A Firm Scientific Community: Industry Participation and Knowledge Diffusion

79 Pages Posted: 7 Jul 2020

See all articles by Stefano Baruffaldi

Stefano Baruffaldi

University of Bath; Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition

Felix Poege

Boston University - Technology & Policy Research Initiative; Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition ; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

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Abstract

We study the diffusion of knowledge from scientists to firms within scientific communities. We build on a unique dataset on conference proceedings as "paper trail" of almost all relevant conference series in computer science since 1996. More than 5000 firms appear as conference sponsors or as affiliations in proceedings. Their participation is concentrated in the highly ranked conferences and their scientific contributions are on average highly cited.We exploit direct flights as an instrumental variable for the participation choice of scientists between a conference where a firm participates and other similar conferences. The participation in the same conference has a positive causal effect on knowledge diffusion to the firm's scientific and inventive activities. Additional analyses suggest that interactions and collaborations with scientists that remain external to the firm are likely a key mechanism of this diffusion. The effects are remarkably stronger the larger the firm's investments in participation.

JEL Classification: O33, O32, D22

Suggested Citation

Baruffaldi, Stefano and Pöge, Felix, A Firm Scientific Community: Industry Participation and Knowledge Diffusion. IZA Discussion Paper No. 13419, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3643183 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3643183

Stefano Baruffaldi (Contact Author)

University of Bath ( email )

Claverton Down
Bath, BA2 7AY
United Kingdom

Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition ( email )

Marstallplatz 1
Munich, Bayern 80539
Germany

Felix Pöge

Boston University - Technology & Policy Research Initiative ( email )

Boston, MA 02215
United States

Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition ( email )

Marstallplatz 1
Munich, Bayern 80539
Germany

IZA Institute of Labor Economics ( email )

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

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