Descrizione del progetto
Una comprensione più profonda della divisione globale delle attività di R&S
Esiste una divisione spaziale fra ricerca e sviluppo del prodotto. Le aziende globali delocalizzano le loro attività di ricerca in centri di conoscenza, ma lo sviluppo del prodotto può essere tenuto più vicino alle sedi originali. Cresce, tuttavia, la preoccupazione per il fatto che tale pratica incanali i flussi globali della conoscenza e colpisca la capacità delle regioni di produrre risultati innovativi come motori rispettosi del clima o vaccini contro nuovi virus, oltre ad avere ulteriori ripercussioni sul benessere economico e sociale delle regioni. In tale contesto, il progetto DISCO, finanziato dall’UE, approfondirà la situazione attingendo in particolare alle informazioni ricavabili dai brevetti per costruire un indicatore e una tipologia di impresa che riveli i modelli globali di quale tipo di attività di R&S viene svolta in quali luoghi.
Obiettivo
Scholars recently observe an increasing spatial disconnect between research and development (R&D) activities within global firms, in particular from emerging markets. These firms off-shore their research activities to centers of state-of-the-art knowledge while they might keep product development closer to their original locations. This is of major concern to our society because this spatial split channels global knowledge flows and affects the ability of regions to produce innovative output such as climate-friendly engines or vaccines against new viruses, and has further implications for the economic and social welfare of regions. This project aims at understanding the dynamics of spatial (re-)organization of R&D in relation to firm development as well as economic shocks and social crises, such as the Wall Street Crash of 1929 or the current COVID-19 pandemic. Because we still know too little about how stable this spatial disconnect is, based on initial evidence that it might only temporary exists, DISCO uses information from patents to build an indicator and a firm-typology revealing the global patterns of which type of R&D activity is performed at which locations. The project provides a quantitative measure for the type of R&D activity that goes beyond the qualitative measures often used to study this phenomenon. Applying these indicators to almost 200 years of historical patent data yields insights into the effect of economic shocks on the spatial organization of R&D. Further, it reveals similarities and differences between the development of currently emerging firms and early activities of today’s global players. This can yield new evidence on innovation capability building and successful development trajectories in R&D internationalization. The findings provide a more profound understanding of the temporality of globally splitting R&D activities, with implications for firms and the regional development of emerging as well as established markets.
Campo scientifico
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinatore
WC2A 2AE London
Regno Unito