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

Marotta, Daniela ; Mark, Michael ; Blom, Andreas ; Thorn, Kristian

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY;    ACCOUNTING;    APPROACH TO INNOVATION;    CAPABILITIES;    CAPABILITY;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-4443
RP-ID  :  WPS4443

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

A firm's absorptive capacity, humancapital and linkages with knowledge institutions have beenshown to increase the firm's probability of innovatingin OECD economies. Despite its importance for national- andfirm-level competitiveness, few papers examine the impact ofthe same variables for firms innovation in Latin America.This paper investigates the link between firm innovation andits absorption capacity as proxied by the presence of aR&D department, the firm's human capital, and itsinteraction with research centers and universities. Weanalyze the case of Chilean and Colombian manufacturingfirms using data from innovation surveys. A probitregression model is applied to identify the determinants ofinnovation activity. We find that collaboration withuniversity and research institutions is associated with anincrease in the probability of introducing a new product inChilean and Colombian firms of 29 and 44 percent,respectively, and it can increase up to 58 percent in thecase of Colombian firms interacting with research centers.Moreover, firms whose employees have a higher level ofeducation, or whose managers/supervisors have a higher(perceived) level of knowledge, are more likely to innovate.Although the estimates could be affected by biases andsuffer from shortcomings in data, the findings suggest thatpolicies and incentives to increase firm-level human capitaland industry-university linkages are important to increaseinnovation in Latin America.