Does Knowledge Trade Create Growth Everywhere? Questions and Reply from a Cross-Country Comparison

The knowledge is assuming a leading role between production factors, changing from enabling element to success critical factor in enterprises competition. The meaning of knowledge used in this paper is that of technological innovation (both of product and of process) useful in the industrial environment. Following this approach, the usage of models to analyse knowledge development, exchange and international diffusion needs some specific indicators obtained by undirect mesures, such as patents, R&D investments and productive efficency relative degree. The analysis of data about R&D investments supply information about the location of activities related to inventions, so enabling to identify the poles of knowledge creation, while data about productivity levels indicate the country?s ability to adopt new inventions. Moreover, data about international patents enable to underline the existing relationships between knowledge creation location and the areas where its ?consumption? introduce a productivity growth. The compared analysis between different countries enhanced the primary role of technological infrastructure both for knowledge creation and for new inventions adoption.