IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/anresc/v73y2024i1d10.1007_s00168-024-01277-y.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Unpacking technology flows based on patent transactions: does trickle-down, proximity, and siphon help regional specialization?

Author

Listed:
  • Xiangjie Liu

    (Guangdong Academy of Sciences)

  • Chengliang Liu

    (East China Normal University
    East China Normal University)

  • Junxian Piao

    (East China Normal University)

Abstract

The spatial concentration of knowledge production leads to increased regional inequality, but technology flows have the potential to improve the distribution of innovation. This study examines the role of technology flows in regional specialization at the technology level in China during 2005–2016 using patent data. To unpack technology flows, we distinguish three directions based on patent transactions: trickle-down, proximity and siphon. Results show that regions are more likely to specialize in technological activities, which exhibit a greater number of external linkages characterized by relatively low relatedness and a limited number of strong links. Access to external technological linkages is identified as a key pathway for less innovative regions to achieve place breakthroughs. The technology flows of trickle-down help less innovative regions specialize in more complex technologies than their local knowledge base, while siphon does not significantly impact place breakthroughs in innovative regions.

Suggested Citation

  • Xiangjie Liu & Chengliang Liu & Junxian Piao, 2024. "Unpacking technology flows based on patent transactions: does trickle-down, proximity, and siphon help regional specialization?," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 73(1), pages 433-458, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:anresc:v:73:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1007_s00168-024-01277-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s00168-024-01277-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00168-024-01277-y
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s00168-024-01277-y?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. 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.
    2. Ron A. Boschma & Jan G. Lambooy, 1999. "Evolutionary economics and economic geography," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 9(4), pages 411-429.
    3. Miguélez, Ernest & Moreno, Rosina, 2015. "Knowledge flows and the absorptive capacity of regions," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(4), pages 833-848.
    4. Spulber, Daniel F., 2008. "Innovation and international trade in technology," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 138(1), pages 1-20, January.
    5. Anton, James J & Yao, Dennis A, 1994. "Expropriation and Inventions: Appropriable Rents in the Absence of Property Rights," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(1), pages 190-209, March.
    6. Boschma, Ron & Heimeriks, Gaston & Balland, Pierre-Alexandre, 2014. "Scientific knowledge dynamics and relatedness in biotech cities," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 107-114.
    7. Mafini Dosso & Didier Lebert, 2020. "The centrality of regions in corporate knowledge flows and the implications for Smart Specialisation Strategies," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(10), pages 1366-1376, October.
    8. Bronwyn H. Hall & Adam Jaffe & Manuel Trajtenberg, 2005. "Market Value and Patent Citations," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 36(1), pages 16-38, Spring.
    9. Manuel Sebastian Mariani & Alexandre Vidmer & Matus Medo & Yi-Cheng Zhang, 2015. "Measuring economic complexity of countries and products: which metric to use?," Papers 1509.01482, arXiv.org.
    10. 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.
    11. Pierre-Alexandre Balland & Ron Boschma, 2021. "Complementary interregional linkages and Smart Specialisation: an empirical study on European regions," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(6), pages 1059-1070, June.
    12. Kyriakos Drivas & Claire Economidou, 2015. "Is geographic nearness important for trading ideas? Evidence from the US," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 40(4), pages 629-662, August.
    13. Ron Boschma, 2017. "Relatedness as driver of regional diversification: a research agenda," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(3), pages 351-364, March.
    14. Shengjun Zhu & Canfei He & Yi Zhou, 2017. "How to jump further and catch up? Path-breaking in an uneven industry space," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 17(3), pages 521-545.
    15. Carolina Castaldi & Koen Frenken & Bart Los, 2015. "Related Variety, Unrelated Variety and Technological Breakthroughs: An analysis of US State-Level Patenting," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(5), pages 767-781, May.
    16. Nicola Cortinovis & Jing Xiao & Ron Boschma & Frank G van Oort, 2017. "Quality of government and social capital as drivers of regional diversification in Europe," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 17(6), pages 1179-1208.
    17. Manuel Mariani & Alexandre Vidmer & Matsúš Medo & Yi-Cheng Zhang, 2015. "Measuring economic complexity of countries and products: which metric to use?," The European Physical Journal B: Condensed Matter and Complex Systems, Springer;EDP Sciences, vol. 88(11), pages 1-9, November.
    18. Jefferson Ricardo Bretas Galetti & Milene Simone Tessarin & Paulo Cesar Morceiro, 2021. "Skill relatedness, structural change and heterogeneous regions: evidence from a developing country," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 100(6), pages 1355-1376, December.
