Incomplete regional innovation systems, territorial servitization and the distant hybridization of manufacturing and knowledge intensive business services (KIBS) industries: the case of collaborative robots

Abstract

This paper examines how manufacturing firms collaborate with knowledge-intensive business services in distant regions within territorial servitization processes, where local manufacturing industries cooperate with distant knowledge-intensive business services. The paper proves how the selection of a local or distant knowledge-intensive business service partner depends on the local situation and conditions, defined by the characteristics of the regional and value chain where the firm is embedded. The paper deeply explores 80 implementations of collaborative robots (co-bots) in manufacturing lines across 15 European countries. The findings reveal that territorial servitization implies a dual knowledge flow, where knowledge-intensive services develop manufacturing capabilities and manufacturing firms absorb technological knowledge. However, this process is asymmetrical since knowledge-intensive services benefit more than manufacturers from this knowledge exchange. At the regional level, regions with higher concentrations of knowledge-intensive business services benefit more from territorial servitization than regions focused on manufacturing competencies. Therefore, these regions have more complete innovation arrangements, suggesting that distant territorial servitization is a key factor in explaining the widening gap between regions in terms of adaptation to technological change.