Regional patterns of unrelated technological diversification: the role of academic inventors

This paper investigates the relationship between the involvement of academic inventors in local innovation dynamics and the patterns of regional technological diversification. Based on the combination of the evolutionary economic approach and the theories on regional innovation capabilities, and on the distinctive features of academic inventors, we hypothesise that knowledge spillovers accruing from the participation of university scientists to local patenting activity influence the extent of regional technological diversification. In addition, we posit that the involvement of academic inventors mitigates the path dependency engendered by the constraining role of the existing capabilities. The empirical results highlight the key role of academic institutions for the development of regional technological trajectories while contributing to the academic and policy debate on regional diversification strategies.