Regional knowledge production in Central and East European countries: R&D factor productivity and changes in performances

Abstract

In this paper, we analysed regional R&D productivities of Central and Eastern European (CEE) Countries. The regional knowledge production framework is utilized for a total of 52 NUTS-2 regions for the 2001-2012 period. Patent applications to the European Patent Office (EPO) are taken as the main output of R&D activities while input variables are total expenditure on R&D and total R&D personal and researchers. Applied productivity analysis based on Malmquist Index shows that total factor productivity (TFP) of knowledge production increased from 2001 to 2012 in all regions. Considering the whole period, although TFP has partially decreased partially after the 2008 crisis, the regions experienced capacity expansion. The main sources of the increase in TFP are found to be technological change and capacity expansion. Efficiency change, in contrast, is found to be negative in the majority of regions. Detailed performances are also illustrated with geographical information maps.