyond that expected from job turnover and job persistence at the establishment level. This is not driven by differential establishment growth or survival, but it is due to (a) the retention by establishments in a location of jobs lost by other establishments in that location, and (b) the propensity of software establishments to enter in locations with prior software establishment presence. These findings are more consistent with labor channel effects than with disembodied knowledge spillovers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban agglomeration is an important correlate to regional innovation. Large population centers pool knowledge workers and facilitate spillovers essential to innovative activity. And large populations provide more cost-effective locations for non-labor inputs to innovation, including local infrastructure that may facilitate innovative activity. However, university locations may also agglomerate these innovative inputs, even absent the agglomerative effects of large populations. Regional policymakers may find it useful to differentiate between various correlates to innovation. This paper exploits the collinearity of universities and population with regional human capital to apportion the relationship between these regional correlates of innovation into human-capital related and non-human-capital related channels. We identify a correlation between universities and regional innovation that reects a relationship between innovation and regional human capital correlated with university presence. None of this relationship can be apportioned to factors correlated with university presence and uncorrelated with local human capital. A key methodological contribution of this paper is the analytical framework, which can be extended to a larger number of aggregate factors and causal channels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article deals with the issue of knowledge spillovers in the European regions. For this purpose, a standard Knowledge Production Function (KPF) approach was extended by the application of spatial econometrics methods. Our analysis started from the construction of the alternative structures of the spatial weight matrices. These matrices were based on technological and institutional proximities, which represent compelling alternatives to geographic proximity regarded as a kind of all-encompassing connectivity measure. The next step in our analysis was the modeling of regional knowledge generation processes. We treated R&D expenditures and human resources in science and technology as the input measures and patent applications to the European Patent Offce as the output measure in our basic and extended models. The results show that the scope and direction of knowledge spillovers are sensitive to the type of knowledge (tacit vs. codified) and proximity dimension engaged. These findings contribute to the current debate in the geography of innovation and economics of knowledge literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is devoted to the study of the influence of social capital on the ability of countries to produce innovations. The analysis of the achievements of economic science in the field of studying social capital and innovation revealed the ambiguity of views on the relationship between these categories, as well as wide discussions about the influence of the stock of social capital on the nature of economic growth. The authors associated the existing difficulties of the research process with insufficient attention of scientists to different levels and forms of manifestation of social capital, which have different potential in promoting innovation. On the basis of the methodological approach, in which individualistic and holistic ideas about economic activity are combined in the framework of institutional theory, the decomposition of public social capital into its individual and organizational levels and corresponding functional forms is carried out. On this basis, the nature of their interaction and role in the innovation process is shown. In order to quantify social capital in view of its ability to promote innovation, an integral indicator "Index of Innovative Social Capital" was constructed as a combination of three key components: close cooperation between the university and R&D, Information & communication technologies, and social capital itself. In a sample of 26 countries of different levels of development, a strong two-way direct relationship with an average degree of significance was found between the "Index of Innovative Social Capital" and GDP per capita. The presence of such dependence serves as another explanation for the unevenness of innovative development in the world, and therefore, opens up guidelines for poor countries to increase their innovative potential in view of social and institutional factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research examines the effect of knowledge spillovers on new firm formation across Greek regions in manufacturing over the period 2002–2010. The econometric analysis results reveal that knowledge spillovers, as proxied by innovation and high-tech labor measures, positively affect regional new firm formation rates. Intra-sectoral spillovers, as captured by geographic sectoral specialization and industrial intensity, also positively affect regional new firm formation. In contrast, inter-sectoral spillovers, as proxied by regional industrial diversity, reduce new firm formation across regions. The examination of other control variables suggests that GDP growth and small firms stimulate regional new firm formation, whereas sunk costs and unemployment have a discouraging effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Russia presents an interesting case of a country which has strived to implement innovation policies since the transition period but so far has achieved mixed results. This study aims to analyze