A taxonomy of European innovation clubs
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Wirkierman, Ariel Luis; Ciarli, Tommaso and Savona, Maria. 2021. A taxonomy of European innovation clubs. Working Paper. UNU-MERIT Working Papers, Maastricht, The Netherlands. [Report]
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Abstract or Description
The paper provides a novel, empirically grounded map of innovation 'clubs' in the EU, based on a unique analysis of micro-aggregated, country-level data. Using exploratory factor analysis we articulate innovation variables in a taxonomy of four 'latent' innovation theories: Network Innovation System, Kaldorian, New Growth Theory, and Schumpeterian. We then characterise clusters of countries ('clubs'), based on their performance against this taxonomy, and design a new map of EU innovation clubs. We identify an articulated map of EU innovation hierarchy beyond the rather well-known 'core-periphery' structure, and interpret how some of the peripheries are functional to the 'consolidated core' of innovative countries, raising an issue of long-term sustainability of such hierarchies. We also find that even the most innovative clusters show concerning weaknesses. The strongest cluster in terms of its innovation system does not seem to exploit its full potential and lags behind with respect to radical product innovations. Instead, the leading cluster in terms of radical product innovations is strongly dependent on external innovative activity, is focused on scale-intensive sectors, and has a fairly weak innovation system. The periphery of small countries that show a healthy network structure, do so because they mainly include supplier- dominated firms, reliant on innovation inputs from the core. We offer some reflections on innovation policy within a broader view of EU cohesion.
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Item Type: |
Report (Working Paper) |
| Departments, Centres and Research Units: |
Institute of Management Studies |
| Date: |
30 April 2021 |
| Item ID: |
30177 |
| Date Deposited: |
14 Jun 2021 09:36 |
| Last Modified: |
26 Feb 2024 13:41 |
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URI: |
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