Public support to private innovation in multi-level governance systems: An empirical investigation

This is an exploratory analysis of the distinct distributive nature of innovation programs by government levels. The research setting is a European region actively involved in regional, national, and supra-national (EU)-level programs. The results suggest that sub-national programs lead to changes in firms' attitudes towards product and process innovation. The impacts of national and supra-national programs are different: nationally supported firms are more likely to accelerate their path towards product (but not to process) innovations; supra-national supported businesses gain in greater sales due to incremental innovative products. From a policy perspective, the results suggest that lower levels of government could alleviate entry barriers into technological activities while upper-level programs improve the economic performance of pre-existing innovators. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.