Interdependencies between the science and technology infrastructure and innovation activities in German regions: empirical findings and policy consequences
Section snippets
Introductory theoretical deliberations
The on-going discussion about Germany's suitability as an industrial and also as a research location often disregards the fact that on a regional and federal state (laender) level there is no uniform `German' economic structure and research landscape. Besides the universal call for reduction of labour costs and further liberalisation and deregulation initiatives, many propositions to strengthen Germany's competitive position are region- or state-specific. This is demonstrated by the studies on
Remarks on methods and data used
Quantity and quality of R&D cannot be measured unambiguously. For this reason, proxies, so-called indicators, are used instead.3 Meaningful indicators are the R&D budget or the number of personnel involved in R&D. For these proxies, the aggregation level of official statistics is usually very high (Malecki, 1986, Grupp, 1998). For the results of R&D efforts, patent indices come to mind. These permit a fine breakdown
Regional disparities in innovative activities in Germany
In order to gain insight into regional disparities in innovation intensity, Fig. 1 displays the patent intensity (patent applications per 1000 employees) in 1996 (priority year) for the 16 federal states. NRW occupies a middling position because some smaller states are relatively more active. BW lies here clearly in the lead. This relationship has remained relatively unchanged for years, whereby the eastern states are catching up, and NRW and BW now lie somewhat under the German average (see
Discussion and consequences for regional science and technology policy
In the age of globalisation, the mobility of capital and therefore also of R&D has increased enormously. Multinational companies in particular are beginning to increase their R&D investments in more than one country, in order to benefit from several national or regional knowledge and innovation potentials (Morgan, 1997, p. 495). What are the consequences of this for the R&D policy of the German federal states and, in perspective, the European regions in general?
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful for the financial support of several German ministries at the federal and state level. We are also grateful for the sophisticated patent research performed by our colleague Ulrich Schmoch and for quite detailed comments of two anonymous referees.
References (45)
The measurement of technical performance of innovations by technometrics and its impact on established technology indicators
Research Policy
(1994)Academic research and industrial innovation
Research Policy
(1991)- Anonymous, 1997. The disappearing taxpayer. The Economist, May 31st 1997, pp....
- Arthur, W.B., 1988. Competing technologies: an overview. In: Dosi, G., Nelson, R., Silverberg, G., Freeman, C., Soete,...
- Beise, M., Stahl, H., 1998. Public research and industrial innovations in Germany. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 98-37....
- Blind, K., Grupp, H., Schmoch, U., 1997. Zukunftsorientierung der Wirtschafts- und Innovationsstrukturen...
- Dosi, G., 1988a. The Nature of the innovative process. In: Dosi, G., Nelson, R., Silverberg, G., Freeman, C., Soete, L....
Sources, procedures and microeconomic effects of innovation
Journal of Economic Literature
(1988)- Faust, K., Grupp, H., Hummel, M., Klee, G., Laube, T., Münzenmaier, W., Saul, Ch., Schmoch, U., Waldkircher-Heyne, C.,...
- Feldman, M.P., 1994. The Geography of Innovation....
Productivity, R&D, and basic research at the firm level in the 1970s
American Economic Review
Spillover effects and the science base of innovation reconsidered, an empirical approach
Journal of Evolutionary Economics
Science and technology infrastructure in Baden-Wuerttemberg and its orientation towards future regional development
Journal of the American Society for Information Science
Spatial distribution of patents in Spain, determining factors and consequences on regional development
Regional Studies
Cited by (93)
The impact of technological and social capabilities on innovation performance: a technological catch-up perspective
2022, Technology in SocietyCitation Excerpt :Vargas et al. [45] found that ICT was a vital facilitator of innovation at small- and medium businesses. Blind and Grupp [46] studied the effects of infrastructure on the development of technology and industry in 18 German technology regions. They found that the development of technical infrastructure has a positive influence on innovation and demonstrated that governmental infrastructures improve the “knowledge and technology outputs” of the country.
Institutional management elaboration through cognitive modeling of the balanced sustainable development of regional innovation systems
2020, Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and ComplexityTechnological composition of US metropolitan statistical areas with high-impact patents
2018, Technological Forecasting and Social ChangeThe rate of return to investment in R&D: The case of research infrastructures
2016, Technological Forecasting and Social Change