Wie werden Städte zu Zentren der Kreativität und Innovation? Ein Bericht über das „2nd Halle Forum on Urban Economic Growth“ am IWH
Peter Franz, Martin T. W. Rosenfeld, Annette Illy
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 6,
2009
Abstract
Die Abteilung Stadtökonomik des IWH veranstaltete am 27. und 28. November 2008 das zweite Halle Forum on Urban Economic Growth. Die Forumsvorträge sowie die in das Programm eingebettete Podiumsdiskussion beschäftigten sich mit
der Frage, welche strategischen Handlungsmöglichkeiten Städten offenstehen, um sich als Zentren der Kreativität und Innovation entwickeln zu können. Diese Frage stellt sich insbesondere Städten in Transformationsökonomien, die durch einen erheblichen Strukturwandel gekennzeichnet sind und die nach Chancen für einen wirtschaftlichen Neuanfang Ausschau halten. Die Vorträge und Diskussionsbeiträge behandelten die allgemeine Bedeutung lokaler Kontextbedingungen für Kreativität, die Wissensvermittlung und verschiedene Ansätze, die entsprechenden Kontextbedingungen gezielt zu
gestalten. Neben Hinweisen zu praktikablen Handlungsstrategien für Städte mit Wissenschaftseinrichtungen lieferte das Forum ebenso die Erkenntnis, dass in mehrerlei Hinsicht noch weiterer Forschungsbedarf besteht. Insbesondere ist bislang ungenügend geklärt, über welche Wirkungskanäle Wissens-
Spillovers zwischen Wissenschaft und lokaler Wirtschaft verlaufen. Daneben muss die – auch im Verlauf der Tagung mehrfach erhobene – Forderung nach einer stärkeren Passung der Fächerstruktur der Wissenschaftseinrichtungen mit der Branchenstruktur der Wirtschaft in der Region noch durch weitere empirische Forschung auf ihre Angemessenheit hin überprüft werden. Darüber hinaus ist unklar, wie weit die unternehmerische Orientierung von Hochschulen getrieben werden kann, wie z. B. bei der wirtschaftlichen Verwertung der in ihren Mauern entwickelten Patente, ohne dass sich das Hochschulpersonal Identitätsproblemen und Konflikten mit den Werten des Wissenschaftssystems gegenübersieht.
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A Multidimensional Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Business Incubators: An application of the PROMETHEE outranking method
Michael Schwartz, Maximilian Göthner
Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy,
2009
Abstract
Considerable public resources are devoted to the establishment and operation of business incubators (BIs), which are seen as catalysts for the promotion of entrepreneurship, innovation activities and regional development. Despite the vast amount of research that focused on the effectiveness of incubator initiatives and how to measure incubator performance, there is still a lack of understanding of how to determine incubators that are more effective than others. Based on data from 410 graduate firms, the present article concentrates on this crucial question and compares the long-term effectiveness of five BIs in Germany by applying the multi-criteria outranking technique PROMETHEE. In particular, we investigate whether PROMETHEE is a well suited methodological approach for the evaluation and comparisons in the specific context of business incubation.
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Industry Concentration and Regional Innovative Performance – Empirical Evidence for Eastern Germany
Christoph Hornych, Michael Schwartz
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 8,
2009
Abstract
Regarding technological innovativeness, the transformed economy of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) clearly lags behind the Western part of the country. To face this weakness, a broad mixture of policy measures was carried out in recent years. Particular attention is drawn to the development of industry concentrations and economic ‘clusters’. However, little is known about the effectiveness of these policy measures regarding how industry concentrations in fact promote innovative performance in Eastern Germany. The present study tries to fill this gap by analyzing the relationship between industry concentration in Eastern Germany and regional innovative performance. Our empirical analysis is based upon the number of patent applications of 22 manufacturing industries in 22 Eastern German planning regions. The estimated regression models indicate an inverted U-shaped relationship between the degree of industry concentration and innovative performance. An exceedingly high degree of industry concentration in one region hampers regional innovative output. We discuss policy implications of our findings and give recommendations for future refinement of ‘cluster’-supporting policy schemes in Eastern Germany.
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Political Institutionalisation and Economic Specialisation in Polycentric Metropolitan Regions – The Case of the East-German ‘Saxony Triangle’
Peter Franz, Christoph Hornych
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 6,
2009
Abstract
The rising attention of politicians as well as scientists in the EU to the large urban agglomerations as centres of economic growth is accompanied by political efforts to identify and to demarcate such agglomerations under the label ‘metropolitan regions’. This study develops a theoretical framework broaching the issue of cooperation between municipalities from the perspective of regional economics as well as political science. The framework is applied to the empirical case of the polycentric metropolitan region ‘Saxony Triangle’ in East Germany. The results show that various intervening factors prevent intense cooperation between the actors in the region. Policy implications and con-
clusions for future research are discussed.
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Are there Gender-specific Preferences for Location Factors? A Grouped Conditional Logit-model of Interregional Migration Flows in Germany
Lutz Schneider, Alexander Kubis
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 5,
2009
Abstract
The article analyses the question whether women and men differ in their tastes for location factors. The question is answered by quantifying the impact of location characteristics on interregional migration flows across Germany. The analysis is based on a grouped conditional logit approach. We augment the framework by controlling for violation of the independence of irrelevant alternatives assumption and for overdispersion. As a result, we find no differences in terms of direction of impact. However, the regressions confirm gender differences in terms of intensity, particularly regarding regional wage levels and the availability of educational institutions.
