Developing Technology in the Vicinity of Science: Do Firms Really Benefit? An Empirical Assessment on the Level of Italian Provinces

24 Pages Posted: 4 Mar 2008

See all articles by Bart Leten

Bart Leten

KU Leuven - Faculty of Business and Economics (FEB)

Paolo Landoni

Polytechnic University of Turin - Department of Management and Production Engineering (DIGEP)

Bart Van Looy

KU Leuven - Department of Economics

Date Written: 2008

Abstract

The article examines whether firms benefit from the presence of universities when developing technology. By estimating regional knowledge production functions for 101 Italian regions, we observe a strong positive relation between industrial technological performance - measured by patents - and the local presence of universities. In addition, 'academic' regions witness higher levels of industrial technological output, the more pronounced the scientific eminence of the regional universities. Finally, our analysis indicates that the observed spillover effects are field-specific, with domains situated in the vicinity of science benefiting most. Together, these findings suggest complementary roles for scientific and industrial actors within regional innovation systems.

Keywords: Regional Innovation Systems, Technology transfer, University-Firm Knowledge Spillovers, Technology, Science, Firms, Research

Suggested Citation

Leten, Bart and Landoni, Paolo and Van Looy, Bart, Developing Technology in the Vicinity of Science: Do Firms Really Benefit? An Empirical Assessment on the Level of Italian Provinces (2008). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1101435 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1101435

Bart Leten (Contact Author)

KU Leuven - Faculty of Business and Economics (FEB) ( email )

Naamsestraat 69
Leuven, B-3000
Belgium

Paolo Landoni

Polytechnic University of Turin - Department of Management and Production Engineering (DIGEP) ( email )

Corso Duca degli Abruzzi, 24
Torino, Torino 10129
Italy

Bart Van Looy

KU Leuven - Department of Economics ( email )

Leuven, B-3000
Belgium

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
78
Abstract Views
795
Rank
559,655
PlumX Metrics