Measuring the efficiency of regional innovation systems: an empirical assessment

Michael Fritsch () and Viktor Slavtchev

No 2006/08, Freiberg Working Papers from TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration

Abstract: We measure the efficiency of regional innovation systems (RIS) in Germany by means of a knowledge production function. This function relates private sector Research and Development (R&D) in a region to the number of inventions that have been registered by residents of that region. Two approaches are followed. First, it is assumed that differences in the productivity of private sector R&D between regions affect the slope of the KPF, which represents the marginal productivity of R&D input. The second approach assesses regional differences within the framework of a stochastic frontier knowledge production function. This approach mainly reveals differences with regard to the intercept of the knowledge production function and, therefore, with regard to the average productivity. We compare the results of both approaches and discuss a number of critical issues such as the properties of the distribution of efficiencies, the appropriate size of RIS, and how to deal with the issue of spatial autocorrelation.

Keywords: Knowledge; innovation; spillovers; patents; regional analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O18 O31 R12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:tufwps:200608

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