Varieties of Regional Innovation Systems around the World and Catch-Up by Latecomers
Prof. Keun Lee
Date: January 10, 2025
Time: 10:30 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Location: College of Business Complex (CBC) #240, MMC campus
Abstract
This study identifies the characteristics and types of regional innovation systems (RISs) of regions and cities in emerging economies and compares them to those in advanced economies. Our analysis uses citation data for US patents filed by inventors located in 33 regions around the globe over the 18-year period from 2000 to 2017. For analysis purposes, we developed several new RIS variables, including the intra-regional, inter-regional, and inter-national sourcing of knowledge, as well as domestic ownership of innovation. Cluster analyses of these variables enabled us to identify four major types of RIS around the world and correlate them with regional economic performance. The four types are large and mature RISs, which are characterized by a combination of long cycle time technology (CTT) specialization and high domestic ownership (Group 1); mixed RISs, which are characterized by long CTT specialization and low domestic ownership (Group 2), strong catch-up RISs, which are characterized by short CCT specialization and high domestic ownership (Group 3); and weak catch-up RISs, which are characterized by short CTT specialization and low domestic ownership (Group 4). Groups 3 and 4 included only emerging economies, and their cities specialized in the same short CTT sectors but have different levels of economic performance. The key differentiating variable is the degree of domestic ownership of knowledge, which can be a basis for increasing local sourcing of knowledge and sustained catch-up. Another important variable is the level of concentration, which was higher for the strong catch-up group than for the weak catch-up group. For cities in Group 3, the catch-up process has been led by large firms, implying that concentration is higher in this group. Several catching-up cities, such as Moscow, Beijing, and Shanghai, have also shown an increasing trend toward domestic ownership and concentration.
Speaker Bio
Keun Lee | Distinguished Professor of Economics | Seoul National University
Keun Lee is a Distinguished Professor of Economics at Seoul National University, the President Elect of the Korean Economic Association, and Chairman of the Center for Economic Catch-up. He is also an editor at Research Policy and associate editor at Industrial and Corporate Change. Dr. Lee is the winner of the 2014 Schumpeter Prize for his monograph on Schumpeterian Analysis of Economic Catch-up (2013 Cambridge Univ. Press) as well as the 2019 Kapp Prize by EAEPE.
Previously, Dr. Lee served as the Vice Chairman of the National Economic Advisory Council for the President of Korea, as the President of the International Schumpeter Society (2016-18), as a member of the UN Committee for Development Policy (2014-18), and as a GFC member of the World Economic Forum (2016-19). Dr. Lee obtained a Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Berkeley.
For more information about this event, contact dprudhom@fiu.edu.