The effects and time lags of R&D spillovers in Brazil

Government's innovation investments for science intensive sectors, such as the capital goods industry for developing countries play an important role in technology dissemination; however, few studies have addressed this issue. This study is conducted in the framework of a developing economy (Brazil), and aims to estimate the spillover effects throughout the industry resulting from public investment in innovation, as well as the spillovers of R&D and management investment performed by the capital goods industry through the rest of the industrial sector, and also the time lapse between the occurrence of innovative investment and output growth due to such expenditures. The results of the estimated econometric model exhibit significant and positive spillover effects by the government R&D expenditures for the capital goods industry with a three-year lapse, as well as a one-year lag for the occurrence of output effects on the other companies of the manufacturing sector, resulting from innovative investments by the capital goods industry.     

Systemic aspects of R&D policy subsidies for R&D collaborations and their effects on private R&D

This paper analyses how context- and time-dependent factors determine the impact of R&D subsidies on firm behaviour with respect to private R&D expenditures. Based on German R&D survey data, we combine propensity score matching with a difference-in-difference estimator in order to measure the causal influence of public direct R&D project funding on firm behaviour. Our results indicate that (i) repeated participation in R&D projects on average leads to a higher increase in R&D expenditures than once-off funding; (ii) the aggregate effect of R&D funding on R&D expenditures of business firms is somewhat higher for business–business collaboration projects than for science–business collaboration projects; (iii) R&D expenditures of business firms that cooperate with science show a higher share of external R&D spending. Results of one particular cluster programme indicate that at least the short-term development of R&D does not so much depend on which programme direct R&D project funding is applied to.     

Effective R&D investment planning based on technology spillovers: the case of Korea

This study was performed to discuss an R&D investment planning method based on the technology spillover among R&D fields, from the point of view of technology convergence. The empirical analysis focused on a particular R&D group, such as university departments and specialized research institutes, since local technology combinations are more effective than distant combinations to create a new technology, according to previous research. In addition, worldwide technology competition is increasing, and with the recent convergence of various technologies and industries, strategies for R&D selection and resources allocation of particular R&D groups are becoming increasingly important. The empirical analysis uses a modified Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory method combined with information on patent citations to resolve the latent problems of the existing model, using as an empirical example the case of the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM), specialized in the geology and resources development R&D area. Through the empirical analysis, the KIGAM’s current R&D investment status is considered, and a reasonable R&D investment planning is suggested from the perspective of technology spillover. By using this framework, the magnitude of technology spillover from the R&D investment planning within a particular R&D group can be measured based on objective quantitative data, and the current R&D investment can be compared with recent global trends.     

The effects of R&D subsidies and network embeddedness on R&D output: evidence from the German biotech industry

Although policy makers subsidize firms’ R&D projects to increase innovational output in an industry, region, or country, it remains unclear whether such subsidization triggers additional R&D efforts or crowds out private investments. To address this question, we assess the effectiveness of subsidization for individual and collaborative research in the German biotech industry while also examining the relevance of network embeddedness for patent output. Our results indicate that subsidies do lead to increased patent output, with additional benefits from involvement in more than one project. However, the amount of money is only significant under certain circumstances. Also, it is higher degree centrality in the firm network that significantly increases R&D success.     

Using patents and publications to assess R&D efficiency in the states of the USA

Even with the USA spending the largest amounts in R&D, its share in total patent grants worldwide has been declining. This decline is also evident in its share of world scientific publications. These developments have been termed by some as the “American Paradox”. Extant research on R&D efficiency and technological innovation capability has considered the USA as a homogeneous entity and has not focused at the sub-national level. This paper analyses the R&D efficiency of 50 US states and the District of Columbia. R&D efficiency is calculated as the ratio of patents granted and scientific publications to R&D expenditures. Only 14 states out of the 51 regions are found to exhibit positive changes in R&D efficiency between 2004 and 2008. Comparing this performance with that of the BRICS nations over the same period we find that Brazil, India, China and South Korea show significant improvements in R&D efficiency with India taking the lead. This research identifies the states in the US with the highest R&D efficiency and presents benchmarks which can be followed by policy interventions. The paper highlights the importance of conducting analyses of R&D efficiency using patents and publications at the sub-national level for informed policy making.     

Determinants of biopharmaceutical R&D expenditures in China: the impact of spatiotemporal context

Scientometrics - The spatiotemporal context affects corporate behavior because any corporate activity is carried out in a specific time and space. Based on an examination on the research and...     

