Auteurs : André Spithoven - Peter Teirlinck
Publicatiedatum : maart 2003

The Flemish Region is characterised by various different sub-regions. Many social and economic actors are working at this sub-regional level to promote the economic growth and thus the well-being of their inhabitants. This report starts from the smaller administrative territorial units within the Flemish Region to discuss the sub-regional dimension of R&D activities. This Study uses the results of the bi-annual R&D surveys organised by the IWT in the period ranging from 1992 till 1999. We hereby focus on the private business sector with an economic activity within the Flemish territory.

Central to the report are the main R&D variables stemming from the survey: R&D expenses, R&D personnel, R&D co-peration, R&D subcontracting, product- versus process oriented R&D, and research versus development activities. As such the report offers a comprehensive empirical overview of the R&D performance of the different Flemish sub-regions: provinces and districts.

Using several mathematical techniques we have sketched R&D profiles of the sub-regions in terms of the various indicators by economic activity.

The key finding is that an empirical description of R&D activities gains from looking at it from different sub-regional perspectives. This should help the decision makers in their appreciation of sub-regional and even local specificities and factors which surround and form an environment that is conductive to R&D activities in the business enterprise sector