IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/zfwige/v61y2017i1p23-37n1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Unrelated und Related Variety im Kontext öffentlicher F&E: empirische Evidenz aus deutschen Arbeitsmarktregionen

Author

Listed:
  • Mewes Lars

    (Lars Mewes, Institut für ­Wirtschafts- und Kulturgeographie, Leibniz Universität ­Hannover, Schneiderberg 50, 30167 Hannover, Germany)

  • Broekel Tom

    (Tom Broekel, Institut für Wirtschafts- und Kulturgeographie, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Schneiderberg 50, 30167 Hannover, Germany; Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, Heidelberg­laan 2, 3584 CS Utrecht, The Netherlands)

Abstract

An increasing number of scientific contributions analyzes the importance of unrelated and related variety for regional knowledge creation. While unrelated variety fosters radical innovations and the creation of regional paths, related variety supports incremental novelties and regional branching. However, so far only little is known about the spatial distribution of unrelated and related variety and the relation between regional characteristics. Public R&D is one important actor of knowledge creation and diffusion and crucially affects regional R&D landscapes. This study analyzes the relationship between public R&D and unrelated and related variety in 258 German labor market regions. We use patent data to estimate unrelated and related variety for each region and describe both varieties’ spatial distribution. Our empirical results show that the regional organization of technologically unrelated and related R&D activities differs highly across space. The findings of our spatial regression indicate that regions with universities and polytechnics tend to be characterized by related variety.

