May, 24th, 2023 CREF TALK
Title: Economic Complexity and the Knowledge Diffusion in Europe
Speaker: Daniela Cialfi , University of Teramo
Nowadays, economic complexity and cognitive fields are bestowed with knowledge input and output measurement instead of assessing the quality of the knowledge produced. In this paper, we measure the complexity of knowledge and map the distribution and the evolution of knowledge in Europe through economic complexity tools and assumptions, and explore in which way spatial knowledge could be linked to complexity via a relatedness measurement, the Knowledge Complexity Index. Our measurement is based on the analysis of patent data from the European Patent Office, focusing on the European context between 2004 and 2017. We find that knowledge complexity is not homogeneously distributed across Europe. The implementation of this new research line could be helpful in terms of European diversification and, at the same time, the reduction in the divergence between European countries will continue to represent the major policy challenge.