IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/presci/v89y2010i2p295-309.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Knowledge transfers and innovation: The role of labour markets and R&D co‐operation between agents and institutions

Author

Listed:
  • Jaakko Simonen
  • Philip McCann

Abstract

This paper investigates the role played by the knowledge transfers fostering innovation in Finnish high technology industries. In particular, we examine the roles played by both face‐to‐face knowledge transfers and also human capital transfers between different types of agents and institutions in the promotion of innovation. In order to examine these issues we employ a unique innovation dataset which provides information about a firm's innovation performance along with information regarding the geographical and sectoral origins of a firm's recent labour acquisitions, disaggregated according to different types of agents and institutions. This allows us to develop proxies for inter‐firm face‐to‐face knowledge exchanges and also human capital knowledge transfers. The analysis of these data allows us to identify the different roles which the geography of knowledge exchanges and labour markets between agents and institutions play in regional innovation processes. Resumen Este artículo investiga el rol de los procesos de transferencia de conocimiento que promueven la innovación en industrias finlandesas de alta tecnología. Examinamos en particular los roles de la transferencia de conocimiento cara a cara y de la transferencia de capital humano entre diferentes tipos de agentes e instituciones en fomentar la innovación. Para examinar estos temas empleamos un conjunto único de datos sobre innovación que proporciona información sobre el desempeño en innovación de una empresa junto con información acerca del origen geográfico y sectorial del reclutamiento laboral reciente de una empresa, desagregado de acuerdo a diferentes tipos de agentes e instituciones. Esto nos permite desarrollar sustitutivos para intercambios de conocimiento cara a cara entre firmas y también para transferencias de conocimiento mediante capital humano. El análisis de estos datos nos permite identificar los roles distintos de la geografía de intercambios de conocimiento y de los mercados laborales entre agentes e instituciones en los procesos de innovación regional.

