The spatial hierarchy of technological change and economic development in Europe

Abstract

This paper discusses the possibility of a spatial hierarchy of innovation and growth dynamics in Europe. A spatial hierarchy is understood as a geographical clustering of regions, where important differences exist in terms of innovation and growth dynamics between the clusters. The literature on regional growth and innovation is briefly scanned. After this, a database on European regional growth and innovation dynamics is presented. Spatial correlation analysis and spatial principal components analysis are used to explore the possibility of a spatial hierarchy in Europe. The results point to a hierarchy consisting of four groups: South Europe, East Europe, and two groups in West and North Europe. Growth and innovation performance in these clusters are discussed, and some policy conclusions are drawn. JEL Classification O33 · R3

Club convergence in innovation activity across European regions

“…The technology‐gap approach assumes that economic growth is the result of two forces that operate in opposition: innovation, which generates a technology gap; and diffusion and imitation, which tend to reduce it (Fagerberg, ). Therefore, technology can be both a convergence factor (by means of imitation) and a divergence factor (by means of innovation) of development levels (Verspagen, ). Countries with a lower technological level than more advanced countries can exploit their backward position and increase their growth rates through diffusion of international technology by imitation (Castellacci, ; Fagerberg, ).…”

The persistence of inter‐regional hierarchy in technology transfer networks: An analysis of Chinese patent licensing data

“…This mechanism of technology diffusion/learning within a national system of innovation may be because the spatial distribution of absorptive capacity is uneven. Different regions have different regional environments, with different levels of absorptive capacity, leading to overall disparities in absorptive capacity (Verspagen, ). An organization with limited absorptive capacity is likely to source technology from within its immediate cultural and geographical environs (Caniëls & Verspagen, ).…”

“…Externally acquired knowledge is an important part of the catching‐up process because one of the most effective ways to enhance a region’s technological capabilities is by importing, assimilating and improving exogenous technologies across regions (Kim, ; Liu & White, ). One critical facture in stimulating technology flows over geographical distance is regional hierarchy (Storper & Walker, ; Verspagen, ). The basic idea here is that traditional core regions, or what we will call “anchor regions,” owing to the variety and convergence of their economic activities, generate a wider range of innovative outputs than peripheral regions (Verspagen, ).…”

“…One critical facture in stimulating technology flows over geographical distance is regional hierarchy (Storper & Walker, ; Verspagen, ). The basic idea here is that traditional core regions, or what we will call “anchor regions,” owing to the variety and convergence of their economic activities, generate a wider range of innovative outputs than peripheral regions (Verspagen, ). Given such a hierarchy in the national system of innovation (NSI), some regions specialize in providing technologies to other regions.…”

How Regional Innovation Systems Play a Relative Competitive Role Within Knowledge Networks

“…The existence of hierarchical relationships between regional innovation systems (RISs) has been found in many recent studies (Cantwell & Iammarino, 1998Verspagen, 2007). In the past few years, the European Commission's cohesion policy, i.e.…”