With its Leading-Edge Cluster Competition (in German: Spitzencluster-Wettbewerb; LECC), the Feder... more With its Leading-Edge Cluster Competition (in German: Spitzencluster-Wettbewerb; LECC), the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, BMBF) is supporting innovation clusters in a nationwide contest for the first time. In three waves, 15 cluster initiatives were selected and provided with funds to support them on their way to becoming international leaders in their field of technology. This paper presents the results of empirical studies regarding several important aspects of the LECC. The analysis of network relations shows that the LECC's short-term goal of intensifying or enhancing networking between innovative stakeholders in the cluster regions has been achieved. At the same time, certain types of regional impulses of the LECC can already be observed, primarily an improved visibility of the Leading-Edge Cluster regions and enhanced regional R&D activity. When looking at causal programme effects, we find that the programme increases firm-level R&D expenditure, but also that the programme design influences the programme impulse, e.g. by promoting additional activities of SMEs.
Cluster policies are often intended and designed to promote interaction in R&D among colocated or... more Cluster policies are often intended and designed to promote interaction in R&D among colocated organisations, as local knowledge interactions are perceived to be underdeveloped. In contrast to the popularity of the policy measure little is known about its impact on knowledge networks, because most scientific evaluations focus on impacts at the firm level. Using the example of the BioRegio contest, we explore cluster policy effects on local patent co-application and co-invention networks observed from 1985 to 2013, in 17 German regions. We find that the initiative increases network size and innovation activities during the funding period but not afterwards. The impact of the BioRegio contest on network cohesion is moderate. In contrast, general project-based R&D subsidisation is found to support cohesion more robustly.
We apply social network analysis methods to describe the evolution of the innovator network of Je... more We apply social network analysis methods to describe the evolution of the innovator network of Jena, Germany in the period from 1995 to 2001. We find this evolution to be directed towards an increasing focus on core competencies of the local innovation system. Further we analyze the network resulting from R&D cooperations and explain by means of network regression techniques that the job mobility of scientists and the technological overlap between the actors, rather than past cooperations, can best predict the resulting structure. We also observe an increasing importance of the university while the former “Kombinate” begin to lose their prominent role.
Universities and public research organizations are said to be an integrative and essential elemen... more Universities and public research organizations are said to be an integrative and essential element of a functioning innovation system as they play a vital role not only in the generation of new technological knowledge, but also in its diffusion. We analyse four East German local networks of innovators which differ in structure and innovative performance and investigate the characteristic role of public research within these local systems by applying methods of social network analysis. Our results show that universities and non-university institutions of public research are key actors in all regional networks of innovators both in terms of patent output and in terms of centrality of their position in the networks. Further we find the ‘thicker’ networks to have more central public research organizations. Higher centrality of public research compared to private actors may be due to the fact that universities are explicitly designed to give away their knowledge and that they increasingl...
Abstract: We attempt to extend the static analysis of innovator networks by providing case study ... more Abstract: We attempt to extend the static analysis of innovator networks by providing case study based insights into the dynamic, developmental or evolutionary pattern of such networks. In the theoretical part, we develop some building blocs that are considered central to a theory of network evolution. Especially, we focus on the growth of innovator networks and their structural change over time, i.e. how new relationships come into existence and existing ties are cut, how new actors join the system, and other actors leave it. The factors shaping these structural properties, can explain how coherence might increase in some periods while it might decrease in others. We exemplify these patterns for the case of the Jena network of innovators during the period 1995-2001. Introduction The notion of collective invention has been introduced in the literature by Allen (1983) who provides evidence from the 19 th century iron and steel industry where innovative success was the result of the c...
