 R&D subsidies and firm innovation: does human capital matter?Sergio Afcha and Abel Lucena Industry and Innovation, 2022, vol. 29, issue 10, 1171-1201 Abstract: This paper examines the innovation impact of R&D subsidies in Spain. It contributes to the literature on technology policy by challenging the assumption considering this impact as homogenous across firms. The paper presents a conceptual framework in which the human capital composition of a firm’s R&D staff, defined in terms of education and skills, conditions the innovation impact of R&D subsidies. Using panel data for Spain, we find that the shares of Ph.Ds. and researchers within a firm’s R&D staff positively moderate the effect of national R&D subsidies on the production of technological knowledge. This fact shows the strategic value of Ph.Ds. and researchers in exploiting R&D subsidies. We also show that the contribution of Ph.Ds. is limited to the production of technological knowledge. In contrast, the contribution of researchers goes beyond the production of technological knowledge, also enhancing the R&D subsidy impact on the commercialisation of firms’ innovations. Date: 2022 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:indinn:v:29:y:2022:i:10:p:1171-1201 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from DOI: 10.1080/13662716.2022.2088334 Access Statistics for this article Industry and Innovation is currently edited by Associate Professor Mark Lorenzen More articles in Industry and Innovation from Taylor & Francis Journals |
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