How do companies source knowledge in different types of regional innovation systems?
A comparison of ICT firms in two regions of Austria

Description

In knowledge based sectors such as ICT innovation is regarded as a key factor for the competitiveness of firms. Nowadays, the innovation process is regarded to be highly interactive, so companies tend to rely on both internal and external knowledge. There are arguments that the character of knowledge and innovation links depends to a large extent on the density and the institutional setting of the respective RIS. We investigate, therefore, whether firms in a “thick” and “thin” RIS exhibit different ways and patterns to source knowledge relevant to innovation. We expect that ICT companies in a “thick” RIS such as Vienna rely to a much higher extent on local knowledge sources in particular from universities and research institutes. For firms in a “thin” RIS such as Salzburg we expect a much higher reliance on distant knowledge links. At the beginning we provide a conceptual frame, by introducing the concept of knowledge bases and a typology of knowledge links applying these to the innovation process in the ICT sector. Then we present some empirical evidence for ICT companies in the regions of Vienna, representing a “thick” RIS, and Salzburg standing for a “thin” RIS. We analyse the types of innovation partners and of knowledge sources, the mechanisms of knowledge exchange the spatial pattern of these interaction. In the final section we will draw some policy conclusions.

Period	22 Mar 2009 → 27 Mar 2009
Event title	AAG Annual Meeting
Event type	Unknown
Degree of Recognition	International