Auswirkungen der aus dem Konjunkturpaket II für das Zentrale Innovationsprogramm Mittelstand (ZIM) bereitgestellten Mittel auf die konjunkturelle Entwicklung. Gutachten im Auftrag des Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Technologie (BMWi)
Jutta Günther, Udo Ludwig, Hans-Ulrich Brautzsch, Brigitte Loose, Nicole Nulsch
One-off Publications,
2011
Abstract
The ZIM program (Zentrales Innovationsprogramm Mittelstand) is a technologically open program of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology to support small and medium enterprises and Science organizations in their research and innovation activities. It became operative July 1, 2008 and offers three program lines: individual projects, cooperative projects, and networks. In reaction to the global economic crisis the ZIM program was increased for the years 2009 and 2010 – in addition to the regulary scheduled 626 Million – by 900 Million Euro through the Konjunkturpaket II (KP II).
In this study, the analysis of the macroeconomic effects of the ZIM program in Germany has been carried out – first time in the evaluation of federal support programs for research and innovation – by the use of the input output method.
The pdf file includes an english summary with details about the study's results.
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Cooperation propensity and public cooperation funding in the German Laser Industry
Muhamed Kudic, Katja Guhr, I. Bullmer, Jutta Günther
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 3,
2011
Abstract
The high-tech strategy of the federal government defines eight key technologies, including laser industry as a part of the optical technologies. This study provides a first descriptive overview of cooperation propensity and public cooperation funding for German Laser Source manufacturers between 1990 and 2010. Results show that the industry in general was characterized by expansion even though there were periods with a high degree of fluctuations. The spatial analysis of firm entries and exits reveals some interesting insights. The majority of large laser source companies are located in Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and Thuringia. These regional distribution patterns hold for the absolute number of publicly funded cooperation projects. When considering the relative number of collaborative projects per firm and region the picture changes. It turns out that especially laser source manufacturers in Thuringia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Hamburg show up the highest cooperation propensities and an above-average demand for public funding.
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Creating Networks by Public Research Subsidies in Saxony?
Michael Schwartz, Nicole Nulsch, Jutta Günther
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 2,
2011
Abstract
It is generally acknowledged that research organizations require public support to perform research and development activities. In this context, projects grants play a continuously increasing role that, particularly, aim at strengthening network relationships among the actors within an innovation system. Given that, the Halle Institute for Economic Research has investigated whether public research subsidies (i.e. research grants) in the Free State of Saxony promote networks and provide the basis for future cooperation activities. Results of this study suggest that research grants in Saxony, given the self-assessment of the supported scientists, are conducive to the establishment of network relationships (including also industry actors) and can further contribute to make a better use of cooperation agreements in the future.
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Analyzing Innovation Drivers in the German Laser Industry: the Role of Positioning in the Social and Geographical Space
Muhamed Kudic, Peter Bönisch, Iciar Dominguez Lacasa
Abstract
Empirical and theoretical contributions provide strong evidence that firm-level performance outcomes in terms of innovativeness can either be determined by the firm’s position in the social space (network effects) or by the firm’s position in the geographical space (co-location effects). Even though we can observe quite recently first attempts in bringing together these traditionally distinct research streams (Whittington et al. 2009), research on interdependent network and geographical co-location effects is still rare. Consequently, we seek to answer the following research question: considering that the effects of social and geographic proximity on firm’s innovativeness can be interdependent, what are the distinct and combined effects of firm’s network and geographic position on firm-level innovation output? We analyze the innovative performance of German laser source manufacturers between 1995 and 2007. We use an official database on publicly funded R&D collaboration projects in order to construct yearly networks and analyze firm’s network positions. Based on information on population entries and exits we calculate various types of geographical proximity measures between private sector and public research organizations (PRO). We use patent grants as dependent variable in order to measure firm-level innovation output. Empirical results provide evidence for distinct effect of network degree centrality. Distinct effect of firm’s geographical co-location to laser-related public research organization promotes patenting activity. Results on combined network and co-location effects confirms partially the existence of in-terdependent proximity effects, even though a closer look at these effects reveals some ambiguous but quite interesting findings.
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Selectivity, Social Ties and Spatial Mobility – An Analysis of Preferences for Return Migration
Lutz Schneider, Alexander Kubis, D. Wiest
Abstract
In the public debate, the brain drain from East Germany is supposed to be the most critical trend regarding the development and catching-up of the New Länder. Therefore, potential for in- and re-migration has attracted much attention at least in the political context. Our contribution analyses the re-migration potential on the basis of data from a DFG research project focussing on the re-migration intentions of people formerly emigrated from Saxony-Anhalt. The analysis concentrates on the following aspects: the effect of job market success after emigration; the impact of social ties to the origin and the host region and on the selectivity of
re-migration preferences. The econometric results confirm several expected effects: On the one hand an individual’s job market success reduces the intention to return. Likewise, the re-migration preference increases for people whose expectations were disappointed. On the other hand, the relevance of social ties to the origin region for re-migration dispositions is confirmed by the estimations. Yet, regarding selectivity of re-migration preferences in terms of human capital econometric results are somewhat ambiguous.
