|
on Innovation |
| By: | Maria del Sorbo (European Innovation Council, Bruxelles, Belgium); Carina Faber (European Innovation Council, Bruxelles, Belgium); Marco Grazzi (Dipartimento di Politica Economica, DISCE, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milano, Italy); Francesco Matteucci (European Innovation Council, Bruxelles, Belgium); Miriam Ruß (Wuppertal Institut für Klima, Umwelt, Energie gGmbH, Wuppertal, Germany) |
| Abstract: | A novel analysis of the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator pilot is presented, marking the first extensive examination of its selection process and the impact of its funding on deep tech ventures, in comparison to its predecessor, the SME Instrument. Utilizing applicant data from both programs, the study assesses the EIC’s effectiveness in targeting firms that align with its objectives of driving breakthrough innovation. The research reveals that the EIC Accelerator pilot attracts younger and smaller firms, in comparison to its predecessor. A significantly higher proportion of applicants are high tech and medium high-tech, indicating a strategic shift towards supporting cutting-edge technologies. Despite this shift, the analysis of funding determinants demonstrates a consistent pattern across both programs, emphasizing the influence of firm size, age, and patent portfolio. Further, a regression discontinuity design analysis is used to estimate the impact of funding during the EIC accelerator pilot on firm-level outcomes, such as patenting, revenue, or employment growth. However, the very recent launch of the program shrinks both the observations and the ex-post window, and due to large standard errors the point estimates are not significant at conventional levels. |
| Keywords: | Innovation Policy, Industrial policy, deep-tech, start-up, regression discontinuity, patent, firm growth |
| JEL: | O3 O31 O32 O38 L25 L26 |
| Date: | 2024–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctc:serie5:dipe0037 |
| By: | Naudé, Wim (RWTH Aachen University) |
| Abstract: | This paper identifies conceptual, methodological, and empirical flaws in the first African Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Index (AEEI) that was launched in 2024. These flaws limit the usefulness of the AEEI. Moreover, given that the both the notions of entrepreneurial ecosystems and composite indices are subject to subjectivity and are ad hoc, use of the AEEI can lead to simplistic policy conclusions; worse, a poorly constructed index can detract, mislead and be manipulated. It is concluded that if scholars are to embark on entrepreneurial ecosystem index building despite the concept lacking sound theoretical and empirical foundations, then it is best not to focus on the cross-country level, but to start at the sub-national level and follow best practice in composite index building. This will have the benefits of at least being more consistent with the ideas of entrepreneurship as being place dependent and that ecosystem measures should be concerned with what entrepreneurs want - and less on existing institutions. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship, Africa, entrepreneurial ecosystem, composite indices |
| JEL: | L26 L53 O55 |
| Date: | 2024–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17075 |
| By: | Elodie Carpentier; Jennifer Brant; Utsav Bahl; Aikaterini Kanellia |
| Abstract: | Innovation is a driver of competitive advantage and economic growth, with patent rights playing a critical supporting role. However, differential access to patent rights and relatively less participation in innovation can affect women and people from other historically underrepresented groups, thereby hindering progress and limiting the potential economic benefits generated by innovation. This paper reviews the global literature on these “diversity gaps†, identifies their key drivers, and documents international policies and initiatives that show promise in addressing them. Building upon Shapanka and Fechner (2018), it expands the geographic scope and reinforces the scientific basis of their analysis. The paper also provides recommendations for a wide range of stakeholders and offers insights for fostering more inclusive and equitable innovation ecosystems. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, Diversity Gaps, Intellectual Property |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wip:wpaper:86 |
| By: | Aleksandra Parteka (Gdansk University of Technology, Gdansk, Poland); Piotr PÅ‚atkowski (Gdansk University of Technology, Gdansk, Poland); Sabina Szymczak (Gdansk University of Technology, Gdansk, Poland); Joanna Wolszczak-Derlacz (Gdansk University of Technology, Gdansk, Poland) |
