RUIMTELIJK PLANBUREAU

NETHERLANDS INSTITUTE FOR SPATIAL RESEARCH

Regional knowledge networks in the Dutch ICT services and life sciences sector

Anet Weterings & Roderik PondsNetherlands Institute for Spatial ResearchThe Hague, the Netherlands

Paper prepared for the DIME-LIEE / NTUA Athens 2006 conference, 30 November – 1 December 2006

Background of the study

• Aim of Dutch Ministery of Economic Affairs (2004): to stimulate regional contacts between firms (mainly SMEs) and research institutes

• Economic geography:– Localised knowledge networks with many

regional contacts among organisations– Firms within those networks obtain more

knowledge and therefore perform better

Recent criticism

• Spatial proximity is not a necessary condition for knowledge transfer: are there regional knowledge networks?

• More attention for heterogeneity among firms in the regional network:– Due to differences in power (mainly size

of the firm)– Differences in the internal knowledge

base

Three research questions

• Are there regional knowledge networks and what is the structure of those networks?

• What type of firms use regional contacts to obtain knowledge?

• To what extent is there a relation between the firm’s network position and it’s innovative performance?

Outline empirical research

• Two sectors: ICT services and life sciences

• Three regions: South-Holland and Gelderland (life sciences) and the Middle of the Netherlands (ICT services)

• Data collection through telephone survey (response 38-45%)

• Social network analysis and regression analyses

Measuring knowledge contacts

• Question: Have you ever approached an organisation in the region when you were confronted with problems and has this helped to solve the problem?

• Distinction between contacts for:– Technological knowledge– Organisational knowledge

• ‘roster recall’ method: mention contacts on a list of names and add missing contacts

Life Sciences - Gelderland

Technological

Organisational

20 firms interviewedFirms with contactsTechnological: 95%Organisational: 35%

Life Sciences – Zuid-Holland

Technological

Organisational

38 firms interviewedFirms with contactsTechnological: 68%Organisational: 27%

ICT services – Middle country

Technological

Organisational

135 firms interviewedFirms with contactsTechnological: 48%Organisational: 19%

Which firms have many regional knowledge contacts?

Degree CentralityRegional Life-Sciences

Degree CentralityRegional-ICT

Constant5.543*(3.049)

0,128(0,131)

Log (size)1.907**(0.845)

0,208***(0,057)

Log (age)-0.0420(1.684)

-0,047(0,109)

Log (years of working experience in life sciences/ICT of founder)

-3.519*(1.805)

0,027(0,066)

Entrepreneurial experience founder-0.976(0.944)

-0,094*(0,053)

% employees with university degree0.016

(0.019)0,002**(0,001)

% employees with > 5 years work. experience

0.015(0.013)

0,001(0,001)

Region2.451**(1.066)

-

N 46 113

F 1.79 4,77***

R-square 0.107 0,205

* p < 0.10** p < 0.05 *** p < 0.01

Measure innovative performance• Different measures for the two

sectors:

• Life sciences: number of patents• ICT services: share of turnover due to

the sales of new products or services between 2003 and 2006

Relation firm’s network position and innovative performance

ICT-OLS ICT-backward

Constant 33,252*(18,585)

29,537*(15,072)

Log (unvalued degree centrality)

-5,503(11,444)

-

Number of non-regional Relationships

-0,452(2,416)

-

Share fte in development new products or services

0,388***(0,109)

0,414***(0,090)

Log (size)7,414

(8,146)-

Log (age)-22,266(13,950)

-

Log (years of working experience life sciences founder)

-5,721(7,724)

-

Dummy entrepreneurial exp.founder

10,310(6,412)

13,419**(5,642)

% employees with universitydegree

0,258***(0,096)

0,262***(0,091)

% employees with > 5 years working experience

0,022(0,077)

-

N 92 92

F 4,925*** 14,207***

R-Square 0,348 0,324

Life-Sciences OLS

Life-SciencesBackward

Constant -0,779**(0,377)

-0,537**(0,264)

Log (unvalued degree centrality)

0,547**(0,201)

0,620***(0,176)

Number of non-regional relationships

-0,009(0,024)

-

Log (size)0,211*(0,110)

-

Log (age)0,079

(0,206)-

Log (years of working experience life sciences founder)

0,272(0,219)

0,412**(0,189)

Dummy entrepreneurial experience of founder

0,076(0,117)

-

% employees with university Degree

0,003(0,002)

-

% employees with > 5 years working experience

0,000(0,002)

-

Region 0,023(0,127)

-

N 39 39

F 2,215* 7,437***

R-Square 0,389 0,287

In sum,

• There are regional knowledge networks, but:– Not all firms are involved– Large differences between the technological

and organisational knowledge

• Characteristics of the firm are related to the firm’s network position– Size– Different indicators of absorptive capacity

• Firm’s network position is not always related to the innovative performance of firms

Future

1. Characterising the regional network links (long-term contacts? How often face-to-face contacts?)

2. Spin-offs:• Comparing the knowledge network with

structure of spin-off network • Examing the importance of labour

mobility and educational networks for the establishment of regional knowledge networks