UCD Spatial Dynamics Lab Working Papers
Permanent URI for this collection
The Spatial Dynamics Lab has two main fields of enquiry, TechEvo & iSCAPE.
TechEvo aims to provide novel theories, methods and empirics that will significantly advance existing work and open up a new research frontier in science and technology studies, as well as support the development of new planning and forecasting tools for progressive strategic innovation policy.
The iSCAPE project works on integrating and advancing the control of air quality and carbon emissions in European cities in the context of climate change through the development of sustainable and passive air pollution remediation strategies, policy interventions and behavioural change initiatives.
For more information, please visit the official website.
Browse
Browsing UCD Spatial Dynamics Lab Working Papers by Title
Now showing 1 - 19 of 19
Results Per Page
Sort Options
- PublicationAppendix to Hops, Skip and a Jump: The Regional Uniqueness of Beer StylesAppendix to the chapter 'Hops, Skip and a Jump: The Regional Uniqueness of Beer Styles' in Patterson, M., Hoalst-Pullen, N. (eds.). Geography of Beer: Policies, Propaganda and Place, including glossary, list of styles, malts and hops and a sample BeerXML file.
59 - PublicationCapturing Information on Technology Convergence, International Collaboration, and Knowledge Flow from Patent Document: A Case of Information and Communication Technology(University College Dublin. Spatial Dynamics Lab, 2018-09-01)
; ; Recent advances in data-driven research approaches offer new and exciting perspectives and insights across a spectrum scientific fields concerned with technological change and the socio-economic impact thereof, while also providing the opportunity to address persistent gaps in existing theories. The present investigation suggests a novel approach to identify and analyse the evolution of technology sectors, in this case Information and Communications Technology (ICT), considering international collaboration patterns and knowledge flows and spillovers via information inputs derived from patent documents. The objective is to utilize and explore information regarding inventors’ geo-location, technology sector classifications, and patent citation records to construct various types of networks. This, in turn, will open up avenues to discover the nature of evolutionary pathways in ICT technology trajectories, and also provide evidence of how the overall ICT knowledge space, as well as directional knowledge flows within the ICT space, evolved differently. It is expected that this data-driven inquiry will deliver intuitive results for decision makers seeking evidence for future resource allocation and who are interested in identifying well-suited collaborators for the development of potential next-generation technologies. Further, it will equip researchers in technology management, economic geography, or similar fields with a systematic approach to analyse evolutionary pathways of technological advancements and further enable them to exploit existing and develop new theories regarding technological change and its socio-economic consequences.129 - PublicationThe Creation and Diffusion of Knowledge - an Agent Based Modelling ApproachIn this paper I propose a novel abstract mechanism for the creation and diffusion of knowledge and use an agent based modelling approach to explore it. The mechanism takes into account the relation between the phenomena that agents attempt to explain and the stocks of knowledge available in a society, be it individually or collectively. I find that the aggregate number of knowledge units in a society increases more slowly, the more naive its inhabitants are. I also find that the proximity between phenomena plays an important role in how often the same knowledge unit can be used. A discussion on agent based models as a means of insight into society is offered.
228 - PublicationGeography and Branding in the Craft Beer IndustryPlace-based branding strategies are important marketing tools for both regions and firms and take advantage of consumers’ embrace of the local in response to globalization. Craft brewing is a particularly salient user of these strategies and provides ample data. We find a strong, positive link between the number of place-based labels and a brewery’s rating, suggesting consumers are receptive to place-based branding.
121 - PublicationThe Geography of Knowledge Creation: Technological Relatedness and Regional Smart Specialization StrategiesThis chapter synthesises the literatures of evolutionary economic geography and the geography of innovation in order to demonstrate the path dependent and evolutionary logic inherent to knowledge creation and diffusion processes. Critically, this synthesis reaffirms the continued importance of geography as a palpable medium to organize economic activity. Making explicit use of the ‘knowledge space’ methodology developed by Kogler et al., (2013) this chapter examines the technological evolution of Ireland (1981 – 2010) and provides new insights on how regional knowledge trajectories are shaped by path-dependent, recombinant, and co-evolutionary network dynamics. For Ireland, we show that its technological development can be understood as a branching phenomenon, whereby new technological trajectories branched out from previously existing or related pieces of knowledge. The chapter concludes by theorising how the knowledge space framework has an important bearing on the recently proposed Smart Specialisation thesis, which is envisioned to underpin knowledge-based regional economic development throughout Europe for the coming decade.