| Abstract: | This paper describes the construction of a microlevel database on knowledge creation by higher education institutions (KC-HEI), accompanying the Global Knowledge Input-Output database (KIO, Davies et al., 2023). The database was created as part of Project Rethink GCS. KC-HEI links PATSTAT information on the patenting activity of 866 universities (HEIs) in 31 European countries over four decades (1980-2019), using citation records and patent quality indicators from OECD/STI Micro-data. KC-HEI makes possible analysis of the Institutions' innovation performance across 128 internationally comparable technological sectors and, separately, with respect to Artificial Intelligence (AI). We also develop a unique crosswalk between PATSTAT and ETER that combines KC-HEI with other institution-level datasets (such as ETER and RISIS) and allows us to build a parallel dataset covering 785 patenting and 2101 non-patenting universities in Europe between 2011 and 2019. We illustrate the potential of the KC-HEI database, providing key stylised facts on the role of universities in knowledge creation, while documenting extreme core-periphery patterns of university patenting in Europe and detecting several key university-level factors that reinforce this disparity. |
| Keywords: | Patents, Innovation, Knowledge, Higher Education Institutions, University |
| JEL: | O31 O33 I23 |
| Date: | 2024–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gdk:wpaper:73 |
| By: | Dugoua, Eugenie; Dumas, Marion |
| Abstract: | Significant progress reconciling economic activities with a stable climate requires radical and rapid technological change in multiple sectors. Here, we study the case of the automotive industry’s transition to electric vehicles, which involved choosing between two different technologies: fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) or battery electric vehicles (BEVs). We know very little about the role that such technological uncertainty plays in shaping the strategies of firms, the efficacy of technological and climate policies, and the speed of technological transitions. Here, we explain that the choice between these two technologies posed a global and multisectoral coordination game, due to technological complementarities and the global organization of the industry’s markets and supply chains. We use data on patents, supply-chain relationships, and national policies to document historical trends and industry dynamics for these two technologies. While the industry initially focused on FCEVs, around 2008, the technological paradigm shifted to BEVs. National-level policies had a limited ability to coordinate global players around a type of clean car technology. Instead, exogenous innovation spillovers from outside the automotive sector played a critical role in solving this coordination game in favor of BEVs. Our results suggest that global and cross-sectoral technology policies may be needed to accelerate low-carbon technological change in other sectors, such as shipping or aviation. This enriches the existing theoretical paradigm, which ignores the scale of interdependencies between technologies and firms. |
| Keywords: | energy innovation; electric cars; fuel cells; coordination; low-carbon transitions |
| JEL: | J1 |
| Date: | 2024–06–24 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:124029 |
| By: | Christiansen, Anna Gade (Department of Economics, Copenhagen Business School); Llorca, Manuel (Department of Economics, Copenhagen Business School); Jamasb, Tooraj (Department of Economics, Copenhagen Business School); Zhao, Tian (School of Economics and Management, Beihang University, China) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates how energy networks in the European Union can be encouraged to increase innovation to reach the decarbonisation goals. We design and analyse a tripar-tite evolutionary game model with the European Commission, national energy regulators, and energy network companies being the groups of players in the game. We find that the only evolutionary stable state of the game is where the three groups of players choose cooperation strategies. For the Commission and the national regulatory authorities, induc-ing innovation involves adopting new policy and regulatory mechanisms, respectively. For the energy networks, it involves investing in innovation with decarbonisation goals. We assume that the initial probability of the Commission choosing its cooperation strategy is relatively high and the initial probabilities of the regulators and the energy networks choosing cooperation strategies is relatively low. Numerical simulations suggest that the convergence rate to the evolutionary stable state can be increased if the Commission in-creases the probability of energy networks receiving external funding and penalty im-posed on regulators to adapt their incentive mechanisms to induce innovation. The Com-mission clearly plays a key role in reaching the stable state. |
| Keywords: | Energy networks; innovation; regulation; green transition; tripartite evolutionary game |
| JEL: | C70 L50 L90 O30 Q40 Q50 |
| Date: | 2024–06–24 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cbsnow:2024_011 |
| By: | CALDAROLA Bernardo; MAZZILLI Dario; NAPOLITANO Lorenzo (European Commission - JRC); PATELLI Aurelio; SBARDELLA Angelica |
