from research institutions. Using data from the German innovation survey we investigate how firms are able to exploit … knowledge from external partners for successful innovation activities. The estimation results show that the determinants of … absorptive capacity differ with respect to the type of knowledge absorbed for innovation activities. In particular we find that …

innovation while the mere size of the universities is unimportant. Differences in the effect on innovative output can be found …

Firms compete increasingly in an open innovation environment. Search strategies for external knowledge become therefore … are built through internal or external R&D activities) and the munificence of its innovation environment. We test these … its breadth. Moreover, we find that scarce innovation environments favor deep search strategies while breadth is more …

In light of its importance of innovation on the political agenda it is necessary to provide guidance to decision makers … how innovation can effectively be fostered in practice and to disentangle and evaluate the effects of the determinants … suggested by the literature. This thesis focuses on the causal evaluation of three determinants of innovation that can all be …