Im Fokus: Industrielle Kerne in Ostdeutschland und wie es dort heute aussieht – Das Beispiel des Chemiestandorts Bitterfeld-Wolfen
Gerhard Heimpold
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
Nr. 6,
2015
Abstract
Der Erhalt industrieller Kerne war eines der wirtschaftspolitischen Ziele beim Aufbau Ost. Einer dieser Kerne ist der Chemiestandort Bitterfeld-Wolfen in Sachsen-Anhalt. Der Beitrag untersucht, wie es nach 25 Jahren Deutscher Einheit um diesen industriellen Kern bestellt ist. In einem Satz: Der Kern ist nicht mehr der alte. Die Kombinate der Großchemie waren als Ganzes nicht privatisierbar. An ihre Stelle sind moderne mittelständische Chemiebetriebe getreten. Daneben haben sich neue Branchen, etwa die Glasindustrie, angesiedelt, und in Gestalt einer attraktiven Seenlandschaft ist aus den Braunkohlentagebauen etwas völlig Neues entstanden. Bei den Forschungsaktivitäten kann die Region aber mit westdeutschen Verhältnissen nicht mithalten. Die vielleicht größte künftige Herausforderung wird in einer demographisch bedingt rückläufigen Erwerbspersonenzahl liegen.
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The Structure and Evolution of Inter-sectoral Technological Complementarity in R&D in Germany from 1990 to 2011
T. Broekel, Matthias Brachert
Journal of Evolutionary Economics,
Nr. 4,
2015
Abstract
Technological complementarity is argued to be a crucial element for effective R&D collaboration. The real structure is, however, still largely unknown. Based on the argument that organizations’ knowledge resources must fit for enabling collective learning and innovation, we use the co-occurrence of firms in collaborative R&D projects in Germany to assess inter-sectoral technological complementarity between 129 sectors. The results are mapped as complementarity space for the Germany economy. The space and its dynamics from 1990 to 2011 are analyzed by means of social network analysis. The results illustrate sectors being complements both from a dyadic and portfolio/network perspective. This latter is important, as complementarities may only become fully effective when integrated in a complete set of different knowledge resources from multiple sectors. The dynamic perspective moreover reveals the shifting demand for knowledge resources among sectors at different time periods.
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R&D Cooperation with Scientific Institutions: A Difference-in-difference Approach
Gunnar Pippel, V. Seefeld
Economics of Innovation and New Technology,
Nr. 5,
2016
Abstract
Economists and business managers have long been interested in the impact of research and development (R&D) cooperation with scientific institutions on the innovation performance of firms. Recent research identifies a positive correlation between these two variables. This paper aims to contribute to the identification of the relationship between R&D cooperation with scientific institutions and the product and process innovation performance of firms by using a difference-in-difference approach. In doing so, we distinguish between two different types of scientific institutions: universities and governmental research institutes. For the econometric analyses, we use data from the German Community Innovation Survey. In total, data from up to 560 German service and manufacturing firms are available for the difference-in-difference analyses. The results suggest that R&D cooperation with universities and governmental research institutes has a positive effect on both product innovation and process innovation performance of firms.
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R&D Collaboration for Environmental Innovation
Gunnar Pippel
International Journal of Innovation Management,
Nr. 1,
2015
Abstract
FuE-Kooperationen spielen eine bedeutende Rolle bei der Schaffung von Umweltinnovationen. Allerdings zeigt uns die Literatur, dass FuE-Kooperationen nicht immer vorteilhaft sind. Daher ist eine differenziertere Betrachtungsweise des Einflusses von FuE-Kooperationen auf die Fähigkeit von Unternehmen, Umweltinnovationen hervorzubringen, notwendig. Das Papier untersucht diesen Zusammenhang und differenziert dabei nach verschiedenen Typen von Kooperationspartnern wie Kunden, Lieferanten, Universitäten, staatlichen Forschungseinrichtungen, Konkurrenten, Beratern und anderen Firmen innerhalb der gleichen Firmengruppe. Zudem wird der Frage nachgegangen, ob Diversität von Kooperationspartnern einen Einfluss auf die Umweltinnovationsfähigkeit von Unternehmen hat. Dabei werden Daten von 2337 deutschen Unternehmen für eine Regressionsanalyse verwendet. Deutlich wird, dass FuE-Kooperationen mit Kunden, Lieferanten, Universitäten, staatlichen Forschungseinrichtungen, Beratern und anderen Firmen innerhalb der gleichen Firmengruppe einen signifikant positiven Einfluss auf die Umweltinnovationsfähigkeit haben. FuE-Kooperationen mit Konkurrenten haben keinen signifikanten Einfluss. Die Diversität von FuE-Kooperationspartnern hat ebenfalls einen signifikant positiven Einfluss auf die Umweltinnovationsfähigkeit.