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The Role of the Intellectual Property Rights Regime for Foreign Investors in Post-Socialist Economies
Benedikt Schnellbächer, Johannes Stephan
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 4,
2009
Abstract
We integrate international business theory on foreign direct investment (FDI) with institutional theory on intellectual property rights (IPR) to explain characteristics and behaviour of foreign investment subsidiaries in Central East Europe, a region with an IPR regime-gap vis-à-vis West European countries. We start from the premise that FDI may play a crucial role for technological catch-up development in Central East Europe via technology and knowledge transfer. By use of a unique dataset generated at the IWH in collaboration with a European consortium in the framework of an EU-project, we assess the role played by the IPR regimes in a selection of CEE countries as a factor for corporate governance and control of foreign invested subsidiaries, for their own technological activity, their trade relationships, and networking partners for technological activity. As a specific novelty to the literature, we assess the in influence of the strength of IPR regimes on corporate control of subsidiaries and conclude that IPR-sensitive foreign investments tend to have lower functional autonomy, tend to cooperate more intensively within their transnational network and yet are still technologically more active than less IPR-sensitive subsidiaries. In terms of economic policy, this leads to the conclusion that the FDI will have a larger developmental impact if the IPR regime in the host economy is sufficiently strict.
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A Novel Approach to Incubator Evaluations: The PROMETHEE Outranking Procedures
Michael Schwartz, Maximilian Göthner
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 1,
2009
Abstract
Considerable public resources are devoted to the establishment and operation of business incubators (BIs), which are seen as catalysts for the promotion of entrepreneurship, innovation activities and regional development. Despite the vast amount of research that has focused on the outcomes or effectiveness of incubator initiatives and how to measure incubator performance, there is still little understanding of how to determine incubators that are more effective than others. Based on data from 410 graduate firms, this paper applies the multi-criteria outranking technique PROMETHEE (Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment Evaluation) and compares the long-term effectiveness of five technology-oriented BIs in Germany. This is the first time that outranking procedures are used in incubator evaluations. In particular, we investigate whether PROMETHEE is a well-suited methodological approach for the evaluation and comparisons in the specific context of business incubation.
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Is There a Way for Old Industrial Districts to Become Attractive for Cultural Industry? The Case of Media Businesses in Halle (Saale), Germany
Martin T. W. Rosenfeld, Christoph Hornych
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 15,
2008
Abstract
manufacturing have collapsed are trying to stimulate entrepreneurial activities of businesses in the cultural industry. The question is whether this strategy could be successful. This article examines the strategy of supporting the sector of Media Industry (´MI´) by policy makers in the region of Halle in East Germany, where a strong de-industrialization has taken place after the German reunification. Stimulated by the policy makers’ support measures, there actually was a remarkable development of MI. However, the number of MI firms and their employees did not further increase in recent years, after having reached a certain level. This illustrates the limits of political measures for turning a city’s path of industrial development voluntarily.
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Financial Crisis Burdens Economic Activity in Poland
Martina Kämpfe
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 12,
2008
Abstract
Die weltweite Finanzmarktkrise hat auch die mittel- und osteuropäischen Länder erfasst, und zwar sowohl ihre Finanz- und Bankensysteme als auch die realwirtschaftliche Entwicklung. Die einzelnen Länder sind allerdings in unterschiedlichem Ausmaß betroffen. In Polen zeigten sich Auswirkungen auf die Stabilität des Finanzsystems und die aktuelle Wirtschaftslage erst in der zweiten Jahreshälfte deutlicher. In der ersten Jahreshälfte verlief die Binnennachfrage kaum schwächer als im Vorjahr: Neben den Unternehmensinvestitionen, die im zweistelligen Bereich expandierten, legte auch der private Konsum weiter kräftig zu, denn trotz höherer Inflation sind die Realeinkommen der privaten Haushalte aufgrund deutlicher Lohnsteigerungen und einer Rentenanpassung gestiegen. Zwar schwächte sich die Nachfrage aus dem Ausland, vor allem aus den Ländern der alten EU, schon im Frühjahr ab, der Außenhandel insgesamt hat sich aber kaum vermindert, da der Handel mit den asiatischen und osteuropäischen Ländern weiterhin sehr dynamisch verlief. Im dritten Quartal machten sich die Auswirkungen der international verunsicherten Finanzmärkte auf das Finanzsystem in Polen dann erstmals in Form von stärkeren Wechselkursschwankungenbemerkbar, die sich nach einer kurzzeitigen Beruhigung im vierten Quartal verstärkten. Der Złoty verlor binnen weniger Tage stark an Wert, und auchdie Aktienkurse der größten polnischen Unternehmen gerieten unter Druck. Die Verschlechterung der Stabilität des Finanzsystems hat in Polen – wie auch weltweit – zu einer Verschärfung der Kreditkonditionen und einer allgemeinen Verunsicherung der Wirtschaftsakteure geführt, deren längerfristige Folgen auf die Wirtschaft noch nicht absehbar sind. Vor diesem Hintergrund ist insgesamt von einer weiteren Abschwächung der wirtschaftlichen Expansion in diesem und dem nächsten Jahr auszugehen.
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