(International) R&D collaboration and SMEs: The effectiveness of targeted public R&D support schemes

This study analyses the impact and effectiveness of targeted public support for R&D investment at the firm level. We test whether the policy design aiming at incentivizing (international) collaboration and R&D in SMEs achieves input as well as output additionality. Our results show that the targeted public subsidies trigger R&D spending, especially so in internationally collaborating SMEs. We further evaluate the different impact of privately financed and publicly induced R&D investment on innovation performance. The results confirm that the publicly induced R&D is productive as it translates into marketable product innovations. While both types of R&D investments trigger significant output effects, the effect of policy-induced R&D investment on sales from market novelties is highest for international collaborators as well as for SMEs.     

The distinct signaling effects of R&D subsidy and non-R&D subsidy on IPO performance of IT entrepreneurial firms in China

This study investigates how R&D subsidy and non-R&D subsidy affect entrepreneurial firms’ initial public offering (IPO) performance in an emerging economy like China. Analyzing data from 269 IT (information technology) entrepreneurial firms in China, we found that R&D subsidy has an inverted U-shape effect on IPO performance, while non-R&D subsidy has a positive effect on IPO performance. Furthermore, both state ownership and patent intensity moderate the inverted U-shape relationship between R&D subsidy and IPO performance. In contrast, neither of them moderates the positive relationship between non-R&D subsidy and IPO performance. These findings contribute to the literature on the effectiveness of government subsidy by highlighting the symbolic effect of government subsidy on external financing in emerging economies, and offer important practical implications to entrepreneurial firms and government funding agencies in China.     

Factors affecting university-industry R&D projects: The importance of searching, screening and signalling

This paper presents an empirical analysis of the determinants of research cooperation between firms and Public research organisations (PROs) for a sample of innovating small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The econometric analysis is based on the results of the KNOW survey carried out in seven EU countries during 2000. In contrast to earlier works that provide information about the importance of PROs’ research, we know the number of firm/PRO collaborative research and development (R&D) projects. This allows us to study the determinants of firm collaboration with PROs in terms of both the propensity of a firm to undertake R&D projects with a university (do they cooperate or not) and the extent of this collaboration (number of R&D projects). Two questions are addressed. Which firms cooperated with PROs? And what are the firm characteristics that might explain the number of R&D projects with PROs? The results of our analysis point to two major phenomena. First, the propensity to forge an agreement with an academic partner depends on the ‘absolute size’ of the industrial partner. Second the openness of firms to the external environment, as measured by their willingness to search, screen and signal, significantly affects the development of R&D projects with PROs. Our findings suggest that acquiring knowledge through the screening of publications and involvement in public policies positively affects the probability of signing an agreement with a PRO, but not the number of R&D projects developed. In fact, firms that outsource research and development, and patent to protect innovation and to signal competencies show higher levels of collaboration.     

Overseas R&D, knowledge sourcing, and patenting: an empirical study of Japanese R&D investment in the US

This paper purports to study the contribution of R&D at home and abroad to the firm’s inventive activity, using a sample of 137 Japanese multinationals. The empirical analysis relates the number of inventions in Japan and that in the US, as measured by the number of patents issued by the USPTO, to the parent’s R&D, the US subsidiaries’ R&D, the presence of R&D in Europe, the firm’s experience in the US, entry mode, and industry dummies. In addition, to study the subsidiary’s role in sourcing local technological knowledge, we construct indices of local technological strength of the state in which the subsidiary is located. The results, most importantly, indicate that these indices positively contribute to inventions at home and in the US among Type R firms, whose R&D subsidiaries mainly aim to research, suggesting that knowledge sourcing is an important function of these subsidiaries and locational choice is important for this purpose. These results do not hold among Type S firms, whose R&D subsidiaries mainly aim to support local manufacturing and sales activities.     

R&D investment and financing choices: A comprehensive perspective

We posit that the effects of R&D investment on financing choices depend on the degree of intervention barriers and appropriation discrepancy between capital providers and the firm. Based on these two contingencies, we categorize financing instruments into four types: common equity (common stock), convertible securities (preferred stock and convertible debt), transactional debt (corporate bonds), and relational debt (bank and commercial loans). From the experiences of 39 petroleum firms during the period 1976-2005, we found R&D investment has a positive effect on the use of common equity, a U-shaped effect on the use of convertible securities, and an inverted U-shaped effect on the use of relational debt to raise capital. These effects are sustained over several years.     

Institutionalizing end-user demand steering in agricultural R&D: Farmer levy funding of R&D in The Netherlands

The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the institutionalization of demand-driven modes of working in the R&D planning process and reveal possible weaknesses, through an analysis of a system of collective R&D funding by farmers. The findings indicate that, although end-users have the opportunity to raise issues that lead to R&D, queries are influenced by several actors in the R&D planning process in such a way that they do not adequately reflect farmers’ innovation needs. Conclusions are that more emphasis is required on joint demand articulation and involvement of end-users and other stakeholders in the innovation process, and on the institutional development of R&D funding organizations in order to adopt a more inclusive view on innovation.     

