Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Same place, same knowledge – Same people? The geography of non-patent citations in Dutch polymer patents

Heinisch, Dominik ; Nomaler, Önder ; Buenstorf, Guido ; Frenken, Koen LU and Lintsen, Harry (2016) In Economics of Innovation and New Technology 25(6). p.553-572
Abstract

It has long been argued that geographic co-location supports knowledge spillovers. More recently, this argument has been challenged by showing that knowledge spillovers mainly flow through social networks, which may or may not be localized at various geographic scales. We further scrutinize the conjecture of geographically bounded knowledge spillovers by focusing on knowledge flows between academia and industry. Looking into citations to non-patent literature (NPL) in 2385 Dutch polymer patents, we find that citation lags are shorter on average if Dutch rather than foreign NPLs are cited. However, when excluding individual and organizational self-citations, geographically proximate NPLs no longer diffuse faster than foreign NPLs. This... (More)

It has long been argued that geographic co-location supports knowledge spillovers. More recently, this argument has been challenged by showing that knowledge spillovers mainly flow through social networks, which may or may not be localized at various geographic scales. We further scrutinize the conjecture of geographically bounded knowledge spillovers by focusing on knowledge flows between academia and industry. Looking into citations to non-patent literature (NPL) in 2385 Dutch polymer patents, we find that citation lags are shorter on average if Dutch rather than foreign NPLs are cited. However, when excluding individual and organizational self-citations, geographically proximate NPLs no longer diffuse faster than foreign NPLs. This suggests that knowledge is not ‘in the air’ but transferred by mobile individuals and/or direct university–industry collaboration. Our findings moreover suggest an important role of international conferences in the diffusion of recent scientific knowledge.

(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Citation lags, Knowledge spillovers, Non-patent literature, Polymer industry, University–industry interaction
in
Economics of Innovation and New Technology
volume
25
issue
6
pages
20 pages
publisher
Taylor & Francis
external identifiers
  • scopus:84941695334
  • wos:000410575300003
ISSN
1043-8599
DOI
10.1080/10438599.2015.1081333
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
beb64664-320a-44bc-8d50-a377b5e2d02b
date added to LUP
2016-12-29 13:43:30
date last changed
2024-01-04 19:59:09
@article{beb64664-320a-44bc-8d50-a377b5e2d02b,
  abstract     = {{<p>It has long been argued that geographic co-location supports knowledge spillovers. More recently, this argument has been challenged by showing that knowledge spillovers mainly flow through social networks, which may or may not be localized at various geographic scales. We further scrutinize the conjecture of geographically bounded knowledge spillovers by focusing on knowledge flows between academia and industry. Looking into citations to non-patent literature (NPL) in 2385 Dutch polymer patents, we find that citation lags are shorter on average if Dutch rather than foreign NPLs are cited. However, when excluding individual and organizational self-citations, geographically proximate NPLs no longer diffuse faster than foreign NPLs. This suggests that knowledge is not ‘in the air’ but transferred by mobile individuals and/or direct university–industry collaboration. Our findings moreover suggest an important role of international conferences in the diffusion of recent scientific knowledge.</p>}},
  author       = {{Heinisch, Dominik and Nomaler, Önder and Buenstorf, Guido and Frenken, Koen and Lintsen, Harry}},
  issn         = {{1043-8599}},
  keywords     = {{Citation lags; Knowledge spillovers; Non-patent literature; Polymer industry; University–industry interaction}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{08}},
  number       = {{6}},
  pages        = {{553--572}},
  publisher    = {{Taylor & Francis}},
  series       = {{Economics of Innovation and New Technology}},
  title        = {{Same place, same knowledge – Same people? The geography of non-patent citations in Dutch polymer patents}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10438599.2015.1081333}},
  doi          = {{10.1080/10438599.2015.1081333}},
  volume       = {{25}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}