We investigate cooperative behavior within technology regions in patenting activities. Case studi... more We investigate cooperative behavior within technology regions in patenting activities. Case studies of local innovation systems point out certain characteristics fruitful to innovation and regional growth but often pronounce historical singularities as major influence. We provide evidence on the same theoretical basis in an econometric study. Based on a theoretical discussion of research cooperation hypotheses are derived which relate a regions technological characteristics to that regions account of research cooperation. Patent data are used to define the technological specialization of German regions and identify cooperations within and between them. Most cooperations tend to take place in modestly specialized regions, indicating a need for similar technological capabilities between partner firms.
Strong interaction of innovative actors within a local network is commonly said to increase the r... more Strong interaction of innovative actors within a local network is commonly said to increase the region-specific knowledge-stock, leading to a comparative advantage. However, it might also lead to a lock-in situation, if local trajectories are directed towards inferior solutions. Accordingly, it is argued that successful clusters are characterised by the existence of gatekeepers, i.e. actors that generate novelty by drawing on local and external knowledge. We study the role and characteristics of gatekeepers within regional innovation systems by applying social network analysis based on patent data for four East-German regions. The regional networks appear to be significantly different with respect to the degree of interaction and with respect to their outward orientation. Concerning the characteristics of gatekeepers, we find that absorptive capacity is more important than size. Public research organisations serve the functions of a gatekeeper to a higher degree than private actors.
The positive effect of public research on industrial innovations is beyond controversy: public re... more The positive effect of public research on industrial innovations is beyond controversy: public research institutions produce knowledge that is subsequently transferred into product and process innovations by private businesses. Besides this rather passive role in commercializing inventions, public research institutions may also proactively exploit new knowledge through public sector entrepreneurship activities. Especially entrepreneurial universities are perceived as a conduit of knowledge spillovers; they serve as central actors of innovation networks and stimulate network activities. Whereas the linkages between network embeddedness and innovation activities have been largely explored, the determinants of patent quality in terms of radicalness, originality, and generality remain rather unclear. Considering Germany’s diverse public research infrastructure (universities, polytechnics, and non-university research institutes), our findings reveal that the type of institution and the c...
Economists pay more and more attention to knowledge networks and drivers of their development. Co... more Economists pay more and more attention to knowledge networks and drivers of their development. Consequently, a rich literature emerged analyzing factors explaining the emergence of intra-organizational links. Despite substantial work focusing on the dyad level, only little is known about how and why (global) network structures differ between technologies or industries. The study is based on a new data source on subsidized R&D cooperation in Germany, which is presented in detail and discussed with respect to other types of relational data. A comparison of networks within ten technologies allows us to identify systematic differences between basic and applied research networks.
A growing number of studies identify a generalized slowdown in labor productivity growth. The ver... more A growing number of studies identify a generalized slowdown in labor productivity growth. The very existence of the slowdown ignited a series of academic debates suggesting that secular stagnation or 'mismeasurement' problems are at the root of the observed trends. We posit that the composition of aggregate productivity matters. In a nutshell, we make the analysis of productivity growth slowdown more fine-grained by shifting the focus to the industry level, considering that the downward trend identified at the macroeconomic level emerges from the aggregation of diverse industry-level productivity trends. We perform an analysis of the structural dynamics of labor productivity by conducting a non-parametric dynamic decomposition exercise that separates within (improvement) and between (structural change) effects for 10 OECD countries. By pooling industries in groups identified according to two different taxonomies - one related to R&D intensities rankings, and the other built ...
Der Artikel von Powell, Koput und Smith-Doerr gehort zu den bedeutendsten Arbeiten uber Innovatio... more Der Artikel von Powell, Koput und Smith-Doerr gehort zu den bedeutendsten Arbeiten uber Innovations- bzw. Wissensnetzwerke. Die Autoren entwickeln eine Theorie des interorganisationalen Lernens und wenden diese im Rahmen einer empirischen Studie auf die Biotechnologie-Branche in der ersten Halfte der 1990er an. Auf Basis eines aufwandig erhobenen Datensatzes betrachten sie unterschiedliche Netzwerkbeziehungen zwischen Unternehmen und untersuchen deren Einfluss auf den Unternehmenserfolg. Damit gehorten sie zu den ersten Wissenschaftlern, die einen positiven Effekt einer hohen Zentralitat im FuE-Netzwerk auf den zukunftigen Erfolg im Sinne von Beschaftigungswachstum belegen konnten.
