Abstract
This paper investigates effects of regional research and development (R&D) spillovers on innovation performances of top R&D investing firms in regions of the United Kingdom, France and Germany. Extending on existing theoretical framework, this paper proposes that for firms locating in regions with R&D spillovers or belonging to industries with diverse technological environments in terms of opportunity and complexity, the product market rivalry effects can either dominate or be overcome by the technological spillover effects, leading to negative or positive impacts of R&D spillovers on their patent production. A GMM panel count method is applied to assess how firm innovation is affected by R&D spillovers in different industries. This paper finds that the R&D spillovers positively influence patenting for British and German firms on average, whilst these effects vary by sectors. The negative effects for firms in British and French bio-pharmaceutical industries and for those in German telecommunications industry imply that the product rivalry could be intensive in these industries.