The Changing Geography of Innovation: Comparing Urban, Suburban and Rural Areas

Abstract

Using novel geocoded patent data for Spain, we analyze the changing spatial pattern of innovative activity at the municipal level from 1995 to 2017 and find that patenting has become increasingly concentrated in urban areas, and more so for the most disruptive innovations. We also find that even though there was a convergence trend before the 2008 Great Recession between suburban and urban core locations, it has since vanished, and stark differences continue to persist. We test for path dependent dynamics along with different determinants of the changing spatial pattern of patenting. Our granular analysis unveils a more nuanced view of the geography of innovation for urban, suburban and rural areas and for different types of inventions according to their degree of radicalness.