Reconsidering Firms’ Specialization, Location, and Collaboration with University for Technology Transfer in a Moderate Innovator Region

Drawing on secondary sources of industry’s and firm’s level data, this chapter reconstructs the drivers of innovation within a moderate innovator region of Southern Europe. The analysis underscores such factors as the specialization of production across sectors, the investment choices to acquire new and existing technologies, and the cooperation with multiple science and technology agents as well as those based on learning by doing, using, and interacting. This chapter highlights the constraints emerging in less developed regions and contributes to the studies on the role of universities in technology transfer initiatives. Theoretical and policy implications are examined considering the non-R&D innovation drivers and the role of universities in technology transfer.