Innovation cooperation and geographical space in low and medium technology industries – Evidence for the Austrian plastic industry

While research on innovation was originally inspired by High-Technology sectors, recent advancements have also been achieved in understanding innovation in Low- and Medium-Technology sectors. In HT industries links to universities and research organisations are of key importance and the location in a local cluster is said to enhance the innovation performance of firms. There are valid arguments to assume that external knowledge links, cooperation and location also matter in LMT industries. However, we expect and argue that the types of innovation, knowledge links and innovation partners in LMT industries differ from the pattern found in HT industries. There is usually a high relevance of incremental innovation and of process innovation. Also knowledge sources and innovation partners are more often found along the value chain (i.e. customers and suppliers) or in knowledge intensive business services. Regional and interregional networks and cooperations are considered to be instrumental to generate, acquire and adapt knowledge relevant for innovation. However, so far it is unclear to which extent such knowledge sources and innovation partners in LMT industries are from the region or from higher (e.g. European or global) spatial levels. Furthermore, the importance of regional knowledge sources compared to international ones might also depend on the location of companies. Thus, we assess the role of geographic proximity from different perspectives, i.e. at which spatial levels knowledge interactions take place and if the location in a cluster or agglomeration impacts cooperation and innovation behaviour of the companies located there. These relationships will be investigated based on the data gathered for a typical LMT industry in Austria, the plastics manufacturing industry. We draw on data from a survey of 294 companies of which some 51% (151) have responded.