the impact of knowledge production and knowledge spillovers on regional growth in Russia within a framework of endogenous growth models. Applying GMM and spatial error panel modeling techniques to Rosstat data for 80 Russian regions from 2005 to 2013, the authors test the hypothesis about the relevance of R&D and expenditure on technological innovations (H1) and the hypothesis about the relevance of knowledge spillovers (H2) on the growth rates of GRP per capita. Hypothesis 1 was confirmed while Hypothesis 2 was rejected, indicating the absorptive capacities of innovatively lagging regions were not high enough for effective adaptation of new technologies from technologically innovative regions. Inclusion of indicators related to additional channels of knowledge diffusion in regressions resulted in the relevance of FDI and imports of goods and services for regional growth. Results of the study could form the basis for developing innovation policies for the Russian regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge externalities affect high and low growth firms differently. This paper develops two theoretical arguments. The knowledge equilibrium argument postulates that knowledge externalities weaken high growth firms for the benefit of low growth firms until performance differences vanish. The knowledge competition argument proposes that high growth firms are better positioned to identify, attract, and integrate knowledge, thereby expanding the performance gap between high and low growth firms. Based on 188,936 observations of 32,736 Swedish firms from 2004 to 2011, it is analysed whether knowledge externalities enable high growth firms to surge ahead or low growth firms to catch up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

University Spin-Offs (USOs) are actively involved in the knowledge spillover process and fully integrated in the regional innovation systems. Drawing on the Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship and using a multilevel approach of analysis, we explore whether the region's knowledge spillover and the firm's absorptive capacity jointly determine the innovative performance of USOs. At regional level, technological spillovers, production spillovers, and human capital spillovers have been considered. The results from a cross-national panel sample of 401 and 711 Spanish and Italian USOs, over the period 2005–13 and located in twenty-two administrative regions, show that only the production spillovers have a significant positive effect on the USO's innovative activity. Firm-specific characteristics are important for explaining USOs' innovation. More specifically, firm age has a negative effect, while firm size seems to have a positive effect. Additionally, USOs active in high-tech sectors seem to perform better in their innovation activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The commons problem is even more severe than standard economic analysis suggests due to accumulated and new technology accompanied by spillovers of nonrival knowledge, creating a second market failure. The resulting endogenous dynamic increasing returns to scale external to producers that create endogenous growth of production lead to ongoing and accelerating rates of natural capital depletion. Optimum and open-access steady-state equilibriums indicated by canonical models may not exist, and corresponding resource stocks vary considerably from conventional wisdom. Market-based solutions alone for the commons problem are insufficient to achieve optimal economic welfare, and require a complementary technology policy for the second market failure and dynamic increasing returns to scale arising from nonrival ideas and knowledge spillovers and social learning. An empirical example illustrates the impact of technological change and accompanying knowledge spillovers and social learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Empirical results on the link between growth and diversity in (un)related industries proved to be highly dependent on the specific regional, temporal and econometric context. Using highly disaggregated employment data at the sub‐regional level, we find that higher employment growth in Austria is mainly linked to unrelated variety. However, in‐depth analyses by sectors and regional regimes illustrate substantial heterogeneity in the results, with services and a large number of relatively small non‐urban regions driving the overall results. Thus, our findings argue against structural policy conclusions based on assessments neglecting the specific sectoral and regional context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the mid-1990s German technology policy has experienced a paradigmatic shift from standard grant schemes towards a region-oriented and competition-based R&D policy. Currently, a new policy experiment, the InterClust contest, is under way, trying to simultaneously foster place-based innovation, R&D internationalization and the internationalization of innovative places. The current paper analyses the new policy, relating it to the recent literatures on heterogeneous firms and on cluster-life cycles, and presents results from a firm survey performed in 21 winner regions of InterClust. Findings show that the new funding scheme takes insights from recent theoretical developments into account and addresses important impediments to firm and cluster internationalization. Although it is too early for an overall assessment, it is argued that the long-term impact will critically depend on the inflow of heterogeneous knowledge and the strength of intra-regional mobilization effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper analyses the role of the employers' education on the spread of temporary contracts. Taking advantage of a unique firm‐level dataset, we test whether the share of fixed term workforce in a firm is affected by the employer's level of education. Furthermore, we