IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ehl/lserod/58523.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

My Precious! the location and diffusion of scientific research: evidence from the synchrotron diamond light source

Author

Listed:
  • Helmers, Christian
  • Overman, Henry G.

Abstract

We analyze the impact of the establishment of a GBP 380 million basic scientific research facility in the UK on the geographical distribution of related research. We investigate whether the siting of the Diamond Light Source, a 3rd generation synchrotron light source, in Oxfordshire induced a clustering of related research in its geographic proximity. To account for the potentially endogenous location choice of the synchrotron, we exploit the availability of a `runner-up' site near Manchester. We use both academic publications and patent data to trace the geographical distribution of related knowledge and innovation. Our results suggest that the siting of the synchrotron in Oxfordshire created a highly localized cluster of related scientific research.

Suggested Citation

  • Helmers, Christian & Overman, Henry G., 2013. "My Precious! the location and diffusion of scientific research: evidence from the synchrotron diamond light source," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 58523, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:58523
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/58523/
    File Function: Open access version.
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Adam B. Jaffe & Manuel Trajtenberg & Rebecca Henderson, 1993. "Geographic Localization of Knowledge Spillovers as Evidenced by Patent Citations," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 108(3), pages 577-598.
    2. Pierre-Philippe Combes & Miren Lafourcade, 2005. "Transport costs: measures, determinants, and regional policy implications for France," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 5(3), pages 319-349, June.
    3. Michael Greenstone & Richard Hornbeck & Enrico Moretti, 2010. "Identifying Agglomeration Spillovers: Evidence from Winners and Losers of Large Plant Openings," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 118(3), pages 536-598, June.
    4. Jaffe, Adam B, 1989. "Real Effects of Academic Research," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(5), pages 957-970, December.
    5. George J. Borjas & Kirk B. Doran, 2015. "Cognitive Mobility: Labor Market Responses to Supply Shocks in the Space of Ideas," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 33(S1), pages 109-145.
    6. Peter Thompson & Melanie Fox-Kean, 2005. "Patent Citations and the Geography of Knowledge Spillovers: A Reassessment: Reply," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(1), pages 465-466, March.
    7. Peter Thompson & Melanie Fox-Kean, 2005. "Patent Citations and the Geography of Knowledge Spillovers: A Reassessment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(1), pages 450-460, March.
    8. Maryann P. Feldman & Johanna L. Francis, 2004. "Homegrown Solutions: Fostering Cluster Formation," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 18(2), pages 127-137, May.
    9. Audretsch, David B & Feldman, Maryann P, 1996. "R&D Spillovers and the Geography of Innovation and Production," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(3), pages 630-640, June.
    10. Natasha Loder, 1999. "Wellcome Trust backs Rutherford to host synchrotron," Nature, Nature, vol. 402(6761), pages 451-451, December.
    11. Catalina Martinez, 2010. "Insight into Different Types of Patent Families," OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers 2010/2, OECD Publishing.
    12. Christian Helmers & Mark RogersPhilipp Schautschick, 2011. "Intellectual Property at the Firm-Level in the UK: The Oxford Firm-Level Intellectual Property Database," Economics Series Working Papers 546, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    13. Shawn Kantor & Alexander Whalley, 2009. "Do Universities Generate Agglomeration Spillovers? Evidence from Endowment Value Shocks," NBER Working Papers 15299, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    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. Görg, Holger & Mulyukova, Alina, 2022. "Place-based policies and agglomeration economies: Firm-level evidence from special economic zones in India," Kiel Working Papers 2209, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    2. Margarida Madaleno & Max Nathan & Henry Overman & Sevrin Waights, 2022. "Incubators, accelerators and urban economic development," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 59(2), pages 281-300, February.
    3. Neumark, David & Simpson, Helen, 2015. "Place-Based Policies," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 1197-1287, Elsevier.
    4. John Van Reenen, 2022. "Innovation and Human Capital Policy," NBER Chapters, in: Innovation and Public Policy, pages 61-83, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Christian Helmers & Mark Rogers, 2015. "The impact of university research on corporate patenting: evidence from UK universities," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 1-24, February.
    6. Tamay Besiroglu & Nicholas Emery-Xu & Neil Thompson, 2022. "Economic impacts of AI-augmented R&D," Papers 2212.08198, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2023.
    7. Castelnovo, Paolo & Florio, Massimo & Forte, Stefano & Rossi, Lucio & Sirtori, Emanuela, 2018. "The economic impact of technological procurement for large-scale research infrastructures: Evidence from the Large Hadron Collider at CERN," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(9), pages 1853-1867.
    8. Pfister, Curdin & Koomen, Miriam & Harhoff, Dietmar & Backes-Gellner, Uschi, 2021. "Regional innovation effects of applied research institutions," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(4).
    9. Andrea, Bastianin & Chiara F., Del Bo, 2019. "Procurement in Big Science Centres: politics or technology? Evidence from CERN," Working Papers 410, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised 21 May 2019.
    10. Patrick Lehnert & Curdin Pfister & Dietmar Harhoff & Uschi Backes-Gellner, 2020. "Innovation Effects and Knowledge Complementarities in a Diverse Research Landscape," Economics of Education Working Paper Series 0164, University of Zurich, Department of Business Administration (IBW), revised Jan 2022.
    11. Song Zhang & Mark van Duijn & Arno J. van der Vlist, 2020. "The external effects of inner‐city shopping centers: Evidence from the Netherlands," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(4), pages 583-611, September.
    12. Andrea Bastianin & Paolo Castelnovo & Massimo Florio & Anna Giunta, 2022. "Big science and innovation: gestation lag from procurement to patents for CERN suppliers," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 531-555, April.
    13. van der Wouden, Frank & Youn, Hyejin, 2023. "The impact of geographical distance on learning through collaboration," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(2).
    14. Folke Valfrid Snickars & Ulf Karlsson, 2017. "Research infrastructure, networks of science and regional development - the case of Oskarshamn," REGION, European Regional Science Association, vol. 4, pages 119-131.
    15. Blandinieres, Florence & Pellens, Maikel, 2021. "Scientist's industry engagement and the research agenda: Evidence from Germany," ZEW Discussion Papers 21-001, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.

