[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hhs/lucirc/2018_007.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Do Companies Benefit from Public Research Organizations? The Impact of the Fraunhofer Society in Germany

Author

Listed:
  • Comin, Diego

    (Dartmouth College & CEPR)

  • Licht, Georg

    (ZEW)

  • Pellens, Maikel

    (ZEW & KU Leuven)

  • Schubert, Torben

    (CIRCLE & Fraunhofer ISI)

Abstract
Among available policy levers to boost innovation, investment in applied research organisations has received the least attention. In this paper, we analyze the case of the Fraunhofer Society, the largest public applied research organization in Germany. We analyze whether project interaction with Fraunhofer affect the performance and strategic orientation of firms. To that end, we assemble a unique dataset based on the confidential Fraunhofer-internal project management system and merge it with the German contribution to the Community Innovation Survey (CIS), which contains panel information on firm performance. Using instrumental variables that exploit the scale heteroscedasticity of the independent variable (Lewbel, 2012), we identify the causal effects of Fraunhofer interactions on firm performance and strategies. We find a strong, positive effect of project interaction on turnover and productivity growth. We also provide evidence that a major driver of the positive performance effects is the firms increased share of sales from new products and an increase in the share of workers with tertiary education. More detailed analyses reveal, amongst others that the performance effects become stronger the more often firms interact with Fraunhofer and that interactions aiming at generation of technology have a stronger effect than interactions aiming merely at the implementation of existing technologies.

