ICT, Collaboration, and Innovation – Evidence from BITNET

Policymakers across the globe strive to enhance economic growth by finding new ways of boosting innovation. According to modern economic theories, cumulative innovation is key. Thus, information and communication technologies (ICT) could spur the innovation process. In particular, the COVID-19 pandemic has shifted much of knowledge production online, strengthening the crucial role of ICT. But does access to technologies that reduce the costs of information and communication really increase innovation? Our results suggest that it does. Exploiting the staggered adoption of BITNET at U.S. universities, we show an increase in patenting by university-connected inventors. This effect is driven by newly arising collaborations and holds only for patents closely related to science. In contrast, we find no effect on patents unrelated to science, nor on corporate inventors not connected to universities. This suggests that ICT facilitates innovation processes allowing for the translation of scientific insights into innovation.

Publication

Wernsdorf, Kathrin; Nagler, Markus; Watzinger, Martin (2022). ICT, Collaboration, and Innovation: Evidence from BITNET, Journal of Public Economics, 211 (July), 104678, External Link