Regional Innovation Policy and Innovative Behaviour: Looking for Additional Effects

Abstract

This paper aims to evaluate the additionality of innovation policy in terms of innovative\nbehaviours at the regional level. Innovative behaviours are identified both within and across firm\nand regional boundaries. The role of policy is evaluated for a sample of firms in the Italian\nregion of Emilia–Romagna (ER), exploiting an original, survey-based data set. Propensity score\nmatching is applied to investigate the effects of an innovation subsidy. Funded firms are found to\nbe more likely to upgrade their competencies, compared with similar non-subsidized firms. On the\nother hand, in most cases, innovation cooperation with other business partners within or outside\nthe region is not significantly affected by policy. Ultimately, the investigated innovation policy in\nthe ER region seems to show what might be termed “cognitive capacity additionality”, rather\nthan “network additionality”.