test whether knowledge spillovers arising from the agglomeration of university graduate employers affect the incidence of temporary employment in the firms located in the area. In both cases we find a negative effect. Interestingly, only small firms are influenced by the spillovers. The possible problems of endogeneity of the agglomeration variable are coped with an IV approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the full range of effects of knowledge properties and explains how knowledge properties such as transient appropriability, non-exhaustibility, and indivisibility do not only have negative effects, but also positive ones. Knowledge externalities help reduce the cost of knowledge and imitation externalities reduce the revenue and profitability of innovations. Their effects need to be considered jointly in a single analytical framework. An analysis of their combined effects questions the scope of application of the 'Arrovian postulate' according to which the limited appropriability of knowledge due to its uncontrolled dissemination reduces invention. This ignores spillovers of outside knowledge, which increases invention. These are the two opposing faces of the limited appropriability of knowledge. Policy implications suggest that along with public interventions designed to support the supply of knowledge and to compensate for missing incentives, much attention should be paid to all interventions that favour the dissemination of knowledge and the knowledge connectivity of the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper proposes an agent‐based model (ABM) that combines ethnographic and economic methods to analyse how the social interaction between creative actors generates new creative knowledge. The chosen case of study is Puerto Vallarta, a sun and beach international destination in Mexico. Puerto Vallarta contains, potentially, many of the key elements that are discussed in the literature on creative economy. Our methodological strategy identifies ethnographically types of knowledge that are associated with a standard typology of creative industries in a city. The model is evaluated by simulations of agents engaged in producing ideas based on these types of knowledge either collectively or individually. Among the main findings are the presence of ‘elevated common knowledge’ between creative agents (which can be an important constraint for rising creativity) and that mixed behaviour of knowledge production (collective and individual) can boost better the production of ideas in Puerto Vallarta. Finally, we claim that the proposed methodology can be extended to and implemented in other similar contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the effects of intra- and inter-regional knowledge spillovers on innovative activities in German states using the augmented Griliches-Jaffe knowledge production function. The "Harris market potential" type index is calculated to proxy for inter-regional knowledge transfers of two types: industrial knowledge transfers generated from the business enterprise sector and academic spillovers generated from universities across all German states. The model also includes the concentration of high-tech enterprises, in order to capture the agglomeration effect in the local economy. The estimation results reveal that not only do local private and university research efforts have a positive and significant effect on local innovative activities, but there are also important interregional knowledge spillovers across the German regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we test whether economic growth depends on human capital development mainly operating through an upgrading of human capital stock in the area where the universities are located. We specify a growth model where a qualitative measure of human capital development, university efficiency, is considered in conjunction with a customary quantitative measure of human capital development, number of graduates. The model is estimated on panel data over the period 2003 to 2011. The evidence suggests that both indicators of human capital development have a positive and significant impact on gross domestic product per capita. Results also show that knowledge spillovers occur between areas through the geographical proximity to the efficient universities, suggesting that the geography of production is affected. Results hold when robustness checks are performed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing body of literature mentioning the slow progress of energy technological innovation as compared to information technology (IT), but the reasons why the energy sector is perplexed by slow innovation remain unexplained. Based on a variety-expanding endogenous technological change model, this paper investigates the economic mechanism that underlines the slow pace of energy technological progress. We show that in the market equilibrium the growth rate of energy technology variety is always lower than that of IT variety, this outcome stems from both the market fundamentals where the homogeneity of end-use energy goods is less likely to harness the pecuniary externality embedded in the love-for-variety household, and the technology fundamentals where capital-intensiveness of energy technology assets inhibits the non-pecuniary technological externality associated with knowledge spillovers. We further show that the social planner allocation can raise the rate of technological progress in both energy and IT sectors, but still fails to achieve an outcome in which technological progress in the energy sector can catch up with the IT sector. Finally, using efficiency-improving revenue-neutral policy interventions that subsidize energy sectors and tax IT sectors, the decentralized market equilibrium can achieve an outcome in which both energy and IT sectors have the same rate of technological progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of new industries demands access to local capabilities. Little attention has yet been paid to the role of spillovers from neighbour regions for industrial diversification, nor has the role of network linkages between neighbour regions been investigated. As the spread of capabilities has a strong geographical bias, we expect regions to develop new industries in which their neighbour regions are specialized. To test this hypothesis, we analyse the development of new industries in US states during the period 2000-2012. We show that a US state has a higher probability of developing a comparative advantage in a new industry if a neighbour state is specialized in that industry. We also show that neighbour US states have more similar export structures. This export similarity seems to be explained by higher social connectivity between neighbour states, as embodied in their bilateral migration patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the importance of boundary spanning in blended and online learning is widely acknowledged, most educational research has ignored whether and how students learn from others outside their assigned group. One potential approach for understanding cross-boundary knowledge sharing is Social Network Analysis (SNA). In this article, we apply four network metrics to unpack how students developed intra- and inter-group learning links, using two exemplary blended case studies in Spain and the UK. Our results indicate that SNA based upon questionnaires can provide researchers some useful indicators for a more fine-grained analysis how students develop these inter- and intra-group learning links, and which cross-boundary links are particularly important for learning performance. The mixed findings between the two case-studies suggest the relevance of pre-existing conditions and learning design. SNA metrics can provide useful information for qualitative follow-up methods, and future interventions using learning analytics approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper proposes a novel index of regional skill-relatedness and calculates this measure for all Norwegian labour-market regions. Studies of regional related diversification rely on measures of related variety, which build on the industry classification hierarchy. However, the growing literature identifying similarities in knowledge and competences across industries demonstrates that these classifications fail to identify a great deal of actual skill relatedness, and that measures based on empirical measures of industry relatedness are required. The skill relatedness measure builds on labour mobility flows across industries to develop a relatedness matrix for Norwegian industries. It further uses social network analysis to identify the number of other regional industries to which each industry in a particular region is related. Comparing this measure to the related variety index, the analysis shows that the two measures are highly correlated, but that the regional skill relatedness index is able to identify more of the relatedness across industries. In particular, the related variety index tends to underestimate the level of relatedness in many of Norway’s most technologically sophisticated manufacturing regions, whereas these rank highly in the regional skill relatedness index. Consequently, the regional skill relatedness index represents a promising new tool for identifying relatedness in regional systems. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We investigate econometrically whether cultural diversity at the workplace boosts innovation. Our longitudinal linked employer-employee data combines two innovation surveys, with Dutch administrative, tax and regional data. We analyse the determinants of a firm's product and process innovations with respect to the firm's internal resources, employee composition and regional agglomeration externalities. We reconfirm the findings of several other recent studies showing a positive partial correlation between innovation and cultural diversity in pooled cross-sectional data; in some cases even when accounting for reverse causation. However, no statistically significant traces of benefit for innovation from cultural diversity remain after introducing firm fixed effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the role of academic and private R&D spending in the frame of a knowledge production function estimated across 3,109 US counties. We distinguish the role of local, face-to-face, knowledge spillovers that are determined by geographical proximity from distant spillovers captured by a matrix of patent creation-citation flows. The advantage of the latter matrix is its capacity to capture the direction of the spillovers. We control for the spatial heterogeneity between metropolitan and nonmetropolitan counties as well as between states. Our empirical results show that spillovers due to private knowledge contribute to higher returns in metropolitan counties than in nonmetropolitan regions. On the other hand, knowledge created in the academia leads to spillovers displaying spatially homogeneous returns. Our results imply that future innovation policies need to grasp more fully the role of distant knowledge spillovers, especially those generated in the academia, and recognize better the presence of heterogeneity in the sources and location of knowledge creation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study studies heterogeneous spillover of knowledge in a local spillover setting. We discuss how different levels of knowledge spillover affect economic geography. With the hypothesis of heterogeneous spillover of knowledge, the spillover effect still acts as a dispersion force. The structure of long-run equilibrium mostly depends on the extreme value of the knowledge spillover level among innovation branches. In the long-run equilibrium, innovation branches