This paper studies the impact of public support for innovation on the firm’s decision to establish non-technological strategic alliances. These alliances are crucial for firm efficiency and growth as they provide access to new markets, distribution channels, and expertise. We provide a theoretical discussion of the potential mechanisms at play (absorptive capacity and certification effect) and test them using Uruguayan data spanning the years 2007 to 2015. Our empirical findings present evidence of a positive causal effect of public support for innovation and a firm’s propensity to engage in non-technological strategic alliances. Additionally, we show that the absorptive capacity mechanism drives the effect while we find no evidence supporting the certification effect.
{"title":"Non-technological strategic alliances and public support for innovation: What are, if any, their links?","authors":"Santiago Acerenza , Liliana Gelabert , Martín Pereyra , Flavia Roldán","doi":"10.1016/j.respol.2026.105433","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.respol.2026.105433","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper studies the impact of public support for innovation on the firm’s decision to establish non-technological strategic alliances. These alliances are crucial for firm efficiency and growth as they provide access to new markets, distribution channels, and expertise. We provide a theoretical discussion of the potential mechanisms at play (absorptive capacity and certification effect) and test them using Uruguayan data spanning the years 2007 to 2015. Our empirical findings present evidence of a positive causal effect of public support for innovation and a firm’s propensity to engage in non-technological strategic alliances. Additionally, we show that the absorptive capacity mechanism drives the effect while we find no evidence supporting the certification effect.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48466,"journal":{"name":"Research Policy","volume":"55 4","pages":"Article 105433"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146192770","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-05-01Epub Date: 2026-02-05DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2026.105431
Thomas G. Pittz , Carma M. Claw , Terry R. Adler
The sovereign right of self-governance for Native nations has been both contentious and unevenly applied throughout its deeply rooted history in the United States. As a vital aspect of tribal sovereignty, this research explores the outcomes of entrepreneurial self-determination of Native American Tribes. Using a mixed methods approach, our study leans on qualitative interviews of 18 tribal leaders to catalyze a quantitative analysis consisting of data from 161 Native American Tribes collected from the US Federal Register, the National Indian Gaming Commission, and from a Freedom of Information Act request of the US Department of Interior. Data are used to better understand the role that entrepreneurial self-determination plays in Native American Tribes and its effects on economic and cultural sovereignty. What we find is that the institution of sovereignty itself is a site of innovation, where tribal leaders are not only defending but innovating it, reinterpreting what it means and how it functions through modern entrepreneurial mechanisms. The research contributes to innovation policy and institutional theory by theorizing sovereignty as a contested institution that is reshaped by entrepreneurial self-determination under conditions of institutional multiplicity.
{"title":"Sovereignty as a site of innovation: Institutional entrepreneurship in Native American tribal nations","authors":"Thomas G. Pittz , Carma M. Claw , Terry R. Adler","doi":"10.1016/j.respol.2026.105431","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.respol.2026.105431","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The sovereign right of self-governance for Native nations has been both contentious and unevenly applied throughout its deeply rooted history in the United States. As a vital aspect of tribal sovereignty, this research explores the outcomes of entrepreneurial self-determination of Native American Tribes. Using a mixed methods approach, our study leans on qualitative interviews of 18 tribal leaders to catalyze a quantitative analysis consisting of data from 161 Native American Tribes collected from the US Federal Register, the National Indian Gaming Commission, and from a Freedom of Information Act request of the US Department of Interior. Data are used to better understand the role that entrepreneurial self-determination plays in Native American Tribes and its effects on economic and cultural sovereignty. What we find is that the institution of sovereignty itself is a site of innovation, where tribal leaders are not only defending but innovating it, reinterpreting what it means and how it functions through modern entrepreneurial mechanisms. The research contributes to innovation policy and institutional theory by theorizing sovereignty as a contested institution that is reshaped by entrepreneurial self-determination under conditions of institutional multiplicity.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48466,"journal":{"name":"Research Policy","volume":"55 4","pages":"Article 105431"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146192764","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-05-01Epub Date: 2026-02-13DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2026.105432
Panayiotis C. Andreou , Sofia Anyfantaki , Christos Cabolis , Konstantinos Dellis
This paper investigates why firms facing identical carbon-pricing incentives exhibit heterogeneous decarbonization trajectories. We address this question through a theoretical framework that conceptualizes national institutional quality and innovation-system capabilities as boundary conditions that shape firms’ adjustment capacity under emissions trading. Our analysis combines firm-level verified emissions from the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) for 31 European countries over the period 2005-2018 with country-level indicators from the IMD World Competitiveness Center and the World Economic Forum. We provide evidence that firms operating in environments characterized by stronger human capital capabilities, more advanced technological and digital infrastructure, and more supportive legal and scientific frameworks achieve greater emissions abatement. These effects are strongest during Phase III of the EU ETS, when the carbon-pricing constraint became more binding. Overall, our findings highlight how institutional and capability conditions mediate firms’ responses to a harmonized carbon price, offering new insights into the sources of heterogeneous abatement outcomes under a unified emissions trading system. From a policy perspective, our paper contributes to debates on the country level boundary conditions under which emissions trading can support more transformative decarbonization trajectories across heterogeneous national contexts.
