Regional knowledge creation and R&D collaboration in Europe

Knowledge creation is the essential fundament for innovative regional activities, and therefore, is widely acknowledged as the driving force for regional socio-economic development. Hence, modelling the complexities of regional knowledge creation processes and analysing their determinants stimulates current scientific debates in the field of economic geography. Increasingly, particular interest is drawn to the role of inter-regional R&D networks to create, access and diffuse knowledge. In the vein of this research, the dissertation takes on new perspectives to advance the understanding of regional knowledge creation and R&D networks and their interplay – while particularly accounting for different kinds of heterogeneity.
The overall aim of this dissertation is to identify and systematically characterise how R&D networks drive regional knowledge creation, accounting for (i) technological heterogeneity expressing technology-specific forms of knowledge creation, (ii) heterogeneity in modes of knowledge creation and knowledge output that refers to specific characteristics of the knowledge creation processes, and (iii) heterogeneity of research actors, reflected by, e.g. actor-specific knowledge endowments, collaboration rationales and research interests.
Given the embedding in the state-of-the-art literature, the explicit methodological focus, and the strong empirical focus, the dissertation substantially contributes to the current scientific debate in economic geography, particularly to the stream exploring the geography of innovation. First, the dissertation provides statistical evidence that network connectivity is able to compensate for geographical barriers to R&D collaboration, though this compensation effect differs in magnitude across technological fields. Second, the results confirm a generally positive impact of R&D networks on regional knowledge creation, but for the first time unveil important differences across different modes of knowledge creation; network embeddedness is particularly important for knowledge creation in science-based fields. Third, spatial spillovers of network effects arise, i.e. being spatially proximate to highly networked regions is conducive for a region’s knowledge creation capability, in particular for more explorative modes of knowledge creation. Fourth, a novel empirical agent-based simulation model of regional knowledge creation demonstrates the potential of taking a simulation approach to entering new grounds in the investigation of regional knowledge production mechanisms.