Effects of Competence Centres on Regional Knowledge Production: An Agent-Based Simulation of the Vienna Life Sciences Innovation System

Competence centres have gained high recognition as a policy instrument for improving science-industry collaboration. With the requirement for longer-term, institutionalized and geographically concentrated R&D, competence centres provide an environment for joint learning processes and transfer of “sticky” knowledge. They can thus be interpreted as spatially focused R&D networks linking academia and industry. The objective of this chapter is to investigate in a dynamic perspective how a public competence centres programme affects knowledge production in its environment – the regional innovation system. In order to address this issue, we draw on a simulation approach and develop an agent-based model of the Vienna Life Sciences innovation system. Heterogeneous agents representing companies, research organisations and universities are endowed with knowledge and create output, thus generating system performance in terms of scientific publications, patents as well as high-tech jobs. Simulations refer to different long-term scenarios regarding public funds for competence centres. Thus, we explore agent-based simulation as a potential way to address the complexities of knowledge interaction in the context of the “local buzz” versus “global pipelines” discussion in the geography of innovation literature. First results with the empirically calibrated model, e.g. on long-term effects, indicate the potential of the approach for ex-ante impact assessment of network-related measures in R&D policy.