| Abstract: | Economic Complexity (EC) methods have gained increasing popularity across fields and disciplines. In particular, the EC toolbox has proved particularly promising in the study of complex and interrelated phenomena, such as the transition towards a greener economy. Using the EC approach, scholars have been investigating the relationship between EC and sustainability, proposing to identify the distinguishing characteristics of green products and to assess the readiness of productive and technological structures for the sustainability transition. This article proposes to review and summarize the data, methods, and empirical literature that are relevant to the study of the sustainability transition from an EC perspective. We review three distinct but connected blocks of literature on EC and environmental sustainability. First, we survey the evidence linking measures of EC to indicators related to environmental sustainability. Second, we review articles that strive to assess the green competitiveness of productive systems. Third, we examine evidence on green technological development and its connection to non-green knowledge bases. Finally, we summarize the findings for each block and identify avenues for further research in this recent and growing body of empirical literature. |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:wpaper:202401 |
| By: | Pinelopi K. Goldberg; Réka Juhász; Nathan J. Lane; Giulia Lo Forte; Jeff Thurk |
| Abstract: | The resurgence of subsidies and industrial policies has raised concerns about their potential inefficiency and alignment with multilateral principles. Critics warn that such policies may divert resources to less efficient firms and provoke retaliatory measures from other countries, leading to a wasteful "subsidy race." However, subsidies for sectors with inherent cross-border externalities can have positive global effects. This paper examines these issues within the semiconductor industry: a key driver of economic growth and innovation with potentially significant learning-by-doing and strategic importance due to its dual-use applications. Our study aims to: (1) document and quantify recent industrial policies in the global semiconductor sector, (2) explore the rationale behind these policies, and (3) evaluate their economic impacts, particularly their cross-border effects, and compatibility with multilateral principles. We employ historical analysis, natural language processing, and a model-based approach to measure government support and its impacts. Our findings indicate that government support has been vital for the industry's growth, with subsidies being the primary form of support. They also highlight the importance of cross-border technology transfers through FDI, business and research collaborations, and technology licensing. China, despite significant subsidies, does not stand out as an outlier compared to other countries, given its market size. Preliminary model estimates indicate that while learning-by-doing exists, it is smaller than commonly believed, with significant international spillovers. These spillovers likely reflect cross-country technology transfers and the role of fabless clients in disseminating knowledge globally through their interactions with foundries. Such cross-border spillovers are not merely accidental but result from deliberate actions by market participants that cannot be taken for granted. Firms may choose to share knowledge across borders or restrict access to frontier technology, thereby excluding certain countries. Future research will use model estimates to simulate the quantitative implications of subsidies and to explore the dynamics of a ``subsidy race'' in the semiconductor industry. |
| JEL: | F13 F61 L63 N60 O38 |
| Date: | 2024–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32651 |
| By: | Chen, Kevin; Hu, Shuang; Ji, Chen |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Environmental Economics And Policy |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea22:344015 |
| By: | Emmanuel Dhyne (Economics and Research Department, National Bank of Belgium); Pablo Muylle (Ghent University) |
| Abstract: | While past decades were characterized by economic liberalization and deregulation, there re-mains an enduring presence of political influence over the private economy. Such influence can either benefit (e.g. government support addressed at survival and growth prospects) or harm (e.g. reduced efficiency and innovation) firms. This study investigates the impact of government ownership among suppliers on the behavior and performance of privately-held firms. We argue that this channel of government influence on the private economy plays a prominent role, in addition to that of political connections (i.e. the direct presence of politicians on the boards of firms), a more established channel of political influence. Leveraging Belgian firm-level trans-action data, the research reveals that purchasing inputs from state suppliers is associated with lower firm profitability and productivity, along with higher leverage and employment. Notably, the relationship between state suppliers and performance persists even when controlling for the direct presence of politicians on the boards of firms. These findings underscore the influence of government support on firms’ behavior and financial performance and highlight the importance of considering both state suppliers and political connections when assessing the comprehensive impact of government influence on private enterprises |
