IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cir/cirwor/2008s-09.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Knowledge Transfers between Canadian Business Enterprises and Universities: Does Distance Matter?

Author

Listed:
  • Julio Rosa
  • Pierre Mohnen

Abstract

This study examines whether the transfer of knowledge flows from universities to enterprises in Canada is hampered by the geographical distance that separates them. The transfer of knowledge flows are measured by the amount of R&D payments from business enterprises to universities that are directly reported in Statistics Canada's survey on Research and Development in Canadian Industry. We use data from the 1997 to 2001 surveys. After controlling for unobserved individual heterogeneity, selection bias as well as for other covariates that could affect the extent of industry-university R&D transactions such as absorptive capacity, foreign control, belonging to the same province, past experience with a given university and other firm and university characteristics, it is found that a 10% increase in distance decreases the proportion of total R&D paid to a university by 1.4 percent for enterprises that do not report any codified transfer of knowledge flow, and by half as much for enterprises that report codified knowledge flows. Cette étude vise à tester si le transfert de connaissance d'une université à une enterprise au Canada est affecté par la distance géographique qui les sépare. Les flux de transfert de connaissance sont mesurés par les montants de R-D payés par les entreprises aux universités, qui sont rapportés dans les enquêtes Recherche et développement dans l'industrie canadienne menées par Statistique Canada. Nous utilisons les enquêtes se rapportant aux années 1997 à 2001. Après avoir contrôlé pour l'hétérogénéité individuelle inobservable, le biais de sélection, et des facteurs observables qui peuvent influencer le montant de transactions de recherche entre universités et entreprises, tels que la capacité d'absorption des entreprises, l'appartenance à une même province, l'existence de transactions passées entre les partenaires, et d'autres caratéristiques propres aux entreprises et aux universités, nous trouvons que pour toute augmentation de 10 % de la distance qui sépare une université et une entreprise, le flux de transfert de connaissance se réduit de 1,4 % pour les entreprises qui ont des flux de transfert codifiés de connaissance et de 0,07 % pour celles qui n'ont que des flux de transfert tacites.

