Patents, technological inputs and spillovers among regions

Joaquin Maudos (1) , Mercedes Gumbau (2)

1 Departamento de Analisis Economico
2 Analisis Economico

This paper analyses the importance of different technological inputs (R&D and human capital) and different spillovers in explaining the differences in patenting among Spanish regions in the period 1986-2003. It quantifies the effect of the regions' own technological inputs, and the externalities associated with them, on regional patenting. The analysis is based on the estimation of a knowledge production function. A region's own R&D activities and human capital are observed to have a positive significant effect on innovation output, measured by the number of patents. R&D spillovers weighted by the distance and the volume of trade flows between regions cause positive effects on a region's patents. However, distance matters more than the intensity of trade flows and the R&D spillover effects between regions are bounded: spillovers from closer regions perform better than spillovers from distant regions. On the opposite side, human capital spillovers do not cause any effect outside the region itself.

Mots clés: Social Sciences & Humanities

Joaquin Maudos, Mercedes Gumbau. Patents, technological inputs and spillovers among regions. Applied Economics, 2009, 41 (12), pp.1473-1486. ⟨10.1080/00036840601032250⟩. ⟨hal-00582154⟩