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Knowledge Flows in High-Tech Industry Clusters: Dissemination Mechanisms and Innovation Regimes

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Long Term Economic Development

Part of the book series: Economic Complexity and Evolution ((ECAE))

Abstract

This paper explores knowledge flows, i.e., creation and dissemination of knowledge, in three types of clusters in order to lay a conceptual foundation for analysis of knowledge-based industry clusters and for technology policy. Distinction is made between two different innovation regimes: discovery-driven innovation, represented by Silicon Valley and Cambridge, UK, in semiconductors, and by Boston/Cambridge, the San Francisco Bay Area and Medicon Valley in biotechnology; and design-driven innovation as represented by Boeing in Seattle, Bombardier in Montreal, Airbus in Toulouse, and Saab in Linköping in the aircraft industry. In each cluster, the role of universities and other creators of knowledge is examined. The nature of knowledge dissemination is also analyzed, distinguishing between market-mediated transfers of knowledge and non-market mediated and undirected transfers (“true” spillovers). The role of new start-ups versus incumbent firms in knowledge dissemination and cluster growth is also examined.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Acs et al. (2009) and Braunerhjelm et al. (2010) have suggested entrepreneurial activity as one mechanism of converting new economically useful knowledge into economic growth.

  2. 2.

    For a survey of the literature on innovation systems, see Carlsson (2007).

  3. 3.

    This is not to suggest that market-mediated knowledge transfers are unimportant—on the contrary. They are the dominant mechanisms of knowledge diffusion. But they are not true spillovers.

  4. 4.

    The Saab JAS-39 Gripen project is an exception; it is based on fixed-price contracts.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University, 10900 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio, 44106-7235, USA

    Bo Carlsson

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  1. Bo Carlsson
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Correspondence to Bo Carlsson .

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  1. , Lehrstuhl für Innovationsökonomik, University of Hohenheim, Wollgrasweg 23, Stuttgart, 70593, Germany

    Andreas Pyka

  2. , Department of Business and Management, Aalborg University, Fibigerstraede 16, Aalborg East, 9220, Denmark

    Esben Sloth Andersen

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Carlsson, B. (2013). Knowledge Flows in High-Tech Industry Clusters: Dissemination Mechanisms and Innovation Regimes. In: Pyka, A., Andersen, E. (eds) Long Term Economic Development. Economic Complexity and Evolution. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35125-9_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35125-9_9

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