Topic Research and Development

Company Productivity Increases with More Knowledge-Based Capital

In Germany, around 200 billion euros are invested every year in knowledge-based capital, which encompasses assets such as research and development, software and databases, organizational capital, marketing and advertising, and technical design. Yet investments in traditional capital (such as machinery and non-residential buildings) still significantly outweigh knowledge investments, standing at over ...

German companies strengthen research and development – both domestically and abroad

The R&D expenditure of German companies abroad has more than doubled compared to 2003. At the same time, their domestic investments are increasing sharply – The majority of the investments can be attributed to the automotive engineering and pharmaceutical industries – The share of foreign companies in R&D investments in Germany is sinking. In recent years, German companies have ...

Companies with R&D Abroad Make Germany a Strong Research Location

In recent years, German companies have invested more in research and development (R&D) abroad. After a prolonged plateau period, the proportion of investment abroad rose to around 35 percent; concurrently R&D expenditure in Germany has continued to rise sharply. Growth abroad did not occur at the expense of domestic research. Foreign companies in Germany have also invested more in R&D recently but ...

The 6th Berlin IO Day

The Berlin IO Day is a one-day workshop sponsored by the Berlin Centre for Consumer Policies (BCCP) and supported by Berlin's leading academic institutions, including DIW Berlin, ESMT, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Technische Universität Berlin, and WZB which takes place twice a year, in the fall and in the spring. The aim is to create an international forum for high quality research...

Private R&D Not Necessarily Drawn to Areas with High Public R&D

The bulk of Germany’s research and development (R&D) activity is concentrated in densely populated areas, urban regions that account for 62 percent of the country’s R&D workforce. The regions surrounding Stuttgart, Munich, and Braunschweig have by far the highest R&D intensity—that is, the share of R&D personnel in the total number of employees. Between 2003 and 2013, Munich lost some of its lead over ...

Policy Needs to Strengthen Transregional Networking of Private and Public Research: Five Questions for Alexander Eickelpasch

Financing Patterns of R&D in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and the Perception of Innovation Barriers in Germany

We analyze the role public support plays in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) R&D financing as well as these firms’ assessments of financing conditions in the context of other framework conditions for innovation. Using the sample of 2,708 German SMEs that participated in public R&D promotion programs during 2005–10, we identify four unique types of R&D financing. Firms are generally positive ...

International Knowledge Spillovers through High-Tech Imports and R&D of Foreign-Owned Firms

The international transmission of knowledge through import spillovers, as a source of Total Factor Productivity (TFP) growth, has received much attention in the literature. We investigate two additional direct channels through which R&D disseminates: the import of high-technology goods and the internationalization of business R&D. Building on an extensive data-set, covering both developing and industrial ...

Support for Private Research and Development in OECD Countries on the Rise but Increasingly Inefficient

The majority of OECD member states promote companies’ research and development (R&D) activities by providing project funding. Recently, in many countries, tax incentives have also begun to play an increasingly important role. The present study examines the level of R&D support in 18 OECD countries and explores how efficient the system of funding actually is. The main findings show that in the majority ...

Medium-Sized Foreign-Owned German Enterprises Heavily Involved in R&D

In Germany, the share of private investment in research and development (R&D) by foreign-owned companies from the beginning of the millennium to 2011 remained virtually unchanged at around one-quarter. From 2011 to 2013, this share fell slightly, and for the first time since the mid-1990s also the absolute amount decreased. Growth in domestic firms, however, was so high that there was an increase in ...