Firm size and compositions of R&D expenditures: evidence from a panel of R&D performing manufacturing firms

The effect of firm size on diverse compositions of R&D expenditures is analysed in detail using firm-level data on the Korean manufacturing sector. On the grounds that each type of R&D activity differs in terms of salability in disembodied form and growth potential due to innovation, a distinction between product vs. process, and new vs. incremental R&D is made. Empirical tests show that the firm size is significantly associated with both the new and incremental R&D. Moreover, firm size is found to be significantly associated with other types of R&D compositions such as the share of R&D devoted to incremental innovation and multidimensional combinations of product, process, new and incremental R&D. These findings support the idea that large firms possess innovative advantages over smaller firms and firm size is an important determinant for firms’ heterogeneous R&D activities. We also discuss the limitations and the implications of the findings.     

Industrial materials informatics: Analyzing large-scale data to solve applied problems in R&D,manufacturing, and supply chain

In this review, we discuss current and potential future applications for materials informatics in industry. We include in this discussion not only the traditional materials and chemical industries, but also other manufacturing-intensive sectors, which broadens the relevance of materials informatics to a large proportion of the economy. We describe several high-level use cases, drawing upon our experience at Citrine Informatics working in materials and manufacturing, although we omit any details that could be considered customer-proprietary. We note that a converging set of factors, including executive-level corporate demand for Big Data technologies, increasing availability of large-scale materials data, drive for greater competitiveness in manufacturing, and advances in machine learning, will lead to a rapid increase in industrial application of materials informatics over the next several years.     

R&D,worker training and innovation: firm-level evidence

Firms that invest in R&D and also in worker training are expected to be successful innovators; yet, the extent to which these investments are mutually reinforcing has not been established. This paper addresses that question by analysing the decision to innovate and the number of innovations introduced. Our findings, which are based on a sample of Spanish manufacturing firms, confirm that R&D is more effective when firms also invest in worker training. Moreover, for some smaller firms, investing in workers’ skills (via training programs) boosts innovation even in absence of R&D. Meanwhile, on-the-job training in large firms might serve mainly to reinforce the effects of R&D. Regarding the number of innovations, our result signals that a higher absorptive capacity via higher ability of qualified workers (through schooling or training) leads to improved innovation performance.     

The role of government-industry-academia partnership in business incubation: Evidence from new R&D institutions in China

it is very important to encourage the incubation of new companies for innovative economic growth. Many countries in the world are encouraging “innovation orchards” in the form of government-industry-academia partnership to facilitate the incubation of new technology enterprises. The research focuses on the impact of this partnership between the government, industry, and academia in establishing new R&D institutions on business incubation. Specifically, the research aims to investigate what is the separate effect of the government, enterprises, universities, and public institutions in the establishment of new R&D institutions on enterprise incubation, and the role of cooperation between government-enterprise-academia in the enterprise incubation of new R&D institutions. In empirical tests using data from the 2020 official survey of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, the results show that for each single cooperator, participation in the establishment of governments, academia has a positive impact on start-ups, while the participation of enterprises has no significant impact. In terms of cooperation, the co-established new R&D institutions are better in business incubation than the single establishment of new R&D institutions. The cooperation between government and academia in the establishment of new R&D institutions has a positive effect on business incubation, and other types of cooperation between government-industry, industry-academia, and government-industry-academia have no significant impact on business incubation. The research conclusion can provide a policy reference for optimizing the holding mode of new R&D institutions.     

R&D and firm performance in the semiconductor industry

While the semiconductor industry is still dominated by large vertically integrated firms, fabless firms, which outsource their manufacturing, are gaining market share. Fabless firms are considered to have an advantage in product innovation, as they can focus their innovation efforts on chip design and can benefit from investments in process innovation made by their manufacturing partners. However, there is little empirical evidence of the performance of fabless firms compared to vertically integrated firms. This research empirically examines the relationship between R&D and the financial performance of fabless and vertically integrated firms from 2000 to 2010. Our results show that fabless firms maintain higher gross and net margins, earn a higher return on assets (ROA) and have greater intangible value (Tobin’s q) than vertically integrated firms when controlling for size, capital intensity and R&D ratio (R&D/sales). This supports the argument that fabless firms achieve greater performance by focusing on one part of the innovation process. The relationship of R&D ratio to net margin is negative for the whole sample, suggesting that the industry may be overinvesting in R&D. Notably, the negative relationship is greater for fabless firms, which spend a higher amount of their sales on R&D. The relationship of R&D ratio to ROA and Tobin’s q is negative, and there is no significant difference between fabless and integrated firms. We conclude that fabless firms outperform integrated firms overall, but are somewhat worse in terms of increasing profits and creating value from their R&D investments.     

Major factors affecting biomedical cross-city R&D collaborations based on cooperative patents in China

Scientometrics - Due to the fastidiousness of the industry, it has become absolutely necessary for the biomedical industry to seek innovative R&D collaborations in order to maintain high...     

