In the last decades, innovation activity has been defined by an increasing complexity and a faster pace of the underlying
technological change. Accordingly, several studies have shown that competitive systems of innovation benefit from being able
to build upon a wide but integrated spectrum of technological capabilities characterised by a sustained dynamism in the level
of inter-sectoral technology flows. In this context, technological platforms – defined as knowledge and scientific launching
pads that spin out of key enabling technologies – may create the opportunity for technological externalities to take place
across a set of related sectors through a swarm of increasingly applied and incremental innovations. In this report, we look
at the presence and determinants of these technological platforms across EU countries and explore the mechanisms through which
these influence inter-sectoral technology spillovers, thus fostering technological shifts and technological synthesis within
the broader economy. Using data on patents and patent citations obtained from the PATSTAT-CRIOS database, covering all patent
applications made to the European Patent Office (EPO), we try to model the systemic nature of technology platforms. In particular,
our aim is to provide empirical evidence that the presence of key enabling technologies at the base of the platform may lead
to a more sustained interaction across second tier innovations characterised by a "distant" knowledge base. Then, we endeavour
to investigate the relationship that may take place between this process and the role played by the national dimension.
Forschungsbereich:Industrie-, Innovations- und internationale Ökonomie