Technological regimes and the geography of innovation: a long-run perspective on US inventions

TLDR: In this article, the authors analyzed the geography of innovation in the very long run using a US patent dataset geocoded for the years 1836-2010, and found that innovation becomes less geographical concentrated in the first half of the life cycle, to then re-concentrate in the second half.

Abstract: The geographical distribution of innovative activities is an emerging subject, but still poorly understood. While previous efforts highlighted that different technologies exhibit different spatial patterns, in this paper we analyse the geography of innovation in the very long run. Using a US patent dataset geocoded for the years 1836-2010, we observe that ? while it is true that differences in technologies are strong determinant of spatial patterns ? changes within a technology over time is at least as important. In particular, we find that regional entry follows the technology life cycle. Subsequently, innovation becomes less geographical concentrated in the first half of the life cycle, to then re-concentrate in the second half.