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Publications
  • January 2009
  • Article
  • Journal of Economic Geography

Spatial Diversity in Invention: Evidence from the Early R&D Labs

By: Tom Nicholas
  • Format:Print
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Abstract

This article uses historical data on inventor and firm R&D lab locations to examine the technological and geographic structure of corporate knowledge capital accumulation during a formative period in the organization of US innovation. Despite the localization of inventive activity around the labs, one-quarter of inventors lived outside a 30 mile commuting radius of the nearest facility of the firm they assigned their patents to. A strong positive effect of distance from a lab on technological importance is identified, especially for inventors from large cities that were geographically separated from a firm's labs. A patent case-control method helps explain spatial sourcing by showing that the average quality of externally available inventions was high. Firms selected complementary, not substitute, inventions from non-lab urban locations, suggesting a link between the organization and the geography of innovation.

Keywords

Factories, Labs, and Plants; Geographic Location; Innovation and Invention; Patents; Knowledge Acquisition; Research and Development; United States

Citation

Nicholas, Tom. "Spatial Diversity in Invention: Evidence from the Early R&D Labs." Journal of Economic Geography 9, no. 1 (January 2009).
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About The Author

Tom Nicholas

Entrepreneurial Management
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  • Human Capital and the Managerial Revolution in the United States By: Tom Nicholas
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