    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. Henry Overman & Christian Helmers, 2013. "My precious! The location and di_x000B_ffusion of scientifi_x000C_c research: evidence from the Synchrotron Diamond Light Source," ERSA conference papers ersa13p654, European Regional Science Association.
    2. Carlino, Gerald & Kerr, William R., 2015. "Agglomeration and Innovation," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 349-404, Elsevier.
    3. William R. Kerr & Scott Duke Kominers, 2015. "Agglomerative Forces and Cluster Shapes," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 97(4), pages 877-899, October.
    4. Zoltán J. Ács & Pontus Braunerhjelm & David B. Audretsch & Bo Carlsson, 2015. "The knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship," Chapters, in: Global Entrepreneurship, Institutions and Incentives, chapter 7, pages 129-144, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    5. 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.
    6. Jinyoung Kim & Sangjoon John Lee & Gerald Marschke, 2009. "International Knowledge Flows: Evidence from an Inventor-Firm Matched Data Set," NBER Chapters, in: Science and Engineering Careers in the United States: An Analysis of Markets and Employment, pages 321-348, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Hussler, Caroline & Ronde, Patrick, 2007. "The impact of cognitive communities on the diffusion of academic knowledge: Evidence from the networks of inventors of a French university," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 288-302, March.
    8. Autant-Bernard, Corinne & Fadairo, Muriel & Massard, Nadine, 2013. "Knowledge diffusion and innovation policies within the European regions: Challenges based on recent empirical evidence," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 196-210.
    9. Nelson, Andrew J., 2009. "Measuring knowledge spillovers: What patents, licenses and publications reveal about innovation diffusion," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 994-1005, July.
    10. repec:bof:bofrdp:urn:nbn:fi:bof-201512111472 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Christian Helmers & Mark Rogers, 2015. "The impact of university research on corporate patenting: evidence from UK universities," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 1-24, February.
    12. repec:zbw:bofrdp:urn:nbn:fi:bof-201512111472 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Diego Puga, 2017. "The changing distribution of firms and workers across cities," Development Working Papers 418, Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano, University of Milano.
    14. Christ, Julian P., 2010. "Geographic concentration and spatial inequality: Two decades of EPO patenting at the level of European micro regions," Violette Reihe: Schriftenreihe des Promotionsschwerpunkts "Globalisierung und Beschäftigung" 32/2010, University of Hohenheim, Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Evangelisches Studienwerk.
    15. Francesco Quatraro & Stefano Usai, 2017. "Are knowledge flows all alike? Evidence from European regions," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(8), pages 1246-1258, August.
    16. Zacchia, Paolo, 2018. "Benefiting colleagues but not the city: Localized effects from the relocation of superstar inventors," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(5), pages 992-1005.
    17. Der-Shiuan Lee, 2018. "Towards Urban Resilience through Inter-City Networks of Co-Invention: A Case Study of U.S. Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-23, January.
    18. Miguelez, Ernest & Noumedem Temgoua, Claudia, 2020. "Inventor migration and knowledge flows: A two-way communication channel?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(9).
    19. Carlino, Gerald & Kerr, William R., 2015. "Agglomeration and Innovation," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 349-404, Elsevier.
    20. Jasjit Singh & Matt Marx, 2013. "Geographic Constraints on Knowledge Spillovers: Political Borders vs. Spatial Proximity," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 59(9), pages 2056-2078, September.
    21. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2015_027 is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Sijie Feng, 2020. "The proximity of ideas: An analysis of patent text using machine learning," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(7), pages 1-19, July.
    23. Marta Aloi & Joanna Poyago-Theotoky & Frédéric Tournemaine, 2022. "The Geography of Knowledge and R&D-led Growth [Real effects ofacademic research: comment]," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 22(6), pages 1149-1190.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    synchrotron; location; innovation; patents defaults; unobserved components model;
    All these keywords.

    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
    • O38 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Government Policy
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)
    • R58 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Regional Government Analysis - - - Regional Development Planning and Policy

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:ehl:lserod:58523. 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: LSERO Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lsepsuk.html .

    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.