Suggested Citation

  • Julio Rosa & Pierre Mohnen, 2008. "Knowledge Transfers between Canadian Business Enterprises and Universities: Does Distance Matter?," CIRANO Working Papers 2008s-09, CIRANO.
    • Handle: RePEc:cir:cirwor:2008s-09
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://cirano.qc.ca/files/publications/2008s-09.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fischer, Manfred M. & Scherngell, Thomas & Jansenberger, Eva, 2005. "The Geography of Knowledge Spillovers between High-Technology Firms in Europe. Evidence from a Spatial Interaction Modelling Perspective," MPRA Paper 77786, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Bruce Kogut & Udo Zander, 1992. "Knowledge of the Firm, Combinative Capabilities, and the Replication of Technology," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 3(3), pages 383-397, August.
    3. Veugelers, Reinhilde & Cassiman, Bruno, 2005. "R&D cooperation between firms and universities. Some empirical evidence from Belgian manufacturing," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 23(5-6), pages 355-379, June.
    4. Adam B. Jaffe & Manuel Trajtenberg & Rebecca Henderson, 1993. "Geographic Localization of Knowledge Spillovers as Evidenced by Patent Citations," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 108(3), pages 577-598.
    5. Wolfgang Keller, 2002. "Geographic Localization of International Technology Diffusion," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(1), pages 120-142, March.
    6. Carrincazeaux, Christophe & Lung, Yannick & Rallet, Alain, 2001. "Proximity and localisation of corporate R&D activities," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 777-789, May.
    7. Wolfgang Keller, 2004. "International Technology Diffusion," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 42(3), pages 752-782, September.
    8. Luc Anselin & Attila Varga & Zoltan Acs, 2008. "Local Geographic Spillovers Between University Research and High Technology Innovations," Chapters, in: Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy, chapter 9, pages 95-121, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. Jaffe, Adam B, 1989. "Real Effects of Academic Research," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(5), pages 957-970, December.
    10. Audretsch, David B. & Feldman, Maryann P., 2004. "Knowledge spillovers and the geography of innovation," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: J. V. Henderson & J. F. Thisse (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 61, pages 2713-2739, Elsevier.
    11. Stephan, Paula E., 2010. "The Economics of Science," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 217-273, Elsevier.
    12. Bottazzi, Laura & Peri, Giovanni, 2003. "Innovation and spillovers in regions: Evidence from European patent data," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(4), pages 687-710, August.
    13. Anthony Arundel & Aldo Geuna, 2004. "Proximity and the use of public science by innovative European firms," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(6), pages 559-580.
    14. 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.
    15. Masao Nakamura & Pierre Mohnen & Cathy Hoareau, 2003. "What type of enterprise forges close links with universities and government labs? Evidence from CIS 2," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(2-3), pages 133-145.
    16. Jarle Moen, 2005. "Is Mobility of Technical Personnel a Source of R&D Spillovers?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 23(1), pages 81-114, January.
    17. Fontana, Roberto & Geuna, Aldo & Matt, Mireille, 2006. "Factors affecting university-industry R&D projects: The importance of searching, screening and signalling," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 309-323, March.
    18. Lynne G. Zucker & Michael R. Darby & Jeff Armstrong, 1994. "Intellectual Capital and the Firm: The Technology of Geographically Localized Knowledge Spillovers," NBER Working Papers 4946, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Peter Thompson & Melanie Fox-Kean, 2005. "Patent Citations and the Geography of Knowledge Spillovers: A Reassessment: Reply," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(1), pages 465-466, March.
    20. Peter Thompson & Melanie Fox-Kean, 2005. "Patent Citations and the Geography of Knowledge Spillovers: A Reassessment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(1), pages 450-460, March.
    21. Mohnen, Pierre & Rose, Antoine & Rosa, Julio, 2006. "Buying and Selling Research and Development Services, 1997 to 2002," MERIT Working Papers 2006-018, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    22. Myriam Mariani, 2002. "Next to Production or to Technological Clusters? The Economics and Management of R&D Location," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 6(2), pages 131-152, May.
    23. Mansfield, Edwin & Lee, Jeong-Yeon, 1996. "The modern university: contributor to industrial innovation and recipient of industrial R&D support," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 25(7), pages 1047-1058, October.
    24. Charlie Karlsson & Martin Andersson, 2009. "The Location of Industry R&D and the Location of University R&D: How Are They Related?," Advances in Spatial Science, in: Charlie Karlsson & Ake E. Andersson & Paul C. Cheshire & Roger R. Stough (ed.), New Directions in Regional Economic Development, chapter 0, pages 267-290, Springer.
    25. Audretsch, David B & Stephan, Paula E, 1996. "Company-Scientist Locational Links: The Case of Biotechnology," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(3), pages 641-652, June.
    26. Laura Bottazzi & Giovanni Peri, "undated". "Innovation, Demand and Knowledge Spillovers: Theory and Evidence from European Regions," Working Papers 153, IGIER (Innocenzo Gasparini Institute for Economic Research), Bocconi University.
    27. Charlie Karlsson & Martin Andersson, 2005. "Company R&D and University R&D - How Are They Related?," ERSA conference papers ersa05p305, European Regional Science Association.
    28. Stefano Breschi & Francesco Lissoni, 2006. "Mobility of inventors and the geography of knowledge spillovers. New evidence on US data," KITeS Working Papers 184, KITeS, Centre for Knowledge, Internationalization and Technology Studies, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy, revised Oct 2006.
    29. Corinne Autant-Bernard, 2001. "The Geography Of Knowledge Spillovers And Technological Proximity," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(4), pages 237-254.
    30. Müge Ozman, 2006. "Networks and Innovation : A Survey of Empirical Literature," Working Papers of BETA 2006-07, Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée, UDS, Strasbourg.
    31. Manfred M. Fischer & Josef Fröhlich (ed.), 2001. "Knowledge, Complexity and Innovation Systems," Advances in Spatial Science, Springer, number 978-3-662-04546-6.
    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. A.A. Egbetokun & A.A. Adeniyi & W.O. Siyanbola, 2012. "On the capability of SMEs to innovate: the cable and wire manufacturing subsector in Nigeria," International Journal of Learning and Intellectual Capital, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 9(1/2), pages 64-85.
    2. Davide Fantino & Alessandra Mori & Diego Scalise, 2015. "Collaboration Between Firms and Universities in Italy: The Role of a Firm’s Proximity to Top-Rated Departments," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 1(2), pages 219-251, July.
    3. Laura Abramovsky & Helen Simpson, 2011. "Geographic proximity and firm--university innovation linkages: evidence from Great Britain," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 11(6), pages 949-977, November.
    4. Azagra-Caro, Joaquín M. & Barberá-Tomás, David & Edwards-Schachter, Mónica & Tur, Elena M., 2017. "Dynamic interactions between university-industry knowledge transfer channels: A case study of the most highly cited academic patent," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 463-474.
    5. Rudkin , Simon & He, Ming & Chen, Yang, 2020. "Attraction or Repulsion? Testing Coagglomeration of Innovation between Firm and University," ADB Economics Working Paper Series 608, Asian Development Bank.
    6. Bettina Becker, 2013. "The Determinants of R&D Investment: A Survey of the Empirical Research," Discussion Paper Series 2013_09, Department of Economics, Loughborough University, revised Sep 2013.
    7. Dirk Engel & Michael Rothgang & Verena Eckl, 2016. "Systemic aspects of R&D policy subsidies for R&D collaborations and their effects on private R&D," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(2), pages 206-222, February.
    8. Ian Currie, 2011. "Government Policies to Encourage University-Business Research Collaboration in Canada: Lessons from the US, the UK and Australia," CSLS Research Reports 2011-02, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
    9. Robert Huggins & Daniel Prokop & Piers Thompson, 2020. "Universities and open innovation: the determinants of network centrality," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 45(3), pages 718-757, June.
    10. Belderbos, René & Mohnen, Pierre, 2020. "Inter-sectoral and international R&D spillovers," MERIT Working Papers 2020-047, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    11. A.A. Egbetokun & A.A. Adeniyi & W.O. Siyanbola & O.O. Olamade, 2012. "The types and intensity of innovation in developing country SMEs: evidences from a Nigerian subsectoral study," International Journal of Learning and Intellectual Capital, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 9(1/2), pages 98-112.
    12. Mowery, David C. & Ziedonis, Arvids A., 2015. "Markets versus spillovers in outflows of university research," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 50-66.
    13. Davide Fantino & Alessandra Mori & Diego Scalise, 2012. "Collaboration between firms and universities in Italy: the role of a firm�s proximity to top-rated departments," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 884, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.

