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Abstract
Castaldi C., Frenken K. and Los B. Related variety, unrelated variety and technological breakthroughs: an analysis of US state-level patenting, Regional Studies. This paper investigates how variety affects the innovation output of a region. Borrowing arguments from theories of recombinant innovation, it is expected that related variety will enhance innovation as related technologies are more easily recombined into a new technology. However, it is also expected that unrelated variety enhances technological breakthroughs, since radical innovation often stems from connecting previously unrelated technologies opening up whole new functionalities and applications. Using patent data for US states in the period 1977–99 and associated citation data, evidence is found for both hypotheses. This study thus sheds a new and critical light on the related variety hypothesis in economic geography.
Castaldi C., Frenken K. and Los B. 相关多样性、非相关多样性与技术突破：美国州层级的专利授予分析，区域研究。本文探讨多样性如何影响一个区域的创意产出。本文借用重组式创新理论的主张，预期相关多样性将会增进创新，因为相关技术更容易重组成为新的技术。但本文同时预期，非相关多样性能够增进技术突破，因为突破性的创新经常源自于连结过去不相关的技术，并开啓崭新的功能性与应用。本研究运用美国各州在1977年至1999年之间的专利数据和相关的引用数据，同时发现支持上述两项假说的证据。本研究因此对经济地理学中的相关多样性假说, 提供了崭新且具批判性的洞见。
Castaldi C., Frenken K. et Los B. La variété reliée, la variété non reliée et les percées technologiques: une analyse de l'obtention de brevets au niveau des états aux É-U, Regional Studies. Cet article examine comment la variété influe sur l'innovation d'une région. S'appuyant sur les théories de l'innovation recombinante, on s'attend à ce que la variété reliée améliore l'innovation parce que l'on peut recombiner plus facilement les technologies reliées en nouvelle technologie. Cependant, on s'attend aussi à ce que la variété non reliée améliore les percées technologiques, étant donné que l'innovation radicale provient souvent du raccordement des technologies jusqu'alors sans rapport, ce qui offre des fonctionnalités et des applications tout nouvelles. À partir des données sur les brevets pour les états aux É-U pendant la période de 1977 à 1999 et des données de citation y associées, on a trouvé des preuves qui corroborent les deux hypothèses. Cette étude jette une lumière nouvelle et critique sur l'hypothèse de la variété reliée dans la géographie économique.
Castaldi C., Frenken K. und Los B. Verwandte Varietät, nichtverwandte Varietät und technologische Durchbrüche: eine Analyse der Patente auf US-Bundesstaatsebene, Regional Studies. In diesem Beitrag wird untersucht, wie sich Varietät auf die Innovationsleistung einer Region auswirkt. Unter Anlehnung an die Argumente der Theorien der rekombinanten Innovation gehen wir davon aus, dass verwandte Varietät die Innovation verbessert, da sich verwandte Technologien einfacher zu einer neuen Technologie kombinieren lassen. Allerdings gehen wir auch davon aus, dass nichtverwandte Varietät technologische Durchbrüche verbessert, da radikale Innovation oft auf einer Kombination bisher nichtverwandter Technologien beruht, die völlig neue Funktionalitäten und Anwendungen ermöglicht. Anhand von Patentdaten für US-Bundesstaaten im Zeitraum von 1977 bis 1999 sowie mithilfe der zugehörigen Zitatdaten werden Belege für beide Hypothesen gefunden. Diese Studie lässt somit die Hypothese der verwandten Varietät in der Wirtschaftsgeografie in einem neuen und kritischen Licht erscheinen.
Castaldi C., Frenken K. y Los B. Variedad relacionada, variedad no relacionada y avances tecnológicos: un análisis de las patentes estatales en los Estados federales de EE.UU., Regional Studies. En este artículo investigamos qué efecto tiene la variedad en la capacidad innovadora de una región. Tomando prestados argumentos de teorías de la innovación recombinante, se prevé que la variedad relacionada aumente la innovación puesto que las tecnologías relacionadas se pueden volver a combinar más fácilmente en una nueva tecnología. Sin embargo, también se supone que con la variedad no relacionada aumenten los avances tecnológicos dado que la innovación radical muchas veces surge de combinar tecnologías no relacionadas previamente, descubriendo toda una serie de nuevas funcionalidades y aplicaciones. A partir de datos de patentes estatales de Estados Unidos durante el periodo de 1977 a 1999 y de datos de citación pertinentes, observamos evidencia de ambas hipótesis. Por consiguiente, este estudio aporta un enfoque nuevo y crítico a la hipótesis de la variedad relacionada en la geografía económica.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank the editors and anonymous referees for help in improving this paper. They also acknowledge the comments received at the Geography of Innovation Conference in Utrecht (January 2014), at the Science and Policy Research Unit (SPRU) research seminar series (March 2014), and at the European Regional Science Association (ERSA) conference in Palermo (August 2013).
Notes
1. Actually, invention is the focus here since issues of successful commercialization are not addressed, but technological attainments are the sole focus. Throughout, the paper uses the terms ‘innovation’ and ‘invention’ interchangeably since the theory of recombinant innovation has been framed in terms of innovation rather than invention.
2. Subsequently, patent statistics have often served as a source of indicators for regional inventive activity (e.g. Bottazzi and Peri, Citation2003; Fischer and Varga, Citation2003; Ejermo, Citation2009). There are good arguments to study smaller geographical units than the state level. California, for example, contains a number of metropolitan areas (the Bay Area with San Francisco and Silicon Valley; the state capital Sacramento; and the Los Angeles agglomeration, among others). Most probably, these agglomerations are geographically too distant from each other to allow for frequent knowledge spillovers (e.g., Thompson, Citation2006). Many other states, though, like Oregon, Illinois and Massachusetts, are dominated by a single large agglomeration. In such cases, the variety characteristics of the regional knowledge bases at the state level will be very similar to those of the dominant consolidated metropolitan statistical area (CMSA). In view of the fact that this analysis entails the estimation of augmented regional knowledge production functions, analyses for smaller geographical units cannot be done. Data on R&D expenditures, the most important inputs into knowledge production processes, are only available at the state and national levels.
3. An interesting alternative approach was chosen by Dahlin and Behrens (Citation2005). In identifying radical inventions in tennis racket technology, they focused not only on the numbers of citations the associated patents received, but also to what extent citations in these patents to prior art were dissimilar from existing patents. The identified patents were largely successfully confronted with expert opinions afterwards.
4. With state-level data, one can control for state-specific fixed effects such as institutions, including state regulations concerning products and the labour market. Compared with smaller spatial units of analysis, state-level analysis also has the advantage of having a substantial number of breakthrough innovations per state.
5. The original NBER Patent Citation database covers all patents granted at the USPTO in 1975–99. Bronwyn Hall updated the NBER database in 2002, and the NBER itself has published a new version with data until 2006. Since the latest update does not contain information about the location of inventors, the 2002 database is used.
6. As for the Herfindahl index, entropy values are biased for small numbers of patent counts (Hall, Citation2005).
7. The maximum SHARESUPER of 12.1% in the sample was recorded for New Mexico in 1992. Idaho (which produced a high number of superstar patents in semiconductor technology; Castaldi and Los, Citation2012) had an even higher SHARESUPER (16.4%) for 1992, but this observation could not be included in the sample since R&D data for this state were lacking for 1991–93.
8. Additional tests (available from the authors upon request) were performed by excluding the state dummies from the regressions. The two key hypotheses remain confirmed and the overall results do not change dramatically.