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Challenges for regional innovation policies in Central and Eastern Europe: Spatial concentration and foreign control of US patenting

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  • Balázs Lengyel
  • Tamás Sebestyén
  • Loet Leydesdorff

Abstract

On the basis of patent information available online at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) we point at two major and interconnected challenges that policy-makers face in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) when combating the lagging innovation performance. First, we address the spatial concentration by using a distribution analysis at the city level. The results suggest that patenting is concentrated in post-socialist territories more than in western nations and regions. However, there is not a single outstanding hub in CEE when one compares USPTO patents normalized for the respective population sizes. Secondly, we argue that dominance of foreign control over USPTO patents is mostly embodied in international co-operations at the individual level, and only rarely spilled-over to MNE subsidiaries. In our opinion, catching-up of CEE in terms of patenting is unlikely, unless innovation policy measures focus on growing hubs and target both domestic inventors and international relations of companies.

Suggested Citation

  • Balázs Lengyel & Tamás Sebestyén & Loet Leydesdorff, 2015. "Challenges for regional innovation policies in Central and Eastern Europe: Spatial concentration and foreign control of US patenting," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 42(1), pages 1-14.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:scippl:v:42:y:2015:i:1:p:1-14.
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    Cited by:

    1. Giuseppe Calignano, 2022. "Not all peripheries are the same: The importance of relative regional innovativeness in transnational innovation networks," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(1), pages 276-312, March.
    2. Lengyel, Balázs & Leydesdorff, Loet, 2015. "The Effects of FDI on Innovation Systems in Hungarian Regions: Where is the Synergy Generated?," MPRA Paper 73945, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Ivanova, Inga & Strand, Øivind & Kushnir, Duncan & Leydesdorff, Loet, 2017. "Economic and technological complexity: A model study of indicators of knowledge-based innovation systems," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 77-89.
    4. Iciar Dominguez Lacasa & Alexander Giebler & Slavo Radošević, 2017. "Technological capabilities in Central and Eastern Europe: an analysis based on priority patents," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 111(1), pages 83-102, April.
    5. Lengyel, Balázs & Elekes, Zoltán, 2020. "A külföldi tulajdonú vállalatok és az import szerepe a hazai térségek exportjának diverzifikációjában [Foreign-owned firms and the role of their imports in diversifying Hungarys exports]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(4), pages 352-378.

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