Are trade fairs relevant for local innovation knowledge networks? Evidence from Shanghai equipment manufacturing

ABSTRACT

The role of trade fairs in local innovation knowledge networks is studied by combining data on co-patenting networks in the Shanghai equipment manufacturing (machinery) industry with data from the Shanghai Metalworking and CNC Machine Tool Show (MWCS). Three propositions are developed, suggesting that: (1) local firms attending the MWCS are more research and development intensive than other firms; (2) trade fair attendees are linked with each other more closely in co-patenting networks than non-attendees; and (3) participating firms have more local co-patenting linkages than non-participating firms. The results largely support these propositions, confirming that participation in flagship fairs is associated with strong integration in innovation knowledge networks.

KEYWORDS:

• co-patenting networks
• equipment manufacturing (machinery) industry
• innovation knowledge networks
• local impact
• trade fairs

JEL:

• D83
• L00
• O32
• R12

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Parts of this paper, to which all authors contributed equally, were presented at the 2016 and 2017 Annual Meetings of the American Association of Geographers (AAG) in San Francisco and Boston, respectively. The authors thank the participants at both meetings, and particularly Maximilian Buchholz, for excellent suggestions. Special thanks to the Editor of Regional Studies, Dieter Kogler, and the anonymous reviewers for thoughtful advice.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. It includes a large part of the machinery industry: according to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), it consists of the industry groups 333 (machinery manufacturing), 335 (electrical equipment, appliance and component manufacturing), 336 (transportation equipment manufacturing) and 3391 (medical equipment and supplies manufacturing).

2. While referring to trade fair participation more generally, the present empirical analysis only considers the role of exhibitors, about which there is comprehensive information. We assume, however, that visitors’ experiences at trade fairs are similarly associated with innovation knowledge networks. We would have also preferred to include the effects of informal knowledge flows in this study, but there were no data available to do so. While the focus on co-patenting networks is restrictive, we believe our findings on innovation knowledge networks would be even stronger had it been possible to include the effects of such informal linkages and local buzz (Bathelt et al., 2014).

3. While the participation of 3% of local firms/research organizations at the MWCS may not sound much, keep in mind that we used a rigorous definition of ‘local firms’ and that these accounted for almost one-quarter of all exhibitors – a significant local share. The number would also be substantially larger if visitors were included, many of which originated from the Shanghai region (Bathelt & Zeng, 2014).

4. Of course, not all events can be expected to have such an impact. As a prerequisite, there needs to be a link between the local industry base, its development stage and the industry/technology focus of a trade fair.

Additional information

Funding

Financial support for this research was provided by the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation [grant number 2018M641963]; the Fundamental Research Funds for Central Universities [grant number 2018ECNU-HWFW002]; the Zijiang Visiting Professorship at East China Normal University, Shanghai; and the Canada Research Chair in Innovation and Governance at the University of Toronto.