    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. Buenstorf, Guido & Schacht, Alexander, 2013. "We need to talk – or do we? Geographic distance and the commercialization of technologies from public research," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 465-480.
    2. Zoltán J. Ács & Pontus Braunerhjelm & David B. Audretsch & Bo Carlsson, 2015. "The knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship," Chapters, in: Global Entrepreneurship, Institutions and Incentives, chapter 7, pages 129-144, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. Carlino, Gerald & Kerr, William R., 2015. "Agglomeration and Innovation," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 349-404, Elsevier.
    4. Autant-Bernard, Corinne, 2001. "Science and knowledge flows: evidence from the French case," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(7), pages 1069-1078, August.
    5. Autant-Bernard, Corinne & Fadairo, Muriel & Massard, Nadine, 2013. "Knowledge diffusion and innovation policies within the European regions: Challenges based on recent empirical evidence," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 196-210.
    6. Andrea Bonaccorsi & Cinzia Daraio, 2013. "Knowledge spillover effects at the sub-regional level. Theory and estimation," DIAG Technical Reports 2013-13, Department of Computer, Control and Management Engineering, Universita' degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza".
    7. Elvira Cerver-Romero & João J. Ferreira & Cristina Fernandes, 2020. "A scientometric analysis of knowledge spillover research," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 45(3), pages 780-805, June.
    8. repec:bof:bofrdp:urn:nbn:fi:bof-201512111472 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. repec:zbw:bofrdp:urn:nbn:fi:bof-201512111472 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Mirja Meyborg & Axel Schaffer, 2014. "Regional and global collaborations for knowledge in German academia," Review of Regional Research: Jahrbuch für Regionalwissenschaft, Springer;Gesellschaft für Regionalforschung (GfR), vol. 34(2), pages 157-176, October.
    11. Carlino, Gerald & Kerr, William R., 2015. "Agglomeration and Innovation," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 349-404, Elsevier.
    12. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2015_027 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Andrea Bonaccorsi & Daniele Biancardi & Mabel Sanchez Barrioluengo & Federico Biagi, 2019. "Study on Higher Education Institutions and Local Development," JRC Research Reports JRC117272, Joint Research Centre.
    14. Thomas Doring & Jan Schnellenbach, 2006. "What do we know about geographical knowledge spillovers and regional growth?: A survey of the literature," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(3), pages 375-395.
    15. Christos Kolympiris & Nicholas Kalaitzandonakes, 2013. "Geographic scope of proximity effects among small life sciences firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(4), pages 1059-1086, May.
    16. Marta Aloi & Joanna Poyago-Theotoky & Frédéric Tournemaine, 2022. "The Geography of Knowledge and R&D-led Growth [Real effects ofacademic research: comment]," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 22(6), pages 1149-1190.
    17. 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.
    18. Hyuk-Soo Kwon & Jihong Lee & Sokbae Lee & Ryungha Oh, 2022. "Knowledge spillovers and patent citations: trends in geographic localization, 1976–2015," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(3), pages 123-147, April.
    19. Rachel Levy & Pascale Roux & Sandrine Wolff, 2009. "An analysis of science–industry collaborative patterns in a large European University," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 34(1), pages 1-23, February.
    20. Ernest Miguélez & Rosina Moreno, 2013. "Do Labour Mobility and Technological Collaborations Foster Geographical Knowledge Diffusion? The Case of European Regions," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(2), pages 321-354, June.
    21. Tobias Schlegel & Curdin Pfister & Dietmar Harhoff & Uschi Backes-Gellner, 2022. "Innovation effects of universities of applied sciences: an assessment of regional heterogeneity," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 47(1), pages 63-118, February.
    22. Chen, Guanghua & Yang, Guoliang & He, Feng & Chen, Kaihua, 2019. "Exploring the effect of political borders on university-industry collaborative research performance: Evidence from China’s Guangdong province," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 82, pages 58-69.
    23. Olivier Parent & James P. LeSage, 2008. "Using the variance structure of the conditional autoregressive spatial specification to model knowledge spillovers," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(2), pages 235-256.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    knowledge transfer; university/enterprise; codified/tacit; spatial proximity.; transfert de connaissance; entreprise/université; proximité spatiale; connaissance tacite/codifiée.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O3 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:cir:cirwor:2008s-09. 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: Webmaster (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ciranca.html .

    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.