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Can R&D Subsidies Counteract the Economic Crisis? – Macroeconomic Effects in Germany
Hans-Ulrich Brautzsch, Jutta Günther, Brigitte Loose, Udo Ludwig, Nicole Nulsch
Research Policy,
Nr. 3,
2015
Abstract
During the economic crisis of 2008 and 2009, governments in Europe stabilized their economies by means of fiscal policy. After decades of absence, deficit spending was used to counteract the heavy decline in demand. In Germany, public spending went partially into R&D subsidies in favor of small and medium sized enterprises. Applying the standard open input–output model, the paper analyzes the macroeconomic effects of R&D subsidies on employment and production in the business cycle. Findings in the form of backward multipliers suggest that R&D subsidies have stimulated a substantial leverage effect. Almost two thirds of the costs of R&D projects are covered by the enterprises themselves. Overall, a subsidized R&D program results in a production, value added and employment effect that amounts to at least twice the initial financing. Overall, the R&D program counteracts the decline of GDP by 0.5% in the year 2009. In the year 2010 the effects are already procyclical since the German economy recovered quickly. Compared to the strongly discussed alternative uses of subsidies for private consumption, R&D spending is more effective.
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Understanding the Great Recession
Mathias Trabandt, Lawrence J. Christiano, Martin S. Eichenbaum
American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics,
Nr. 1,
2015
Abstract
We argue that the vast bulk of movements in aggregate real economic activity during the Great Recession were due to financial frictions. We reach this conclusion by looking through the lens of an estimated New Keynesian model in which firms face moderate degrees of price rigidities, no nominal rigidities in wages, and a binding zero lower bound constraint on the nominal interest rate. Our model does a good job of accounting for the joint behavior of labor and goods markets, as well as inflation, during the Great Recession. According to the model the observed fall in total factor productivity and the rise in the cost of working capital played critical roles in accounting for the small drop in inflation that occurred during the Great Recession.
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Isolation and Innovation – Two Contradictory Concepts? Explorative Findings from the German Laser Industry
Wilfried Ehrenfeld, T. Pusch, Muhamed Kudic
IWH Discussion Papers,
Nr. 1,
2015
Abstract
We apply a network perspective and study the emergence of core-periphery (CP) structures in innovation networks to shed some light on the relationship between isolation and innovation. It has been frequently argued that a firm’s location in a densely interconnected network area improves its ability to access information and absorb technological knowledge. This, in turn, enables a firm to generate new products and services at a higher rate compared to less integrated competitors. However, the importance of peripheral positions for innovation processes is still a widely neglected issue in literature. Isolation may provide unique conditions that induce innovations which otherwise may never have been invented. Such innovations have the potential to lay the ground for a firm’s pathway towards the network core, where the industry’s established technological knowledge is assumed to be located.
The aim of our paper is twofold. Firstly, we propose a new CP indicator and apply it to analyze the emergence of CP patterns in the German laser industry. We employ publicly funded Research and Development (R&D) cooperation project data over a period of more than two decades. Secondly, we explore the paths on which firms move from isolated positions towards the core (and vice versa). Our exploratory results open up a number of new research questions at the intersection between geography, economics and network research.
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Interrelationship between Industrial and Innovation Development in East Germany
Gerhard Heimpold
Region: Ekonomika i Soziologija,
Nr. 2,
2015
Abstract
The article demonstrates that the most important reason for the slowdown and stagnation of economic convergence in East Germany is the weakness in terms of research and development and innovation. It analyzes the interrelationship between industrial and innovative development in the East German federal states since 1990. The article shows how the East German industry sector and its R&D activities looked like in the late 1980s and which transition it had undergone in the course of privatization. The industrial development of the new federal states after 1990 is analyzed. The paper reveals structural shortcomings in East Germany's economy and considers their impact on the progress in R&D.
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The Structure and Evolution of Intersectoral Technological Complementarity in R&D in Germany from 1990 to 2011
Matthias Brachert, T. Broekel
Abstract
Technological complementarity is argued to be a crucial element for effective Research and Development (R&D) collaboration. The real structure is, however, still largely unknown. Based on the argument that organizations’ knowledge resources must fit for enabling collective learning and innovation, we use the co-occurrence of firms in collaborative R&D projects in Germany to assess inter-sectoral technological complementarity between 129 sectors. The results are mapped as complementarity space for the Germany economy. The space and its dynamics from 1990 to 2011 are analyzed by means of social network analysis.
The results illustrate sectors being complements both from a dyadic and portfolio/ network perspective. This latter is important, as complementarities may only become fully effective when integrated in a complete set of different knowledge resources from multiple sectors. The dynamic perspective moreover reveals the shifting demand for knowledge resources among sectors at different time periods.
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Does Proximity Matter in the Choice of Partners in Collaborative R&D Projects? – An Empirical Analysis of Granted Projects in Germany
Mirko Titze, Philipp Marek, , Clemens Fuhrmeister
IWH Discussion Papers,
Nr. 12,
2014
Abstract
This paper contributes to the discussion on the importance of physical distance in the emergence of cross-region collaborative Research and Development (R&D) interactions. The proximity theory, and its extensions, is used as a theoretical framework. A spatial interaction model for count data was implemented for the empirical analysis of German data from the period from 2005 to 2010. The results show that all tested proximity measurements (geographical, cognitive, social and institutional proximity) have a significant positive influence on collaboration intensity. The proximity paradox, however, cannot be confirmed for geographical, social and institutional proximity, but for cognitive proximity.
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