2024/01/18 by Fischer, Manfred M., Fröhlich, Josef, Gassler, Helmut +1
paper · doi:10.57938/5db690a3-5a0e-4b6b-898e-dbdbcf63936c
The paper makes a modest attempt to shed some light on the role of space in the creation of <br/>technological knowledge in Austria. The study is exploratory rather than explanatory in nature and <br/>based on descriptive techniques such as Moran¿s I test for spatial autocorrelation and the Moran <br/>scatterplot. Clusters of the knowledge ¿output¿ [measured in terms of patent counts] are compared <br/>with spatial concentration patterns of two input measures of knowledge production: private R&D <br/>and academic research. In addition, employment in manufacturing is utilised to capture <br/>agglomeration economies. The analysis is based on data aggregated for two digit SIC industries <br/>and at the level of Austrian political districts. It explores the extent to which knowledge spillovers <br/>are mediated by spatial proximity in Austria. A time-space comparison makes it possible to study <br/>whether divergence or convergence processes in knowledge creation have occurred in the past two <br/>decades. As in the case of any exploratory data analysis, the findings need to be treated with <br/>caution and should be viewed only as an initial pre-modelling stage in the enterprise. Future <br/>research activities will be devoted to further exploring the issue of local university knowledge <br/>spillovers within a refined production framework (see Griliches 1979). (authors' abstract)