Mardi | 2019-12-10
B103 16h 17h20

This paper analyses the relationship between a set of knowledge indicators capturing the degree of variety of the local knowledge base focusing on environmental based patents’ technological combinations and the creation of innovative firms specialised in the environmental field in France. Based on a firm-level microdata from DIANE (Bureau van Dijk) and patents information from the OECD REGPAT (2018) database for the period 2003 and 2013, main results show that unrelated knowledge variety for environmental technologies and the political support in terms of investments for the protection of the environment are the main factors explaining the location of eco-innovative firms. Indeed, by applying spatial econometrics we found that there is a clear spatial dependence on the creation. However, our results also show that the impact of the knowledge composition is quite local.