Suggested Citation

  • Jaakko Simonen & Philip McCann, 2010. "Knowledge transfers and innovation: The role of labour markets and R&D co‐operation between agents and institutions," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 89(2), pages 295-309, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:presci:v:89:y:2010:i:2:p:295-309
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1435-5957.2010.00299.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1435-5957.2010.00299.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1435-5957.2010.00299.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael Storper & Anthony J. Venables, 2004. "Buzz: face-to-face contact and the urban economy," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 4(4), pages 351-370, August.
    2. Romer, Paul M, 1986. "Increasing Returns and Long-run Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(5), pages 1002-1037, October.
    3. Iammarino, Simona & McCann, Philip, 2006. "The structure and evolution of industrial clusters: Transactions, technology and knowledge spillovers," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(7), pages 1018-1036, September.
    4. Ian R. Gordon & Philip McCann, 2005. "Innovation, agglomeration, and regional development," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 5(5), pages 523-543, October.
    5. Darren Filson & April Franco, 2000. "Knowledge diffusion through employee mobility," Staff Report 272, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    6. Riccardo Crescenzi & Andrés Rodriguez-Pose & Michael Storper, 2007. "The territorial dynamics of innovation: a Europe-United States comparative analysis," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 7(6), pages 673-709, November.
    7. Aghion, Philippe & Howitt, Peter, 1992. "A Model of Growth through Creative Destruction," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 60(2), pages 323-351, March.
    8. Paul Almeida & Bruce Kogut, 1999. "Localization of Knowledge and the Mobility of Engineers in Regional Networks," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 45(7), pages 905-917, July.
    9. Larry A. Sjaastad, 1970. "The Costs and Returns of Human Migration," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Harry W. Richardson (ed.), Regional Economics, chapter 9, pages 115-133, Palgrave Macmillan.
    10. Peter Nijkamp & Jacques Poot, 1998. "original: Spatial perspectives on new theories of economic growth," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 32(1), pages 7-37.
    11. Carlino, Gerald A. & Chatterjee, Satyajit & Hunt, Robert M., 2007. "Urban density and the rate of invention," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(3), pages 389-419, May.
    12. Philip McCann, 2007. "Sketching Out a Model of Innovation, Face-to-face Interaction and Economic Geography," Spatial Economic Analysis, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 2(2), pages 117-134.
    13. Ron Boschma & Simona Iammarino, 2009. "Related Variety, Trade Linkages, and Regional Growth in Italy," Economic Geography, Clark University, vol. 85(3), pages 289-311, July.
    14. Pavitt, Keith, 1984. "Sectoral patterns of technical change: Towards a taxonomy and a theory," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 13(6), pages 343-373, December.
    15. Philip McCann & Jaakko Simonen, 2005. "Innovation, knowledge spillovers and local labour markets," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 84(3), pages 465-485, August.
    16. Dominic Power & Mats Lundmark, 2004. "Working through Knowledge Pools: Labour Market Dynamics, the Transference of Knowledge and Ideas, and Industrial Clusters," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 41(5-6), pages 1025-1044, May.
    17. Harrigan, James & Venables, Anthony J., 2006. "Timeliness and agglomeration," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(2), pages 300-316, March.
    18. Tomokazu Arita & Philip McCann, 2000. "Industrial alliances and firm location behaviour: some evidence from the US semiconductor industry," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(11), pages 1391-1403.
    19. D P Angel, 1991. "High-Technology Agglomeration and the Labor Market: The Case of Silicon Valley," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 23(10), pages 1501-1516, October.
    20. Alessandra Faggian & Philip McCann, 2009. "Human capital, graduate migration and innovation in British regions," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 33(2), pages 317-333, March.
    21. Alessandra Faggian & Philip McCann, 2006. "Human capital flows and regional knowledge assets: a simultaneous equation approach," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 58(3), pages 475-500, July.
    22. Michael J. Orlando, 2000. "On the importance of geographic and technological proximity for R&D spillovers : an empirical investigation," Research Working Paper RWP 00-02, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.
    23. Romer, Paul M, 1987. "Growth Based on Increasing Returns Due to Specialization," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(2), pages 56-62, May.
    24. Stefano Breschi & Francesco Lissoni, 2003. "Mobility and Social Networks: Localised Knowledge Spillovers Revisited," KITeS Working Papers 142, KITeS, Centre for Knowledge, Internationalization and Technology Studies, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy, revised Mar 2003.
    25. Audretsch, David B & Stephan, Paula E, 1996. "Company-Scientist Locational Links: The Case of Biotechnology," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(3), pages 641-652, June.
    26. Estrella, Arturo, 1998. "A New Measure of Fit for Equations with Dichotomous Dependent Variables," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 16(2), pages 198-205, April.
    27. Lucas, Robert Jr., 1988. "On the mechanics of economic development," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 3-42, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Daniel Felsenstein, 2015. "Factors Affecting Regional Productivity and Innovation in Israel: Some Empirical Evidence," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(9), pages 1457-1468, September.
    2. Favaro, Donata & Ninka, Eniel & Turvani, Margherita, 2012. "Productivity in innovation: the role of inventor connections and mobility," MPRA Paper 38950, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Juan Eduardo Chica & Carlos Marmolejo, 2016. "Knowledge economy and metropolitan growth: Barcelona and Helsinki metropolitan areas as case studies," International Journal of Knowledge-Based Development, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 7(1), pages 22-42.
