Variety in Knowledge Sourcing, geography and innovation: Evidence from the ICT sector in Austria

It has been argued that innovation increasingly depends on external knowledge sources. Still unclear is if relations to particular knowledge sources or to a broad variety of sources matter for innovation. Also, there is a debate on the issue which spatial levels are most relevant. In this context, we investigate for ICT firms in Austria the importance of variety in knowledge sourcing for their innovativeness and the relevance of geography in this respect. The results show that more innovative firms tend to exploit a larger variety of regional and international sources. We also find that R&D cooperations and in-house knowledge capabilities are highly important, while firm´s location only shows a weak association with their innovativeness.