Is Public Research Beneficial for Innovation in Emerging and Developing Countries?

Abstract

Public sector research is considered as the main source of codified information. It also generates a variety of other forms of economic benefits. The present study aims to examine the impact of public research on technological innovation in emerging and developing countries. For this purpose, we use data on R&D expenditures performed by the sectors of government and higher education for public research, while technological innovation is measured by US patent applications. Linear regressions are applied on data for 21 countries during the period 2005-2013. Findings show that public research increases the innovation level. Furthermore, findings suggest that the two sectors play a complementary role in promotion of technological innovation. The main conclusion of our study is that the promotion of public research is an effective instrument of innovation policy in emerging and developing countries.