Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/121403 
Year of Publication: 
2015
Citation: 
[Journal:] DIW Economic Bulletin [ISSN:] 2192-7219 [Volume:] 5 [Issue:] 41 [Publisher:] Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW) [Place:] Berlin [Year:] 2015 [Pages:] 541-552
Publisher: 
Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW), Berlin
Abstract: 
Over the past two decades, research and development (R&D) activities in eastern Germany have increased substantially, albeit to a lesser extent than in western Germany. Furthermore, R&D in eastern Germany was primarily conducted by research in the government sector and less so by universities and businesses. In 2013, overall, R&D activities in eastern Germany reached 86 percent of the western German level; in the private sector, eastern Germany reached just under 50 percent of the western German level. The comparatively low level of R&D activity in eastern Germany's private sector is due to the economic and corporate structure: compared to the western German average, in eastern Germany the research-intensive sectors are not as well established and there are also fewer larger enterprises that generally perform a higher percentage of R&D work than smaller ones. The number of new products launched by companies as a share of the turnover is far lower than for western German firms, and this gap was found to further increase in recent years. Although the German government continues to grant a certain "east bonus" in its backing of private-sector R&D, structural differences will mean that no noticeable convergence towards the western German level can be expected in the near future. Significant regional differences in private-sector R&D activities have also been observed in western Germany.
Subjects: 
Regional innovation systems
Research and development
Small and medium-sized enterprises
Manufacturing
JEL: 
L25
O31
R11
Document Type: 
Article

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