{"title":"Institutional and capability enablers of firm-level emissions abatement under the EU Emissions Trading System","authors":"Panayiotis C. Andreou , Sofia Anyfantaki , Christos Cabolis , Konstantinos Dellis","doi":"10.1016/j.respol.2026.105432","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.respol.2026.105432","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper investigates why firms facing identical carbon-pricing incentives exhibit heterogeneous decarbonization trajectories. We address this question through a theoretical framework that conceptualizes national institutional quality and innovation-system capabilities as boundary conditions that shape firms’ adjustment capacity under emissions trading. Our analysis combines firm-level verified emissions from the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) for 31 European countries over the period 2005-2018 with country-level indicators from the IMD World Competitiveness Center and the World Economic Forum. We provide evidence that firms operating in environments characterized by stronger human capital capabilities, more advanced technological and digital infrastructure, and more supportive legal and scientific frameworks achieve greater emissions abatement. These effects are strongest during Phase III of the EU ETS, when the carbon-pricing constraint became more binding. Overall, our findings highlight how institutional and capability conditions mediate firms’ responses to a harmonized carbon price, offering new insights into the sources of heterogeneous abatement outcomes under a unified emissions trading system. From a policy perspective, our paper contributes to debates on the country level boundary conditions under which emissions trading can support more transformative decarbonization trajectories across heterogeneous national contexts.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48466,"journal":{"name":"Research Policy","volume":"55 4","pages":"Article 105432"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146192768","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-05-01Epub Date: 2026-02-10DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2026.105427
Jie Hong , Dhruba Borah , Silvia Massini
Existing literature suggests that weak intellectual property rights (IPR) regimes are not conducive to innovation intensive activities. However, evidence of technology exploration activities by multinational companies (MNCs) in emerging countries challenges this view. We address this puzzle by examining how host-country IPR regimes influence MNCs' technology exploration, distinguishing between technology-seeking (TS) and home-base augmenting (HBA) activities. Drawing on organizational experience and learning theories, we also test the moderating role of MNCs' function-related (innovation function-specific and function-generic) and location-related (host country-specific and country-generic) international experience. Using PATSTAT patent data for 91 U.S. computer and electronics firms in the period 2001–2018, we find that weaker IPR protection is associated with a higher proportion of HBA initiatives. This challenges the conventional view that strong IPR regimes are indispensable for technology exploration. Moreover, we show that MNCs with extensive function-specific experience in the host and other foreign countries better navigate diverse IPR environments, making their technology exploration activities less affected by the strength of the host-country IPR regime.
