The geography of R&D: tobit analysis and a Bayesian approach to mapping R&D activities in the Netherlands

Regions vary strongly according to the participation of firms in R&D activi ty. By linking data on R&D activity at the firm level with GIS-based data o n economic and other location features of regions, we are able to investiga te the impact of local factors on R&D involvement for various types of firm s. The relative importance of local factors as determinants of the R&D invo lvement of firms is estimated by means of a tobit model. Rather strong diff erences are found between zones in the same urban region. For example, mode rn manufacturing firms located in the centre of large cities have relativel y low levels of R&D, and the opposite holds for rings of zones at certain d istances from the cities. Bayesian methods are used for map presentations o f the survey data.