Attraction or Repulsion?: Testing Coagglomeration of Innovation between Firm and University

39 Pages Posted: 5 May 2020

See all articles by Simon Rudkin

Simon Rudkin

University of Bradford - School of Management

Ming He

Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

Yang Chen

Xi'an Jiaotong University (XJTU) - International Business School Suzhou

Date Written: Feb 25, 2020

Abstract

Agglomeration theory supports and existing findings confirm the geographical proximity of similar firms and spatial attraction of firms to universities. In addition to that, we are able to identify whether universities as one type of innovative units are attracted by firm-type innovators and the size of such attraction. Testing the bidirectional spatial innovation linkage contributes to the debate on firm- or university-led innovation. Using a large patent dataset from Shenzhen, the first innovation-led city in the People’s Republic of China, and employing a spatial point process analysis technique, underutilized in the literature that allows the bidirectional testing of coagglomeration, we find varying attraction distances between the same type of innovative units and across university–firm innovation pairs. Attractions are not only limited to identical technology fields but also generate coagglomerations across different technology fields of firms and universities. We find the attraction from firms to universities is more than that from universities to firms. Support is offered to the integration of firms into the university-led innovation clusters in science parks; firm innovation in patent fields like human necessities, physics, and electrical deserve more policy focus to benefit university research and innovation.

Keywords: agglomeration, innovation, patents, spatial distribution, universities

JEL Classification: O31, R11, R12

Suggested Citation

Rudkin, Simon and He, Ming and Chen, Yang, Attraction or Repulsion?: Testing Coagglomeration of Innovation between Firm and University (Feb 25, 2020). Asian Development Bank Economics Working Paper Series No. 608, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3590930 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3590930

Simon Rudkin

University of Bradford - School of Management ( email )

Emm Lane
Bradford, West Yorkshire Bd9 4JL
United Kingdom

Ming He

Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University ( email )

111 Renai Road, SIP
, Lake Science and Education Innovation District
Suzhou, JiangSu province 215123
China

Yang Chen (Contact Author)

Xi'an Jiaotong University (XJTU) - International Business School Suzhou ( email )

111 Ren’ai Road,
Suzhou Lake Higher Education Town,
Suzhou, Jiangsu 215123
China

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