with a low level of knowledge spillover need more knowledge capital to avoid elimination. If the knowledge capital structures of the core area and periphery area are similar, the spillover effect will occupy the leading status. Periphery regions can break the catastrophic agglomeration through differential development. • This study studies heterogeneous spillover of knowledge in a local spillover setting. • Long-run equilibrium mostly depends on the extreme value of the knowledge spillover level. • Innovation branches with a low level of knowledge spillover need more knowledge capital to avoid elimination. • If the knowledge capital structures of the areas are similar, the spillover effect will occupy the leading status. • Periphery regions can break the catastrophic agglomeration through differential development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Griliches' knowledge production function has been increasingly adopted at the regional level where location-specific conditions drive the spatial differences in knowledge creation dynamics. However, the large majority of such studies rely on a traditional regression approach that assumes spatially homogenous marginal effects of knowledge input factors. This paper extends the authors' previous work (Kang and Dall'erba in Int Reg Sci Rev, . doi:) to investigate the spatial heterogeneity in the marginal effects by using nonparametric local modeling approaches such as geographically weighted regression (GWR) and mixed GWR with two distinct samples of the US Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) and non-MSA counties. The results indicate a high degree of spatial heterogeneity in the marginal effects of the knowledge input variables, more specifically for the local and distant spillovers of private knowledge measured across MSA counties. On the other hand, local academic knowledge spillovers are found to display spatially homogenous elasticities in both MSA and non-MSA counties. Our results highlight the strengths and weaknesses of each county's innovation capacity and suggest policy implications for regional innovation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary The adoption of the Internet has been widespread across countries, making much more information available and thus facilitating knowledge diffusion among businesses to boost their innovation performance. However, differences in firms’ capabilities to use this newly available knowledge could create a new “digital divide” instead. Using 50,013 firm observations covering 117 developing and emerging countries over the 2006–11 period, this paper tests for knowledge spillover effects from industries’ adoption of the Internet on firms’ productivity and innovation performance. We test for heterogeneous spillover impacts on groups of firms that are commonly less engaged in innovation and on firms with different productivity levels. Our specification regresses firm productivity and innovation performance – i.e., their investment in equipment and ownership of quality certificates and patents – on industries’ use of the Internet. Spillover effects are identified by controlling for firms’ own investment in Internet technology, industry and country-year fixed effects as well as extensive firm-level controls. Our results show that industries’ use of the Internet positively affects the average firm’s productivity and its investment in equipment. We also identify modest impacts of industries’ use of the Internet on the likelihood that firms obtain quality certificates and patents. On average, we find that the returns to productivity are larger for firms that commonly engage less in innovation, including single-plant establishments, non-exporters, and firms located in small agglomerations. However, results from quantile regressions show that only the most productive firms reap productivity gains from Internet-enabled knowledge access. Firms with productivity levels below the 50 th percentile do not benefit much. The spillover effects from industries’ adoption of the Internet identified in our work justify public policies aimed at fostering industries’ use of the Internet. However, since we show that only firms with adequate absorptive capabilities benefit from the widespread Internet adoption, policy support should also focus on facilitating firms’ access to networks and strengthening their capacities to use them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scientific and technological knowledge are increasingly becoming predominant in developing regional competitiveness and shaping the role of innovation in development. This paper focuses on the topological and spatial features of urban innovation networks in China. Using published papers and applied patents in biotechnology field from 2000 to 2012, we analyze the evolution of scientific knowledge networks (SKNs) and technological knowledge networks (TKNs). Four major findings are derived: (1) SKNs are much more complicated than TKNs in terms of size, ties, average degree and other indicators; (2) the two networks meet the scale-free networks, and the correlation analysis confirms the preferential attachment and dis-assortative traits in SKNs and TKNs; (3) spatial and temporal evolution of central nodes and networks structure show the hierarchical diffusion and contagious diffusion in both the networks; (4) multi-dimensional proximity (social, organizational, cognitive, geographical) well explains the knowledge spillover and innovation in SKNs, but it fails to explain them in TKNs. Moreover, social and organizational proximity weigh higher than the other two. The central nodes analysis helps cities better understand their position in networks. We find that comparative analysis of SKNs and TKNs contribute to recognizing the gaps of each city in innovation, which could assist in determining urban innovation policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]