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Technological Opportunities, Academic Research, and Innovation Activities in the German Automobile Supply Industry

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Abstract

In this paper the importance and the effects of technological opportunities, stemming from academic research, on the innovation activities of firms in the German automobile supply industry are investigated. We observe that the contribution of academic research to firms' innovation activities is less important than the relevance of industrial sources but yet, the most likely partners for formal R&D co-operations are universities. Using measures of suppliers' innovation input and output, we can outline differences in the effects of academic research on suppliers' innovation behavior. Although the proximity to academic research stimulates suppliers' activities in own R&D, the university knowledge substitutes suppliers' investment in R&D and other innovation activities. University co-operations seem to have a positive impact on the improvement of existing rather than on the development of new products or processes. But we can show that the influence of academic research on suppliers' inhouse innovation activities depend on their absorptive capacities.

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  • Juergen Peters & Wolfgang Becker, 1998. "Technological Opportunities, Academic Research, and Innovation Activities in the German Automobile Supply Industry," Discussion Paper Series 175, Universitaet Augsburg, Institute for Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:aug:augsbe:0175
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    Cited by:

    1. Jirjahn, Uwe & Kraft, Kornelius, 2006. "Do Spillovers Stimulate Incremental or Drastic Product Innovations? Hypotheses and Evidence from German Establishment Data," ZEW Discussion Papers 06-023, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    2. Becker Wolfgang & Peters Jürgen, 2005. "Innovation Effects of Science-Related Technological Opportunities / Innovationseffekte von technologischen Möglichkeiten aus dem Wissenschaftsbereich: Theoretical Considerations and Empirical Findings," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 225(2), pages 130-150, April.
    3. Alfred Haid & Markus Thomas Münter, 1999. "Neuere Entwicklungen in der industrieökonomischen Forschung und die aktuelle Berichterstattung über die technologische Leistungsfähigkeit Deutschlands," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 188, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    4. Wolfgang Becker, 2003. "Evaluation of the Role of Universities in the Innovation Process," Discussion Paper Series 241, Universitaet Augsburg, Institute for Economics.

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    JEL classification:

    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • H40 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - General

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