The article serves as an introduction to the empirical analysis of innovation or knowledge networ... more The article serves as an introduction to the empirical analysis of innovation or knowledge networks based on patent data with a particular focus on regional networks. I provide a review of the literature of innovation networks and how it connects to systemic approaches within the field of innovation studies. The SNA methodology is introduced by performing a comparative regional network study based on the publicly available OECD patent databases.
The role of geographical proximity in fostering connections and knowledge flows between innovativ... more The role of geographical proximity in fostering connections and knowledge flows between innovative actors ranks among the most controversial themes in the research of innovation systems, regional networks and new economic geography. While there is ample empirical evidence on the constituent force of co-location for the formation of research alliances, little attention has been paid to the actual consequences of geographical concentration of alliance partners for the subsequent performance of these linkages. In this paper we address this underexplored issue and aim to complement the rare examples of studies on the relevance of geographical proximity for research outputs. We utilize original and unique survey data from collaborative R&D projects that were funded within the "Leading-Edge Cluster Competition"-the main national cluster funding program in Germany in recent years. We find that the perception of the necessity of spatial proximity for project success is rather heterogeneous among the respondents of the funded projects. Moreover, the relationship between geographical distance and project success is by no means univocal and is mediated by various technological, organizational and institutional aspects. Our findings strongly support the assumption that the nature of knowledge involved determines the degree to which collaborators are reliant on being closely located to each other. The relevance of spatial proximity increases in exploration contexts when knowledge is novel and the innovation endeavor is more radical while this effect is less pronounced for projects with a stronger focus on basic research. Moreover, geographical proximity and project satisfaction foster crossfertilization effects of LECC projects.
With its Leading-Edge Cluster Competition (in German: Spitzencluster-Wettbewerb; LECC), the Feder... more With its Leading-Edge Cluster Competition (in German: Spitzencluster-Wettbewerb; LECC), the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, BMBF) is supporting innovation clusters in a nationwide contest for the first time. In three waves, 15 cluster initiatives were selected and provided with funds to support them on their way to becoming international leaders in their field of technology. This paper presents the results of empirical studies regarding several important aspects of the LECC. The analysis of network relations shows that the LECC's short-term goal of intensifying or enhancing networking between innovative stakeholders in the cluster regions has been achieved. At the same time, certain types of regional impulses of the LECC can already be observed, primarily an improved visibility of the Leading-Edge Cluster regions and enhanced regional R&D activity. When looking at causal programme effects, we find that the programme increases firm-level R&D expenditure, but also that the programme design influences the programme impulse, e.g. by promoting additional activities of SMEs.
Cluster policies are often intended and designed to promote interaction in R&D among colocated or... more Cluster policies are often intended and designed to promote interaction in R&D among colocated organisations, as local knowledge interactions are perceived to be underdeveloped. In contrast to the popularity of the policy measure little is known about its impact on knowledge networks, because most scientific evaluations focus on impacts at the firm level. Using the example of the BioRegio contest, we explore cluster policy effects on local patent co-application and co-invention networks observed from 1985 to 2013, in 17 German regions. We find that the initiative increases network size and innovation activities during the funding period but not afterwards. The impact of the BioRegio contest on network cohesion is moderate. In contrast, general project-based R&D subsidisation is found to support cohesion more robustly.
We apply social network analysis methods to describe the evolution of the innovator network of Je... more We apply social network analysis methods to describe the evolution of the innovator network of Jena, Germany in the period from 1995 to 2001. We find this evolution to be directed towards an increasing focus on core competencies of the local innovation system. Further we analyze the network resulting from R&D cooperations and explain by means of network regression techniques that the job mobility of scientists and the technological overlap between the actors, rather than past cooperations, can best predict the resulting structure. We also observe an increasing importance of the university while the former “Kombinate” begin to lose their prominent role.
