private sector as well as from public research institutions. The impact of both the specialization and the additional factors …

We analyze the spatial diffusion of knowledge in laser technology in West Germany from 1960, when this technology began …, until 2005. Laser technology research has been nearly exclusively conducted in regions that are home to a university with a … adjacent regions, geographic proximity to the center of initial laser research was conducive to early adoption of laser …

We analyze the spatial diffusion of laser-technology in Germany during the early phase of development, between 1960 and … 2005. Research in this new technological field began in a few larger centers and then spread to other regions. In the early … the knowledge in laser technology was particularly high in those regions which have started laser research rather early …