However, once this early phase of agglomeration is over, the closeness to the university
or to the initial agglomeration of ‘hiDtech’ companies becomes less important. For
example, in Cambridge currently only 10% of the ‘hiDtech’ companies are located in
the Technology Park that it was the nucleus of the early agglomeration. This and other
evidences suggest that we must think at least in regional terms if we want to analyze
technological complexes (Vedovello 1997; Westhead 1997). Besides, since urban
agglomeration is an indicator of economic and technological concentration we would
expect to find a positive relationship at regional level between patenting and urban
agglomeration.
H3 D Patenting in the medical equipment industry is positively correlated to urban
agglomeration.
Networking
Scientific research increasingly depends on network linkages and information diffusion.
The emergence of institutional or informal networks, formed by clusters, groups or
vertical filières of firms, appears to be one major feature of the contemporary industrial
economy indicated by the application of new telecommunications and information
technologies. These resources are needed for investing cooperatively in the creation of
new knowledge (R&D, design, engineering), and for the external introduction of new
knowledge through innovation adquisition, adaptation, and implementation (Belussi and
Arcangeli 1998). The major bottlenecks for small firms in peripheral regions, which are
poor in terms of the environmental complexity needed for innovation projects, are
found in the areas of human capital, information provision and risk capital. However,
‘hiDtech’ regions sustain their competitive advantage in their capacity for continuous
learning and innovation (Lawson and Lorenz 1999). Larger firms and particularly
multiDsite establishments may overcome such limitations more easily but small firms in
peripheral regions may be in great disadvantage to innovate due to the
infradevelopment of information resources. Therefore we would expect to find a
positive correlation between the use of information technologies and medical equipment
patenting at regional level.
H4 D Patenting in the medical equipment industry is positively correlated at the regional
level with the use of information technologies.
11
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