Are Firms Withdrawing From Basic Research? An Analysis of Firm-Level Publication Behaviour in Germany

24 Pages Posted: 19 Jan 2021 Last revised: 3 May 2021

See all articles by Maikel Pellens

Maikel Pellens

Ghent University; MSI, Faculty of Business and Economics, KULeuven; Centre for European Economic Research

Bastian Krieger

ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Research; University of Luxembourg

Knut Blind

Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin)

Torben Schubert

Fraunhofer Institut für Systemtechnik und Innovationsforschung

Date Written: 2020

Abstract

Previous research has expressed concerns about firms engaging less in basic research. We contribute to this debate by studying trends in the scientific publishing activities of firms located in Germany. Our results do not confirm a declining trend in raw numbers with numbers indicating that firms’ aggregate volume of scientific publications stayed constant between 2008 and 2016. However, the number of publishing firms declined, in particular in high-tech and knowledge-intensive industries. Beyond that, we observe positive trends in publishing in basic research journals compared to journals focused on applied research, and publishing in collaboration with academic partners compared to publishing alone. Thus, our results paint an ambiguous picture. While they do not confirm a decrease in firms’ basic research engagement in the aggregate, the figures document a concentration of publishing activities on fewer firms. We argue that this concentration of basic research activities in firms may pose a threat to the longer term innovativeness of the German economy.

Keywords: Corporate publishing - Basic research - R&D strategy

JEL Classification: O32 - O33 - O34 - O36

Suggested Citation

Pellens, Maikel and Krieger, Bastian and Blind, Knut and Schubert, Torben, Are Firms Withdrawing From Basic Research? An Analysis of Firm-Level Publication Behaviour in Germany (2020). ZEW - Centre for European Economic Research Discussion Paper No. 20-083, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3766726 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3766726

Maikel Pellens (Contact Author)

Ghent University ( email )

Ghent, 9000
Belgium

MSI, Faculty of Business and Economics, KULeuven ( email )

Naamsestraat 69
Leuven, B-3000
Belgium

Centre for European Economic Research

Mannheim
Germany

Bastian Krieger

ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Research ( email )

P.O. Box 10 34 43
L 7,1 D-68161 Mannheim
Germany

University of Luxembourg ( email )

L-1511 Luxembourg
Luxembourg

Knut Blind

Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin) ( email )

Straße des 17
Berlin
Germany

Torben Schubert

Fraunhofer Institut für Systemtechnik und Innovationsforschung ( email )

Breslauer Str. 48
Karlsruhe, 76139
United States

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