Priority Sector Report Knowledge Intensive Business Services March 2009
Executive summary Knowledge-Intensive Business Services (KIBS) is a sector based on parts of four European Cluster Observatory cluster categories: Education and Knowledge Creation, Business Services, Financial Services and IT. KIBS includes 25 industries in total. s with strong KIBS sectors exhibit the highest prosperity levels in Europe. The presence of a strong KIBS sector positively affects regional innovation performance (patenting). KIBS sectors are predominantly urban activities; however, some metropolitan cities in Europe perform better than others. Among the regions of Europe the following ten regions have a KIBS sector larger than expected: Zürich, Stockholm, Oxford, Inner London, Brighton, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, München, Stuttgart and Athens. Among the 25 largest regions in Europe the following have a KIBS sector smaller than expected: Katowice, Palermo, Bari, Naples, Marseille, Valencia, Antwerpen, Sevilla and Venice. As a share of regional labour market employment, KIBS accounts for the largest shares in Brussels (16.0%), Inner London (15.2%) and Zürich (14.6%). Most growing KIBS regions are small. However, Ireland is a region with a large KIBS sector which is also growing rapidly. The largest growth in KIBS employment is found in Austria (Graz, Bregenz, Salzburg, Innsbruck), Estonia, Lithuania and Northern Spain/Southern France. Some leading innovation regions in Europe, such as Stockholm, Praha and Frankfurt am Main, are experiencing shrinking KIBS employment. Europe INNOVA is an initiative for innovation professionals supported by the European Commission under the sixth framework programme. The fundamental objectives of this initiative fall in line with the policy direction set out within the FP6 priority of 'Structuring the European Research Area'. In acting as the focal point for innovation networking in Europe, Europe INNOVA aspires to inform, assist, mobilise and network the key stakeholders in the field of entrepreneurial innovation, including company managers, policy makers, cluster managers, investors and relevant associations. Additional information on Europe INNOVA is available on the Internet (www.europe-innova.org). Legal notice This report has been produced as part of the Europe INNOVA initiative. The views expressed in this report, as well as the information included in it, do not necessarily reflect the opinion or position of the European Commission and in no way commits the institution. 1 Priority Sector report: Knowledge Intensive Business Services
KIBS, innovation and prosperity Knowledge intensive business services often accompany regional prosperity and innovation. The graphs on this page show the relationship between GDP per capita, Patent applications and Location Quotient * representing the relative strength of the KIBS sector in the GDP per capita PPP 10000 20000 30000 40000 50000 60000 Knowledge Intensive Business Services R 2 = 0.59 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 Location Quotient region. The size of a bubble in the charts represents the size of the population of the region. Log of Patent applications to EPO per million inhabitants -6-5 -4-3 -2-1 Knowledge Intensive Business Services R 2 = 0.324 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 Location Quotient The strength of the relationship between the concentration of KIBS in a region and the region s economic prosperity is striking. It is evident that wealthy regions typically support disproportionally high concentrations of KIBS employment. In fact, with no other factors taken into account, regional KIBS specialisation explains 59% of variance in GDP per capita. The pattern is similar, although less pronounced, when we look at innovation indicators. The trend is clear: regions with high concentrations of knowledge intensive business services exhibit superior patenting activity, and the opposite is true for regions with little KIBS. In the middle, however, there are regions with both extremely high as well as very low patenting. This suggests that there are many other factors influencing innovation, but the presence of KIBS makes a difference. * Location Quotient (LQ) measures teh regional specialisation in the KIBS sector. GDP, patenting and population data from Eurostat. s correspond to NUTS II regions across the 27 EU member states plus Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey. In Belgium, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands and Turkey, NUTS I regions were used due to comparatively small areas and/or size of employment. Priority Sector report: Knowledge Intensive Business Services 2
Size and Focus al size and KIBS rank Knowledge intensive business services are in general a predominantly urban activity. This argument is confirmed upon examination of the regions which rank among the top 25 by either population or KIBS employment. Largest city Size rank KIBS rank Île de France (FR) Paris 1 1 Lombardia (IT) Milan 2 4 Andalucía (ES) Sevilla 3 24 West-Nederland (NL) Amsterdam 4 3 Cataluña (ES) Barcelona 5 7 Vlaams Gewest (BE) Antwerpen 6 27 Rhône-Alpes (FR) Lyon 7 16 Campania (IT) Naples 8 47 Madrid (ES) Madrid 9 5 Danmark (DK) Danmark 10 10 Düsseldorf (DE) Düsseldorf 11 12 Lazio (IT) Rome 12 9 Mazowieckie (PL) Warszawa 13 19 Sicilia (IT) Palermo 14 60 Provence-Alpes- Côte d'azur (FR) Marseille 15 43 Slaskie (PL) Katowice 16 69 Veneto (IT) Venice 17 29 Outer London (UK) Outer London 18 18 Valencia (ES) Valencia 19 45 Köln (DE) Köln 20 13 Piemonte (IT) Turin 21 26 Oberbayern (DE) München 22 8 Emilia-Romagna (IT) Bologna 23 22 Ireland (IE) Ireland 24 14 Largest city Size rank KIBS rank Puglia (IT) Bari 25 65 Stuttgart (DE) Stuttgart 27 15 Attiki (GR) Athens 28 17 Darmstadt (DE) Frankfurt am Main 30 6 Berlin (DE) Berlin 39 23 Inner London (UK) Inner London 46 2 Surrey, E and W Sussex (UK) Berks, Bucks and Oxon (UK) Brighton 59 21 Oxford 82 11 Stockholm (SE) Stockholm 98 25 Zürich (CH) Zürich 160 20 However, the relationship of the size of the region and employment in KIBS is not always direct: some regions have a KIBS sector much larger than expected, while others score lower. The following ten regions have a KIBS sector larger than expected: Zürich, Stockholm, Oxford, Inner London, Brighton, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, München, Stuttgart and Athens. Among the 25 largest regions in Europe the following have a KIBS sector smaller than expected: Katowice, Palermo, Bari, Naples, Marseille, Valencia, Antwerpen, Sevilla and Venice. Labour market focus The map to the right exhibits the share of a region s labour force employed in KIBS ( KIBS focus ). The largest share of KIBS employment is typically concentrated in the capital regions of the respective countries. The most notable exceptions from this rule include Germany, where regions in the South and West focus on KIBS even more than Berlin; and the UK, where the whole belt of regions around London as well as Manchester/Liverpool and Edinburgh exhibit high relative KIBS employment. 3 Priority Sector report: Knowledge Intensive Business Services
KIBS Focus 2006 less than 4% from 4% to 6% from 6% to 8% more than 8% 0 500 1000 km Source: European Cluster Observatory 2009 KIBS Employment KIBS Focus Brussels, BE 122,731 16.0% Inner London, UK 472,940 15.2% Zürich, CH 138,797 14.6% Darmstadt (Frankfurt am Main), DE 231,492 13.4% Île de France (Paris), FR 788,496 13.3% Berks, Bucks and Oxon (Oxford), UK 174,599 12.7% 27,961 12.2% Hamburg, DE 108,454 11.8% Berlin, DE 134,930 10.9% 39,362 10.9% Luxembourg, LU Bratislavsky kraj (Bratislava), SK Priority Sector report: Knowledge Intensive Business Services 4
Growth Based on the longitudinal data available, the average annual growth rate of KIBS employment between 2001 and 2006 was 1.7% compared to 1.2% increase in total employment in Europe. The regions exhibiting the largest growth include much of Austria, the Baltic states, Northern Spain/Southern France and Ireland, as seen from the map and table on the opposite page. However, the fastest growing regions are mostly small ones with little KIBS employment. The only region which is both highly focused on KIBS (more than 8% employment) and fast-growing (more than 5% annual growth rate) is Ireland, which during the first years of the century enjoyed a boom in software and business services. al Innovation (RIS) Interestingly enough, the regions normally considered European champions in innovation (here represented by 2006 EU al Innovation Survey indicators ** ) show varying degrees of growth in KIBS. Stockholm, Praha and Frankfurt am Main are the fastest decreasing KIBS regions among the top 20 most innovating regions in Europe. RIS Annual Growth Stockholm, SE 0.90-1.52% Västsverige (Gothenburg), SE 0.83 0.77% Oberbayern (München), DE 0.79 0.47% Etelä-Suomi (Helsinki), FI 0.78-0.22% Karlsruhe, DE 0.78 1.15% Stuttgart, DE 0.77 1.17% Braunschweig, DE 0.76-0.40% Sydsverige (Malmö), SE 0.76-0.20% Île de France (Paris), FR 0.75 0.80% Östra Mellansverige (Uppsala), SE 0.74-0.74% Berlin, DE 0.74 0.79% Tübingen, DE 0.72 0.78% Praha, CZ 0.70-0.89% Darmstadt (Frankfurt am Main), DE 0.69-0.52% Dresden, DE 0.69 1.16% Köln, DE 0.69 0.02% Danmark, DK 0.68 0.62% Pohjois-Suomi (Oulu), FI 0.68 0.63% Mittelfranken (Nürnberg), DE 0.68 1.10% Wien, AT 0.68 4.93% The data is missing for Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal and Romania. ** UK regions are not shown as RIS was conducted for NUTS I regions. 5 Priority Sector report: Knowledge Intensive Business Services
KIBS Annual Growth 2001-2006 less than -1% from -1% to +1% from +1% to +5% more than +5% no data 0 500 1000 km Source: European Cluster Observatory 2009 Average annual growth rate 2001 2006 Steiermark (Graz), AT 22.4% Eesti, EE 19.7% Lietuva, LT 15.5% Vorarlberg (Bregenz), AT 13.3% Salzburg, AT 13.2% Tirol (Innsbruck), AT 10.8% Cornwall and Isles of Scilly (Truro), UK 8.9% Zapadne Slovensko (Nitra), SK 8.4% Galicia (A Coruña), ES 7.5% Del-Dunantul (Pécs), HU 7.3% Priority Sector report: Knowledge Intensive Business Services 6
About the European Cluster Observatory The European Cluster Observatory, launched in June 2007, is the most comprehensive database on clusters, cluster organisations, and cluster reports in Europe. It is managed by the Center for Strategy and Competitiveness (CSC) at the Stockholm School of Economics and funded by the European Commission's Directorate General for Enterprise and Industry. The European Cluster Observatory website provides a wide variety of data on clusters in Europe, and is divided into four main sections: Cluster Mapping provides information on 38 cluster categories in 259 NUTS II regions; Cluster Organisations offers maps and lists of regional or local private-public partnerships focused on cluster improvements; Cluster Policies collects reports on national and regional cluster policies and programmes; Cluster Library archives special Observatory reports, cluster case studies and other cluster-related documents. In 2009, the Observatory will enter the second phase of development bringing new features and introducing a collaboration platform for cluster organisations and SMEs. Please visit the European Cluster Observatory at www.clusterobservatory.eu. Priority Sector report: Knowledge Intensive Business Services ISBN 978-91-977556-1-0 This report is published by: Center for Strategy and Competitiveness Stockholm School of Economics Box 6501 SE-113 83 Stockholm Sweden Website: www.hhs.se/csc Telephone: +46-(0)8-736 9630 Fax: +46-(0)8-31 99 27