Suggested Citation

  • Comin, Diego & Licht, Georg & Pellens, Maikel & Schubert, Torben, 2018. "Do Companies Benefit from Public Research Organizations? The Impact of the Fraunhofer Society in Germany," Papers in Innovation Studies 2018/7, Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2018_007
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://wp.circle.lu.se/upload/CIRCLE/workingpapers/201807_comin_et_al.pdf
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Schubert, Torben, 2009. "Empirical observations on New Public Management to increase efficiency in public research--Boon or bane?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(8), pages 1225-1234, October.
    2. Heidi L. Williams, 2013. "Intellectual Property Rights and Innovation: Evidence from the Human Genome," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 121(1), pages 1-27.
    3. Andrew A. Toole & Dirk Czarnitzki & Christian Rammer, 2015. "University research alliances, absorptive capacity, and the contribution of startups to employment growth," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(5), pages 532-549, July.
    4. Czarnitzki, Dirk & Hanel, Petr & Rosa, Julio Miguel, 2011. "Evaluating the impact of R&D tax credits on innovation: A microeconometric study on Canadian firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 217-229, March.
    5. Cardamone Paola & Pupo Valeria & Ricotta Fernanda, 2015. "University Technology Transfer and Manufacturing Innovation: The Case of Italy," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 32(3), pages 297-322, May.
    6. Giannopoulou, Eleni & Barlatier, Pierre-Jean & Pénin, Julien, 2019. "Same but different? Research and technology organizations, universities and the innovation activities of firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 223-233.
    7. Castellacci, Fulvio & Lie, Christine Mee, 2015. "Do the effects of R&D tax credits vary across industries? A meta-regression analysis," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(4), pages 819-832.
    8. Dechezlepretre, Antoine & Einiö, Elias & Martin, Ralf & Nguyen, Kieu-Trang & Reenen, John Van, 2016. "Do tax incentives for research increase firm innovation? An RD design for R&D, patents and spillovers," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 66428, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    9. Lewbel, Arthur, 2018. "Identification and estimation using heteroscedasticity without instruments: The binary endogenous regressor case," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 10-12.
    10. Stéphane Robin & Torben Schubert, 2013. "Cooperation with public research institutions and success in innovation: Evidence from France and Germany," Post-Print hal-03691900, HAL.
    11. Antoine Dechezlepretre & Elias Einio & Ralf Martin & Kieu-Trang Nguyen & John Van Reenen, 2016. "Do tax incentives for research increase firm innovation? An RD design for R&D," GRI Working Papers 230, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.
    12. Rigobon, Roberto & Sack, Brian, 2004. "The impact of monetary policy on asset prices," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(8), pages 1553-1575, November.
    13. Montmartin, Benjamin & Herrera, Marcos, 2015. "Internal and external effects of R&D subsidies and fiscal incentives: Empirical evidence using spatial dynamic panel models," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(5), pages 1065-1079.
    14. Robin, Stéphane & Schubert, Torben, 2013. "Cooperation with public research institutions and success in innovation: Evidence from France and Germany," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 149-166.
    15. Bronzini, Raffaello & Piselli, Paolo, 2016. "The impact of R&D subsidies on firm innovation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 442-457.
    16. Belderbos, Rene & Carree, Martin & Lokshin, Boris, 2004. "Cooperative R&D and firm performance," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(10), pages 1477-1492, December.
    17. Irem Guceri & Li Liu, 2019. "Effectiveness of Fiscal Incentives for R&D: Quasi-experimental Evidence," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 11(1), pages 266-291, February.
    18. Knoll, Bodo & Baumann, Martina & Riedel, Nadine, 2014. "The Global Effects of R&D Tax Incentives: Evidence from Micro-Data," VfS Annual Conference 2014 (Hamburg): Evidence-based Economic Policy 100347, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    19. White, Halbert, 1980. "A Heteroskedasticity-Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimator and a Direct Test for Heteroskedasticity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(4), pages 817-838, May.
    20. Sentana, Enrique & Fiorentini, Gabriele, 2001. "Identification, estimation and testing of conditionally heteroskedastic factor models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 102(2), pages 143-164, June.
    21. Rao, Nirupama, 2016. "Do tax credits stimulate R&D spending? The effect of the R&D tax credit in its first decade," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 1-12.
    22. Cohen, Wesley M & Levinthal, Daniel A, 1989. "Innovation and Learning: The Two Faces of R&D," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 99(397), pages 569-596, September.
    23. Hall, Bronwyn H., 1993. "R&D Tax Policy During the 1980s: Success of Failure?," Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt8151h8tg, Department of Economics, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley.
    24. R. Harris & Q. C. Li & J. Moffat, 2011. "The impact of higher education institution-firm knowledge links on firm-level productivity in Britain," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(13), pages 1243-1246.
    25. Guido W. Imbens & Jeffrey M. Wooldridge, 2009. "Recent Developments in the Econometrics of Program Evaluation," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 47(1), pages 5-86, March.
    26. repec:dau:papers:123456789/13785 is not listed on IDEAS
    27. P. Geroski, 1998. "An Applied Econometrician's View of Large Company Performance," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 13(3), pages 271-294, June.
    28. King, Mervyn & Sentana, Enrique & Wadhwani, Sushil, 1994. "Volatility and Links between National Stock Markets," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 62(4), pages 901-933, July.