Suggested Citation

  • Mewes Lars & Broekel Tom, 2017. "Unrelated und Related Variety im Kontext öffentlicher F&E: empirische Evidenz aus deutschen Arbeitsmarktregionen," ZFW – Advances in Economic Geography, De Gruyter, vol. 61(1), pages 23-37, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:zfwige:v:61:y:2017:i:1:p:23-37:n:1
    DOI: 10.1515/zfw-2015-0584
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/zfw-2015-0584
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/zfw-2015-0584?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Audretsch, David B. & Lehmann, Erik E. & Warning, Susanne, 2005. "University spillovers and new firm location," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(7), pages 1113-1122, September.
    2. J�rgen Essletzbichler, 2015. "Relatedness, Industrial Branching and Technological Cohesion in US Metropolitan Areas," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(5), pages 752-766, May.
    3. Frank Neffke & Martin Henning & Ron Boschma, 2011. "How Do Regions Diversify over Time? Industry Relatedness and the Development of New Growth Paths in Regions," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 87(3), pages 237-265, July.
    4. Breschi, Stefano & Lissoni, Francesco & Malerba, Franco, 2003. "Knowledge-relatedness in firm technological diversification," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 69-87, January.
    5. Carolina Castaldi & Koen Frenken & Bart Los, 2015. "Related Variety, Unrelated Variety and Technological Breakthroughs: An analysis of US State-Level Patenting," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(5), pages 767-781, May.
    6. Koen Frenken & Frank Van Oort & Thijs Verburg, 2007. "Related Variety, Unrelated Variety and Regional Economic Growth," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(5), pages 685-697.
    7. Zvi Griliches, 1998. "Patent Statistics as Economic Indicators: A Survey," NBER Chapters, in: R&D and Productivity: The Econometric Evidence, pages 287-343, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Tom Broekel & Holger Graf, 2012. "Public research intensity and the structure of German R&D networks: a comparison of 10 technologies," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(4), pages 345-372, April.
    9. Ron Martin, 2012. "Regional economic resilience, hysteresis and recessionary shocks," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 12(1), pages 1-32, January.
    10. Dosi, Giovanni, 1993. "Technological paradigms and technological trajectories : A suggested interpretation of the determinants and directions of technical change," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 102-103, April.
    11. Nooteboom, Bart & Van Haverbeke, Wim & Duysters, Geert & Gilsing, Victor & van den Oord, Ad, 2007. "Optimal cognitive distance and absorptive capacity," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(7), pages 1016-1034, September.
    12. Otto, Anne & Weyh, Antje, 2014. "Industry space and skill-relatedness of economic activities : comparative case studies of three eastern German automotive regions," IAB-Forschungsbericht 201408, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    13. Ron Boschma & Ron Martin, 2007. "Editorial: Constructing an evolutionary economic geography," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 7(5), pages 537-548, September.
    14. Wesley M. Cohen & Richard R. Nelson & John P. Walsh, 2000. "Protecting Their Intellectual Assets: Appropriability Conditions and Why U.S. Manufacturing Firms Patent (or Not)," NBER Working Papers 7552, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Uwe Cantner & Andreas Meder, 2009. "Regional Effects on Cooperative Innovation Activities and the Related Variety of Regional Knowledge Bases," Jena Economics Research Papers 2009-064, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
    16. Beise, Marian & Stahl, Harald, 1999. "Public research and industrial innovations in Germany," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 397-422, April.
    17. repec:fth:harver:1473 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Moshe Farjoun, 1994. "Beyond Industry Boundaries: Human Expertise, Diversification and Resource-Related Industry Groups," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 5(2), pages 185-199, May.
    19. Ron Boschma & Simona Iammarino, 2009. "Related Variety, Trade Linkages, and Regional Growth in Italy," Economic Geography, Clark University, vol. 85(3), pages 289-311, July.
    20. K. Frenken, 2007. "Entropy Statistics and Information Theory," Chapters, in: Horst Hanusch & Andreas Pyka (ed.), Elgar Companion to Neo-Schumpeterian Economics, chapter 33, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    21. Stefano Breschi & Francesco Lissoni, 2009. "Mobility of skilled workers and co-invention networks: an anatomy of localized knowledge flows," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 9(4), pages 439-468, July.
    22. Zoltan J. Acs & David B. Audretsch, 1989. "Patents as a Measure of Innovative Activity," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(2), pages 171-180, August.
    23. David, Paul A, 1985. "Clio and the Economics of QWERTY," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(2), pages 332-337, May.
    24. Tom Broekel & Thomas Brenner, 2011. "Regional factors and innovativeness: an empirical analysis of four German industries," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 47(1), pages 169-194, August.
    25. Ron Martin & Peter Sunley, 2006. "Path dependence and regional economic evolution," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 6(4), pages 395-437, August.
    26. Piras, Gianfranco, 2010. "sphet: Spatial Models with Heteroskedastic Innovations in R," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 35(i01).
    27. Todtling, Franz & Trippl, Michaela, 2005. "One size fits all?: Towards a differentiated regional innovation policy approach," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(8), pages 1203-1219, October.
    28. Paul Bishop & Peter Gripaios, 2010. "Spatial Externalities, Relatedness and Sector Employment Growth in Great Britain," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(4), pages 443-454.
    29. Matthias Brachert & Asier Alexander Kubis & Mirko Titze, 2013. "Related Variety, Unrelated Variety and Regional Functions: A spatial panel approach," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1301, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Jan 2013.
    30. Zoltan J. Acs & David B. Audretsch, 1989. "Patents' Innovative Activity," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 15(4), pages 373-376, Oct-Dec.
    31. Engelsman, E. C. & van Raan, A. F. J., 1994. "A patent-based cartography of technology," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 1-26, January.
    32. Wesley M. Cohen & Richard R. Nelson & John P. Walsh, 2003. "Links and Impacts: The Influence of Public Research on Industrial R&D," Chapters, in: Aldo Geuna & Ammon J. Salter & W. Edward Steinmueller (ed.), Science and Innovation, chapter 4, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    33. repec:bla:kyklos:v:42:y:1989:i:2:p:171-80 is not listed on IDEAS
    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. Brökel, Tom & Mewes, Lars, 2020. "Der Beitrag von Hochschulen zur Einbindung von Regionen in politisch induzierte Wissensnetzwerke," Forschungsberichte der ARL: Aufsätze, in: Postlep, Rolf-Dieter & Blume, Lorenz & Hülz, Martina (ed.), Hochschulen und ihr Beitrag für eine nachhaltige Regionalentwicklung, volume 11, pages 233-259, ARL – Akademie für Raumentwicklung in der Leibniz-Gemeinschaft.