Scopus© Citations 57 935 - PublicationHops, Skip & a Jump: The Regional Uniqueness of Beer Styles(University College Dublin. School of Economics, 2020-12)
; ; ; Perhaps more than any other product, beer evokes the place it was made. Weißbier and Germany, dubbels and Belgium, and most of all, Guinness and Ireland. Part of what makes these beers so memorable is what sets them apart and gives them their ‘taste of place’. Many studies have tried to place that taste, and due to a lack of detailed data, have relied largely on qualitative methods to do so. We introduce a novel data set of regionalized beer recipes, styles, and ingredients collected from a homebrewing website. We then turn to the methods of evolutionary economic geography to create regional ingredient networks for recipes within a style of beer, and identify which ingredients are most important to certain styles. Along with identifying these keystone ingredients, we calculate a style’s resiliency or reliance on one particular ingredient. We compare this resiliency within similar styles in different regions and across different styles in the same region to isolate the effects of region on ingredient choice. We find that while almost all beer styles have only a handful of key ingredients, some styles are more resilient than others due to readily available substitute ingredients in their region.233 - PublicationHops, Skip and a Jump: The Regional Uniqueness of Beer Styles(University College Dublin. Spatial Dynamics Lab, 2023-06-12)
; ; ; Perhaps more than any other product, beer evokes its place of origin. Part of what makes every pint of Guinness or stein of Paulaner so memorable is what sets them apart and gives them their unique "taste of place." This chapter explores the geographical differentiation of beer. To do so, we collect data on regional beer recipes, styles, and ingredients from a homebrewing website. We then employ Evolutionary Economic Geography (EEG) methods and create weighted co-occurrence networks for the ingredients within each style. We use these networks to identify which ingredients are most important to each beer style, measure a style’s robustness, and compare differences between geographically close and distant styles. While previous literature focuses on the related diversification of regions, we use these methods to examine the differences within the same product and across many regional styles and flavours. Combining the EEG methods with this unique ingredients dataset, we show that almost all beer styles rely on only a handful of key ingredients. Yet some regional beers are more robust than others due to readily available substitute ingredients in their region. Likewise, we demonstrate that styles originating in close geographic proximity are more similar in their use of ingredients.95 - PublicationIdentifying the technological knowledge depreciation rate using patent citation data: a case study of the solar photovoltaic industryTechnological knowledge can be created via R&D investments, but it can also be eroded through depreciation. Knowing how fast knowledge depreciates is important for various reasons for practitioners and decision makers alike; especially if it comes to questions regarding how to “recharge” knowledge production processes within an ever changing global system. In this study, we use patent citation data to identify technological knowledge depreciation rates by adjusting for exogenous citation inflation and by disentangling the preferential-attachment dynamics of citation growth. Solar photovoltaic (PV) technology is employed as a case study. The rates calculated with our method are comparable to the few available estimates on technology depreciation rates in the PV industry. One of the advantages of the proposed method is that its underlying data are more readily available, and thus more replicable for the study of the knowledge depreciation rates in other relevant technology fields.
