Measuring Knowledge Bases in Swedish Regions

Abstract

Within the literature on innovation systems, there are a growing number of scholars emphasizing the importance of differentiated knowledge bases underlying innovation activities. The existing work on knowledge bases is largely grounded on in-depth case studies; while surprisingly little effort has been done so far to operationalize the concept in a more systematic manner. In this article, an attempt is made to develop a scheme of analysis to identify the knowledge base of a regional economy. We suggest using occupation data in association with a location quotient analysis, to assess whether a regional economy has a particular strength in one (or more) knowledge bases. To bring the analytical scheme into practice and assess it, we apply it on the county level in Sweden. The results are explained and contrasted with insights into the regional economies taken from secondary sources. We conclude that the proposed scheme of analysis leads to fairly reliable results, and could stimulate further empirical research on differentiated knowledge bases.

Notes

As far as we are aware, the first and only attempt to quantitatively assess the knowledge base of territorial entities has been made by Asheim and Hansen (2009).

The distinction between the three knowledge bases is intended as ideal-typical and as a mode of conceptual abstraction. In practice, most activities comprise more than one knowledge base, and the degree to which a certain knowledge base prevails can vary between industries, firms and different types of activities.

SCB follows a national classification system (SSYK), which is to a large extent matching the International Standard Classification of Occupation (ISCO).

We follow Asheim and Hansen's classification with minor modifications: instead of using not only writers and creative or performing artists to describe the symbolic knowledge base, but we also include archivists, librarians and related information professionals as well as artistic, entertainment and sports associate professionals, following Eurostat's cultural statistics (Eurostat, 2007).

After adapting the formula for location quotients (LQs), it can be written as LQ = (e_i /e)/E_i /E, where e_i the local employment with occupation attributed to knowledge base i; e the total local employment; E_i the reference area employment with occupation attributed to knowledge base i; E the total reference area employment.