Multidimensional networks emerging in a regional policy programme

Abstract accepted at the 1st EAEPE – RA[X] Workshop: New Frontiers and Methodological Advances in Cooperation and Network Research, November 2 – 3, 2015 in Essen, Germany

Title: Multidimensional networks emerging in a regional policy programme: lessons learned from the empirical analysis of Tuscany’s technopoles to enhance regional innovation systems

Authors: Margherita Russo, Annalisa Caloffi, Federica Rossi, Valentina Fiordelmondo, Stefano Ghinoi, Riccardo Righi

Keywords: innovation policy, multidimensional networks; regional innovation systems; technopoles; technology clusters

JEL codes: O25 Industrial Policy; O38 Technological Change: Government Policy; 30 Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change

Abstract

Within knowledge-intensive economies, intermediary organizations that support firm-level and collaborative innovation have gained increasing prominence (Howells, 2006; Lazaric et al, 2008). These ‘innovation intermediaries’ provide a range of knowledge-intensive services which might include, among others, technology foresight and technology scouting, supplier selection, R&D partnership formation, technical assistance in the realization of R&D projects, dissemination and commercialization of results, and technology transfer. Innovation intermediaries can also contribute to the success of innovation policies (see e.g. Kauffeld-Monz and Fritsch, 2013). Their role is particularly important for policies targeting micro firms and SMEs, since the presence of intermediaries may facilitate the exchange of knowledge and competencies with other organizations (large firms, universities and research centres) that have different languages, organizational cultures, decision-making horizons, systems of incentives and objectives (Howells, 2006; Russo and Rossi, 2009; Caloffi et al, 2015). Policies aimed at promoting local, regional and national development increasingly involve the public funding of organizations that perform at least some innovation intermediary functions: examples are the regional competitiveness poles in France, the Innovation Networks in Denmark, the Strategic Centres for Science, Technology and Innovation in Finland, the Catapult Centres in the UK.

With the growing importance of policies sponsoring innovation intermediaries, a need has emerged for appropriate instruments to analyze their activity. In general, current approaches do not adopt a network perspective to highlight the multidimensional system created through the activities undertaken by the intermediaries. In this paper we present an empirical analysis of a regional policy supporting the creation of specialized intermediaries in the Italian region of Tuscany. In the programming period 2007-2013 (effectively starting from 2010), the regional government of Tuscany funded twelve ‘technopoles’, which are regional innovation intermediaries (organized to provide a range of services, including brokering and matchmaking) that bring together a number of universities and innovative service providers with potential end-users of these services. The main goal of such intermediaries is to promote linkages between regional actors including universities, public research organizations, providers of knowledge intensive services, large businesses and SMEs.

In a companion paper, we have analyzed the performance of the 12 innovation poles in fostering the demand of advanced innovative services, on different and diverse technological specializations and areas in the region. In this paper we analyze through what channels the poles have been active in supporting the systemic dimension of innovation policies of the Tuscany region. Specific objective of the analysis are the many interactions between the poles that were active in the three years of the policy. We consider both the interactions developed through formal linkages, as in the case of cooperation agreements, but also those not formalized by agreements between the poles, such as in the cases of resources (managerial or technical personnel, research laboratories or incubators) in common across the poles sharing the same managing organizations (to whom those resources were linked).

The various agents (managing organizations of the poles, suppliers of specialized advanced services, technicians, consultants, research laboratories, companies that are members of different poles) create connections between the poles and poles, in turn, create links between agents, facilitating the exchange of information and creating opportunities for joint actions to boost innovation. With a focus on the multidimensional linkages across the intermediaries infrastructure, this kind of “network of networks perspective of analysis” asks for an appropriate definition of the nodes and links to be examined.

The creation of innovation clusters has mobilized a large number of agents that were directly involved with different roles in the creation of the regional system of technology transfer (with 46  organizations managing the poles, more than 100 research laboratories and 8 incubators were pooled to supply innovative services to more than three thousand members, mainly SMEs, of the 12 poles). The original contribution provided by our analysis is to consider not only the linkages consistent with the policy requirements to fund the poles, but also all the activities that were documented by the poles.

From the social network perspective we highlight three main domains of interactions that support the entire system of the poles. The first domain is that in which we find the agents promoting the system of poles: this network involves both the organizations directly managing the poles, through the creation of temporary associations, and the organizations who have shareholdings in those managing organizations. The second domain relates to competence networks initiated by the system of the poles not only through the provision of services by the various operators, but also through the skills of employees and consultants, the collaboration agreements with parties outside the poles, and through the facilities of laboratories and incubators. By creating such a cumulative network we can outline an indicator of the interrelations between the poles based on the activities, undertaken jointly, in supporting the member companies. The third domain is the space of virtual interaction between poles, defined through the information contained in their websites. The objectives of this analysis are two: to understand the extent to which websites poles disclosed the connections between them and with those involved in technology transfer; to understand the extent to which the poles refer to the same information space. For each of these three domains we examine the characteristics of the networks and the centrality index of the agents involved.

Russo@EAEPE-RA[X] 2015_multidimensional networks