58Scopus© Citations 5 - PublicationMind the Gap: Advancing Evolutionary Approaches to Regional Development with Progressive Empirical Strategies(University College Dublin. Spatial Dynamics Lab, 2023-04-14)
; ; Explaining the persistently uneven spatial patterns of development remains a central goal of economic geography and regional science. Recognizing that regional development is a process of ongoing change, many scholars now approach the topic from an evolutionary perspective that identifies knowledge recombination processes and institutions as key drivers of change. However, research has not yet fully integrated the various theoretical perspectives and empirical data streams that characterize evolutionary approaches. The present contribution identifies how an evolutionary approach centered on knowledge and institutions can be integrated with complementary forms of evidence gathered from a variety of sources to advance our understanding of regional development. Expanding and integrating the evidence base used to study regional change has important implications for making effective and responsive policy instruments.Scopus© Citations 9 171 - PublicationNew Collaborations and Novel Innovations: The Role of Regional Brokerage and Collaboration Intensity(University College Dublin. Spatial Dynamics Lab, 2023-12-12)
; ; In this paper we investigate the role of brokers in the regional innovation network and its influence on innovative and collaborative outcomes. For this purpose, we make use of data from the European Patent Office and Eurostat in the period 1986-2015. We first build the regional collaboration network based on co-inventorship ties, then we identify the brokerage roles played by each region, using the original taxonomy proposed by Gould and Fernandez (1989), to disentangle their impact on innovation and collaboration. Finally, we investigate regional collaboration intensity and how it interacts with brokerage roles, highlighting its mediating effect. Our findings indicate that brokerage roles contribute to the extension of collaboration networks, but also that they are not efficient for the creation of innovation. Collaboration intensity, on the other hand, enhances both innovation and collaborative outcomes, and shows how a region can benefit from being a broker.31 - PublicationNew Cooperation and Novel Innovations: The Role of Regional Brokerage and Collaboration Intensity(University College Dublin. Spatial Dynamics Lab, 2021-02-04)
; ; Along with the increased importance of technology innovation, the importance of collaboration has been highlighted for conducting the innovation. This study discusses the importance of brokerage role of regions in co-inventor collaboration for establishing novel innovation and new collaboration. In addition, we address how regional collaboration intensity interacts with the brokerage role, highlighting its mediating effect. For this purpose, empirical analysis has been conducted with EPO PATSTAT database and European Regional Database (ERD) covering the European regions between 1986 and 2015. Our finding shows that the brokerage roles contribute to the extension of collaboration network, but are not efficient for the creation of new invention. Collaboration intensity, however, helps both novel innovation and new collaboration, and especially it positively interacts with brokerage role indicating that a region can take the benefit from being broker in collaboration.182 - PublicationOK Computer: The Creation and Integration of AI in Europe(University College Dublin School of Economics, 2019-05)
; ; ; This paper investigates the creation and integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) patents in Europe. We create a panel of AI patents over time, mapping them into regions at the NUTS2 level. We then proceed by examining how AI is integrated into the knowledge space of each region. In particular, we find that those regions where AI is most embedded into the innovation landscape are also those where the number of AI patents is largest. This suggests that to increase AI innovation it may be necessary to integrate it with industrial development, a feature central to many recent AI-promoting policies.681 - PublicationPatent Boxes and the Success Rate of Applications(University College Dublin. School of Economics, 2021-04-21)
; ; Patent boxes significantly reduce the corporate tax rate applied to income earned from a patent. This incentivizes firms to increase the likelihood of a patent application being granted by creating more novel research and using more successful legal representation when filing the application. Conversely, it supports submitting applications for marginally novel innovations that otherwise would not have been submitted, lowering the probability of success. We use data from applications to the European Patent Office from 1978 to 2019 and find that the introduction of a patent box increases the average success rate of applications from large, corporate innovators by 6.9 percentage points. This impact only materializes two years after a patent box takes effect, suggesting that improved research effort is the dominant response by firms. Therefore patent boxes may help to increase innovation novelty and improve the overall quality of research.250 - PublicationRegional knowledge spaces: the interplay of entry-relatedness and entry-potential for technological change and growthThis paper aims to uncover the mechanism of how the network properties of regional knowledge spaces contribute to technological change from the perspective of regional knowledge entry-relatedness and regional knowledge entry-potential. Entry-relatedness, which has been previously employed to investigate the technology evolution of regional economies, is advanced by introducing a knowledge gravity model. The entry-potential of a newly acquired regional specialisation has been largely ignored in the relevant literature; surprisingly given the high relevance that is attributed to the recombination potential of new capabilities. In other words, just adding new knowledge domains to a system is not sufficient alone, it really depends on how these fit into the existing system and thus can generate wider economic benefits. Based on an empirical analysis of EU-15 Metro and non-Metro regions from 1981 to 2015, we find that entry-relatedness has a significant negative association with novel inventive activities, while entry-potential has a significant positive association with the development of novel products and processes of economic value. This highlights that regions’ capacity to venture into high-potential areas of technological specialization in the knowledge space outperforms purely relatedness driven diversification that is frequently promoted in the relevant literature.
