Modelling collaborative knowledge creation processes: An empirical application to the semiconductor industry

Collaborative knowledge creation processes have received increasing attention in recent years, both in the scientific domain as well as in the policy realm. This is related to theoretical considerations, but also empirical observations, that collaborations in Research & Development (R&D) - in the literature often referred to as R&D networks - have become key for successfully generating new knowledge as a basis for innovation. Although a strong interconnectedness between national R&D actors supports the intraregional knowledge diffusion, aiming for international embeddedness is an important pillar of policy and corporate strategies, since it allows firms to tap into different sources of knowledge. Hence, we propose an empirically based agent-based simulation model of knowledge creation in a characteristic knowledge-driven industry, namely the semiconductor sector. With a special emphasis on collaborative knowledge creation, we investigate the effects of R&D networks on knowledge output, especially accounting for the role of international collaboration links.