Major factors affecting cross-city R&D collaborations in China: evidence from cross-sectional co-patent data between 224 cities

Scientific research activities cluster in cities or towns. Modern cities can play a crucial role in the national or regional innovation system. Strengthening R&D collaboration between cities can contribute to perfectly integrating various regional innovation systems. Using the cross-sectional co-patent data of the Chinese Patent Database as a proxy for R&D collaboration, this paper investigates the spatial patterns of R&D collaborations between 224 Chinese cities and the major factors that affect cross-city R&D collaborations in China. A spatial interaction model was used to examine how spatial, economic, technological and political factors affect cross-city R&D collaborations. The degree of centrality shows that cross-city collaborative R&D activities mainly occur in favored regions, advanced municipalities and coastal regions. The mean collaboration intensity for intra-provincial cross-city collaborations is 4.74; however, for inter-provincial collaborations, it is 0.69. The econometric findings reveal that spatial, economic, technological and political bias factors do yield significant influences on the frequency of cross-city R&D collaboration. Specifically, as evidenced by the model coefficient, it is more likely that R&D collaborations occur among cities that are connected by high-speed railways.     

Vaccine R&D in Brazil: The effectiveness of push and pull regulations

Government regulations can guide the technological progress, investment in research and development (R&D), and institutional organization of a specific sector. In this context, using patent data, this study aimed to analyze the effectiveness of three laws that pertain to R&D in Brazilian pharmaceutical market for vaccines. The results reveal an increasing international interest in the Brazilian market since the promulgation of the Industrial Property Law. Despite its limitations, this study reveals significant efforts and promising results in Brazil with respect to ensuring that technological and industrial policies and strategies incorporate innovation in vaccine R&D and change the economy's competitive circumstances.     

R&D and Productivity in High-Tech Manufacturing: A Comparison between Italy and Spain

Using data for 12 manufacturing industries over the period 1980–2006, we perform for Italy and Spain a dynamic panel estimation of the long-run elasticity of total factor productivity (TFP) with respect to R&D capital. In spite of recording a level of R&D capital lower than Italian industries, the technology-based industries in Spain have experienced a similar or higher long-run impact on TFP. This is mainly attributable to what occurred from the mid-1990s onwards when, thanks to increasing R&D efforts, the Spanish industries have been able to catch up with respect to the Italian ones. These findings suggest that, also in countries classified as technology followers, R&D investment is a crucial condition for boosting manufacturing productivity.     

R&D Strategy,Metropolitan Externalities and Productivity: Evidence from Sweden

This paper studies the influence of metropolitan externalities on productivity for different types of long-run R&D engagement based on information from the Community Innovation Survey. We apply a dynamic general method of moments model to a panel of manufacturing and service firms with different locations in Sweden, classified as a metropolitan region, the largest metropolitan region, a metropolitan city, the largest metropolitan city and a nonmetropolitan area. This analysis generates three distinct results. First, the productivity premium associated with persistent R&D is close to 8 per cent in nonmetro locations and about 14 per cent in the largest city. Second, a firm without any R&D engagement does not benefit at all from the external milieu in metro areas. Third, no productivity premium is associated with occasional R&D effort regardless of the firm's location.     

Forms and Determinants of R&D Collaborations: Evidence Based on French Data

The literature on R&D collaboration highlights a broad set of rationales for allying with other organizations. At the same time, it has been reported that there exists a large variety of forms of collaboration. Nevertheless, the relation between the motives to collaborate and the different forms of collaboration has not been examined. In this paper, we attempt to fill this gap by highlighting and explaining the heterogeneity in the forms of collaboration as a result of several interdependent simultaneous choices. Using a sample of more than 3,000 R&D collaborations, a typology of their characteristics allows us to distinguish five discrete forms of collaboration. Then using a multinomial logit estimation, we show how the forms of collaboration vary according to the firms' attributes (size, R&D internal effort, group membership), market and objectives pursued. We also obtain new results on the effects of incoming spillovers as well as appropriability conditions.     

Offshoring and Improvisational Learning: Empirical Insights into Developing Global R&D Capabilities

This study examines how global research and development (R&D) capabilities develop through improvisational learning. Using empirical insights from two large Swedish multinational companies and their early learning from establishing a captive R&D offshore unit in Bangalore, India, we use multicase inductive analysis to identify how companies cope with challenge related to coordinating R&D across geographically dispersed units through improvisational learning. Using a cooperative stage model analysis, we explain how improvisational learning occurs during the setup, start-up and ongoing stages of establishing captive R&D offshoring operations. We find that improvisational actions lead to developing routines as a response to solving unexpected coordination challenges and help explain how global R&D capabilities develop.