Government funding actively engages in private R&D investment to enhance firm innovation. At the same time, firms are forced to find additional sources of competitive advantage, e.g., through cooperation based on the triple- or quadruple-helix principles. This paper analyses whether government funding and cooperation based on the triple-helix and quadruple-helix principles spur firms’ product and process innovation rather directly or indirectly, taking into account the role of firms R&D. For this purpose, we collect data from the Community Innovation Survey and analyse 5045 Norwegian firms by using partial least squares structural equation modelling. Our results confirm hypotheses that public funding and both triple-helix and quadruple-helix cooperation significantly influence firms’ research and development activities. Surprisingly, on the one hand, we showed that neither public funding nor triple- and quadruple-helix cooperation affect firms’ product innovation directly. Moreover, the results show a negative influence of government funding and triple- and quadruple-helix cooperation on Norwegian firms’ product innovation. On the other hand, process innovation is influenced positively and directly by firms’ cooperation based on the triple- and quadruple-helix principles. The results of our analyses clearly show the key role of firm’s R&D, which has proven to be a mediator of the effects of public funding and triple- and quadruple-helix cooperation on the product and process innovation activities of Norwegian firms.

中文翻译：

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企业研发在创造产品和流程创新中的中介作用：来自挪威的经验证据

政府资金积极参与私人研发投资，以增强公司的创新能力。同时，企业被迫寻找其他竞争优势的来源，例如，通过基于三重或四重螺旋原理的合作。本文分析了基于三重螺旋和四重螺旋原理的政府资助和合作是否直接或间接地刺激了企业的产品和流程创新，同时考虑了企业研发的作用。为此，我们从“社区创新调查”中收集数据，并使用偏最小二乘结构方程模型分析了5045家挪威公司。我们的结果证实了以下假设：公共资金以及三重螺旋和四重螺旋合作都会对公司的研发活动产生重大影响。出奇，一方面，我们表明公共资金和三重和四重螺旋合作都不会直接影响企业的产品创新。此外，结果显示政府资助以及三重和四重螺旋合作对挪威企业的产品创新有负面影响。另一方面，基于三重和四重螺旋原理的公司合作对过程创新产生了积极而直接的影响。我们的分析结果清楚地表明了公司研发的关键作用，事实证明，这是挪威公共资金以及三重和四重螺旋合作对挪威公司的产品和工艺创新活动的影响的中介。结果表明，政府资助以及三重和四重螺旋合作对挪威企业的产品创新具有负面影响。另一方面，基于三重和四重螺旋原理的公司合作对过程创新产生了积极而直接的影响。我们的分析结果清楚地表明了公司研发的关键作用，事实证明，这是挪威公共资金以及三重和四重螺旋合作对挪威公司的产品和工艺创新活动的影响的中介。结果表明，政府资助以及三重和四重螺旋合作对挪威企业的产品创新具有负面影响。另一方面，基于三重和四重螺旋原理的公司合作对过程创新产生了积极而直接的影响。我们的分析结果清楚地表明了公司研发的关键作用，事实证明，这是挪威公共资金以及三重和四重螺旋合作对挪威公司的产品和工艺创新活动的影响的中介。