The Effects of Cooperation and Knowledge Spillovers in Knowledge Environment

Knowledge is unequivocally one of the new sources of economic growth, though its use is not a new phenomenon from the economic perspective. The role of knowledge, along with its connection to innovation and economic performance, is a topic of interest for a growing number of researchers. Thus, many studies have been investigating not only the relationship between creating knowledge and innovation, but also the relationship between knowledge, creating innovation, and company performance—as well as economic growth. The collaboration plays in this process very important role. Participation in cooperation has thus become an important company tool, thanks to which the given participants are able to mutually support creation of knowledge, acquisition, transfer knowledge spillovers. The process of knowledge spillover is becoming increasingly important—primarily due to the potential it has for bringing value added to production processes. However, it is a process that is difficult to record and analyze; moreover, its results can be seen only over the long term. The goal of this theoretical overview chapter is to define spillover effects, describe their emergence and relationship to innovative activities, and subsequently depict their diverse influence as they operate in individual countries. The last section is devoted to the problem of measuring spillover effects, because it has not yet been possible to record and measure knowledge spillovers, and there is still the problem of which method to use when measuring them.