Regional effects on cooperative innovation activities and the related variety of regional knowledge bases

The literature on Innovation Systems is divided into several directories. Dif- ferences occur through the definition of the system's borders. This paper intro- duces a methodology how to differentiate between regional and technological effects of cooperative innovation activities and analyzes furthermore how dif- ferent dimensions of regional knowledge affect the regional effects on coopera- tive innovation activities. We find evidence that the related variety of knowl- edge available within a region and its combination with a proxy of the amount of knowledge foster regional effects of cooperative innovation activities. Addi- tionally, we find that the development of German regions fits with the sugges- tions of the Regional Innovation System (RIS) approach.