Local Community Structures and the Novelty and Generality of Innovations Público
Hayward, Scott David (2010)
Abstract
Abstract
Local Community Structures and the Novelty and Generality of
Innovations
By: Scott D. Hayward
Location has become a key factor in explaining innovation and
technological change.
Local inventors form communities around particular technologies and
industries,
facilitating the flow of knowledge. Local knowledge flows drive
inventor productivity
and give innovations a local flavor. Yet every given region houses
many communities,
and a current debate pits the advantages of knowledge flowing
within a local industry
against those of knowledge flowing across local industries within
the same region.
While location matters for innovation, is it deep pools or diverse
selections of local
knowledge which matter more? This dissertation addresses this
debate by focusing on
whether an inventor's place within a broad structure of regional
communities shapes
the types of innovations they create. Combining patent data with
employment and
establishment data for the years 1977 through 1997, I locate
inventors in technical and
industrial communities housed within different U.S. metropolitan
areas. Results
suggest that local knowledge spillovers shape innovation novelty,
while innovation
generality follows a different process. While prior investigations
focus on local counts
of innovations, these findings advance the field by testing the
logic of local knowledge
spillovers to understand the antecedents of innovation novelty and
generality.
Furthermore, I introduce technical communities as a more direct
measure than local
industries, providing evidence to suggest they are different
concepts and should be
considered in future examinations of local innovation. This
dissertation drives a
broader understanding of how location matters for innovation, with
subsequent
implications for regional growth and technological development.
Table of Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES
...................................................................................................................
12
1 INTRODUCTION
........................................................................................................
16
2 TECHNICAL
COMMUNITIES....................................................................................
25
2.1 Introduction
..........................................................................................25
2.2 Technological Opportunities and Knowledge Spillovers
.......................30
2.3 Local Technical
Communities...............................................................33
2.4 From Innovation Counts to Innovation Novelty and
Generality.............36
2.5 Local Technical Community Structure and the Characteristics
of
Innovations 38
2.5.1 Community Size, Novelty and Generality
.......................................38
2.5.2 Local Diversity and
Novelty............................................................41
2.5.3 Size and Diversity as
Moderators....................................................43
2.6 Data and
Variables................................................................................45
2.6.1 Data
Sources...................................................................................45
2.6.2 Geographic Units
............................................................................46
2.6.3 Data Sample: Single MA
patents.....................................................50
2.6.4 Innovation
Measures.......................................................................52
2.6.5 Local Community
Measures............................................................55
2.7 Models and
Results...............................................................................58
2.7.1 Summary
Statistics..........................................................................58
2.7.2 Novelty Estimation and
Results.......................................................61
2.7.3 Post Hoc
Analysis...........................................................................64
2.7.4 Generality Estimation and
Results...................................................66
2.7.5
Interpretation...................................................................................71
2.8 Discussion and Conclusion
...................................................................74
3 LOCAL INDUSTRY
STRUCTURES...........................................................................
79
3.1 Introduction
..........................................................................................79
3.2 Local Industry Structure and the Characteristics of Innovations
............80
3.3 Data and
Variables................................................................................89
3.3.1 Data
Sources...................................................................................89
3.3.2 Data Sample: Single MA and Identifiable Industry Codes.
..............91
3.3.3 Innovation
Measures.......................................................................94
3.3.4 Local Industry Measures
.................................................................95
3.4 Models and
Results...............................................................................97
3.4.1 Summary
Statistics..........................................................................97
3.4.2 Novelty Estimation
.......................................................................100
3.4.3 Novelty
Results.............................................................................101
3.4.4 Novelty Post-Hoc Analysis
...........................................................106
3.4.5 Generality Estimation and
Results.................................................107
3.5 Discussion and Conclusion
.................................................................110
3.5.1 Interpretation and Reconsideration
................................................110
3.5.2
Limitations....................................................................................115
4 THE JOINT EFFECTS OF LOCAL INDUSTRY AND TECHNICAL
COMMUNITY
STRUCTURES..................................................................................
118
4.1 Introduction
........................................................................................118
4.2 Crosscutting Local Industries and Technical
Communities..................120
4.3 Data and
Variables..............................................................................124
4.4 Models and
Results.............................................................................126
4.4.1 Novelty
.........................................................................................128
4.4.2 Generality
.....................................................................................132
4.5 Discussion and Conclusion
.................................................................135
5 REFERENCES
...........................................................................................................
139
6 APPENDICES
............................................................................................................
146
About this Dissertation
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