Knowledge Turnover and Innovation Quality: Evidence from the Japanese Patent Database (Revised)(Previous title) Fresh Brain Power and Quality of Innovation in Cities: Evidence from the Japanese patent database*

         
Author Name HAMAGUCHI Nobuaki (Faculty Fellow, RIETI) / KONDO Keisuke (Fellow, RIETI)
Creation Date/NO. September 2015 15-E-108
Research Project Restoration from Earthquake Damage and Growth Strategies of the Japanese Regional Economy
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Notes

First draft: September 2015
Second draft: October 2016
Third Draft: December 2016
Revised: March 2020

Abstract

With Internet and Communication Technology (ICT) having removed geographical constraints for communication, this study examines how knowledge turnover induced by interregional migration increases the innovation quality in pre-ICT (1980--1995) and ICT periods (1996--2005). We find that the quality of innovation as measured by the number of patent citations was on average high in locations with active interregional migration in the pre-ICT period. Since the late 1990s, however, knowledge turnover at the regional level has played an insignificant role in enhancing quality of innovation within the context of the ICT age. Our results suggest that face-to-face knowledge exchange is selectively localized in the ICT age.

* We revised this discussion paper with the new tile in March 2020. This paper was previously circulated under the title "Fresh Brain Power and Quality of Innovation in Cities: Evidence from the Japanese Patent Database."