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Local knowledge composition and the emergence of entrepreneurial activities across industries: evidence from Italian NUTS-3 regions

Author

Listed:
  • A. Colombelli
  • Gianluca Orsatti

    (GREThA - Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée - UB - Université de Bordeaux - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • F. Quatraro

Abstract

This paper investigates how the characteristics of the local knowledge bases, stemming from the accumulation and recombination of competences over time, spur the emergence of new entrepreneurial activities across industries at the Italian provincial level. To do so, we exploit information on the number of new firms appearing across diverse industries in each Italian NUTS-3 region (province) from 1997 to 2009 as an indicator of local entrepreneurial activity. To build indicators of both local technological knowledge stocks and local technological knowledge compositions, we collect information on patenting activity at the provincial level. Our findings suggest that the availability of local knowledge spillovers is not sufficient per se to trigger the creation of new firms. Indeed, looking at the properties of local knowledge bases, the rate of new firm formation appears to be higher in contexts featured by knowledge stemming from search activities shaped by the accumulated competences and dispersed across a wide area of the technology landscape. This suggests that, in Italy, entrepreneurship is mostly related to the exploitation of technological knowledge accumulated over time rather than to profiting from radical breakthroughs. © 2019, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.

Suggested Citation

  • A. Colombelli & Gianluca Orsatti & F. Quatraro, 2021. "Local knowledge composition and the emergence of entrepreneurial activities across industries: evidence from Italian NUTS-3 regions," Post-Print hal-03435124, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03435124
    DOI: 10.1007/s11187-019-00192-3
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    Cited by:

    1. Xin Gao, 2025. "Research on the Growth Mechanism of Entrepreneurship by Knowledge Coupling Based on Multi-agent Interaction," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 16(2), pages 10639-10661, June.
    2. Nicola Matteucci & Raffaella Santolini & Silvio Di Fabio, 2023. "ICT diffusion in public administrations and business dynamics: Evidence from Italian municipalities," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 94(4), pages 1233-1271, December.
    3. Fandi Yang & Peng Yuan & Gongxiong Jiang, 2022. "Knowledge Spillovers, Institutional Environment, and Entrepreneurship: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-27, November.
    4. Martin Queissner & Lennard Stolz & Matthias Weiss, 2025. "A meta-analysis of entrepreneurial ecosystem elements and entrepreneurial activity," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 64(4), pages 1817-1847, April.
    5. García-Lillo, Francisco & Seva-Larrosa, Pedro & Sánchez-García, Eduardo, 2023. "What is going on in entrepreneurship research? A bibliometric and SNA analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    6. Cristiano Antonelli & Alessandra Colombelli, 2025. "The creative response: the Schumpeterian legacy," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 15(2), pages 331-347, June.

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