    29. Arellano, Manuel & Bover, Olympia, 1995. "Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-components models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 29-51, July.
    30. Belderbos, Rene & Carree, Martin & Lokshin, Boris, 2004. "Cooperative R&D and firm performance," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(10), pages 1477-1492, December.
    31. Bhaven Sampat & Heidi L. Williams, 2019. "How Do Patents Affect Follow-On Innovation? Evidence from the Human Genome," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(1), pages 203-236, January.
    32. Arthur Lewbel, 2012. "Using Heteroscedasticity to Identify and Estimate Mismeasured and Endogenous Regressor Models," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(1), pages 67-80.
    33. Bloom, Nick & Griffith, Rachel & Van Reenen, John, 2002. "Do R&D tax credits work? Evidence from a panel of countries 1979-1997," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(1), pages 1-31, July.
    34. Kaiser, Ulrich & Kuhn, Johan M., 2012. "Long-run effects of public–private research joint ventures: The case of the Danish Innovation Consortia support scheme," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(5), pages 913-927.
    35. Andrews,Donald W. K. & Stock,James H. (ed.), 2005. "Identification and Inference for Econometric Models," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521844413, September.
    36. Becker, Wolfgang & Dietz, Jurgen, 2004. "R&D cooperation and innovation activities of firms--evidence for the German manufacturing industry," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 209-223, March.
    37. Alberto Galasso & Mark Schankerman, 2018. "Patent rights, innovation, and firm exit," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 49(1), pages 64-86, March.
    38. Bronwyn H. Hall, 1993. "R&D Tax Policy during the 1980s: Success or Failure?," NBER Chapters, in: Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 7, pages 1-36, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    39. Alberto Galasso & Mark Schankerman, 2014. "Patents and Cumulative Innovation: Causal Evidence from the Courts," NBER Working Papers 20269, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    40. Murray, Fiona & Stern, Scott, 2007. "Do formal intellectual property rights hinder the free flow of scientific knowledge?: An empirical test of the anti-commons hypothesis," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 63(4), pages 648-687, August.
    41. Fiona E. Murray & Scott Stern, 2007. "Do Formal Intellectual Property Rights Hinder the Free Flow of Scientific Knowledge?: An Empirical Test of the Anti-Commons Hypothesis," NBER Chapters, in: Academic Science and Entrepreneurship: Dual Engines of Growth, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    42. Richard R. Nelson, 1959. "The Simple Economics of Basic Scientific Research," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 67(3), pages 297-297.
    43. Marotta, Daniela & Mark, Michael & Blom, Andreas & Thorn, Kristian, 2007. "Human capital and university-industry linkages'role in fostering firm innovation : an empirical study of Chile and Colombia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4443, The World Bank.
    44. Monjon, Stephanie & Waelbroeck, Patrick, 2003. "Assessing spillovers from universities to firms: evidence from French firm-level data," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 21(9), pages 1255-1270, November.
    45. Cappelen, Ådne & Raknerud, Arvid & Rybalka, Marina, 2012. "The effects of R&D tax credits on patenting and innovations," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 334-345.
    46. Marc Cowling, 2016. "You can lead a firm to R&D but can you make it innovate? UK evidence from SMEs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 46(4), pages 565-577, April.
    47. Maietta, Ornella Wanda, 2015. "Determinants of university–firm R&D collaboration and its impact on innovation: A perspective from a low-tech industry," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(7), pages 1341-1359.
    48. Miozzo, Marcela & Dewick, Paul, 2002. "Building competitive advantage: innovation and corporate governance in European construction," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 989-1008, August.
    49. Berger, Pg, 1993. "Explicit And Implicit Tax Effects Of The Research-And-Development Tax Credit," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(2), pages 131-171.
    50. Roberto Rigobon, 2003. "Identification Through Heteroskedasticity," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 85(4), pages 777-792, November.
    51. Maietta, Ornella Wanda, 2015. "Determinants of R&D University-Frim Collaboration and Its Impact on Innovation: a Perspective from the Italian Food and Drink Industry," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 225668, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    52. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    53. Koenker, Roger, 1981. "A note on studentizing a test for heteroscedasticity," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 107-112, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Giannopoulou, Eleni & Barlatier, Pierre-Jean & Pénin, Julien, 2019. "Same but different? Research and technology organizations, universities and the innovation activities of firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 223-233.
    2. Bianchi, Francesco & Comin, Diego & Kung, Howard & Kind, Thilo & Matusche, Alexander, 2019. "Slow recoveries through fiscal austerity: New insights in the effects of fiscal austerity," ZEW policy briefs 2/2019, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    3. Corinne Autant-Bernard & Ruben Fotso & Nadine Massard, 2022. "Evaluating the impact of public policies on large firms: a synthetic control approach to science-industry transfer policies," Revue d'économie industrielle, De Boeck Université, vol. 0(4), pages 9-50.
    4. Thomas H. W. Ziesemer, 2021. "The Effects of R&D Subsidies and Publicly Performed R&D on Business R&D: A Survey," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 236(1), pages 171-205, March.
    5. Francesco Manaresi & Carlo Menon & Pietro Santoleri, 2021. "Supporting innovative entrepreneurship: an evaluation of the Italian “Start-up Act” [The effects of entry on incumbent innovation and productivity]," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 30(6), pages 1591-1614.
