Local innovation ecosystem: structure and impact on adaptive capacity of firms

ABSTRACT

Focusing on the Local Innovation Ecosystem in Hauts-de-France region (France), the aim of this paper is to analyse how the ecosystems affect firm’s adaptive capacity. First, we show these local innovation ecosystems are based on Innovation Parks. They promote knowledge development and innovation processes by bringing together heterogeneous agents such as research laboratories, technological structures, finance organisations, brokers, start-ups, and companies within a complex interacting and strategic context. Second, we use econometric models to test the impact of these local innovation ecosystems on the innovativeness and technological diversity of firms viewed as components of adaptive capacity. Our results show that firms belonging to local innovation ecosystems centred on innovation parks are both more innovative and more technologically diversified than others. Our study suggests further empirical research in order to specify links between the most relevant characteristics of the innovation ecosystem and the firm’s adaptive capacity.

KEYWORDS:

• Innovation ecosystem
• technological diversity
• Hauts-de-France
• adaptive capacity

JEL:

• O31
• O32
• O33
• O36

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

¹ The French departments correspond to the European NUTS 3 regional level.:

² Since February 2019, CETI and Haute Borne have merged to give birth to Euramaterials.

³ Not all the innovation parks house a Pole of Competitiveness executive committee, but the majority of parks do, or at least have a representative structure of competitiveness cluster. Moreover, members of Pole of competitiveness could be inside or outside of the innovation park.

⁴ https://pole-nsl.org/le-pole-nsl/chiffres-cles/#1,482,160,916,642-b5952d7e-2e1c

⁵ https://www.ideum.de/download/KNOWHUB_Handbook_Challenges_for_Smart_Specialisation.pdf

http://www.epsilon.insee.fr/jspui/bitstream/1/20,598/1/P13_144.pdf

⁶ The National Institute of Statistics and Economic (INSEE) is the main French organism that studies collects, analyses and disseminates information on the French economy and society.

⁷ Aid_Region is used to account for the influence of external aid on the adaptive capacity of firms. Moreover, Aid_Region is correlated with firms R&D expenditures and probably Human Capital because regions only grant aid if firms are already engaged in an R&D process. Furthermore, the level (1-5) of Aid_region depends on the R&D investment of companies. For instance, the score 5 of Aid_region is intended to companies that received both finance and technical support for developing R&D project with European or global scope. The variable Aid_region partially reduces the problem of some omitted variables that our work suffers like R&D expenditures and Human Capital.