Empirical Research on Technology Appropriability and Agglomeration Externalities

         
Author Name MATSUMOTO Kuniko (NISTEP) / MOTOHASHI Kazuyuki (Faculty Fellow, RIETI)
Creation Date/NO. July 2018 18-J-022
Research Project Empirical Analysis of Innovation Ecosystems in Advancement of the Internet of Things (IoT)
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Abstract

In order to clarify the relationship between technology appropriability and the promotion effect of innovation activities by agglomeration externalities, we conduct a panel analysis using city-unit data of Japanese patent applications. In this analysis, we use three indicators (technology concentration, entry barriers, inventor stability) as an indicator of technology appropriability, and try to clarify the relationship with the effect of agglomeration externalities (Marshall-Arrow-Romer (MAR) externality, Jacobs externality) on innovation activities. We find that, as a regional cluster policy focusing on economic externalities, it is appropriate to concentrate together high technology with comparative advantages in comparison to other areas. In particular, this trend is particularly important for technical fields where technology concentration is low and changes in inventors' patent-share rankings are intense (e.g., electronics fields such as electronic circuits and communications).