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The Importance of regional Spill-over Effects for Eco-Innovations in German Start-ups

Author

Listed:
  • Jens Horbach

    (Faculty of Business, University of Applied Sciences Augsburg)

Abstract

Eco-innovation activities are crucial for the mitigation of climate change and further envi-ronmental problems. Start-up firms might play an important role for this relatively new in-novation field as they are predestinated for realizing completely new ideas compared to in-cumbent firms that are not willing to abandon their established innovation paths. On the oth-er side, start-ups have limited resources and need external regionally available input of knowledge. Based on data of the German IAB/ZEW Start-up Panel in combination with re-gional data at the NUTS 3 level, the paper analyzes the determinants of eco-innovation in start-up firms. The econometric results show that regional spill-over effects seem to be very important for eco-innovation activities of start-up firms. In regions where the existing stock of environmentally related patents is already high, the probability that a start-up firm realiz-es eco-innovations is significantly higher. Furthermore, eco-innovative start-ups show dis-proportionally more difficulties to get financing from external investors.

Suggested Citation

  • Jens Horbach, 2020. "The Importance of regional Spill-over Effects for Eco-Innovations in German Start-ups," SEEDS Working Papers 1620, SEEDS, Sustainability Environmental Economics and Dynamics Studies, revised Dec 2020.
    • Handle: RePEc:srt:wpaper:1620
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Regional spill-over effects; environmental innovation; probit models;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q55 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Technological Innovation
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes
    • C25 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Discrete Regression and Qualitative Choice Models; Discrete Regressors; Proportions; Probabilities

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