    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. Tom Broekel & Lars Mewes, 2017. "Analyzing the impact of R&D policy on regional diversification," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1726, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Sep 2017.
    2. Lars Mewes & Tom Broekel, 2020. "Subsidized to change? The impact of R&D policy on regional technological diversification," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 65(1), pages 221-252, August.
    3. Matthias Firgo & Peter Mayerhofer, 2015. "Wissens-Spillovers und regionale Entwicklung - welche strukturpolitische Ausrichtung optimiert des Wachstum?," Working Paper Reihe der AK Wien - Materialien zu Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft 144, Kammer für Arbeiter und Angestellte für Wien, Abteilung Wirtschaftswissenschaft und Statistik.
    4. Matthias Firgo & Peter Mayerhofer, 2015. "Wissensintensive Unternehmensdienste, Wissens-Spillovers und regionales Wachstum. Teilprojekt 1: Wissens-Spillovers und regionale Entwicklung – Welche strukturpolitische Ausrichtung optimiert das Wach," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 58342.
    5. Qi Guo & Canfei He, 2015. "Evolution of Production Space and Regional Industrial Structures in China," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1521, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Jul 2015.
    6. Quatraro, Francesco & Scandura, Alessandra, 2020. "Regional patterns of unrelated technological diversification: the role of academic inventors," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis LEI & BRICK - Laboratory of Economics of Innovation "Franco Momigliano", Bureau of Research in Innovation, Complexity and Knowledge, Collegio 202001, University of Turin.
    7. Peter Mayerhofer & Peter Huber, 2019. "Notwendigkeit und Möglichkeiten kooperativer Raum- und Wirtschaftsentwicklung in der Metropolregion Wien. Problemfelder, Handlungsoptionen, Umsetzungsmöglichkeiten," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 69764.
    8. Apa, Roberta & De Noni, Ivan & Orsi, Luigi & Sedita, Silvia Rita, 2018. "Knowledge space oddity: How to increase the intensity and relevance of the technological progress of European regions," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(9), pages 1700-1712.
    9. Lars Coenen & Bjørn Asheim & Markus M Bugge & Sverre J Herstad, 2017. "Advancing regional innovation systems: What does evolutionary economic geography bring to the policy table?," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 35(4), pages 600-620, June.
    10. Marcel Bednarz & Tom Broekel, 2019. "The relationship of policy induced R&D networks and inter-regional knowledge diffusion," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 29(5), pages 1459-1481, November.
    11. Elekes, Zoltán, 2016. "A regionális növekedés új tényezői az evolúciós gazdaságföldrajzi kutatásokban. A változatosság és a technológiai közelség [The new factors of regional growth in research into evolutionary economic," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(3), pages 307-329.
    12. Silvia Rocchetta & Andrea Mina & Changjun Lee & Dieter F Kogler, 2022. "Technological knowledge spaces and the resilience of European regions," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 22(1), pages 27-51.
    13. Ron Boschma & Ron Martin, 2010. "The Aims and Scope of Evolutionary Economic Geography," Chapters, in: Ron Boschma & Ron Martin (ed.), The Handbook of Evolutionary Economic Geography, chapter 1, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    14. Barbero, Javier & Diukanova, Olga & Gianelle, Carlo & Salotti, Simone & Santoalha, Artur, 2024. "Technologically related diversification: One size does not fit all European regions," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(3).
    15. Robert Hassink & Dongheon Lee, 2017. "Industrial Variety and Structural Change in Korean Regional Manufacturing, 1992–2004," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(2), pages 246-264, June.
    16. Pierre-Alexandre Balland & Ron Boschma & Joan Crespo & David L. Rigby, 2017. "Smart Specialization policy in the EU: Relatedness, Knowledge Complexity and Regional Diversification," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1717, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Jul 2017.
    17. Matthias Firgo & Peter Mayerhofer, 2018. "(Un)related variety and employment growth at the sub‐regional level," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 97(3), pages 519-547, August.
    18. Tom Broekel & Matthias Brachert, 2015. "The structure and evolution of inter-sectoral technological complementarity in R&D in Germany from 1990 to 2011," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 25(4), pages 755-785, September.
    19. David Rigby, 2012. "The Geography of Knowledge Relatedness and Technological Diversification in U.S. Cities," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1218, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Oct 2012.
    20. Alessandra Colombelli & Francesco Quatraro, 2013. "New Firm Formation and the properties of local knowledge bases: Evidence from Italian NUTS 3 regions," Working Papers hal-00858989, HAL.

    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:bpj:zfwige:v:61:y:2017:i:1:p:23-37:n:1. 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: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyter.com .

    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.