IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/ecinnt/v32y2023i6p826-850.html

Local knowledge spillovers and innovation persistence of firms

Author

Listed:
  • Adelheid Holl
  • Bettina Peters
  • Christian Rammer

Abstract

Innovation activities of firms tend to be highly persistent. Yet, little is still known about potential spatial contingencies affecting the degree of persistence. This paper analyses the influence of local knowledge spillovers on firms’ persistence in innovation activities. Using a representative panel data set of firms in Germany from 2002 to 2016, complemented by detailed geographic information of patent activity over discrete distances to proxy local knowledge spillovers, we find that the local patenting activity positively moderates persistency in innovation activities. Estimations with different distance bands show that the strength of knowledge spillovers that contribute to innovation persistence attenuates with increasing distance and vanishes beyond 30 kilometres in manufacturing and beyond 20 kilometres in services.

Suggested Citation

  • Adelheid Holl & Bettina Peters & Christian Rammer, 2023. "Local knowledge spillovers and innovation persistence of firms," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(6), pages 826-850, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:ecinnt:v:32:y:2023:i:6:p:826-850
    DOI: 10.1080/10438599.2022.2036609
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/10438599.2022.2036609
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/10438599.2022.2036609?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 look for a different version below or

    for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. N. K. Kurichev & V. V. Klimanov, 2025. "Intellectual Heritage of A.P. Gorkin: a Systemic Approach to Territorial Organization of the Economy in Light of Modern Concepts," Regional Research of Russia, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, March.
    2. Lu, Ke & Wei, Yunlin, 2025. "Exploring spatial impacts of transportation infrastructure on financial agglomeration: A moderating role of knowledge spillovers," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 150-166.
    3. Yuan Li & Yue Luo & Mingwei Song, 2025. "Research on the characteristics and distance–proximity influencing factors of interregional technology transfer in China," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 74(3), pages 1-32, September.
    4. Choi, Taelim & Leigh, Nancey Green, 2024. "Artificial intelligence's creation and displacement of labor demand," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    5. Burgi, Constantin & Gorgulu, Nisan, 2021. "The Impact of the Spatial Population Distribution on Economic Growth," Working Papers 17-2021, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Economics.
    6. Li, Longda, 2024. "The environmental spillovers of buyers' digital transformation: Evidence from China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    7. S. P. Zemtsov, 2024. "Geography of Artificial Intelligence Technologies in Russia," Regional Research of Russia, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 525-536, December.
    8. Constantin Bürgi & Nisan Gorgulu, 2022. "The Impact of the Spatial Population Distribution on Economic Growth: Evidence from the United States," CESifo Working Paper Series 10008, CESifo.
    9. Charlotte Rochell, 2025. "Firm dynamics in urban neighbourhoods and innovation: A microgeographic analysis," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 62(4), pages 717-736, March.
    10. Liu, Yanlong & Lian, Xu, 2025. "The spatial spillover effect of digital economy on regional tax Revenue: An empirical study based on the decay boundary and spillover path," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    11. Ibidunni, Ayodotun Stephen, 2024. "Cross-border knowledge transfer and the innovation performance of developing economy small and medium enterprises: A moderated mediation effect of industry networks and localization of knowledge," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    12. Qin, Xionghe & Zhang, Dong & Wang, Song & Grimes, Seamus, 2025. "A blessing and a curse: Identifying how knowledge complexity influences regional innovation efficiency in the presence of varying spatial externalities," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).

    More about this item

    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
    • R1 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics
    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis

    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:taf:ecinnt:v:32:y:2023:i:6:p:826-850. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/GEIN20 .

    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.