    6. Grant, Allan & Figus, Gioele & Schubert, Torben, 2022. "Understanding the macroeconomic effects of public research: An application of a regression-microfounded CGE-model to the case of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft in Germany," Discussion Papers "Innovation Systems and Policy Analysis" 72, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI).
    7. Krieger, Bastian & Licht, Georg & Pellens, Maikel, 2018. "New perspectives in European innovation policy," ZEW policy briefs 7/2018, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    8. Sara Amoroso & Simone Vannuccini, 2019. "Teaming up with Large R&D Investors: Good or Bad for Knowledge Production and Diffusion?," SPRU Working Paper Series 2019-20, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    9. Quentin Plantec & Pascal Le Masson & Benoit Weil, 2019. "The role of participating in user-driven research projects on scholar's academic performances: a model through C-K design theory," Post-Print hal-02165721, HAL.
    10. Patrick Lehnert & Curdin Pfister & Dietmar Harhoff & Uschi Backes-Gellner, 2020. "Innovation Effects and Knowledge Complementarities in a Diverse Research Landscape," Economics of Education Working Paper Series 0164, University of Zurich, Department of Business Administration (IBW), revised Jan 2022.
    11. Gelsomina Catalano & Gaston García López & Alejandro Sánchez & Silvia Vignetti, 2021. "From scientific experiments to innovation: Impact pathways of a Synchrotron Light Facility," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 92(3), pages 447-472, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Beck, Mathias & Junge, Martin & Kaiser, Ulrich, 2017. "Public Funding and Corporate Innovation," IZA Discussion Papers 11196, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Blandinieres, Florence & Steinbrenner, Daniela, 2021. "How does the evolution of R&D tax incentives schemes impact their effectiveness? Evidence from a meta-analysis," ZEW Discussion Papers 21-020, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    3. Tania Babina & Sabrina T. Howell, 2018. "Entrepreneurial Spillovers from Corporate R&D," NBER Working Papers 25360, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Daniel Gama e Colombo, 2016. "Impact Assessment of Tax Incentives to Foster Industrial Innovation in Brazil: The Case of Law 11,196/05," Working Papers, Department of Economics 2016_30, University of São Paulo (FEA-USP).
    5. Barge-Gil, Andrés & Vivas-Augier, Carlos, 2019. "Does Cooperation with Universities and KIBS Matter? Firm-level Evidence from Spain," MPRA Paper 96949, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. OKAMURO, Hiroyuki & SAKUMA, Yohei, 2021. "The Effects of R&D Tax Incentive Reform on R&D Expenditures: The Case of 2009 Reform in Japan," TDB-CAREE Discussion Paper Series E-2021-04, Teikoku Databank Center for Advanced Empirical Research on Enterprise and Economy, Graduate School of Economics, Hitotsubashi University.
    7. Maria De Paola & Michela Ponzo & Vincenzo Scoppa, 2018. "Are Men Given Priority for Top Jobs? Investigating the Glass Ceiling in Italian Academia," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 12(3), pages 475-503.
    8. Erika Raquel Badillo & Rosina Moreno, 2018. "Does absorptive capacity determine collaboration returns to innovation? A geographical dimension," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 60(3), pages 473-499, May.
    9. Daniela Bragoli & Flavia Cortelezzi & Massimiliano Rigon, 2023. "Firms' innovation and university cooperation. New evidence from a survey of Italian firms," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 1400, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    10. Paola Cardamone & Valeria Pupo & Fernanda Ricotta, 2018. "Exploring the relationship between university and innovation: evidence from the Italian food industry," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(5), pages 673-696, September.
    11. Knoll, Bodo & Riedel, Nadine & Schwab, Thomas & Todtenhaupt, Maximilian & Voget, Johannes, 2021. "Cross-border effects of R&D tax incentives," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(9).
    12. Kleine, Marco & Heite, Jonas & Huber, Laura Rosendahl, 2022. "Subsidized R&D collaboration: The causal effect of innovation vouchers on innovation outcomes," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(6).
    13. Erika Raquel Badillo & Rosina Moreno, 2014. "“Does absorptive capacity determine collaborative research returns to innovation? A geographical dimension”," AQR Working Papers 201416, University of Barcelona, Regional Quantitative Analysis Group, revised Oct 2014.
    14. Labeaga, José M. & Martínez-Ros, Ester & Sanchis, Amparo & Sanchis, Juan A., 2021. "Does persistence in using R&D tax credits help to achieve product innovations?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    15. Isabel Busom & Beatriz Corchuelo & Ester Martínez-Ros, 2017. "Participation inertia in R&D tax incentive and subsidy programs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 153-177, January.
    16. Crespi, Gustavo & Giuliodori, David & Giuliodori, Roberto & Rodriguez, Alejandro, 2016. "The effectiveness of tax incentives for R&D+i in developing countries: The case of Argentina," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(10), pages 2023-2035.
    17. Bettina Becker, 2013. "The Determinants of R&D Investment: A Survey of the Empirical Research," Discussion Paper Series 2013_09, Department of Economics, Loughborough University, revised Sep 2013.
    18. Alessandro Sterlacchini & Francesco Venturini, 2019. "R&D tax incentives in EU countries: does the impact vary with firm size?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 53(3), pages 687-708, October.
    19. Jia, Junxue & Ma, Guangrong, 2017. "Do R&D tax incentives work? Firm-level evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 50-66.
    20. Tian, Binbin & Yu, Baixue & Chen, Shi & Ye, Jingjing, 2020. "Tax incentive, R&D investment and firm innovation: Evidence from China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Innovation; R&D; diffusion; applied research; Fraunhofer;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • O38 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Government Policy

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2018_007. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Torben Schubert (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/circlse.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.