R&D offshoring and the productivity growth of European regions

The recent increase in R&D offshoring has raised fears that knowledge and competitiveness in advanced countries may be at risk of ‘hollowing out’. At the same time, economic research has stressed that this process is also likely to allow some reverse technology transfer and foster growth at home. This paper addresses this issue by investigating the extent to which R&D offshoring is associated with productivity dynamics of European regions.     

The impact of firm participation in R&D programmes on R&D partnerships

R&D subsidies designed to encourage innovation efforts by firms may have intended and unintended effects on the way they organize their innovation process. We present empirical evidence on how R&D subsidies affect firms’ R&D cooperation strategies. In particular, we investigate whether receiving public R&D subsidies affect the probability that a firm will set up an R&D partnership with a public research organization (PRO), or with other firms. Our main findings are: (i) public support significantly increases the chances that a firm will cooperate with a PRO, and (ii) public support also increases the likelihood that a firm will establish private partnerships, but to a smaller extent and only when firms have intangible knowledge assets. These results suggest that public R&D programmes trigger a behavioural change in firms’ R&D partnerships, alleviating barriers to cooperation.     

Tax incentives and R&D activity: Firm-level evidence from Taiwan

This paper investigates the effect of tax incentives on R&D activities in Taiwanese manufacturing firms. The propensity score matching (PSM) estimates show that recipients of R&D tax credits appear on average to have 53.80% higher R&D expenditures than that they do without receiving tax credits, while there is no significantly higher growth rate of R&D expenditure. This study further employs the panel instrumental variable (IV) and generalized method of moment (GMM) techniques to control for endogeneity of R&D tax credits and firm heterogeneity in determining R&D expenditure. The R&D tax credit is witnessed to exhibit a significantly positive influence on R&D expenditure and its growth, especially for electronics firms. The marginal effect is moderate, ranging from 0.094 to 0.120. Specifically, the R&D elasticity concerning tax credits tends to increase gradually along with the approaching expiration of R&D tax credits measure, lending a supportive view on its efficacy.     

Commercialization of patents and external financing during the R&D phase

Using a unique database on Swedish patents owned by small firms and individuals, survival models estimate how different factors influence the decision to commercialize the patents. Such an analysis has seemingly never previously been undertaken. Since the owners know more about the patents than potential external financiers, problems related to asymmetrical information are present. To overcome these problems when inventors and small technology-based firms need financing, Sweden has for a long time relied on government support rather than private venture capital firms. The empirical results show that the larger is the share of patent-owners’ costs covered by government financial support during the R&D phase, the lower is the probability of patents being commercialized. This lower degree of commercialization is likely to depend on (1) the soft terms of the government loans, where the patent owner can avoid paying back the loan if the patent is never commercialized and/or (2) that the government is not able to select promising projects. The first explanation is related to moral hazard and the second one to adverse selection. The policy suggestion is for government to change the design of the loans, to base them on firms rather than projects.     

Location, collocation and R&D alliances in the European ICT industry

This paper argues that spatial proximity plays a role in determining the propensity of firms to engage in R&D alliances. Drawing from economic geography, network theory and innovation theory, we discuss how prior collocation can affect the propensity to engage in R&D alliances, arguing that alliances can act both as a substitute and as a complement to collocation. Using a novel dataset matching alliances and patent data for the European ICT industry, we show that alliances are complementary to prior collocation (at both national and sub-national regional level) of firm’s R&D labs. In such an intra-industry, oligopolistic scenario, firms strategically use R&D alliances as a means to limit knowledge flows and protect competences, rather than to promote knowledge flows. Furthermore, while a common institutional context is important to promote collaboration, because of the high level of R&D internationalisation as well as the complex social networks within an oligopolistic industry, national institutional contexts are less relevant.     

R&D, knowledge spillovers and company productivity performance

Using company accounts data for 5 countries (US, UK, Japan, France and Germany) we analyse the relationship between intangible assets and productivity. We integrate the company data with industry information on tangible and intangible investments and skill composition of the labour force. The industry data are summarised in two different taxonomies, factor and skill intensive groups, which account for differences in the knowledge intensity and innovative activities within sectors. The results provide evidence of higher productivity in R&D and skill intensive industries. This can be interpreted as evidence in favour of the presence of spillover effects.     

公共研发投资对企业研发投入杠杆作用的研究

在我国,由政府支持的公共研发部门(主要包括高等院校和科研院所)和企业构成了社会研发系统。在此系统内,企业的研发投资决策变化,会影响公共研发投资杠杆作用的效果。本文运用FGLS方法,利用2009-2013年规模以上工业企业省际面板数据,从社会研发系统的视角,探讨了当系统内企业受政府RD资助强度变化时,公共研发投资对企业研发投入杠杆作用的变化。研究发现公共研发投资的杠杆作用存在区域差距,在政府对企业RD资助强度大的地区,政府支持高等院校研发会促进本地区企业研发投入,且促进效应会因其对企业RD资助强度大而加剧,但支持科研院所研发会挤出本地区企业研发投入;而在资助强度小的地区,影响则完全相反。因此各级政府在进行公共研发投资时应注意科技投入的精准化,合理搭配政策工具。     