{"title":"Do weak intellectual property rights regimes affect foreign multinational firms' technology exploration? The moderating role of function-related and location-related experience","authors":"Jie Hong , Dhruba Borah , Silvia Massini","doi":"10.1016/j.respol.2026.105427","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.respol.2026.105427","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Existing literature suggests that weak intellectual property rights (IPR) regimes are not conducive to innovation intensive activities. However, evidence of technology exploration activities by multinational companies (MNCs) in emerging countries challenges this view. We address this puzzle by examining how host-country IPR regimes influence MNCs' technology exploration, distinguishing between technology-seeking (TS) and home-base augmenting (HBA) activities. Drawing on organizational experience and learning theories, we also test the moderating role of MNCs' function-related (innovation function-specific and function-generic) and location-related (host country-specific and country-generic) international experience. Using PATSTAT patent data for 91 U.S. computer and electronics firms in the period 2001–2018, we find that weaker IPR protection is associated with a higher proportion of HBA initiatives. This challenges the conventional view that strong IPR regimes are indispensable for technology exploration. Moreover, we show that MNCs with extensive function-specific experience in the host and other foreign countries better navigate diverse IPR environments, making their technology exploration activities less affected by the strength of the host-country IPR regime.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48466,"journal":{"name":"Research Policy","volume":"55 4","pages":"Article 105427"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146192769","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-05-01Epub Date: 2026-02-06DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2026.105429
Dragan Filimonovic , Christian Rutzer , Jeffrey T. Macher , Rolf Weder
This paper examines whether regions with early leadership in scientific research in an emerging technology achieve lasting patenting advantage in that technology. Using data on 27 emerging technologies (e.g., Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Computing) across U.S. Metropolitan regions over 20 years, we find that these ”pioneer” regions achieve a large and increasing patenting advantage. This effect is strongest in ”super-cluster” regions — those that combine pioneering scientific research in an emerging field with robust patenting capacity in related domains. Our findings highlight the critical role of early scientific leadership in shaping regional patenting trajectories, and offer policy insights for fostering technological invention in emerging technologies.
{"title":"Does early regional scientific leadership translate into lasting patenting advantage?","authors":"Dragan Filimonovic , Christian Rutzer , Jeffrey T. Macher , Rolf Weder","doi":"10.1016/j.respol.2026.105429","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.respol.2026.105429","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper examines whether regions with early leadership in scientific research in an emerging technology achieve lasting patenting advantage in that technology. Using data on 27 emerging technologies (e.g., Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Computing) across U.S. Metropolitan regions over 20 years, we find that these ”pioneer” regions achieve a large and increasing patenting advantage. This effect is strongest in ”super-cluster” regions — those that combine pioneering scientific research in an emerging field with robust patenting capacity in related domains. Our findings highlight the critical role of early scientific leadership in shaping regional patenting trajectories, and offer policy insights for fostering technological invention in emerging technologies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48466,"journal":{"name":"Research Policy","volume":"55 4","pages":"Article 105429"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146192765","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-04-01Epub Date: 2026-01-20DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2026.105424
Oliver Falck , Yuchen Guo , Christina Langer , Valentin Lindlacher , Simon Wiederhold
Firm training is widely regarded as crucial for protecting workers from automation, yet there is a lack of empirical evidence to support this belief. Using internationally harmonized data from over 90,000 workers across 37 industrialized countries, we construct an individual-level measure of automation risk based on tasks performed at work. Our analysis reveals substantial within-occupation variation in automation risk, overlooked by existing occupation-level measures. To assess whether firm training mitigates automation risk, we exploit within-occupation and within-industry variation. Additionally, we employ entropy balancing to re-weight workers without firm training based on a rich set of background characteristics, including tested numeracy skills as a proxy for unobserved ability. We find that training reduces workers’ automation risk by 3.8 percentage points, equivalent to 8% of the average automation risk. The training-induced reduction in automation risk accounts for 15% of the wage returns to firm training. Firm training is effective in reducing automation risk and increasing wages across nearly all countries, underscoring the external validity of our findings. Training is similarly effective across gender, age, and education groups, suggesting widely shared benefits rather than gains concentrated in specific demographic segments.
