Does local technological innovation lead to local development? A policy perspective

Abstract

Much recent work on innovation and regions takes as a starting point Marshallian districts, variously updated by concepts such as clusters, regional innovation systems and learning regions. The basic premise is that certain regional dynamics are conducive to innovation. This work has inspired regional development agencies, which regularly implement local innovation policies with the hope of stimulating local economic development. However, we argue in this paper that there is no necessary connection between local innovativeness and local development: indeed, it is quite possible that innovation in region A leads to growth (of employment and income) in region B, particularly if region B is better suited to developing the economic potential of innovations. In this paper the conceptual underpinnings of this argument are developed, and an exploratory empirical analysis undertaken. Using Canadian data (patent applications and census data for 203 urban labour markets) this paper explores whether there is a connection between local applications and local employment and income growth. The results show that there is virtually no connection between local innovation (as measured by local applications) and local development, and that local development is closely connected with access to markets, local industrial structure and wider‐scale regional factors. Resumen. Muchos de los estudios recientes sobre innovación y regiones toman como punto de partida los distritos industriales de Marshall, actualizados de varias formas por conceptos tales como los conglomerados, los sistemas de innovación regional y las regiones de aprendizaje. La premisa básica es que ciertas dinámicas regionales conllevan innovación. Este trabajo ha inspirado a agencias de desarrollo regional, que regularmente implementan políticas locales de innovación con la esperanza de estimular el desarrollo económico local. Sin embargo, nuestro argumento en este artículo es que no hay necesariamente una conexión entre la innovación local y el desarrollo local: de hecho, es bastante posible que la innovación en la región A provoque un crecimiento (del empleo y los ingresos) en la región B, especialmente si la región B está mejor adaptada al desarrollo del potencial económico de las innovaciones. En este artículo se desarrollan los fundamentos conceptuales de este argumento, y se realiza un análisis empírico preliminar. Mediante el uso de datos de Canadá (solicitudes de patentes y datos censuales de 203 mercados laborales urbanos), este artículo explora la posible conexión entre las solicitudes locales y el crecimiento local en empleo e ingresos. Los resultados muestran que virtualmente no hay conexión entre la innovación local (medida en forma de solicitudes locales) y el desarrollo local, y que el desarrollo local está estrechamente relacionado con el acceso a los mercados, la estructura industrial local y factores regionales de gran escala.

Far from the Madding Crowd: Slow Innovators, Information Value, and the Geography of Innovation

“…Even though clusters and cities are not necessary for initial innovation, unless an innovator moves towards a city where resources and market information can be accessed (Malecki ; Shearmur and Bonnet ), innovation will tend to remain parochial. The fact that knowledge and interaction requirements evolve during the course of the innovation process has been noted by Moodysson and Jonsson () in their paper on bio‐tech companies: “The earliest exploration phases are typically characterized by a high degree of individual knowledge, while later phases of development often involve more collective knowledge.” This observation—focussing as it does on innovation in a cutting‐edge research‐based industry—suggests a move from reliance on internal capacities (stage 1) towards more collaboration (stage 2) as innovation progresses.…”

Innovation Districts as a Strategy for Urban Economic Development: A Comparison of Four Cases.

“…Innovation activity, and thus the spillover and networking benefits that accrue from spatial concentration, may decline as firms mature or industry life cycles progress, raising the issue of whether innovation and entrepreneurship lead to substantial economic growth in the same location (Audretsch and Feldman 1996b). Rapid transportation and sophisticated telecommunication, enhanced firm and employee mobility, greater division of the product life cycle across firms or among sites of multi-establishment firms, and hindrances to scaling production in urban locations all are factors that may limit the ultimate impact of innovation districts on the politically critical metrics of jobs and income (Potter and Watts 2011;Shearmur and Bonnet 2011;Duranton and Kerr 2015). Moreover, if firm profits can be improved by relocating activity to less costly or more attractive locations once innovation intensity declines and proximity advantages diminish, then it may be the economically troubled, lagging, lessdesirable cities and regions that are least likely to reap the long-term benefits from creating active and successful innovation districts.…”

Innowacje i innowacyjność lokalna w ponadlokalnej perspektywie zarządzania strategicznego rozwojem lokalnym małych miast / Innovations and local innovativeness in supra-local perspective of local development strategic governance of small towns

“…Należy wspomnieć, iż w literaturze naukowej pojawiają się głosy o braku związku między innowacjami i rozwojem lokalnym (por. [Shearmur, Bonnet 2011]). Stanowią one jednak rzadkość.…”