Two ‘stylized facts’ about innovations form the underlying motivation for this paper. First, various studies have found that innovations tend to be geographically concentrated. A number of theoretical propositions have been put forward to explain this phenomenon, most of them related to...

This paper examines the effects of regional R&D on patenting for Sweden within an accessibility framework. We use two measures of patenting: number of patents granted per capita and a composite of quality-adjusted patents which we regard as an innovation indicator, respectively. Three...

This paper sums up the debate about the Swedish ‘paradox’ and provides new evidence. The paradox thought has emerged in different versions, which share the common basics that Swedish R&D expenditures are high, but do not produce sufficient economic results. This empirical paradox is part of...

The aim of this paper is to examine whether the previously observed gap between growth of R&D and economic performance, known as the ‘Swedish paradox’, is a general phenomenon across all sectors of the economy, or only occurs in specific industry segments. The dataset used for the analysis...

We use a new, comprehensive database covering Swedish industry and service firms 1985-2002, to examine trends in the ratio between patenting and R&D (PR-ratio). There is a fall in PR-ratios in the long run (1985-2002) on the aggregate level and for all sectors. In general low-tech sectors...

We use a comprehensive database of Swedish manufacturing and service firms to examine trends in aggregate and sectoral research productivity 1985-1998, defined as the ratio between patenting and R&D. Quality indices are composed of forward and backward citations, family size and opposition. In...

We study the structure of the interregional inventor networks in Sweden by examining the residence of inventors and coinventors involved in Swedish patent applications to the European Patent Office. Several factors are found to influence the spatial affinity of regions. We find that spatial...

Patent data play an important role as indicators of inventive and innovative activity across regions. This paper examines if the geographical distribution changes and in what direction if patent data are quality-adjusted. A quality index is constructed by means of factor analysis on the...

Sweden has seen a rise in business R&D intensities and dependence on exports to make its economy grow since the early 1990s. This paper examines the role of foreign sales for stimulating R&D as compared to a domestic sales effect. In line with the literature, we find in cross-sections from 1991...

While the distinction between manufacturing and services becomes increasingly blurred to some observers, we find, using a panel of Swedish firms, clear evidence that foreign sales (exports) are more important than domestic sales for stimulating R&D. This is particularly clear for manufacturing...