Work

International Business Travel and Technology Sourcing

Year: 2019

Type: report

Abstract: Access to new foreign technology is often central to countries’ development strategies. However, we know very little about the quantitative impact of technology sourcing. In this paper, we study the role of outward international business travel for technology sourcing and innovation by examining whether patenting in European regions is affected by the number of business travelers heading to the United States. Using European regional patent data for the years 1996 to 2010 from Eurostat and information on incoming business travelers from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Survey of International Air Travelers, we find that controlling for a region’s R&D spending and size, innovation is increasing in the number of business travelers of the region to the United States. Technology sourcing through in-person business travel is not only statistically but economically significant, accounting, for example, for 20% of the higher patenting in Germany’s Greater Stuttgart area, compared to Portugal’s Algarve region.

Source: National Bureau of Economic Research

DOI: 10.3386/w25862

Authors: Nune Hovhannisyan, Wolfgang Keller

Institutions: Loyola University Maryland, National Bureau of Economic Research

Language: English

Topic: Intellectual Property and Patents

Subfield: Management of Technology and Innovation

Field: Business, Management and Accounting

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Industry, innovation and infrastructure, Decent work and economic growth

Open Access status: green

Funder: National Science Foundation