How and why does the efficiency of regional innovation systems differ?

Literature suggests that location should matter for R&D activities. However, attempts to empirically detect differences in innovation activity between regions have so far been rather unsuccessful. Using a unique data set which contains comparable information about manufacturing enterprises in eleven European regions, a number of significant regional differences in the efficiency of innovation activities can be found. This variation is in correspondence with a center-periphery pattern indicating that agglomeration economies are conducive to R&D activities. The paper investigates whether the differences in efficiency of regional innovation systems can be explained by differences in R&D-cooperation behavior.