{"title":"Firm training, automation, and wages: International worker-level evidence","authors":"Oliver Falck , Yuchen Guo , Christina Langer , Valentin Lindlacher , Simon Wiederhold","doi":"10.1016/j.respol.2026.105424","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.respol.2026.105424","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Firm training is widely regarded as crucial for protecting workers from automation, yet there is a lack of empirical evidence to support this belief. Using internationally harmonized data from over 90,000 workers across 37 industrialized countries, we construct an individual-level measure of automation risk based on tasks performed at work. Our analysis reveals substantial within-occupation variation in automation risk, overlooked by existing occupation-level measures. To assess whether firm training mitigates automation risk, we exploit within-occupation and within-industry variation. Additionally, we employ entropy balancing to re-weight workers without firm training based on a rich set of background characteristics, including tested numeracy skills as a proxy for unobserved ability. We find that training reduces workers’ automation risk by 3.8 percentage points, equivalent to 8% of the average automation risk. The training-induced reduction in automation risk accounts for 15% of the wage returns to firm training. Firm training is effective in reducing automation risk and increasing wages across nearly all countries, underscoring the external validity of our findings. Training is similarly effective across gender, age, and education groups, suggesting widely shared benefits rather than gains concentrated in specific demographic segments.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48466,"journal":{"name":"Research Policy","volume":"55 3","pages":"Article 105424"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146038618","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-04-01Epub Date: 2026-01-22DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2026.105422
Sándor Juhász , Johannes Wachs , Jermain Kaminski , César A. Hidalgo
Despite the growing importance of the digital sector, research on economic complexity and its implications continues to rely mostly on administrative records—e.g. data on exports, patents, and employment—that have blind spots when it comes to the digital economy. In this paper we use data on the geography of programming languages used in open-source software to extend economic complexity ideas to the digital economy. We estimate a country's software economic complexity index (ECIsoftware) and show that it complements the ability of measures of complexity based on trade, patents, and research to account for international differences in GDP per capita, income inequality, and emissions. We also show that open-source software follows the principle of relatedness, meaning that a country's entries and exits in programming languages are partly explained by its current pattern of specialization. Together, these findings help extend economic complexity ideas and their policy implications to the digital economy.
{"title":"The software complexity of nations","authors":"Sándor Juhász , Johannes Wachs , Jermain Kaminski , César A. Hidalgo","doi":"10.1016/j.respol.2026.105422","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.respol.2026.105422","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Despite the growing importance of the digital sector, research on economic complexity and its implications continues to rely mostly on administrative records—e.g. data on exports, patents, and employment—that have blind spots when it comes to the digital economy. In this paper we use data on the geography of programming languages used in open-source software to extend economic complexity ideas to the digital economy. We estimate a country's software economic complexity index (ECI<sup>software</sup>) and show that it complements the ability of measures of complexity based on trade, patents, and research to account for international differences in GDP per capita, income inequality, and emissions. We also show that open-source software follows the principle of relatedness, meaning that a country's entries and exits in programming languages are partly explained by its current pattern of specialization. Together, these findings help extend economic complexity ideas and their policy implications to the digital economy.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48466,"journal":{"name":"Research Policy","volume":"55 3","pages":"Article 105422"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146038665","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-04-01Epub Date: 2026-02-10DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2025.105404
Campbell R. Harvey , Joel Hasbrouck , Fahad Saleh
A decentralized exchange, or DEX, is an application deployed on a blockchain that allows investors to exchange digital assets. We focus on the most prominent type of DEX, an Automated Market Maker (AMM), where at pricing terms are determined by a preset exchange rate formula. This technology has several unique features, including accessibility to all investors, transparency of pricing, and near simultaneity of execution and settlement. In particular, trading via a DEX is feasible for any asset tokenized on a blockchain. In turn, given that assets such as stocks and bonds could be easily tokenized, it is particularly important to understand the risks posed by DEXs. This paper examines both the benefits and risks for investors from DEXs, explores the role of private and public liquidity pools, and analyzes possible regulatory approaches.
{"title":"The evolution of decentralized exchange: Risks, benefits, and oversight","authors":"Campbell R. Harvey , Joel Hasbrouck , Fahad Saleh","doi":"10.1016/j.respol.2025.105404","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.respol.2025.105404","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>A decentralized exchange, or DEX, is an application deployed on a blockchain that allows investors to exchange digital assets. We focus on the most prominent type of DEX, an Automated Market Maker (AMM), where at pricing terms are determined by a preset exchange rate formula. This technology has several unique features, including accessibility to all investors, transparency of pricing, and near simultaneity of execution and settlement. In particular, trading via a DEX is feasible for any asset tokenized on a blockchain. In turn, given that assets such as stocks and bonds could be easily tokenized, it is particularly important to understand the risks posed by DEXs. This paper examines both the benefits and risks for investors from DEXs, explores the role of private and public liquidity pools, and analyzes possible regulatory approaches.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48466,"journal":{"name":"Research Policy","volume":"55 3","pages":"Article 105404"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146188550","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-04-01Epub Date: 2026-01-30DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2026.105425
Michael E. Rose , Katarína Juríková , Marina Pelepets , Olga Slivko , Julia Yereshko
In response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the global scientific community launched a range of support offers for displaced Ukrainian scientists. This paper examines the characteristics of these offers that attracted the most interest from Ukrainian scholars. We conduct a survey of hosts offering 2416 support opportunities registered in the #ScienceForUkraine database (22.3% participation rate). 56.9% support offers received at least one eligible application and 47.4% helped at least one Ukrainian scientist. Our analysis reveals that scholarships were more in demand than academic positions, joint applications for funding, or access to resources, and that offers connected to the Humanities were more popular than other disciplines. For hosts, solidarity was the primary motivation to offer help, and the availability of suitable funding was the second most common reason. Focusing on future policy design, our findings imply that support programmes for displaced scientists play a role in motivating hosts to help refugee scholars, and that these programmes should emphasise flexibility and consider the disciplinary composition of the affected academic community.