Scopus© Citations 9 51 - PublicationRegional Knowledge Spaces: The Interplay of Entry-Relatedness and Entry-Potential for Technological Change and Growth(University College Dublin. Spatial Dynamics Lab, 2021-09-20)
; ; ; This paper aims to uncover the mechanism of how the network properties of regional knowledge spaces contribute to technological change from the perspective of regional knowledge entry-relatedness and regional knowledge entry-potential. Entry-relatedness, which has been previously employed to investigate the technology evolution of regional economies, is advanced by introducing a knowledge gravity model. The entry-potential of a newly acquired regional specialisation has been largely ignored in the relevant literature; surprisingly given the high relevance that is attributed to the recombination potential of new capabilities. In other words, just adding new knowledge domains to a system is not sufficient alone, it really depends on how these fit into the existing system and thus can generate wider economic benefits. Based on an empirical analysis of EU Metro and non-Metro regions from 1981 to 2015, we find that entry-relatedness has a significant negative association with novel inventive activities, while entry-potential has a significant positive association with the development of novel products and processes of economic value. This highlights that regions’ capacity to venture into high-potential areas of technological specialization in the knowledge space outperforms purely relatedness driven diversification that is frequently promoted in the relevant literature.298 - PublicationSuccessful Economic Diversifications: Implications for Refining Smart Specialisation Strategies in Less Developed Regions(University College Dublin. Spatial Dynamics Lab, 2019-07-01)
; Related and unrelated diversification take ample space in scientific and political debates. Against the backdrop of refining smart specialisations strategies, this paper identifies diversification patterns towards the highest income growth in less developed areas in 1931–2000. It is argued that both related and unrelated (in longer-term) diversifications are fundamental for evolutionary growth of less developed regions, however, only the former process has been confirmed in the analyses. Both related variety of industries and expertise in 1931 also point to successful diversification. The implications for theories of Evolutionary Economic Geography and regional policy actions in less developed regions are discussed.305 - PublicationThe nonlinear effect of technological diversification on regional productivity: implications for growth and Smart Specialisation strategies(University College Dublin. Spatial Dynamics Lab, 2023-04-17)
; ; With a sample of 268 EU regions and with the use of multilevel modelling, we demonstrate that different measures of technological diversification measured as coherence and entropyvariety, have different nonlinear effects on regional productivity growth and that these nonlinear effects work in opposite directions to each other. Our analysis shows that higher regional productivity returns can be found in regions investing both around their existing technological capabilities as well as in more distant knowledge domains. Our findings have significant implications for understanding regional productivity growth processes and the implementation of Smart Specialisation Strategies.79 - PublicationThe relevance of scientific knowledge externalities for technological change and resulting inventions across European metropolitan areasContrary to perceptions in which technological development proceeds independently of scientific research, the interplay between science and technology has been recognized as an essential part in technological change, industrial competitiveness, and economic growth. While the process of knowledge exchanges between the nexus is conceptually well grounded in relevant literatures, the absence of quantitative measures and assessments of such linkages may underestimate the importance of scientific knowledge inputs for generating high-impact innovative outcomes. In this regard, we propose a large quantitative analysis on knowledge externalities from science to technology by investigating patent citations to science data across European metropolitan regions. First, we construct a dataset of patent citations to scientific knowledge that includes information on the spatial origins of knowledge spillovers. Subsequently, the ratio of internal scientific knowledge sourcing to external sources and its effect on patent citation impact is evaluated. Findings suggest that regions with a higher reliance on their internal scientific resources tend to generate inventions with higher technological impact, and that a strong connection between science and technology is even more effective in advanced industrial regions.
Scopus© Citations 1 62 - PublicationThe role of MNEs in the genesis and growth of a resilient entrepreneurial ecosystemThis article reports on a longitudinal process study of the critical role of anchor MNEs in the metamorphosis of a high-tech industrial cluster into a local entrepreneurial ecosystem. It draws on entrepreneurial ecosystem and international business literatures to frame the study of the genesis and evolutionary processes of an entrepreneurial ecosystem that emerged from two MNE subsidiaries, both of which had evolved into advanced R&D centres of excellence around a technology specialism. It shows how multiple new venture spinouts by former MNE employees introduced technological heterogeneity that catalysed into a resilient entrepreneurial ecosystem. The theoretical and policy implications that can be drawn from this case study emphasize the existence of both technology specialism and heterogeneity for resilience in an entrepreneurial ecosystem, and that reaching such a position is evolutionary in nature.
103Scopus© Citations 35