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KNOWLEDGE CREATION AND ABSORPTION THE REGIONAL
DIMENSION Alessandro Sterlacchini UNIVERSITÀ
POLITECNICA DELLE MARCHE a.sterlacchini_at_univpm.it

KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY FORUM VII Technology
Absorption by Innovative Small and Medium
Enterprises. Ancona, June 17-19, 2008.
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Knowledge and economic growth

• Broad consensus on the positive relationship
  between knowledge investments and economic growth
• However, the linkage is far from being linear and
  cannot be taken for granted
• Countries and regions with different levels of
  development cannot reap equal benefits from
  investing the same amount of resources in the
  same directions
• Similar considerations apply to firms of
  different size

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Knowledge and economic growth

• To exploit the existing stock of knowledge for
  commercial purposes some enabling conditions must
  be at work
• Absorption capacity (human capital)
• Transmission channels (university-industry
  relations)
• Filtering mechanisms (entrepreneurship)
• The above caveats emerge from many empirical
  studies and, especially, those concerned with
  regions (sub-national areas)

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The regional dimension

• Due to its tacit elements, knowledge is not
  easily transferable so that positive
  externalities are strongly localised
• Accordingly, geographical proximity matters and
  the regional level is best suited for effective
  innovation policies
• In the EU, regional policies are key instruments
  for implementing the Lisbon strategy

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EU Regional Policy (Structural Funds) 2007-2013

• Two objectives
• Competitiveness and employment developed regions
  (GDP per capita ? 75 of the EU25 average)
• Convergence less developed regions (GDP per
  capitalt 75)

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Empirical background

• Sterlacchini, A., R. Esposti, N. Matteucci and F.
  Venturini (2005) Policy guidelines for regions
  falling under the new regional competitiveness
  and employment objective for the 2007-2013
  period. Vol. I Statistical analysis, Report
  prepared for the European Commission, DG Regional
  Policy.
• Sterlacchini, A. (2008) RD, Higher Education and
  Regional Growth Uneven Linkages Among European
  Regions, Research Policy.

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STUDY ON POLICY GUIDELINES FOR COMPETITIVENESS
REGIONS

• Knowledge and innovation indicators (RD,
  patents, higher education, etc.)
• Factor analysis to obtain a synthetic indicator
• Identification of 3 regional groups (low,
  medium, high)
• Economic performance indicators (GDP per capita
  level, GDP growth, rate of unemployment, etc.)
• Factor analysis to obtain a synthetic indicator
• Identification of 3 regional groups

Joint analysis of knowledge and economic
performance indicators
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Type and number of regions
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KNOWLEDGE AND ECONOMIC GROWTH analysis for all
the regions of the EU15

• Knowledge creation intensity of RD expenditures
  on regional value added
• Knowledge absorption share of adult population
  with tertiary education
• Note in the EU the level of secondary education
  is not a suitable indicator of knowledge
  absorption
• ? Economic growth change in GDP per capita over
  1995-2002

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• REGIONAL DIFFERENCES
• For the developed regions both the intensity of
  RD and higher education are effective drivers of
  GDP growth
• For the less developed regions only the extent of
  higher education is effective

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GDP growth Vs. intensity of RD
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GDP growth Vs. intensity of Higher Education
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COUNTRY DIFFERENCES (looking at developed
regions only) The joint impact of RD and
higher education on regional growth is not
significant for Southern European Countries
(Austria, France, Italy and Spain)
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GDP growth Vs. intensity of RD and Higher
Education (developed regions only)
Inner London
South Austria, France, Italy, Spain
North Belgium, Finland, Germany, the
Netherlands, Sweden, UK
Cumbria (UK)
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Evidence for the regions of Central European
countries

• Replica of the previous exercise RD and higher
  education as drivers of regional GDP growth
• Provisional results
• Limited country coverage due to the poor
  availability of regional data Czech Republic,
  Hungary, Poland and Slovak Republic

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GDP growth Vs. intensity of RD and Higher
Education Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovak
Republic
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GDP growth Vs. intensity of RD and Higher
education Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovak
Republic

• The positive relationship is almost exclusively
  due to the performances of central capital
  regions (note this does not occur in Western
  Europe)
• To what extent the above relationship is simply
  due to agglomeration economies?
• How to deal with this dualistic pattern of
  regional growth (central Vs. peripheral regions)?

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GDP growth Vs. intensity of RD and Higher
education Poland
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GDP growth Vs. intensity of RD and Higher
education Poland

• For Poland, the relationship is not significant
• In this sense, Poland can be assimilated to the
  Southern Countries of Western Europe
• Industrial specialization, FDI and geographical
  proximity to EU markets probably play a greater
  role than knowledge capabilities

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Concluding remarks and policy considerations

• Remarkable differences across EU regions both in
  terms of knowledge potential and capability to
  exploit it
• Too much emphasis on knowledge creation and
  research infrastructures could be ineffective
  moreover, it could increase rather than reduce
  regional disparities
• In the medium run, the less developed regions
  should pay particular attention to higher
  education, especially for improving the
  absorption capacity of SMEs
• With some qualifications, the above
  considerations can be extended to the countries
  of East Europe and Central Asia