{"title":"Shelter in scholarship: Evidence from a global survey of hosts for displaced Ukrainian scientists","authors":"Michael E. Rose , Katarína Juríková , Marina Pelepets , Olga Slivko , Julia Yereshko","doi":"10.1016/j.respol.2026.105425","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.respol.2026.105425","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the global scientific community launched a range of support offers for displaced Ukrainian scientists. This paper examines the characteristics of these offers that attracted the most interest from Ukrainian scholars. We conduct a survey of hosts offering 2416 support opportunities registered in the #ScienceForUkraine database (22.3% participation rate). 56.9% support offers received at least one eligible application and 47.4% helped at least one Ukrainian scientist. Our analysis reveals that scholarships were more in demand than academic positions, joint applications for funding, or access to resources, and that offers connected to the Humanities were more popular than other disciplines. For hosts, solidarity was the primary motivation to offer help, and the availability of suitable funding was the second most common reason. Focusing on future policy design, our findings imply that support programmes for displaced scientists play a role in motivating hosts to help refugee scholars, and that these programmes should emphasise flexibility and consider the disciplinary composition of the affected academic community.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48466,"journal":{"name":"Research Policy","volume":"55 3","pages":"Article 105425"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146078989","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-04-01Epub Date: 2026-01-24DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2025.105382
Matte Hartog , Andres Gomez-Lievano , Ricardo Hausmann , Frank Neffke
Over the course of the mid-19th and early 20th century, the US transformed from an agricultural economy to the frontier in technology. To study this transition, we digitize half a million pages of patent yearbooks that describe inventors, organizations and technologies on over 1.6M patents. We combine this with demographic information from US census records and information on corporate research from large-scale repeated surveys of industrial research labs. Our data reveal that in the early 1920s a new system of innovation — based on teamwork and engineers — started to rapidly replace the existing craftsmanship-based invention that had dominated innovation in the 19th century. We argue that this new system relied on an organizational innovation: industrial research labs. These labs supported high-skill teamwork, replacing the collaborations within families with professional ties in firms and industrial research labs. The systemic shift in innovation had far-reaching consequences: it changed the division of labor in invention, led to an explosion of novelty and teamwork, and reshaped the geography of innovation in the US.
{"title":"Inventing modern invention: The professionalization of technological progress in the US","authors":"Matte Hartog , Andres Gomez-Lievano , Ricardo Hausmann , Frank Neffke","doi":"10.1016/j.respol.2025.105382","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.respol.2025.105382","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Over the course of the mid-19th and early 20th century, the US transformed from an agricultural economy to the frontier in technology. To study this transition, we digitize half a million pages of patent yearbooks that describe inventors, organizations and technologies on over 1.6M patents. We combine this with demographic information from US census records and information on corporate research from large-scale repeated surveys of industrial research labs. Our data reveal that in the early 1920s a new system of innovation — based on teamwork and engineers — started to rapidly replace the existing craftsmanship-based invention that had dominated innovation in the 19th century. We argue that this new system relied on an organizational innovation: industrial research labs. These labs supported high-skill teamwork, replacing the collaborations within families with professional ties in firms and industrial research labs. The systemic shift in innovation had far-reaching consequences: it changed the division of labor in invention, led to an explosion of novelty and teamwork, and reshaped the geography of innovation in the US.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48466,"journal":{"name":"Research Policy","volume":"55 3","pages":"Article 105382"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146078990","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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