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The strength of science and technology drivers for SME innovation

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Abstract

This analysis feeds into the academic debate on the most proficient innovation mode across firms, placing special emphasis on the characteristic case of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Of the three main approaches considered, the first stresses the importance of innovation based on science and technology (STI) drivers, such as research and development (R&D) and human capital, whereas the second approach emphasises innovation based on learning by doing, by using and by interacting (DUI); the third, more recent approach is conceived as a combination of the former two (STI + DUI). In this paper, the three models are tested on a sample of 409 SMEs that have been supported by a public programme for innovation promotion developed by the Basque Government in Spain. The result is quite different from what is expected, yet it is insightful and potentially useful for both academics and policy-makers. Contrarily to what one would expect, SME innovation output is in fact more sensitive to STI drivers than to DUI drivers.

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Acknowledgments

This academic paper is one of the outputs of the assessment project related to the public programme Enterprise Innovates agreed with the Society for Industrial Restructuring and Promotion (SPRI) of the Basque Government. The authors would like to thank SPRI for the support received in the realisation of this project. Any responsibility for this work lies with the authors alone. The authors would also like to thank the expert comments delivered by colleagues in the context of the workshop ‘Innovation and learning between codified and tacit knowledge flows’ organised in San Sebastián, May 2009, with the important contribution of the public agency Innobasque. They also thank Susana Franco for methodological suggestions on a later version of the manuscript. Responsibility for the contents lies with the authors alone.

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  1. Basque Institute of Competitiveness, University of Deusto, Camino Mundaiz, 50, 20012, San Sebastián, Spain

    Mario Davide Parrilli & Aitziber Elola

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  1. Mario Davide Parrilli
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  2. Aitziber Elola
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Correspondence to Mario Davide Parrilli.

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Parrilli, M.D., Elola, A. The strength of science and technology drivers for SME innovation. Small Bus Econ 39, 897–907 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-011-9319-6

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