Klyngepolitik på et faktabaseret grundlag - Dansk Biotek

FORA RAPPORT KLYNGEPOLITIK PÅ ET FAKTABASERET GRUNDLAG
Another finding is that high innovation activity is not just found within a single firm. Often
innovation takes place as a result of collaborative efforts, where firms engage in inter-firm research
and development projects, e.g. we see that 41 percent of firms report a high level of
collaboration on research. Thus, firms utilises knowledge and new ideas developed in cooperation
with other firms. This collaboration can take place between direct competitors or between
firms over supply chains, i.e. horizontal or vertical collaboration respectively.
Finally, we see that firms have a high level of collaboration in regions where framework conditions
are better. It is the framework conditions that, to some extend, are created by active
policies. Thus, we are lead to the tentative proposition that active policies that establish good
framework conditions ultimately leads to higher firm performance. The evidence from the
descriptive analysis suggests that good framework conditions are relevant for firm collaboration,
firm collaboration and innovation go hand in hand, and innovation is crucial in productivity
gains and firm performance. The next section describes these results in more detail.
3.1. Innovation important for productivity
We find a clear picture that firms that carry out incremental and radical innovation also
show the best performance regarding productivity. From the survey, 46 percent of firms engage
in both radical and incremental innovation. These firms have, on average, 26 percent
higher multifactor productivity compared to those only, cf. Figure 3.1.
Figure 3.1 Innovation and firm productivity go hand in hand
Incremental and Radical Innovation
Share of firms
B
Both
incremental
and radical
46%
A
Either
incremental
or radical
54%
Innovation Types and MFP
Note: Based on 622 respondents on innovation. MFP estimated on firm level data and size corrected.
Source: BSR Life Science Survey and Copenhagen Economics Performance Estimations
Examination of firm productivity together with the type of innovation the firms engage in
reveals that incremental innovation is the present in the high productivity firms. So, with
these data we have shown the importance of innovation for firm productivity. Innovation is
key to productivity gains and to stay on the technology frontier, cf. Figure 3.2
17
A
Either incremental or radical
innovation
+26 %
22
B
Both incremental and radical
innovation
13
S.123