    4. Shuguang Liu & Jiayi Wang & Yin Long, 2023. "Research into the Spatiotemporal Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Technological Innovation in China’s Natural Gas Industry from the Perspective of Energy Transition," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-34, April.
    5. Favaro, Donata & Ninka, Eniel, 2019. "Inventors’ working relationships and knowledge creation: a study on patented innovation," INVESTIGACIONES REGIONALES - Journal of REGIONAL RESEARCH, Asociación Española de Ciencia Regional, issue 45, pages 55-76.
    6. J. Simonen & R. Svento & P. McCann, 2016. "The regional and sectoral mobility of high-tech workers: insights from Finland," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 56(2), pages 341-368, March.
    7. Favaro, Donata & Ninka, Eniel & Turvani, Margherita, 2014. "Knowledge externalities and knowledge creation: the role of inventors’ working relationships and mobility," MPRA Paper 64527, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Oliver Farhauer & Alexandra Kröll, 2012. "Diversified specialisation—going one step beyond regional economics’ specialisation-diversification concept," Review of Regional Research: Jahrbuch für Regionalwissenschaft, Springer;Gesellschaft für Regionalforschung (GfR), vol. 32(1), pages 63-84, March.
    9. Gary A. Wagner & Jamie Bologna Pavlik, 2020. "Patent intensity and concentration: The effect of institutional quality on MSA patent activity," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 99(4), pages 857-898, August.
    10. Jaakko Simonen & Johannes Herala & Rauli Svento, 2020. "Creative destruction and creative resilience: Restructuring of the Nokia dominated high‐tech sector in the Oulu region," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(5), pages 931-953, October.
    11. Aurora I. Maynez Guaderrama & Judith Cavazos Arroyo & Santiago Ibarreche Suarez & Jose Pablo Nuno de la Parra, 2012. "Trust, Commitment And Intention To Share: Influencing Variables To Transfer Knowledge Within Organizations?, Confianza, Compromiso E Intencion Para Compartir: ¿Variables Influyentes Para Transferir C," Revista Internacional Administracion & Finanzas, The Institute for Business and Finance Research, vol. 5(5), pages 21-40.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jaakko Simonen & Philip McCann, 2008. "Innovation, R&D cooperation and labor recruitment: evidence from Finland," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 181-194, August.
    2. Simonen, Jaakko & McCann, Philip, 2008. "Firm innovation: The influence of R&D cooperation and the geography of human capital inputs," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 146-154, July.
    3. Crescenzi, Riccardo & Gagliardi, Luisa, 2015. "Moving people with ideas - innovation inter-regional mobility and firm heterogeneity," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 64509, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. Edward J. Malecki, 2010. "Everywhere? The Geography Of Knowledge," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1), pages 493-513, February.
    5. Pantelis Kazakis, 2019. "On the nexus between innovation, productivity and migration of US university graduates," Spatial Economic Analysis, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(4), pages 465-485, October.
    6. Matthias Firgo & Peter Mayerhofer, 2015. "Wissens-Spillovers und regionale Entwicklung - welche strukturpolitische Ausrichtung optimiert des Wachstum?," Working Paper Reihe der AK Wien - Materialien zu Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft 144, Kammer für Arbeiter und Angestellte für Wien, Abteilung Wirtschaftswissenschaft und Statistik.
    7. Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés & Eriksson, Rikard, 2017. "Job-related Mobility and Plant Performance in Sweden," CEPR Discussion Papers 12018, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    8. Ron Boschma & Rikard H. Eriksson & Urban Lindgren, 2014. "Labour Market Externalities and Regional Growth in Sweden: The Importance of Labour Mobility between Skill-Related Industries," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(10), pages 1669-1690, October.
    9. Rosina Moreno & Ernest Miguélez, 2012. "A Relational Approach To The Geography Of Innovation: A Typology Of Regions," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(3), pages 492-516, July.
    10. Diemer, Andreas & Regan, Tanner Weldon Dean, 2020. "No inventor is an island: social connectedness and the geography of knowledge flows in the US," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 121852, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    11. Feldman, Maryann P. & Kogler, Dieter F., 2010. "Stylized Facts in the Geography of Innovation," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 381-410, Elsevier.
    12. Matthias Firgo & Peter Mayerhofer, 2015. "Wissensintensive Unternehmensdienste, Wissens-Spillovers und regionales Wachstum. Teilprojekt 1: Wissens-Spillovers und regionale Entwicklung – Welche strukturpolitische Ausrichtung optimiert das Wach," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 58342, February.
    13. Helen McGuirk & Declan Jordan, 2011. "Local Labour Market Diversity and Business Innovation: Evidence from Irish Manufacturing Businesses," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(12), pages 1945-1960, June.
    14. Philip Mccann, 2006. "On the supply-side determinants of regional growth," Construction Management and Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(7), pages 681-693.
    15. Benjamin Montmartin & Ludovic Dibiaggio & Lionel Nesta, 2018. "Regional Alignment and Productivity Growth," SciencePo Working papers Main halshs-01948337, HAL.
    16. Filippo Marchesani & Francesca Masciarelli, 2022. "Crowdfunding as Entrepreneurial Investment: The Role of Local Knowledge Spillover," Papers 2211.16984, arXiv.org.
    17. Diemer, Andreas & Regan, Tanner, 2022. "No inventor is an island: Social connectedness and the geography of knowledge flows in the US," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(2).
    18. Qin, Xionghe & Wang, Xueli & Kwan, Mei-Po, 2023. "The contrasting effects of interregional networks and local agglomeration on R&D productivity in Chinese provinces: Insights from an empirical spatial Durbin model," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    19. Elizabeth Mack & Alessandra Faggian, 2013. "Productivity and Broadband," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 36(3), pages 392-423, July.
    20. Clément Gorin, 2016. "Patterns and determinants of inventors' mobility across European urban areas," Working Papers halshs-01313086, HAL.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:presci:v:89:y:2010:i:2:p:295-309. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=1056-8190 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.