This paper uses register-linked patent records covering an extended period 1985-2007 to analyze detailed demographic profiles of inventors. The analysis covers about 80 percent of all inventors with Swedish addresses listed on European Patent Office records. Examining temporal trends of gender,...

Firms from emerging countries such as Brazil, India, and China (BIC) are going global, and Europe is attracting around one-third of their direct outward investments. Growing internationalization constitutes an opportunity for technological catch up. In this paper we analyze BIC firms’...

Using the whole population and almost all individuals in Sweden listed as inventors, we study how the probability of being listed on a patent as inventor is influenced by the density of other future inventors residing in the same region, while controlling for demographic and sector effects along...

Who produces scientific and technical knowledge these days? What type of knowledge is being produced and for what purposes? Why are firms and governments funding research and development? This chapter studies the role of knowledge production (especially R&D activities) in the innovation process...

This study analyzes the evolution of a ‘protected label of origin’ cluster in France with a particularly homogeneous and explicit institutional framework, which has given birth to significant incremental and radical changes in recent decades. By providing insights into these change processes...

Arrangements to cooperate on innovation facilitate access to external sources of knowledge. Using panel data derived from five waves of Community Innovation Survey in the Czech Republic, we examine whether firms engage in these arrangements persistently or rather revert to other behaviour....

The concept of a holistic innovation policy is defined in this article, with discussions of what it is, why it is relevant, and how it can be implemented to enhance product innovation. It is shown that the innovation systems approach has diffused rapidly during the latest decades and has...

Traditionally, economic geographers stress geographical proximity’s positive impact on collaboration processes. Recently, effects of cognitive, organisational, social and institutional proximity dimensions have been emphasised. This paper examines the relations between geography and these...

Previous research has shown that firms react differently to the same institutional configurations due to their different backgrounds. This study examines a regional economy in France in which 300 firms are operating under the same framework conditions and have done so over a long period. From...

The main question that guides this paper is how governments are focusing (and must focus) on competence building (education and training) when designing and implementing innovation policies. With this approach, the paper aims at filling the gap between the existing literature on competences on...