研发投入、融资约束与出口绿色技术含量

本文基于异质企业的视角,通过修正新古典投资模型分析了企业研发投入、融资约束影响出口绿色技术含量的机理,并构建了企业层面的出口绿色技术含量指标,利用8万多组企业数据对此机理进行验证。得到的结论有:1.企业研发投入对出口绿色技术含量具有显著的正向影响,但私有企业的研发投入的效果要明显好于公有企业、非污染密集型企业的研发投入效果明显好于污染密集型企业。2.融资约束在企业研发影响出口绿色技术含量中具有调节作用,融资约束的这种调节作用在私有控股企业和非污染密集企业中较显著,但该调节作用在公有控股企业和污染密集性企业中不显著。     

制度约束下政府R&D资助挤出效应与创新效率

政府对企业RD资助可能产生挤出效应影响资助效果,现有研究在理论解释上存在不足,且较缺乏定量依据。以中国2000-2010年省际面板数据为样本,结合制度约束变量,采取两阶段计量方法完成实证检验:第一阶段,以随机前沿模型为基础,发现政府RD资助由于制度约束挤出了企业投资,制度约束构成挤出效应的重要来源,地区间挤出水平呈现明显阶梯型差异;第二阶段,采用Malmquist DEA方法对创新效率分解,发现制度约束通过挤出效应抑制了规模效率的提高,主要受到资源在研发人员和研发资本间分配方式的影响,通过资源配置机制改进能够降低抑制程度。     

The impact of the French policy mix on business R&D: How geography matters

Based on a spatial extension of an R&D investment model, this paper measures the macroeconomic impact of the French R&D policy mix on business R&D using regional data. Our measure takes into account not only the direct effect of policies but also indirect effects generated by the existence of spatial interaction between regions. Using a unique database containing information on the levels of various R&D policy instruments received by firms in French NUTS3 regions over the period 2001–2011, our estimates of a spatial Durbin model with structural breaks and fixed effects reveal the existence of a negative spatial dependence among R&D investments in regions. In this context, while a-spatial estimates would conclude that all instruments have a crowding-in effect, we show that national subsidies are the only instrument that is able to generate significant crowding-in effects. On the contrary, it seems that the design, size and spatial allocation of funds from the other instruments (tax credits, local subsidies, European subsidies) lead them to act (in the French context) as beggar-thy-neighbor policies.     

Multinationality, foreignness and institutional distance in the relation between R&D and productivity

This paper empirically examines to what extent being foreign and part of a multinational affects the endogenous relation between R&D and productivity. Our findings indicate that multinationals obtain in general higher R&D returns. Also, there is a negative foreignness effect in that domestic-owned multinationals outperform foreign subsidiaries. However, these effects are somehow moderated by the institutional distance between the home and host countries. These results, obtained for a panel of UK firms, are largely consistent with a set of hypotheses derived from the institutional and international business theories.     

市场竞争、选择性偏差与企业研发收益率

根据世界银行2012年对中国25个城市1542家企业的经营环境调查数据,研究了市场竞争对企业研发收益率的影响。基于研发产出存在异质性的假设,本文运用Roy模型对企业的研发能力偏差进行了纠正,并计算出每家企业潜在的研发收益率和无研发收益率,以及因企业特征而异的研发收益率。研究发现,不同竞争环境下的企业研发收益率存在显著差别,低竞争环境下企业的平均研发收益率要高于高竞争环境,企业会根据自身的"比较优势"选择是否进行研发。     

The determinants of success of R&D projects: evidence from American-Israeli research alliances

Until 1997, a basic premise of Israeli R&D support programs had been the principle of neutrality—all eligible projects were funded. With a binding budget constraint, the government had to select the projects it funded and thus to depart from neutrality. An optimal departure would favor those projects that have less of a chance to succeed without support. In this paper, I examine the performance of government supported collaborative research projects. I find that size and organizational form affect the probability of technical success and duration to commercialization in a way that suggests departing from neutrality by preferring less established firms.     

Strategic interactions in public R&D across European countries: A spatial econometric analysis

The paper adds to the existing literature on the determinants of government spending in Research and Development (R&D) by considering the role of strategic interactions among countries as one of the possible competing explanations, within a spatial econometric framework. We account for several factors affecting national levels of public R&D spending, including (i) the international context – i.e. Lisbon strategy; (ii) country characteristics – level of private R&D, GDP, trade openness and the National System of Innovation; (iii) countries’ similarities in relation to (a) trade and economic size and (b) sectoral specialization. The analysis is carried out on 14 European countries. First, we find that factors traditionally affecting the level of public R&D expenditure, such as the scale of the national economy, trade openness, sectoral specialization and private R&D, significantly influence the level of public R&D in European countries between 1994 and 2006. Interestingly, the introduction of the Lisbon strategy does not seem to have affected changes in the levels of public R&D spending. Second, by using different weight matrices, we confirm the existence of strategic interactions in relation to R&D spending among European countries with similar economic, international trade and sectoral structure characteristics, though not geographically close.