Seo, Ilwon; (2019) The market-mediated diffusion of technology across geographical boundaries and the evolving roles of anchor regions: Analysis of the Chinese patent licensing network. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

This research explores the characteristics of the market-mediated technology transfer across the regions, the role of a few anchor regions in the technology diffusion process and their contributions as the dynamics in the evolution of a regional network. While extant empirical studies addressed the mechanism of the knowledge spillover, neither literature on innovation study nor regional approach has clearly discerned the market-mediated technology transfer from a pure knowledge spillover. The market-mediated technology that was acquired with the intention of leveraging the economic outcomes is likely to underpin the innovative capacity and lead the economic growth of the region. Thus, this empirical research contributes to the understanding of the pathway between the knowledge spillover and regional economic growth. Moreover, the current study reinterprets the role of a focal node from the perspective of the anchor region in the regional innovation network, focusing on the brokerage role in the local assimilation of exogenous technology. In order to capture the characteristics of the market-mediated technology, this research utilises the Chinese patent licensing dataset from 1998 to 2013, an appealing measure of representing technology flow between the licensor (provider) and licensee (purchaser). The estimated result of the geographical incidence, calculated by the ‘gravity-like model’, supports the mutual market uncertainties. It corroborates the preference for proximate partners is not identical for the licensor and licensee. The presence of the dissipation effect, the odds-ratio of being the private firm against the public institutions, demonstrates that licensors utilise the spatial distance as a strategic tool for risk-aversion. This empirical result provides a significant insight to the link in the gap between the innovation system and geographically agglomeration economies in that the location of firms within a proximate neighbourhood might hamper the diffusion of technology which is required for promoting an innovation system. It is also found that the path-dependency effect works as the dynamics of the regional technology transfer network. The previous experiences as a technology provider and the accumulated partnership matters for the decision of a licensee’s decision, which might cause ‘the experienced get more experiences’ and thus the regional disparity of the technology capacity. Further to the brokerage roles of the anchor regions, Beijing and Shenzhen serve as a ‘national anchor’, transmitting the technology produced in their megalopolises across the outer regions, while Shanghai sits in a more balanced brokerage position as a ‘regional anchor’ that connects the outer and inside of its megalopolis. The simulation-based analysis suggests that anchor regions, serving as a conduit for the whole regions rather than a local region anchor in order to contribute to the growth of a national innovation system.

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