industry, science appears predominantly in the UserDenvironment and as a result,
invention is fuelled by specific requirements from physicians and by new medical
knowledge. Shaw (1998) also found in an study of new product development in the UK
medical equipment industry that there was continuous interaction at all the 10 stages in
the innovation cycle identified, resulting in 65% of these innovations being
commercially successful. This interaction occurred in part because one major element
in the innovation process for medical equipment which tends to make this process
unique is the requirement that any equipment that is to be potentially introduced into
clinical use first needs extensive clinical assessment and trial because human life may
be at risk.
The scientists and engineers then work together with the user in an attempt to test out
the conceptual basis of their solution to the need normally in the form of a hand∏built
prototype. Dependent upon the perceived degree of OutputDembodied benefit arising
from being involved in the further process of the innovation, the user could then be
involved in the development, testing and evaluation of the prototypes and final
products, making marketing assessments, joint specifications, involvement in the
market launch, marketing, and the diffusion of the innovation. Therefore we expect
that:
H2 D Local proximity to medical activities is positively correlated with patenting
intensity at regional level.
Agglomeration
The third determinant of patenting is the agglomeration of economic and technical
activities. The advantages of agglomeration for ‘hiDtech’ companies have traditionally
been claimed by supporters of the location theory on the basis of external economies of
scale, i.e. access to R&D facilities, skilled labour force, research universities, and high
levels of information (Kleinknecht and Poot 1992; Mustar 1997). The experience
indicates that agglomeration is an important factor in the early phases of a ‘hiDtech’
complex. For example, in the Tecnopolis of Cambridge (United Kingdom) Segal et al
(1985) estimated that 12% of the early ‘hiDtech’ companies were SpinDoffs from the
University of Cambridge and that most of the other companies were SpinDoffs from the
university spinDoffs.
10
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