Scandinavian Working Papers in Economics
Papers in Innovation Studies,
Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research
No 2020/13: Are firms withdrawing from basic research? An analysis of firm-level publication behaviour in Germany
Bastian Krieger (), Maikel Pellens (), Knut Blind () and Torben Schubert ()
Additional contact information
Bastian Krieger: ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research, Postal: Germany
Maikel Pellens: Ghent University, Postal: Belgium
Knut Blind: Fraunhofer Institute for System and Innovation Research ISI, Postal: Germany
Torben Schubert: CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research, Postal: Lund University, PO Box 117, SE-22100 Lund, Sweden
Abstract: Previous research has expressed concerns about firms engaging less in basic research. We contribute to this debate by studying trends in the scientific publishing activities of firms located in Germany. Our results do not confirm a declining trend in raw numbers with numbers indicating that firms’ aggregate volume of scientific publications stayed constant between 2008 and 2016. However, the number of publishing firms declined, in particular in high-tech and knowledge-intensive industries. Beyond that, we observe positive trends in publishing in basic research journals compared to journals focused on applied research, and publishing in collaboration with academic partners compared to publishing alone. Thus, our results paint an ambiguous picture. While they do not confirm a decrease in firms’ basic research engagement in the aggregate, the figures document a concentration of publishing activities on fewer firms. We argue that this concentration of basic research activities in firms may pose a threat to the longer term innovativeness of the German economy.
Keywords: Corporate publishing; Basic research; R&D strategy
21 pages, November 19, 2020
Full text files
202013_krieger.pdfFull text
Questions (including download problems) about the papers in this series should be directed to Torben Schubert ()
Report other problems with accessing this service to Sune Karlsson ().
This page generated on 2024-02-05 17:12:34.