' Institute of Workand Technology

(1)

of W o rk and Techno lo g y Jürgen Nordhause-Janz

Dieter Rehfeld

Innovation in North Rhine-Westphalian economy

A postal survey of 1.100 manufacturing and production orientated Service Firms

in North Rhine-Westphalia

Presentation for the XIth International Conference of the RESER

"New Information Technologies and Services Activities", 25th – 26th October 2001 Grenoble.

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of W o rk and Techno lo g y

Main Interests of the Survey

To what extent are regional firms engaged in innovation and ? What kind of innovation sources are used

by manufacturing and service companies ?

Which and to what extent do firms use regional, sectoral ressources for their innovation activities ? What differences can be found in this context between

manufacturing and service firms ?

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of W o rk and Techno lo g y

Technical Services Non-Technical Services

IT Consultants

Engineering Advertising

Technical, Physical and Market Research Chemical Analyses Personnel Services

Sectoral Aggregation of Service Industries

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of W o rk and Techno lo g y

Industry 54%

IT 11%

Consulting 7%

Engineering 8%

Advertising 6%

Others 14%

Services 46%

Sectoral Distribution of Surveyed Firms

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of W o rk and Techno lo g y

42,3%

6,3%

3,8%

33,3%

26,9%

28,3%

12,1%

22,5%

32,1%

12,3%

44,3%

35,8%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Manufacturing Non-Technical Service

Providers Technical Service Providers

50 years and older 15 vears to 49 years 8 years to 14 years up to 7 years

Firm Ages

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of W o rk and Techno lo g y

37,4%

11,0%

10,0%

7,4%

16,6%

14,0% 8,2%

16,3%

11,4%

15,9%

11,9%

60,0%

56,6%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

500 and more 100 to less than 500 50 to less than 100 20 to less than 50 10 to less than 20 less than 10

Firm Sizes of Surveyed Firms - Number of employees -

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of W o rk and Techno lo g y

80,2% 76,7%

48,9%

55,5%

48,8% 48,0%

59,9% 61,6%

48,4%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Process innovations Development of new or improved products or services

Innovators with innovations completely new to market Manufacturing Non-Technical Service Providers Technical Service Providers

Innovation Activities 1997 - 2000 in North Rhine-Westphalian Firms

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of W o rk and Techno lo g y

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

cust omers internet

confe

rences, jo urnals uni

ts in ow n com

pany suppl

iers electr

onic data

bases fairs and

exhibi tions comp

etito rs peopl

e from

educat ional ti

mes secto

ral a ssoci

ations unive

rsities engi

neering of fices privat

e R&D institu

tes mem

berfirm s of c

ompan y gro

up cons

ultants techn

ology transf

er units patent

s othe

rs

Manufacturing Non-Technical Service Providers Technical Service Providers

Information Sources for Innovation Projects - Firms with importance ranking as very important / important -

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of W o rk and Techno lo g y Regional Origin of Materials, Machinery and Services in NRW Service Industries

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

financial services consultance services organizational / personnel services advertising / marketing services data processing / software servives other services engineering services raw materials maschinery

near location NRW Germany abroad

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of W o rk and Techno lo g y

customers Germany customers NRW universities near location customers near location suppliers Germany suppliers NRW universities NRW universities Germany consultants near location engineering offices NRW consultants Germany member firms of company group Germany private R$D institutes near location competitors NRW suppliers near location

Services Manufacturing

Regional Origin of Cooperation Partners in Innovation Projects

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of W o rk and Techno lo g y

38,3%

43,6%

42,1%

36,9%

56,0%

32,5%

25,6%

20,4%

43,5%

38,0%

24,9%

21,7%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80%

finding experts for technical problems near

our location is easy

no formal or informal cooperations near location,

because of lacking experts

in earlier times we had more contacts to our

nearer location

with growing distribution of our regional markets, local

contacts have minimized

Manufacturing Non-Technical Service Providers Technical Service Providers

Role of Firms Locational Surroundings - firms agreeing to statements in % -

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of W o rk and Techno lo g y

customers near location customers NRW customers Germany suppliers near location suppliers Germany suppliers NRW people from educational times near location people from educational times Germany people from educational times NRW universities near location competitors near location competitors Germany competitors NRW engineering offices near location universities NRW

Services Manufacturing

Regional Origin of Partners for Technological Ideas Exchanges - Most important Items -

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of W o rk and Techno lo g y

Sectoral effects in innovation activities:

Most similarities can be found between manufacturing and technical service

providers. In both cases product innovation activities are significantly influenced by firm sizes and the competition conditions of the firms.

Especially in cases of firms with high pressure concerning short product cycles and the need of high technological standards for products and services.

Sector and regional embeddedness:

A somewhat different picture can be drawn concerning the aspect of regional embeddedness in terms of informal cooperation.

Sectoral differences mainly dissapear if we control the grade of regional embeddedness by factors like shares of regional turnovers and origins of competitors.

Regional embeddedness is becoming weaker with growing importance and

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of W o rk and Techno lo g y

70,3%

76,0%

72,9%

29,7%

24,0%

27,1%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

firms without cooperation firms with cooperation

Innovation Projects and Cooperation

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of W o rk and Techno lo g y

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

custom ers unive

rsities suppliers

engine ering o

ffices private

R&

D institu tes mem

berfirm

s of com pany g

roup consulta

nts competitors

techn

ology tra nsfer u

nits industr

ial R

&D groups others

Manufacturing Non-Technical Service Providers Technical Service Providers

Cooperation Partners for Innovation Projects

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of W o rk and Techno lo g y

24,6%

18,5%

17,7%

24,8%

16,5%

21,1%

25,9%

47,4%

44,9%

19,4%

11,6%

12,1%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

no concentration, widely distributed abroad Germany NRW near firms location

Regonal Distribution of Main Turnovers ( 50 % and more)

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of W o rk and Techno lo g y

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

customer s suppli

ers com

petitors unive

rsities people

from edu

catio nal ti

mes private

R&D in stitutes consu

ltants engin

eering offices techno

logy tr ansfer u

nits