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What Determines the Innovative Success of Subsidized Collaborative R&D Projects? – Project-Level Evidence from Germany –
Michael Schwartz, François Peglow, Michael Fritsch, Jutta Günther
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 7,
2010
published in: Technovation
Abstract
Systemic innovation theory emphasizes that innovations are the result of an interdependent exchange process between different organizations. This is reflected in the current paradigm in European innovation policy, which aims at the support of collaborative R&D and innovation projects bringing together science and industry. Building on a large data set using project-level evidence on 406 subsidized R&D cooperation projects, the present paper provides detailed insights on the relationship between the innovative success of R&D cooperation projects and project characteristics. Patent applications and publications are used as measures for direct outcomes of R&D projects. We also differentiate between academic-industry projects and pure inter-firm projects. Main results of negative binomial regressions are that large-firm involvement is positively related to pa-tent applications, but not to publications. Conversely, university involvement has positive effects on project outcomes in terms of publications but not in terms of patent applications. In general, projects’ funding is an important predictor of innovative success of R&D cooperation projects. No significant results are found for spatial proximity among cooperation partners and for the engagement of an applied research institute. Results are discussed with respect to the design of R&D cooperation support schemes.
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20 years of innovation policy in East Germany – from a pure “survival support” to high-tech subsidy
Jutta Günther, Nicole Nulsch, Katja Wilde
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
20 Jahre Deutsche Einheit - Teil 2 -
2010
Abstract
The article uses the occasion of “20 years German re-unification” in order to provide an overview of the range of innovation policy schemes in East Germany with the intention to identify changing patterns or paradigms in its philosophy and priorities over time. In general, innovation policy schemes aim at increasing research and development (R&D) activities of companies in order to strengthen their competitiveness as market incentives for R&D are usually too low (problem of market failure). However, in East Germany in the early 1990s the situation was different. At the very beginning, the transformation process in East Germany was accompanied by innovation policy schemes that aimed at the pure maintenance of industrial research and the stock of R&D personnel since the potential for innovation was at a risk to be eliminated completely. In the late 1990s the intention of innovation policies changed. Instead of financial support primarily for human resources, innovation policy schemes since then focused on the support of cooperation projects between different research entities (companies and scientific organizations) and, later on, also the setup of networks in order to close the economic differences between East and West Germany.
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European Commission, Leibniz Association and IWH Discuss Innovation Related Policy in Transitions Regions
Björn Jindra, Katja Wilde
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 7,
2009
Abstract
On February 17, 2009, the Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH) and the Leibniz Association (WGL) held the final conference of the EU-project “Understanding the Relationship between Knowledge and Competitiveness in the Enlarging European Union” (U-know) in Brussels. The research dealt with systemic aspects of innovation and knowledge transfer as well as the development of R&D (research and development) and innovation related policy. Thereby, a particular emphasis was put on the challenges facing the new EU member states and East Germany. The research project proved to be very productive with 54 research papers in refereed journals as well as 33 articles in edited volumes.
The aim of the conference was to present and discuss the main results of the U-know project with experts from the industry as well as the political and scientific community. Within four parallel sessions (Enterprises and markets, Public science and industry links, Systems and governance, Role of institutions), research output was presented. Representatives of the EU Commission commented directly on the presentations with a view on policy implications. In a final panel, all participants underlined the increasing importance of education, R&D, and innovation related policy to support the competitiveness of the EU-15 countries as well as the catching-up process of the new EU member states. The conference has raised significant interest both within the scientific community and the EU Commission.
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The Role of the Intellectual Property Rights Regime for Foreign Investors in Post-Socialist Economies
Benedikt Schnellbächer, Johannes Stephan
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 4,
2009
Abstract
We integrate international business theory on foreign direct investment (FDI) with institutional theory on intellectual property rights (IPR) to explain characteristics and behaviour of foreign investment subsidiaries in Central East Europe, a region with an IPR regime-gap vis-à-vis West European countries. We start from the premise that FDI may play a crucial role for technological catch-up development in Central East Europe via technology and knowledge transfer. By use of a unique dataset generated at the IWH in collaboration with a European consortium in the framework of an EU-project, we assess the role played by the IPR regimes in a selection of CEE countries as a factor for corporate governance and control of foreign invested subsidiaries, for their own technological activity, their trade relationships, and networking partners for technological activity. As a specific novelty to the literature, we assess the in influence of the strength of IPR regimes on corporate control of subsidiaries and conclude that IPR-sensitive foreign investments tend to have lower functional autonomy, tend to cooperate more intensively within their transnational network and yet are still technologically more active than less IPR-sensitive subsidiaries. In terms of economic policy, this leads to the conclusion that the FDI will have a larger developmental impact if the IPR regime in the host economy is sufficiently strict.
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Can EU Policy Intervention Help Productivity Catch-Up?
Johannes Stephan, P. Holmes, J. Lopez-Gonzales, C. Stolberg
Closing the EU East-West Productivity Gap - Foreign direct Investment, Competitiveness, and Public Policy,
2006
Abstract
"A product of the Framework V research project, this book addresses one of the key problems facing the EU today: Why is the ‘new’ EU so much poorer than the ‘old’, and how will EU enlargement help to solve the problem? Focusing on the productivity problems underlying the East-West gap, it looks in particular at the role that foreign investment and R&D can play in closing it. Against that background, the book assesses what role proactive development policy might play in attacking the roots of low social productivity. Concluding that there will be a clear-cut process of convergence between East and West, albeit an incomplete one, it finishes with an assessment of the patterns of competitiveness, East and West, that are likely to emerge from this process of incomplete convergence."
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