Technological diversity in collaborative projects: insights into European research policy

ABSTRACT

Technology diversity is defined as the ability to perform research and development in different technological domains. We investigate the degree of technological diversity in the European regions, focusing on two main drivers: the regional capacity to obtain funding from the 7^th Framework Programme, and the degree of regional network centrality in collaborative research. Our results support the hypothesis that regional capacity to access European funding and obtain a central position in collaborative networks fosters technological diversity in European regions. We also find that the high network centrality in a research collaboration network is correlated to a reduced FP7 effect on technological diversity.

KEYWORDS:

• Smart specialisation
• technological diversity
• social network analysis
• European regions
• framework programme

JEL CLASSIFICATION:

• O18
• O31
• O38
• R58

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. http://ec.europa.eu/research/regions/index_en.cfm?pg=smart_specialisation

2. The six KETs are: industrial biotechnology, nanotechnology, micro- and nanoelectronics, photonics, advanced materials and advanced manufacturing technologies.

3. RED data can be consulted by means of R&T Telescope™, a tool for exploring new technology trends (www.technology-telescope.com).

4. The raw information on each project is extracted from CORDIS does not provide a classification by key technology but only organises information by call. Each call does not identify a research area but only a general theme and it is frequent that a project financed within a certain call may be actually developing technological solutions relevant for one or more sectors of application, not necessarily directly related to the call’s thematic focus (e.g. ICT, health, industrial processes, agri-food). Therefore, the identification of the technological focus of an investment requires a project-by-project analysis and the use of a taxonomy of key technologies.

5. To check the robustness of the results, we tested our model with two alternative measures of technological diversity: (1) the Herfindahl–Hirschman Index of Diversification (HHID), which is a popular alternative measure of technological diversification (Quintana-Garcia and Benavides-Velasco 2008), and (2) a scalar indicator ranging from 1 to 11 sectors, which takes into account the number of sectors in which region i has participated one or more times. Both indicators confirmed the results obtained with the SDI. The results are presented in the Appendix.

6. Distance was calculated using data on latitude and longitude of the central city of each region involved in FP7 projects.

7. This objective was designed to support competitive regions and the development of inclusive labour markets. It was financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Social Fund (ESF), which together make the Structural Funds.

8. i.e., instead of accounting for diversity between the aerospace and agri-food sectors as in Equations (1(1) $\begin{array}{rl}& SD{I}_i=\alpha +{\beta }_{1}DISTANCE\mathrm{\_}PARTNER{S}_i+{\beta }_{2}FP7\mathrm{\_}FUNDIN{G}_i+{\beta }_{3}EIGENVECTO{R}_i\\ & +{\beta }_{4}EIGENVECTO{R}_i\ast FP7\mathrm{\_}FUNDIN{G}_i+{\beta }_{5}REGIONAL\mathrm{\_}CONTROL{S}_i+{\epsilon }_i\end{array}$(1) ) and (3(3) $\begin{array}{rl}& InfrasectoralSD{I}_i=\alpha ++{\beta }_{1}DISTANCE\mathrm{\_}PARTNER{S}_i+{\beta }_{2}FP7\mathrm{\_}FUNDIN{G}_i\\ & +{\beta }_{3}EIGENVECTO{R}_i+{\beta }_{4}EIGENVECTO{R}_i\ast FP7\mathrm{\_}FUNDIN{G}_i\\ & +{\beta }_{5}REGIONAL\mathrm{\_}CONTROL{S}_i+{\beta }_{6}SD{I}_i+{\epsilon }_i\end{array}$(3) ) measures diversity between, say, the KRAs aeronautics and Earth observation within the aerospace sector.

9. The HHID is zero when the region carries out projects only in one single area and is close to one with complete diversification when it carries out projects in all available areas. See Quintana-Garcia and Benavides-Velasco (2008) for an overview.

10. The FP7 “Cooperation” programme was aimed at promoting collaborative research and development in several key research themes; the “Ideas” programme was aimed at enhancing the excellence of European research at the frontier of knowledge, by supporting “investigator-driven” research projects carried out across all fields; the FP7 “People” programme was aimed at financing human capital development in science, technology and innovation; the “Capacities” programme financed science and technology infrastructural development. For more information on FP7 see: Decision No 1982/2006/EC of The European Parliament and of The Council of 18 December 2006 (Council of the EU, 2006).

11. For more information on Horizon 2020, see Council Decision (2013/743/EU) of 3 December 2013 (Council of the EU, 2013), establishing the specific programme implementing Horizon 2020.

12. For more information on Horizon Europe, see Council proposal (14239/20) for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing Horizon Europe, of 18 December 2020 (Council of the EU, 2020).