Universities and public research organizations are said to be an integrative and essential elemen... more Universities and public research organizations are said to be an integrative and essential element of a functioning innovation system as they play a vital role not only in the generation of new technological knowledge, but also in its diffusion. We analyse four East German local networks of innovators which differ in structure and innovative performance and investigate the characteristic role of public research within these local systems by applying methods of social network analysis. Our results show that universities and non-university institutions of public research are key actors in all regional networks of innovators both in terms of patent output and in terms of centrality of their position in the networks. Further we find the ‘thicker’ networks to have more central public research organizations. Higher centrality of public research compared to private actors may be due to the fact that universities are explicitly designed to give away their knowledge and that they increasingl...
Abstract: We attempt to extend the static analysis of innovator networks by providing case study ... more Abstract: We attempt to extend the static analysis of innovator networks by providing case study based insights into the dynamic, developmental or evolutionary pattern of such networks. In the theoretical part, we develop some building blocs that are considered central to a theory of network evolution. Especially, we focus on the growth of innovator networks and their structural change over time, i.e. how new relationships come into existence and existing ties are cut, how new actors join the system, and other actors leave it. The factors shaping these structural properties, can explain how coherence might increase in some periods while it might decrease in others. We exemplify these patterns for the case of the Jena network of innovators during the period 1995-2001. Introduction The notion of collective invention has been introduced in the literature by Allen (1983) who provides evidence from the 19 th century iron and steel industry where innovative success was the result of the c...
We investigate cooperative behavior within technology regions in patenting activities. Case studi... more We investigate cooperative behavior within technology regions in patenting activities. Case studies of local innovation systems point out certain characteristics fruitful to innovation and regional growth but often pronounce historical singularities as major influence. We provide evidence on the same theoretical basis in an econometric study. Based on a theoretical discussion of research cooperation hypotheses are derived which relate a regions technological characteristics to that regions account of research cooperation. Patent data are used to define the technological specialization of German regions and identify cooperations within and between them. Most cooperations tend to take place in modestly specialized regions, indicating a need for similar technological capabilities between partner firms.
Strong interaction of innovative actors within a local network is commonly said to increase the r... more Strong interaction of innovative actors within a local network is commonly said to increase the region-specific knowledge-stock, leading to a comparative advantage. However, it might also lead to a lock-in situation, if local trajectories are directed towards inferior solutions. Accordingly, it is argued that successful clusters are characterised by the existence of gatekeepers, i.e. actors that generate novelty by drawing on local and external knowledge. We study the role and characteristics of gatekeepers within regional innovation systems by applying social network analysis based on patent data for four East-German regions. The regional networks appear to be significantly different with respect to the degree of interaction and with respect to their outward orientation. Concerning the characteristics of gatekeepers, we find that absorptive capacity is more important than size. Public research organisations serve the functions of a gatekeeper to a higher degree than private actors.
The positive effect of public research on industrial innovations is beyond controversy: public re... more The positive effect of public research on industrial innovations is beyond controversy: public research institutions produce knowledge that is subsequently transferred into product and process innovations by private businesses. Besides this rather passive role in commercializing inventions, public research institutions may also proactively exploit new knowledge through public sector entrepreneurship activities. Especially entrepreneurial universities are perceived as a conduit of knowledge spillovers; they serve as central actors of innovation networks and stimulate network activities. Whereas the linkages between network embeddedness and innovation activities have been largely explored, the determinants of patent quality in terms of radicalness, originality, and generality remain rather unclear. Considering Germany’s diverse public research infrastructure (universities, polytechnics, and non-university research institutes), our findings reveal that the type of institution and the c...