    19. Ronald Findlay, 1978. "Relative Backwardness, Direct Foreign Investment, and the Transfer of Technology: A Simple Dynamic Model," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 92(1), pages 1-16.
    20. Artur Santoalha, 2019. "Technological Diversification and Smart Specialization: the role of cooperation," Working Papers on Innovation Studies 20190109, Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture, University of Oslo.
    21. Frank Neffke & Martin Henning & Ron Boschma, 2011. "How Do Regions Diversify over Time? Industry Relatedness and the Development of New Growth Paths in Regions," Economic Geography, Clark University, vol. 87(3), pages 237-265, July.
    22. Thomas Kemeny, 2011. "Are international technology gaps growing or shrinking in the age of globalization?," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 11(1), pages 1-35, January.
    23. Pierre-Alexandre Balland & David Rigby, 2017. "The Geography of Complex Knowledge," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 93(1), pages 1-23, January.
    24. Jaehyun Choi & Dongsik Jang & Sunghae Jun & Sangsung Park, 2015. "A Predictive Model of Technology Transfer Using Patent Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(12), pages 1-21, December.
    25. Pierre-Alexandre Balland & Ron Boschma & Joan Crespo & David L. Rigby, 2019. "Smart specialization policy in the European Union: relatedness, knowledge complexity and regional diversification," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(9), pages 1252-1268, September.
    26. Pierre-Alexandre Balland & Cristian Jara-Figueroa & Sergio G. Petralia & Mathieu P. A. Steijn & David L. Rigby & César A. Hidalgo, 2020. "Complex economic activities concentrate in large cities," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 4(3), pages 248-254, March.
    27. Liu, Weiwei & Tao, Yuan & Bi, Kexin, 2022. "Capturing information on global knowledge flows from patent transfers: An empirical study using USPTO patents," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(5).
    28. Bangjuan Wang & Weisheng Mao & Junxian Piao & Chengliang Liu, 2023. "Does external linkage stimulate innovation capacity? The analysis based on “dual‐pipelines” framework," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 102(3), pages 613-633, June.
    29. Lucas, Robert Jr., 1988. "On the mechanics of economic development," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 3-42, July.
    30. Bogang Jun & Aamena Alshamsi & Jian Gao & César A. Hidalgo, 2020. "Bilateral relatedness: knowledge diffusion and the evolution of bilateral trade," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 30(2), pages 247-277, April.
    31. Ernest Miguelez & Rosina Moreno, 2018. "Relatedness, external linkages and regional innovation in Europe," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(5), pages 688-701, May.
    32. Shengjun Zhu & Qi Guo & Canfei He, 2021. "Strong Links and Weak Links: How Do Unrelated Industries Survive in an Unfriendly Environment?," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 97(1), pages 66-88, January.
    33. Maryann P. Feldman & Dieter F. Kogler & David L. Rigby, 2015. "rKnowledge: The Spatial Diffusion and Adoption of rDNA Methods," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(5), pages 798-817, May.
    34. Ron Boschma, 2017. "Relatedness as driver behind regional diversification: a research agenda," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1702, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Jan 2017.
    35. Koen Frenken & Frank Van Oort & Thijs Verburg, 2007. "Related Variety, Unrelated Variety and Regional Economic Growth," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(5), pages 685-697.
    36. Dieter F. Kogler & David L. Rigby & Isaac Tucker, 2013. "Mapping Knowledge Space and Technological Relatedness in US Cities," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(9), pages 1374-1391, September.
    37. Walsh, John P. & Lee, You-Na & Nagaoka, Sadao, 2016. "Openness and innovation in the US: Collaboration form, idea generation and implementation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(8), pages 1660-1671.
    38. Carla Sciarra & Guido Chiarotti & Luca Ridolfi & Francesco Laio, 2020. "Reconciling contrasting views on economic complexity," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-10, December.
    39. Miguel R. Guevara & Dominik Hartmann & Manuel Aristarán & Marcelo Mendoza & César A. Hidalgo, 2016. "The research space: using career paths to predict the evolution of the research output of individuals, institutions, and nations," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 109(3), pages 1695-1709, December.
    40. Ron Boschma, 2005. "Proximity and Innovation: A Critical Assessment," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(1), pages 61-74.
    41. Artur Santoalha, 2019. "Technological diversification and Smart Specialisation: the role of cooperation," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(9), pages 1269-1283, September.
    42. Flavio L. Pinheiro & Pierre-Alexandre Balland & Ron Boschma & Dominik Hartmann, 2022. "The Dark Side of the Geography of Innovation. Relatedness, Complexity, and Regional Inequality in Europe," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2202, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Jan 2022.
    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. Shuo Lu & Jiaming Li & Wenzhong Zhang & Fan Xiao, 2025. "How can the “resource curse” be broken? Transition factor flows, the urban life cycle and value chain upgrades in resource-based cities," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-15, December.

