Constructing Regional Advantage in Knowledge-based Industries: The case of the Biotechnology Industry in the Technology Region Aachen, Germany

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Constructing Regional Advantage in
Knowledge-based Industries The case of the
Biotechnology Industry in the Technology Region
Aachen, Germany

• Oliver Plum
• Dept. of Geography, University of Kiel, Germany
• Robert Hassink
• Dept. of Geography, University of Kiel, Germany
• Dept. of Sociology and Human Geography,
  University of Oslo, Norway
• 7th European Urban Regional Studies
  Conference
• Istanbul, 2008

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Constructing Regional Advantage

• Preliminary classification of case studies in
  Germany

Dominating knowledge bases Dominating knowledge bases Dominating knowledge bases
Type of RIS Analytical Synthetic Symbolic
Fragmented Media Hamburg (?)
Networked Biotech TR Aachen (?) Automotive Saxony (?)
Institutionally thin
Locked-in / Old Industrial
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Objective and central questions

• Objective Fine-tuning of policy tools to
  construct regional advantage
• ? Central questions based on theoretical
  framework
• What are the main characteristics of the RIS in
  the TR Aachen with focus on biotech?
• What type of knowledge base is dominating the
  knowledge transfer?
• Are there links between different complementary
  sectors? (related variety)
• Local buzz and global pipelines?
• How intensive is the knowledge transfer within
  the TR Aachen?
• Is the Biotech-RIS well connected with global
  knowledge resources?

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Outline

• Technology Region Aachen
• RIS of TR Aachen with focus on biotechnology
  industry
• Social Network Analysis (SNA) of the
  biotechnology industry in TR Aachen
• Conclusions
• Open questions and next steps

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Technology Region Aachen
TR Aachen Location in Germany and North
Rhine-Westphalia
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Technology Region Aachen

• TR Aachen Facts Figures
• area 3.526 km²
• population 1,3 Mio.
• Aachen population 257.000
• Various technology-oriented industrial fields
• Important poles for biotech industry Aachen and
  Juelich

Juelich
Aachen
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Technology Region Aachen

• from old-industrial to technology oriented
• Decline of dominant old industries (coal mining,
  textile) during second half of 20th century
• Restructuring Policies since mid of 1980s
• Stronger focus on endogenous technological
  potentials of universities and public research
  organizations
• Foundation of AGIT
• 13 technology parks
• Today regional strengths in various
  technology-oriented industrial fields
• life sciences, automotive rail engineering,
  ICT, innovative production engineering, advanced
  materials, regenerative energies

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Biotech-RIS of TR Aachen
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SNA of the Biotechnology Industry in TR Aachen

• Input for SNA
• Empirical methods
• Interviews
• Desktop research
• Population N 28
• Interviews 24
• Non-Response 4
• Response-Rate 86

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SNA of the Biotechnology Industry in TR Aachen

• Characteristics of interviewed firms
• Mainly small firms
• Many spin-offs of RWTH Aachen University and FZ
  Juelich
• Young industry
• Different biotech-fields

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SNA of the Biotechnology Industry in TR Aachen
Technological knowledge network (TN) Market knowledge network (MN)
Contact type Contact type
Contact importance Contact importance
Contact similarity Contact similarity
Contact knowledge type -
Sector (NACE) Sector (NACE)
Geography Geography
description of relation
attributes of firms
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SNA of the Biotechnology Industry in TR Aachen
Technology Knowledge Network
Market Knowledge Network
n210
n157
95
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50 of all links
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Results based on SNA (I)

• Which innovation-subsystem is dominant source for
  contacts?

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Results based on SNA (II)

• Description of firm relations

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Conclusions

• What type of knowledge base is dominating the
  knowledge transfer?
• Analytical as well as synthetic knowledge bases
  are of importance
• Are there links between different complementary
  sectors? (related var.)
• High variety of sectors within the Biotech-RIS ?
  potentially complementary?
• Related variety only in terms of extra-regional
  networks
• Local buzz?
• Rich knowledge transfer between knowledge
  exploiting and knowledge generating sector
• Poor knowledge transfer between regional firms
• Global pipelines?
• Strong interactions between regional and
  extra-regional actors

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Conclusions

• Classification Biotech-Industry in the TR Aachen

Dominating knowledge bases Dominating knowledge bases Dominating knowledge bases
Type of RIS Analytical Synthetic Symbolic
Fragmented
Networked
Institutionally thin
Locked-in / Old Industrial
Biotech TR Aachen
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Open questions and next steps

• Open questions
• What are the main barriers that explain the weak
  intraregional knowledge transfer between
  biotechnology firms?
• Are regional innovation policies sufficient and
  fine tuned to construct regional advantage?
• Next steps
• Conceptual analysis of policy instruments
• Goal orientation
• Tools
• Process
• Further analysis of extensive empirical data
  based on interviews