Firm Innovation: The Influence Of R&D Cooperation And The Geography Of Human Capital Inputs

This paper investigates the role played by the sectoral and geographical mobility of labour in the promotion of industrial innovations. Knowledge can be transferred between firms by inter-firm interactions and inter-firm cooperation. In addition, knowledge can also be transferred between firms by labour mobility. In order to examine these issues the authors employ a unique innovation dataset from Finland which combines firm specific information about the innovation performance of the firms along with their individual characteristics, as well as firm specific information regarding the sectoral and geographical origins of their recent labour acquisitions. Analyzing this data allows one to identify the different roles which the geography of knowledge spillovers and exchanges and the geography of labour markets play in the innovation process.