    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. Pierre-Alexandre Balland & Ron Boschma, 2021. "Complementary interregional linkages and Smart Specialisation: an empirical study on European regions," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(6), pages 1059-1070, June.
    2. Ron Boschma, 2018. "The geographical dimension of structural change," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1839, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Nov 2018.
    3. Hidalgo, César A., 2023. "The policy implications of economic complexity," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(9).
    4. Bangjuan Wang & Weisheng Mao & Junxian Piao & Chengliang Liu, 2023. "Does external linkage stimulate innovation capacity? The analysis based on “dual‐pipelines” framework," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 102(3), pages 613-633, June.
    5. Ron Boschma, 2021. "Global Value Chains from an Evolutionary Economic Geography perspective: a research agenda," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2134, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Nov 2021.
    6. Ron Boschma & Ernest Miguelez & Rosina Moreno & Diego B. Ocampo-Corrales, 2021. "Technological breakthroughs in European regions: the role of related and unrelated combinations," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2118, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Jun 2021.
    7. Ron Boschma, 2021. "Designing Smart Specialization Policy: relatedness, unrelatedness, or what?," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2128, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Sep 2021.
    8. Julia Bachtrögler-Unger & Pierre-Alexandre Balland & Ron Boschma & Thomas Schwab, 2023. "Technological Capabilities and the Twin Transition in Europe. Opportunities for Regional Collaboration and Economic Cohesion," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 70743, January.
    9. Eduardo Hernandez-Rodriguez & Ron Boschma & Andrea Morrison & Xianjia Ye, 2024. "Functional upgrading and downgrading in global value chains: The role of complementary interregional value chain linkages in EU regions," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2432, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Oct 2024.
    10. Corrocher, Nicoletta & Grabner, Simone Maria & Morrison, Andrea, 2024. "Green technological diversification: The role of international linkages in leaders, followers and catching-up countries," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(4).
    11. Pinheiro, Flávio L. & Hartmann, Dominik & Boschma, Ron & Hidalgo, César A., 2022. "The time and frequency of unrelated diversification," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(8).
    12. Milene Tessarin & Deyu Li & Sergio Petralia & Ron Boschma, 2023. "The future geography of industries and occupations," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2302, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Jan 2023.
    13. Balland, Pierre-Alexandre & Boschma, Ron, 2022. "Do scientific capabilities in specific domains matter for technological diversification in European regions?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(10).
    14. Matteo Laffi & Ron Boschma, 2022. "Does a local knowledge base in Industry 3.0 foster diversification in Industry 4.0 technologies? Evidence from European regions," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 101(1), pages 5-35, February.
    15. Quatraro, Francesco & Scandura, Alessandra, 2020. "Regional patterns of unrelated technological diversification: the role of academic inventors," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis LEI & BRICK - Laboratory of Economics of Innovation "Franco Momigliano", Bureau of Research in Innovation, Complexity and Knowledge, Collegio 202001, University of Turin.
    16. Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés & Bartalucci, Federico & Lozano-Gracia, Nancy & Dávalos, María, 2024. "Overcoming left-behindedness. Moving beyond the efficiency versus equity debate in territorial development," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 125629, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    17. Ron Boschma, 2024. "An evolutionary approach to regional studies on global value chains," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(7), pages 1492-1500, July.
    18. Tom Broekel & Rune Dahl Fitjar & Silje Haus-Reve, 2021. "The roles of diversity, complexity, and relatedness in regional development – What does the occupational perspective add?," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2135, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Nov 2021.
    19. R. Boschma & Eduardo Hernández-Rodríguez & A. Morrison & C. Pietrobelli, 2021. "Do global value chains and local capabilities matter for economic complexity in EU regions?," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2139, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Dec 2021.
    20. Eduardo Hernandez-Rodriguez, 2024. "Technological diversification through global value chains in European regions," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2429, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Sep 2024.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C33 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes

    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:spr:anresc:v:73:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1007_s00168-024-01277-y. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.