Absorptive capacity for science-based innovation propensity: an empirical analysis using Japanese National Innovation Survey

It is found that private firms are withdrawing from basic research, as evidenced by the decline in the number of scientific papers written by authors who are inside of firms. On the other hand, scientific knowledge is becoming increasingly important in the industrial innovation process, so that accessing external scientific knowledge for science based innovation becomes critical to radical innovation at firm. This study conducts an empirical analysis of absorptive capacity required to realize radical innovations based on scientific knowledge. Specifically, by connecting bibliographic information of academic papers and patents with firm data from the Japanese National Innovation Survey, we analyze the type of absorptive capacity by the way to obtain external knowledge. The results show that internal R&D is important both for with and without collaboration with university, while human capital with experiences of scientific research in university is important, particularly for successful innovation through university collaboration.