The evolution of innovation networks: the case of a publicly funded German automotive network

Abstract

In this paper we analyze the evolution of a publicly funded interfirm R&D network in the German automotive industry between 1998 and 2007. A stochastic actor-based model allows us to estimate the role of various drivers of the evolutionary change process. We test hypotheses derived in an innovation and evolutionary economics framework and show that structural positions of firms as well as actor covariates and dyadic covariates are influential determinants of network evolution. Our results indicate that knowledge-related effects such as absorptive capacity, technological distance and knowledge-base modularity are significant determinants of network evolution. Moreover, transitivity is found to be a relevant endogenous structural effect. Also, firms with an experience in cooperation tend to be engaged more intensive in cooperation both as initiators and as targets. The same holds for geographically neighboring firms.

Keywords:

• R&D networks
• innovation policy
• stochastic actor-based model
• automobiles

JEL Classification:

• O32
• O38
• L62

Acknowledgements

This paper is an outcome of the project ‘Innovationsnetzwerke für die Regionalentwicklung. Eine agentenbasierte Simulation’ (INSPIRED). We also thank the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) which provided Tobias Buchmann with a Ph.D. scholarship.

Funding

INSPIRED is financed jointly by DFG and FWF [grant number PY 70/8-1].

Notes

1. For instance, EU Regulation 443/2009 forces car producers by 2020 to reduce CO₂ emissions of their product portfolio to a level which does not exceed the threshold of 95 g CO₂/km.

2. X takes the value 1 if a tie between two actors is established and 0 if a tie is absent.

3. This assumption is in line with our data as the projects of the Förderkatalog typically run for at least three years.

4. Nomenclature statistique des activités économiques dans la Communauté européenne.

5. The database is publicly accessible via the website http://www.foerderkatalog.de.