|
Barcelona________ |
___________3 |
____________8 |
__________11 |
2 |
|
Valencia_________ |
____________□ |
__________________1 |
____________□ |
□ |
|
Other provinces |
____________□ |
____________6 |
____________□ |
□ |
|
Total_____________ |
___________9 |
_________23 |
_________21 |
3 |
Notes: Other provinces are Las Palmas with two companies, and La Coruna, Navarra, Toledo and San
Sebastian with one company each.
Source: Own elaboration
The second spatial dimension analyzed in this paper is the distribution of technological
activities. However, although the question of how to measure technological change has
concerned economists for a long time, no widely accepted procedure has been
developed so far. Much of the technological change is the product of R&D activities
and one of the few direct reflections of the output of R&D activities is the number and
kind of patents applicated or granted to different firms (Griliches 1990). The number of
inventions which have been patented is probably the most widely used proxy measure
of innovative activity though patents are a flawed measure of innovative activity. The
major problems with patents are that not all inventions are patented and that not all
patented inventions will become innovations. In addition, patents differ in their
economic impact. The quantity and quality of patenting may depend on chance, how
readily a technology leads itself to patent protection and business decision□ makers'
varying perceptions of how much advantage they will derive from patent rights.
Surveys of firms in the US and in Europe give evidence that the percentage of
innovations that are patented vary by sector (Arundel and Kabla 1998).
In spite of the previous considerations, many authors have used patent data as a basic
indicator of the technological activities that are converted after in products and process
innovations (i.e. Ernst 1997). Similarly we have used the CIBEPAT database of the
Spanish Patent Office to value the degree of spatial concentration of the innovative
activities in the Spanish medical equipment industry. The study includes all patents and
utility models granted to Spanish residents in the 1979□1995 period. Both patents and
utility models have been included in the analysis because both are results of
technological activities carried out at a firm or R&D center . The difference between a
patent and a utility model consists in the period granted to the applicant which is 20
years to a patent and 10 years to an utility model, and in the innovativeness degree
which it is smaller in an utility model that in a patent. The period of study begins in
1979 because the CIBEPAT database did not include information on the province
residence of the applicants before that year. The study ends in 1995 because there is a