The Network Demography of High Technology Regions

Jason Owen-Smith
Barger Leadership Institute Professor & Associate Professor, Organizational Studies Associate Professor, Sociology Director, Organizational Studies Director, Barger Leadership Institute University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

http://www.umich.edu/~jdos

Roadmap
Who am I & how do I think? Two messages Three findings Implications for discussion

Thinking
Economists Incentives and Markets Political Scientists Interests, Coalitions & Agendas Psychologists Cognition, Perception & Biases

Sociologists Organizations, Networks & Institutions

My tribes take on an innovation ecosystem

Messages
1. Much regional capacity exists in relationships among local organizations 2. What those connections mean depends on the types of organizations they link

Finding 1 (2004)
When universities dominate a network, information flows more freely and looser than usual connections enable biotechnology firms to innovate.

Honest brokers & Neutral meeting grounds or Anchors, Shortcuts, Sources

Finding 2 (2006)
Biotechnology regions that thrive do so by developing dense networks linking companies to each other Different regions have disparate organizational anchors Anchors imprint the R&D and marketing efforts of companies long after they cease to be dominant Some anchors strangle their regions by failing to cede control

Finding 3 (2010)
Georgia Washington

States with denser, stronger collaborations between VC and law firms have more diverse IPOs in several knowledge intensive industries.

Implications
Capabilities + Connections = Clusters Encourage local organizations to partner Foster cross-institutional collaborations Be(a)ware of anchor imprints Facilitate hand-offs from anchors

Papers
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Owen-Smith, Jason, Massimo Riccaboni, Fabio Pammolli, & Walter W. Powell (2002). "A Comparison of U.S. and European University-Industry Relations in the Life Sciences." Management Science. 48(1): 24-43. Owen-Smith, Jason & Walter W. Powell (2004) "Knowledge Networks as Channels and Conduits: The Effects of Spillovers in the Boston Biotechnology Community." Organization Science. 15(1):5-21 Owen-Smith, Jason & Walter W. Powell (2005) "Accounting for Emergence and Novelty in Boston and Bay Area Biotechnology." Pp.61-86 in P. Braunerhjelm & M. Feldman (Eds.) Cluster Genesis: The Emergence of Technology Clusters and Their Implications for Government Policy. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Bunker Whittington, Kjersten, Jason Owen-Smith & Walter W. Powell. 2009. "Networks, Propinquity, and Innovation in Knowledge Intensive Industries." Administrative Science Quarterly. 54(1): 90-122. Buhr, Helena & Jason Owen-Smith. 2010. "Networks as Institutional Support: Law Firm and Venture Capitalist Relations and Regional Diversity in High-Technology IPOs." Research in the Sociology of Work. 21:95-126.