Global networks, local specialisation and regional patterns of innovation

Andrea Ascani, Luca Bettarelli, Laura Resmini and Pierre-Alexandre Balland

Research Policy, 2020, vol. 49, issue 8

Abstract: A large academic consensus exists on the idea that successful innovative processes are geographically bounded within regions. Nevertheless, the ability of regions to capture and re-use external knowledge is also regarded as a fundamental element to sustain and refine the local profile of specialisation and competitiveness. The present article combines these views to investigate the sources of the regional innovation process, by analysing data on Italian regions over the period 2007–2012. We define global networks based on all the local firms identifiable as global ultimate owners and their foreign subsidiaries. Our main results suggest that both the internal specialisation and the regional external linkages can generate indigenous innovation, but the role of the networks varies substantially according to its density, its degree of complementarity with the specialisation profile, its geographical spread and the specific location of the foreign subsidiaries. Our results, then, support a view of the regional innovation as an interactive process whereby valuable knowledge resources are not only generated within the reach of the local economy, but they are also integrated with external inputs. This contrasts with recent anti-globalisation views according to which the increase in the foreign operations of national companies impoverishes the local economy.

Keywords: Outward foreign direct investment; Multinationals; Innovation; Specialisation; Networks; Relatedness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F23 F60 O3 R10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (29)

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Working Paper: Global networks, local specialisation and regional patterns of innovation (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:respol:v:49:y:2020:i:8:s0048733320301104

DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2020.104031

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