The innovation dynamo: Determining channels that generate and facilitate Knowledge Spillover (KS) in Regional Innovation Systems

Botelho, Sergio and O'Gorman, William J. and Brett, Valerie (2019) The innovation dynamo: Determining channels that generate and facilitate Knowledge Spillover (KS) in Regional Innovation Systems. PhD thesis, Waterford Institute of Technology.

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Abstract

This research investigates the process of Knowledge Spillover (KS), i.e. the unintended transmission of knowledge (Fallah and I5 8brahim, 2004) that has the capacity to benefit all kinds of firms, in a given region, including those that are non-innovative or lack resources to invest in R&D. Therefore, propagating KS should be a priority for policy-making because of its potential to improve regional innovation performance. However, policy makers may not understand KS in this way, as according to the OECD (2018), KS can be a drawback for innovative firms because these firms do not want to share their knowledge with competitors and lose competitive advantage to them. Moreover, an extensive literature review identified that the process by which KS happens at the regional level has not been fully explained. What was found in the literature review were studies that explain KS through a single, or a group of channels of KS, but they do not explore the process of KS by using a representative set of channels that can reflect KS propagation at the regional level. Thus, the current research, through a mixed methods approach, seeks to explain the process of KS at the regional level. Fifteen channels of KS were identified and tested through a survey administered to 7,292 firms (with a response rate of 6.02%) in four regions: South East Ireland, North East Brazil, Bucharest-Ilfov Romania, and Castilla-La Mancha Spain. Following the quantitative analysis, 24 interviews were conducted with two categories of key informants: regional stakeholders and experts on KS and innovation (KSIexperts), to determine how KS happens. The findings enabled this researcher to conceive two frameworks to explain, at the regional level, (i) the process of KS and (ii) the propagation of KS. Thus the major contributions of this research are that it provides new insights and methodology to existing KS literature as well as providing frameworks that can be used by policy makers and implementers to enhance the innovation capacity and capability of regions.

Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
Additional Information: This was for the final master project This is a placeholder note
Departments or Groups:
Depositing User: Derek Langford
Date Deposited: 10 Jul 2020 11:37
Last Modified: 28 Mar 2024 00:03
URI: https://repository.wit.ie/id/eprint/3438

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