Economists pay more and more attention to knowledge networks and drivers of their development. Co... more Economists pay more and more attention to knowledge networks and drivers of their development. Consequently, a rich literature emerged analyzing factors explaining the emergence of intra-organizational links. Despite substantial work focusing on the dyad level, only little is known about how and why (global) network structures differ between technologies or industries. The study is based on a new data source on subsidized R&D cooperation in Germany, which is presented in detail and discussed with respect to other types of relational data. A comparison of networks within ten technologies allows us to identify systematic differences between basic and applied research networks.
A growing number of studies identify a generalized slowdown in labor productivity growth. The ver... more A growing number of studies identify a generalized slowdown in labor productivity growth. The very existence of the slowdown ignited a series of academic debates suggesting that secular stagnation or 'mismeasurement' problems are at the root of the observed trends. We posit that the composition of aggregate productivity matters. In a nutshell, we make the analysis of productivity growth slowdown more fine-grained by shifting the focus to the industry level, considering that the downward trend identified at the macroeconomic level emerges from the aggregation of diverse industry-level productivity trends. We perform an analysis of the structural dynamics of labor productivity by conducting a non-parametric dynamic decomposition exercise that separates within (improvement) and between (structural change) effects for 10 OECD countries. By pooling industries in groups identified according to two different taxonomies - one related to R&D intensities rankings, and the other built ...
Der Artikel von Powell, Koput und Smith-Doerr gehort zu den bedeutendsten Arbeiten uber Innovatio... more Der Artikel von Powell, Koput und Smith-Doerr gehort zu den bedeutendsten Arbeiten uber Innovations- bzw. Wissensnetzwerke. Die Autoren entwickeln eine Theorie des interorganisationalen Lernens und wenden diese im Rahmen einer empirischen Studie auf die Biotechnologie-Branche in der ersten Halfte der 1990er an. Auf Basis eines aufwandig erhobenen Datensatzes betrachten sie unterschiedliche Netzwerkbeziehungen zwischen Unternehmen und untersuchen deren Einfluss auf den Unternehmenserfolg. Damit gehorten sie zu den ersten Wissenschaftlern, die einen positiven Effekt einer hohen Zentralitat im FuE-Netzwerk auf den zukunftigen Erfolg im Sinne von Beschaftigungswachstum belegen konnten.
The article serves as an introduction to the empirical analysis of innovation or knowledge networ... more The article serves as an introduction to the empirical analysis of innovation or knowledge networks based on patent data with a particular focus on regional networks. I provide a review of the literature of innovation networks and how it connects to systemic approaches within the field of innovation studies. The SNA methodology is introduced by performing a comparative regional network study based on the publicly available OECD patent databases.
The role of geographical proximity in fostering connections and knowledge flows between innovativ... more The role of geographical proximity in fostering connections and knowledge flows between innovative actors ranks among the most controversial themes in the research of innovation systems, regional networks and new economic geography. While there is ample empirical evidence on the constituent force of co-location for the formation of research alliances, little attention has been paid to the actual consequences of geographical concentration of alliance partners for the subsequent performance of these linkages. In this paper we address this underexplored issue and aim to complement the rare examples of studies on the relevance of geographical proximity for research outputs. We utilize original and unique survey data from collaborative R&D projects that were funded within the "Leading-Edge Cluster Competition"-the main national cluster funding program in Germany in recent years. We find that the perception of the necessity of spatial proximity for project success is rather heterogeneous among the respondents of the funded projects. Moreover, the relationship between geographical distance and project success is by no means univocal and is mediated by various technological, organizational and institutional aspects. Our findings strongly support the assumption that the nature of knowledge involved determines the degree to which collaborators are reliant on being closely located to each other. The relevance of spatial proximity increases in exploration contexts when knowledge is novel and the innovation endeavor is more radical while this effect is less pronounced for projects with a stronger focus on basic research. Moreover, geographical proximity and project satisfaction foster crossfertilization effects of LECC projects.
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Papers by Holger Graf