| Keywords: | Governmental Influence, SOE Suppliers, Political Connections, Economic Liberalization, Firm Performance. |
| JEL: | D22 D72 G38 H11 H32 L33 |
| Date: | 2024–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbb:reswpp:202407-451 |
| By: | Alexandre Truc (Université Côte d'Azur, CNRS, GREDEG, France); Muriel Dal Pont Legrand (Université Côte d'Azur, CNRS, GREDEG, France) |
| Abstract: | In the present paper, we investigate the diffusion of agent-based models (ABMs) in economics using a quantitative approach to better understand how the introduction of this tool in economics influenced the structure of the field as well as research programs in recent years. Our analysis shows that the proliferation of ABMs has resulted in the emergence of diverse research subfields rather than one unified research program. Most notably, we highlight how interdisciplinarity plays a pivotal role in understanding the diversity of ways in which agent-based models are integrated into economics. While in some cases ABMs are used by economists as an imported tool to address disciplinary-oriented questions in dedicated subfields journals, in other cases ABMs are a vehicle for more interdisciplinary transfers and interactions (e.g., interdisciplinary co-authorship) that are more challenging to the traditional frontiers of economics. |
| Keywords: | Agent-Based, Interdisciplinarity, Social Network Analysis |
| JEL: | B2 B21 B4 D9 |
| Date: | 2024–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gre:wpaper:2024-19 |
| By: | Gabriel Chodorow-Reich; Plamen T. Nenov; Vitor Santos; Alp Simsek |
| Abstract: | We use data on stock portfolios of Norwegian households to show that stock market wealth increases entrepreneurship by relaxing financial constraints. Our research design isolates idiosyncratic variation in household-level stock market returns. An increase in stock market wealth increases the propensity to start a firm, with the response concentrated in households with moderate levels of financial wealth, for whom a 20 percent increase in wealth due to a positive stock return increases the likelihood to start a firm by about 20%, and in years when the aggregate stock market return in Norway is high. We develop a method to study the effect of wealth on firm outcomes that corrects for the bias introduced by selection into entrepreneurship. Higher wealth causally increases firm profitability, an indication that it relaxes would-be entrepreneurs’ financial constraints. Consistent with this interpretation, the pass-through from stock wealth into equity in the new firm is one-for-one. |
| JEL: | E22 E44 G50 L26 |
| Date: | 2024–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32643 |
| By: | Cheng, Yang; Hu, Lianyi |
| Keywords: | Research And Development/ Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Labor And Human Capital, Resource/Energy Economics And Policy |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea22:343645 |
| By: | Jan Knoepfle; Julia Salmi |
| Abstract: | We analyze the dynamic tradeoff between the generation and the disclosure of evidence. Agents are tempted to delay investing in a new technology in order to learn from information generated by the experiences of others. This informational free-riding is collectively harmful as it slows down innovation adoption. A welfare-maximizing designer can delay the disclosure of previously generated information in order to speed up adoption. The optimal policy transparently discloses bad news and delays good news. This finding resonates with regulation demanding that fatal breakdowns be reported promptly. Remarkably, the designer's intervention makes all agents better off. |
| Date: | 2024–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2406.11728 |
| By: | Christian Reimsbach-Kounatze; Andras Molnar |
| Abstract: | Data portability enhances access to and sharing of data across digital services and platforms. It can empower users to play a more active role in the re-use of their data and can help stimulate competition and innovation by fostering interoperability while reducing switching costs and lock-in effects. However, the effectiveness of data portability in enhancing competition depends on the terms and conditions of data transfer and the extent to which competitors can make use of the data effectively. Additionally, there are potential downsides: data portability measures may unintentionally stifle competition in fast-evolving markets where interoperability requirements may disproportionately burden SMEs and start-ups. Data portability can also increase digital security and privacy risks by enabling data transfers to multiple destinations. This note presents the following five dimensions essential for designing and implementing data portability frameworks: sectoral scope; beneficiaries; type of data; legal obligations; and operational modality. |
| Keywords: | data portability |
| Date: | 2024–06–29 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:stiaad:25-en |