A Preliminary Analysis of Patent Applications and Inter-regional Knowledge Flows by Companies Driving Regional Growth in Japan
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52731/lir.v003.112Keywords:
Regional Innovation, Knowledge Flow, Patents, SMEsAbstract
In this study, based on the patent applications filed by the “companies driving regional growth” (certified by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in Japan), their IP activities and inter-regional knowledge flows are investigated. These companies are quite active in patent application activities, especially in the manufacturing industry. According to the analysis of their joint patent applications, it is found that they build inter-firm networks beyond regional boundaries to engage in knowledge creation. In addition, comparing the patents in 2000s and those in 2010s, the average distance between multiple applicants in joint patent applications increases significantly. The result suggests that "proximity of partner organizations", which has been emphasized in the context of industrial agglomeration and knowledge creation theory, is losing the importance with the development of the information technologies.
References
Toyoda, T., "Regional Disparities and Population Migration from the Viewpoint of Workers' Income by Prefecture," Abstracts of the 2019 Conference of the Human Geographical Society of Japan, pp. 152-153, 2019 (in Japanese)
Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, "Act on Promotion of Regional Future In-vestment", 2022, https://www.meti.go.jp/policy/sme_chiiki/chiikimiraitoushi.html (con-firmed date: March 31, 2023).
Lee, S., Park, G., Yoon, B. and Park, J., "Open innovation in SMEs: An intermediated network model", Research Policy, 39 (2), 2010, pp. 290-300.
Cook, P. Ed., "Handbook of Regional Innovation and Growth", Edward Elgar, 2011.
Kenji Yamamoto, "Knowledge Creation and Industrial Agglomeration," Human Geography 55 (2), pp. 40-59, 2003 (in Japanese).
Love, J. H. and Roper, S., "SME innovation, exporting and growth", International Small Business Journal 33, pp. 28-48 2015.
Terziovski, M., "Innovation practice and its performance implications in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the manufacturing sector: a resource-based view", Strategic Man-agement Journal 31, pp. 892-902, 2010.
Katsuhiro Suzuki, "Innovation activities and their linkages in R&D-oriented small and medium-sized manufacturing firms," Oberlin Business Management Review Vol. 7, pp. 49-61, 2016 (in Japanese).
Marshall, A., "Principles of Economics", Macmillan, 1890.
Furunaga, Y., "What Supports the External Economic Effects of Industrial Agglomera-tion," Small and Medium Enterprise Research Vol.9, pp.68-88, 2008, (in Japanese).
Glaeser, E., et al, "Growth in Cities", Journal of Political Economy 100, pp. 1126-1152, 1992.
Jacobs, J., "The Economy of Cities", Random House, 1969.
Henderson, V., et al, "Industrial Development in Cities", Journal of Political Economy 103, pp. 1067-1090, 1995.
Polanyi, M., "The Tacit Dimension", London, Routledge, 1996.
Nonaka, I. & Takeuchi, H., "The Knowledge-Creating Company", Oxford University Press, 1995.
Malmberg, A. & Maskell, P., "Guest editorial: localized learning and regional economic development", European Urban and Regional Studies 6, pp. 5-8, 1999.
Japan Patent Office, "Patent Administration Annual Report 2021," 2021, (in Japanese).
Geospatial Information Authority of Japan, "Distance of Metropolitan and Prefectural Governments," 2022, https://www.gsi.go.jp/KOKUJYOHO/kenchokan.html (Date of confirmation: June 1, 2022) (in Japanese).
Mann, P. S., “Introductory Statistics, 10th edition”, Wiley, 2020.
