Human Capital and University-Industry Linkages' Role in Fostering Firm Innovation : An Empirical Study of Chile and Colombia

A firm's absorptive capacity, human capital and linkages with knowledge institutions have been shown to increase the firm's probability of innovating in OECD economies. Despite its importance for national- and firm-level competitiveness, few papers examine the impact of the same variables for firms innovation in Latin America. This paper investigates the link between firm innovation and its absorption capacity as proxied by the presence of a R&D department, the firm's human capital, and its interaction with research centers and universities. We analyze the case of Chilean and Colombian manufacturing firms using data from innovation surveys. A probit regression model is applied to identify the determinants of innovation activity. We find that collaboration with university and research institutions is associated with an increase in the probability of introducing a new product in Chilean and Colombian firms of 29 and 44 percent, respectively, and it can increase up to 58 percent in the case of Colombian firms interacting with research centers. Moreover, firms whose employees have a higher level of education, or whose managers/supervisors have a higher (perceived) level of knowledge, are more likely to innovate. Although the estimates could be affected by biases and suffer from shortcomings in data, the findings suggest that policies and incentives to increase firm-level human capital and industry-university linkages are important to increase innovation in Latin America.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Marotta, Daniela, Mark, Michael, Blom, Andreas, Thorn, Kristian
Language:	English
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2007-12
Subjects:	ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY, ACCOUNTING, APPROACH TO INNOVATION, CAPABILITIES, CAPABILITY, CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE, COLLABORATION, COMPETENCIES, COMPETITIVENESS, COMPUTERS, CONCEPT OF KNOWLEDGE, CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK, CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT, CURRENT KNOWLEDGE, DATA QUALITY, DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS, DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES, DISCUSSION, DISSEMINATION OF KNOWLEDGE, DOMAIN, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, ECONOMIC GROWTH, ECONOMIC THEORY, ECONOMICS, ECONOMICS OF INNOVATION, EMAIL ADDRESS, EQUIPMENT, EXISTING KNOWLEDGE, EXTENSION, EXTERNAL KNOWLEDGE, EXTERNAL RELATIONSHIPS, EXTERNALITIES, FIRM PERFORMANCE, FIRM-SPECIFIC KNOWLEDGE, FOOD PROCESSING, GEOGRAPHY OF INNOVATION, GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS, GOVERNMENT POLICY, HUMAN CAPITAL, HUMAN RESOURCES, IDEA, IDEAS, INCOME, INDIVIDUAL FIRMS, INDUSTRIAL POLICY, INDUSTRIAL STRUCTURE, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, INNOVATION, INNOVATION CAPACITY, INNOVATION INDICATORS, INNOVATION INPUTS, INNOVATION OUTCOME, INNOVATION OUTCOMES, INNOVATION OUTPUTS, INNOVATION PERFORMANCE, INNOVATION POLICY, INNOVATION PROCESS, INNOVATION PROCESSES, INNOVATION PROGRAM, INNOVATION SURVEYS, INNOVATION SYSTEM, INNOVATION SYSTEMS, INNOVATION THEORY, INNOVATIVE ACTIVITIES, INNOVATIVE ACTIVITY, INNOVATIVE CAPACITY, INNOVATIVE COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE, INNOVATIVE FIRMS, INNOVATIVE OUTPUT, INNOVATIVE PERFORMANCE, INNOVATIVE PROCESSES, INNOVATIVE PRODUCTS, INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK, INTANGIBLE ASSETS, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, INTERACTIVE LEARNING, INTERNATIONALISATION, INTERRELATIONSHIPS, KNOWLEDGE CENTERS, KNOWLEDGE DIFFUSION, KNOWLEDGE DISSEMINATION, KNOWLEDGE FLOW, KNOWLEDGE FRONTIER, KNOWLEDGE INFRASTRUCTURE, KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT, KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION, KNOWLEDGE SPILLOVERS, KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER, LABOR FORCE, LATIN AMERICAN, LEARNING, LEVEL OF KNOWLEDGE, LICENSES, LOCALIZATION, MANUFACTURING, MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES, MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY, MARKET SHARE, MARKETING, MISSING VALUE, MISSING VALUES, NATURAL RESOURCES, NETWORKS, NEW MARKET, NEW PRODUCT, NEW PRODUCTS, NEW TECHNOLOGIES, NEW TECHNOLOGY, ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE, ORGANIZATIONAL MANAGEMENT, POLICY FRAMEWORK, PRIVATE SECTOR, PRIVATE SECTORS, PROCESS INNOVATION, PROCESS INNOVATIONS, PRODUCT DESIGN, PRODUCT INNOVATION, PRODUCT INNOVATIONS, PRODUCTION PROCESSES, PRODUCTIVITY, PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS, R&D, RADIO, REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT, REGIONAL INNOVATION, RESULT, RESULTS, SAFETY, SKILLED LABOR, SKILLED WORKERS, SOCIAL KNOWLEDGE, SOURCES OF INFORMATION, SUCCESSFUL INNOVATION, SUPPLIERS, SYSTEM OF INNOVATION, TACIT KNOWLEDGE, TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE, TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT, TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION, TELEVISION, THINKING, TIME PERIOD, TOP MANAGEMENT, TRANSACTION, TYPE OF KNOWLEDGE, UNIVERSITIES, UTILITY MODELS, VALUE CHAIN, WEB, WOOD, WORK EXPERIENCE,
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2007/12/8880613/human-capital-university-industry-linkages-role-fostering-firm-innovation-empirical-study-chile-colombia https://hdl.handle.net/10986/7558
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